Almost one fourth of people under 25 now watch most of their TV online. The authors of a new survey estimate that 800,000 U.S. households got rid of their cable subscriptions last year, and expect the number to double by the end of 2011. The loss is still small, given the 101 million subscribers nationwide, writes TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld, but cord-cutters “are a leading indicator of the shift to TV viewing on the Web.”
Interesting. We didn’t get cable TV when we moved to Philly, because we watched so little of it in Dallas. Recently, we added Wii capability to our Netflix subscription, giving us instant access to a (limited) library of movies and TV shows. It’s fantastic! There’s always something on you actually want to watch. I suppose if you watched a lot of TV you’d exhaust the relatively sparse Netflix offerings pretty quickly. But we don’t watch a lot of TV, and what Netflix has for us to watch instantly is satisfying. I watched an Apple documentary last night, saw “Man on Wire” after work last week, and caught a couple of episodes of “30 Rock” on the weekend. That’s enough TV for me, and again, it was all stuff that I really wanted to see, when I wanted to see it. How this kind of thing changes the economics of the TV biz I don’t know, but the Internet is conditioning consumers to expect what they want, when they want it, not what content providers want us to have at a schedule convenient to their interests. This is huge.
(Via Sullivan).
posted April 15, 2010 at 9:18 am
We watch TV on our computer as well, although we don’t fit the demographic (mid-40s).
posted April 15, 2010 at 9:23 am
My friends who are under 25 yrs old are constantly telling me to catch up shows using hulu or some other website. I just can’t get into it. I like to have my laptop free to surf while watching TV on TV. I’m 29, btw.
But I’m incredibly excited that Netflix is now available via the Wii!! Can’t wait to get my disk!
posted April 15, 2010 at 9:42 am
Yeah, we watch TV – mostly limited to The Daily Show, Colbert Report, South Park, House, and re-runs from the various Star Trek shows – on the computer.
One thing that will have to be worked out is how advertisers make money off of it. We watch via our Firefox browser which has a nifty add-on that filters out internet advertisers.
posted April 15, 2010 at 10:38 am
I had cable for a year 22 years ago and got rid of it because I never watched it. I was busy when things I wanted to watch were on, and when I was free nothing was on. So the very little TV I watch is over the air via rabbit ears. But with the rise of the internet I do very little of that. A few years ago I build a TV over the internet on TV box and use it to stream Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. It is all I watch now.
The whole HDTV over the air initiative is going to be for naught.
posted April 15, 2010 at 11:23 am
And for those of us living outside the US (Yes, Virginia …) for whom Hulu and Netflix won’t work, there is Miro
http://www.getmiro.com/
posted April 15, 2010 at 12:02 pm
We watch via our Firefox browser which has a nifty add-on that filters out internet advertisers.
But there’s always an ad at the beginning of each act of Star Trek, and at the beginning of each act of Chuck, and any other show I watch online.
posted April 15, 2010 at 12:46 pm
For those who like that sort of thing, that’s probably the sort of thing they’ll like.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
posted April 15, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Having watched all of Lost except for perhaps two episodes on my PC, I can attest to the value of streaming video. The downside is the lag and lower-res viewing.
posted April 15, 2010 at 1:18 pm
internet tv, that’s great!
of course, the internet will soon start to become less and less affordable as the USA declines to third world status.
but until then, let’s party!
afterward, there’s always the return of those rabbit ear antennae.
prosperity faith hope love joy peace to all…
posted April 15, 2010 at 1:24 pm
But there’s always an ad at the beginning of each act of Star Trek, and at the beginning of each act of Chuck, and any other show I watch online.
hmmm, I’m watching Star Trek on You Tube. No ads there.
posted April 15, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Over the air (yes, rabbit ears), free digital TV is great. Besides the network channels, there’s usually a couple PBS channels, a local weather channel, and other things not available in analog version, like a channel guide button. We have about 15 channels available in the South Bend area, more than enough. Tie it into a DVD recorder with a timer, and you can control the viewing.
posted April 15, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I’m happy for you, switzcam, but here in Waco, TX, where I watch TV over the air with a digital coverter, I can no longer receive the NBC or FOX affiliates at all, I usually don’t receive the ABC affiliate, and my reception of the PBS affiliate is unpredictable from day to day and depends on the weather. The only station I receive with predictable clarity is the CBS affiliate, and its secondary channel which broadcasts the CW. I have two TVs with separate antennae in different parts of my apartment, so the location of the antenna isn’t the only issue. Now, since I am trying to watch less TV rather than more (and since I like CSI), I don’t really have a problem with this. But the people who complain that digital TV reception sucks compared to analog reception have a point. Before the conversion the only station that sometimes gave me trouble was the NBC affiliate.
posted April 15, 2010 at 5:42 pm
My wife and I are becoming real peasants. I mean, we either watch PeasantVision (what my wife calls free broadcast TV) or Web TV. We got rid of Netflix and have become frequent users of our “free” public library, so we’ve also said so long to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
posted April 15, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I think I’ve had the same reply to ever “Rod doesn’t have cable” post.
What about sports!!! Outside of the NFL, most sport events are on cable. This is a major point which Rod refuses to acknowledge as a major drawback to canceling you cable service.
You can’t netflix sports. I do have Netflix set up to my Wii. It would be awesome if live sporting events could be run through my Wii. Maybe that day will come.
posted April 16, 2010 at 9:30 am
You can catch any major and most minor sporting events online via p2p streams.
posted April 16, 2010 at 11:20 am
Yes, David White, digital reception can be a problem, good point. I did have to buy a $100 directional antenna when we lived in Michigan a couple years ago. Here in South Bend I don’t need a better antenna.
Some of those stations need to ramp up their power.