The Rise of Internet Tv
WS4 A5
Michael Hilsmier
Indiana Wesleyan University
WS4 A5
There is a storm brewing for the cable and satellite Television industry. Over the past few years an emerging trend is the convergence of the internet and television for the prominent media source in households across the country. As cable prices have continued to climb over the past decade and now average well above $100 a month for all households, many people have asked the question could I do without cable and still get the media I want to watch. The answer is yes, with maybe a few concessions. So how many are leaving cable? In the second quarter of 2010, 216,000 people canceled their cable, satellite or telecommunications subscriptions according to the media research firm SNL Kagan (Stelter, 2011). Then it happened again in the third quarter, when 119,000 people canceled subscriptions. Another study by consulting firm Parks Associates estimates some 900,000 U.S. homes didn’t pay for TV and relied solely on Web TV last year and projects that number to grow this year (Lawton, 2009).
What can someone expect when they forego cable? The first option is to see what’s available over the air. In most cases free over-the-air HDTV has slightly better image quality than the HD cable people were paying for, since cable companies often compress their signals in order to include more channels (Moskovciak, 2011). Every modern HDTV has a built-in tuner, so most people can get by with an indoor antenna for approximately $20-50 to get crystal clear over-the-air HDTV. I priced indoor antennas at Best Buy and the basic ones were $20 and the fancier ones, paintable/flat/omnidirectional hidden antenna, were up to $50.
The next option to consider is choosing a streaming video service. The most popular of the many streaming services is Netflix. For $8 per month, you get unlimited access to Netflix’s instant streaming catalog of over 20,000 films and TV shows, which you can watch on your computer,
Michael Hilsmier
Indiana Wesleyan University
WS4 A5
There is a storm brewing for the cable and satellite Television industry. Over the past few years an emerging trend is the convergence of the internet and television for the prominent media source in households across the country. As cable prices have continued to climb over the past decade and now average well above $100 a month for all households, many people have asked the question could I do without cable and still get the media I want to watch. The answer is yes, with maybe a few concessions. So how many are leaving cable? In the second quarter of 2010, 216,000 people canceled their cable, satellite or telecommunications subscriptions according to the media research firm SNL Kagan (Stelter, 2011). Then it happened again in the third quarter, when 119,000 people canceled subscriptions. Another study by consulting firm Parks Associates estimates some 900,000 U.S. homes didn’t pay for TV and relied solely on Web TV last year and projects that number to grow this year (Lawton, 2009).
What can someone expect when they forego cable? The first option is to see what’s available over the air. In most cases free over-the-air HDTV has slightly better image quality than the HD cable people were paying for, since cable companies often compress their signals in order to include more channels (Moskovciak, 2011). Every modern HDTV has a built-in tuner, so most people can get by with an indoor antenna for approximately $20-50 to get crystal clear over-the-air HDTV. I priced indoor antennas at Best Buy and the basic ones were $20 and the fancier ones, paintable/flat/omnidirectional hidden antenna, were up to $50.
The next option to consider is choosing a streaming video service. The most popular of the many streaming services is Netflix. For $8 per month, you get unlimited access to Netflix’s instant streaming catalog of over 20,000 films and TV shows, which you can watch on your computer,
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