Cable TV is the favorite medium of entertainment in the USA. This is evident from the fact that there were an estimated 71 million cable TV users in the country during March 2021. One thing to note here is that this was the peak time of the pandemic, and many people had already adopted cord-cutting, still, cable TV managed to pull up such big numbers. This is because even after fierce competition, cable TV has a special place in the hearts of avid watchers, and there are several major factors behind such a huge fan following.
All this started back in the 50s when cable TV was first introduced to the public. Although the cinema industry was going strong at that time, still, cable TV managed to squeeze in and make its own unique presence.
This was only possible because cable TV was a revolutionary technology in itself, as it allowed users to watch their favorite content from the comfort of their homes. So in a way, everyone had a cinema in their home in the shape of TVs. This was the reason why cable TV managed to pull up so many subscribers, and it also enjoyed that loyal customer base for decades. It was only in recent times that cable has started getting competition from over the internet mediums, e.g streaming platforms.
However, this doesn’t mean that cable has not evolved or progressed ever since it was invented. Cable and TV have also come a long way from their initial stages, as back in the day there were only a few channels and that too came with poor audio and video quality but it was enough for people of that time. But, as time passed by, the programming of cable started achieving milestones and now in the current state, cable programming has channels anywhere from 100 to 3000, and that too in crisp picture quality and amazing audio.
With that, the pricing of the cable has also gone down quite a bit. Major cable providers like Spectrum regularly offer deals and discounts which you can also avail of. Click here to learn more about the discounts offered by Spectrum.
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Cord Cutting and Survival of Cable TV
The pandemic was something that shook the whole infrastructure of the world, and all aspects of life were disturbed. Economies of countries were in recession and the majority of the public was pushed to the brink of unemployment. In times like this, the public was desperately looking for options to cut the cost of living. So, most people resorted to getting rid of their cable subscriptions, as many thought it was an additional expense.
Due to the internet streaming services gaining hype, more and more people preferred them in comparison to traditional cable services. This trend is called cord-cutting, and while there are many benefits of streaming services over cable TV, but, these features are not that major which can justify completely replacing cable with streaming, and we are here to explain why.
Benefits of Cable TV
Many people are getting rid of their cable connections in the wake of this cost-cutting trend, and yes, we do agree that in terms of cost it is much more efficient than cable TV, still, cable TV has some major advantages over these alternatives which are worth considering. We have created a list of some of those advantages to better educate our readers.
Better Channel Lineup
This is the biggest advantage cable TV has over its competitors, as no matter how much people rant about the cost of cable TV, it is a fact that cable has a diverse content lineup that justifies this cost. This diverse content structure is something that no streaming platform even comes close to. In the current entertainment landscape, there are TV packages that have channels anywhere between 300 to 500. And the best part about such a rich lineup is that there is always something to watch for every type of viewer, no matter the age or gender. So yes the cost might be a bit high but in retrospect, consumers should also focus on what they’re getting in return. As there is something to watch for every member of the household, this makes cable TV the best option for family viewing, and something that provides complete value for money.
Live Programming
This is another major benefit of cable TV that it allows watchers to enjoy live content, whether in form of news or sports telecast. However, there are other platforms as well like live TV applications that allow viewers to enjoy live TV. But, their range of content is not rich enough in comparison to what cable TV has to offer. Especially, if you are a sports fan then cable TV is your best friend, as with cable users get access to major sports networks like MBL, NBA TV, and NFL network. Something which you won’t be able to find in any package of any online TV platforms as a whole.
An Independent Service
Cable TV is an independent service in itself which means that it does not rely on any other medium and works on its own. While on the other hand, streaming services are entirely dependent on the internet which means that whenever the internet goes down, all these services become useless. In contrast to that, cable TV remains functional in case of any internet outage and gives users an alternate medium of entertainment. This doesn’t mean that cable TV is completely free of any errors and technical problems, and it also faces outages but they are very few and far in between.
Conclusion
Cable TV is a very good entertainment option for many even today, which is why there are still so many people that are hooked to cable TV subscriptions. However, this is also a fact that it has been getting fierce competition in recent times from internet-based platforms. But at the moment, streaming technology is not advanced enough to completely take over cable TV, and there are still many benefits that cable TV possesses like the ones described above which makes it a viable choice.