Future of TV

Television has been the main outlet of media for the past number of decades; for most people it was their only source to receive any brand new information. Television as we know it is slowly coming to an end, the reason being is because of the rise of streaming. Over the past decade, people have turned to streaming to get the shows and movies that they want to watch instead of turning to cable for viable options. Although the streaming option has put tons of pressure on cable, one would say that cable isn’t totally done for it. In fact cable television is still a favorable option, even with the tons of streaming services available today/

Both articles “The Future of TV Isn’t Apps. We Need All Our Channels In One Place” and “The Future of Cable is Here. Can Cable Survive?” bring up interesting as well as different perspectives/attitudes about the television culture and the shifts it is currently undergoing. It is an undeniable fact that companies like Netflix, Hulu and others have forced cable to strategize their distribution efforts; this is obvious when different services like HBO now were presented in order to have cable drama tv series stay as relevant as those found on netflix. What we are seeing now is that the demands of the viewer are becoming the most important priority for distributors; which wasn’t the case in the past. We’ve come a long way from having to look into a tv guide to plan out what shows/movies were coming on when, instead we’re living in an era of television where the viewer can choose to watch whatever program they want when they so rightfully choose’ more importantly the negative elements of waiting for new episodes and commercials are cut out when it comes to streaming/on-demand programs. Society today operates in a time sensitive manner, distributors have noticed that and want to accommodate for that. This has also changed the way we even view our programs; whereas tv used to be the main source for media, now media can be accessed on almost any device whether stationary or handheld. The cloud has revolutionized the way we access any media we want, by allowing viewers to choose from a loaded catalog instead of having programs picked out for them with their own starting times like cable. The interactive sense the viewers get from using streaming services is what they like best; which is also why many prefer IMAX and 3D movies as opposed to the normal 2D experience. It is the interactive feeling of being part of the program that viewers seek. So no, movies aren’t necessarily failing but they aren’t favored when it comes to viewing instant seasons of shows or seeing said movies in a more interactive setting.

The television culture as we know it is no more, the way we see our favorite programs is changing. We’re living in the era of streaming, which is heavily favored by viewers when its comes to choosing between that or cable. Cable isn’t doing too well but it is still a service that allows you to have the sense of surfing through live tv, which most viewers like to do. As Gary Myer mentioned in his article; it is not that cable is failing it’s more of that it would be so much more favorable if it were in the same setting as all those streaming services as opposed to having to do different procedures to access each different service. The new wave of instant access to media isn’t supposed to be hurting movies and/or cable, but instead help them. The services who are being hurt by streaming are those who refuse to accommodate viewers with similar experiences as those in streaming.