Cable or Streaming?

I was born in 1979, wedged between Gen X and Millennials, so I was among the last to look upon cable television as the ultimate luxury in home entertainment (next to owning a VCR). When my household finally got a cable TV subscription when I was a teenager it was like seeing the light after living in exile under the umbrella of network television. Being able to flip through 40-50 channels (as crazy it sounds) mind blowing for a certain generation.

The novelty of watching music videos all day or Clint Eastwood marathons on TNT is probably lost on anyone born after 1990. Flipping around from 24-hour news to 24 hour sports to 24 hour weather felt like freedom! Far from it of course! I'm not of the set who believes the only way to save humanity is ban all mass media*, it comes down to using the tool, so it doesn't control you. I'm trying to be a realist today.

Later my parents got Direct TV which was superior to cable in terms of quality and customer service. Direct TV had a lot to offer in the 2000s with some excellent radio channels and a user friendly interface. The IFC and Sundance channels actually showed independent movies introducing to all sorts of offbeat films like Primer or Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Today those channels only air banal studio product interspersed with endless Law & Order marathons.

As streaming began to gradually takeover by the 2010s the phrase "cutting the cord" entered the parlance. Why bother with cable subscription when you could pay an easy $7.99/month for Netflix? Younger people I knew found getting cable to be a ridiculous expense, understandable in the austere economic days since the 2008 crash. Streaming appeared to be the ultimate antidote in the scramble for cheap entertainment.

With a new streaming service popping up every month, it's way too easy these days to subscribe to only a few services and pay the equivalent cost of cable - so cutting the cord is not the money saver of a decade ago. Many services charging higher prices to avoid the intrusion of ads raises the cost is even more. I always considered the DVR a godsend since I can speed through the commercials. DVR is VCR programming one better, just a few clicks can assure you can watch anything you want without the ads. 

So, while I've considered cutting the cord over the years, I'm a holdout to cable. As homogenized and corporatized Cable TV has become, from the abysmal turn so many channels have taken. The "History" and "Science" channels devote hours to dull paranormal topics. Ancient Aliens has contributed way too much into the devolution of critical thinking. Turner Classic Movies remains of the few bright spots, although the variety in their programming has fallen off lately. 

Maybe I'm trying to talk myself out of keeping cable. I guess there's comfort in TNT and TBS with their wall of popular entertainments or local channels keeping the spirit of local news alive. Or it could just be holding on to something from the past, not in the since of remembering where you were for the Seinfeld finale, but more in the sense of remembering TV bonding families or even groups of people together. 

Looking into the crystal ball we appear to be years away from having access to the ultimate cloud where everything ever produced is simply a click away. In terms of music, we're close, with movies and TV getting edging closer. Will there eventually be three major streaming services offering quantity but not much in the way variety and quality? Back to 1979.

*I often see the book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander being promoted on social media. Published in 1978 when network TV still ruled, Mander provides powerful and prescient arguments in support of his title. Much of what he wrote can also be applied to social media in the 21st Century. Compelling as it is, not enough time to go into detail here, an uncompromising attitude that has all the passion of the newly converted. Eliminating TV or mass media will not happen (of course individuals have that option) I'm more in the camp of let's adapt to the technology and look for creative solutions. And that includes more government oversight because an unregulated social media is now a public safety issue.