Cutting the Cable Cord: TV Just Isn’t What It Used to Be

(Photo credit: “Television,” by Flicker user Jiří Zralý, via Attribution 2.0 license)

My father thinks my taste in music is garbage, and I’m sure my grandfather felt similarly about my father’s love for rock and roll. My dad also thinks the way some of my peers dress is goofy, and I think he wears his pants too high. The generation gap is particularly evident when it comes to technology, although, until recently, at least Generations X, Y, and Z could all agree on what constitutes as television.

The phrase “cutting the cord” refers to accessing television programs from a source other than cable or satellite, like Netflix for instance. “Television” shows can now be viewed on YouTube, Netflix, or still via a physical cable box. In a Washington Post article titled “Television is becoming entertainment for oldies,” Terrence McCoy writes about a major event in the television world that occurred earlier this week.

According to McCoy, many people believed that sports networks like ESPN were the “linchpin” keeping the cable empire together, and many people only continued to pay for cable in order to have access to sporting events. However, this week, 12 major cable stations, including CNN and ESPN, have partnered with Dish Network to stream programs using a service called “Sling TV” (which is roughly $70 per month less than sports fans would have to pay to watch ESPN via cable companies).

Last September, ESPN President John Skipper said that he thought millennials would embrace cable to watch sports, saying that he didn’t think people would “go to Google to watch the Rose Bowl.” The creation of “Sling TV” allows the streaming sports to accompany every other television show that can be viewed in another medium beyond cable, showing how far the digital world has come in just a few months, and how fast media consumption can change. Over the past four years, the median age of people watching TV has risen by six percent to 44.4 years old. This trend suggests that TV is now a generational thing.

The communication implication here is part that the definition of the word “television” is very different. “Do you want to watch TV?” is now a question that no longer relegates viewers to their sofa, but instead is physically limitless in terms of viewing location. A lot of things have changed in the TV world, and hopefully term “couch potato” will be the next to go.