"This is the true
story... of one person...addicted to TV programming...forced to live in a house
with no cable...find out what happens...when I give up my cable boxes...and
start to stream..."
Let me preface - I live for TV. I am one of THOSE people who set reminder
timers on my phone so I know what's on when.
Every night I have a schedule of at least three or four shows I HAVE to
watch. Although the DVR has allowed me
to have a life once again (okay, who am I kidding, it's allowed me to watch
MORE shows by recording and watching multiple shows at the same time), I would
still rather watch shows the night they air. But, my luxurious cable habit also
meant a steep cable bill! A challenge
was born. Get rid of cable, and watch
everything online. I had no idea how
long it would last but it was worth a shot.
The Good...
"Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from
the same time last year, as time spent viewing video on PC/MAC/laptops from
home and work locations increased by 45%." ~Nielsen Wire, January 2011
From the beginning, I was well aware
that September was "fall premiere" month - the network's version of
the "debutante ball" for TV programs. September meant the debut of hot new shows,
and the return of favorites. I needed to make sure I didn’t miss a beat. I chose Hulu as my primary viewing
source.
The time leading up to September
19th (fall premiere week) was rough. Most of the time I watched old shows on
Hulu, and when I was completely bored - I splurged on one of the awesome dollar
DVD's at Redbox. It wasn't quite like
reverting to the old days of sitting around a radio or playing board games,
(although I did manage to pass all levels of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Rio,
but that's neither here nor there).
Premiere week FINALLY came and Hulu
delivered for the most part. Nowadays, streaming technology is so
flawless. Gone are the days of buffering
and stuttering.
While I would normally fast forward
through commercials when watching on the DVR (okay not ALL the time, I do work
in advertising and need to do my research), I was FORCED to watch the ads
online. Although there were only 30
seconds worth of commercials (either a 30 or two 15's) they got annoying REAL
fast. It's the repetition, the same ad
over and over, that kills ya. But I DID find myself commenting and critiquing -
some I loved, some I hated, and some were just plain creepy.
I counted. I
literally viewed this Toyota
The Bad...
"We are continually looking at opportunities to provide
our pay distributers with content and products that enhance the value of pay
television to subscribers."
~ Michael Hopkins, President, Affiliate Sales
and Marketing, Fox Networks.
Let me back up. My little experiment was going great for the
most part. ABC and NBC had their fall
premieres a bit earlier than the other networks, and their shows posted to Hulu
the day after they aired. Not bad. As
difficult as it was for me, I could wait a day if it meant watching high
quality video.
Then, Fox premiere week rolled
around, and I couldn't wait for the return of shows like
"Fringe." I booted up the
computer, went to Hulu, and was greeted with a note: "The episodes will be
available to everyone 8 days after airing." It turns out not everyone looks at streaming
video as the secret to success.
"Our new authentication service
will continue to provide next-day access to FOX broadcast shows for viewers who
subscribe to participating pay television providers," says Hopkins
I was pleasantly surprised that CBS posted
most of their shows the day after air, but they are adamant you visit their
site. According to CBS Interactive
President Jim Lazone, "The notion of joining up and subjugating your brand
to theirs (Hulu) just doesn't make sense for CBS." He noted the decreased traffic to ABC.com
after they joined Hulu as an example.
The more traffic to the site, the more advertising you can sell, at a
higher dollar. In a recent article on adage.com,
CBS.com broke it's prior records with 1.8 million video viewers and 600,000
referrals from social networks as a result of the premiere of "Two and a
Half Men."
The one thing that worried me about
viewing shows on websites other than Hulu or Netflix was the quality of their
streaming. In the past, the edge that
Hulu and Netflix had over others was their ability to offer seamless streaming
technology that no one else could come close to. This has all changed and I found CBS' video
player to be just as good as Hulu. Sure, they did have quite a few more
commercial breaks (allowing them to sell a ton more advertising) but the
instant gratification of being able to watch a new show right away outweighed
the negative. Minus the Fox setback, I
was proud that I had made it a month and had not gone running back to my cable
company.
The Ugly
Four words:
"Syfy" and "Doctor Who." These four little words almost made my online
experiment go down the drain. On Syfy, I
was mortified to find out I'd have to wait almost a month for a new episode to
post, and BBC America programming wasn't even available to stream. It was a dark, disturbing discovery, and it
forced me to sink to all new lows. With
the help of my husband, I tried out websites like megavideo.com that offered
almost any full episode you could think of but only allowed you to view them
for a certain amount of time before pausing and making you wait 45 minutes to
start again (or of course, you could sign up for a paid membership and watch
unlimited). There were also the illegal
sites where people posted their recorded shows, soon to be discovered and taken
down for infringement. The quality of
the video was way worse than the now dreaded standard def, all the while you
felt like your computer would contract a virus just by clicking on the
link. It felt dangerous...and dirty.
But when reviewing the numbers, Syfy
seems to be doing just fine. Some of my
favorite Syfy shows "Eureka," "Alphas," "Warehouse
13," and "Haven" all broke the 2.5 million mark in total viewers
(courtesy of Variety.com). I've always
said Syfy's the place to be. Even on a Friday night, you'll find a demographic
that doesn't mind staying at home if it means watching a new episode of their
favorite show. The dedication is like no
other (trust me I know, I am one of these people). On the other end of the globe, the season
finale of "Doctor Who" drew in over 6 million viewers on BBC 1. Who knows if their lack of online streaming is
helping by forcing people to watch shows on an actual TV.
The Future...
"We had this very traditional model where you bought
30-second timeslots and that's what paid for all these television
programs. With people having the ability
to watch something from Netflix or watch something from the web, it's really
changed the advertising model for television." ~ Kelli Burns, mass communications professor,
University of South Florida
Sample of Ad Swap On Hulu, where you choose the ad you want
to see.
I hit my two month anniversary of
being cable free, and if I could do it, I'm pretty sure anyone could. With online viewing becoming ever more
popular, companies are finding ways to make things more convenient. Published on usatoday.com, networks such as
HBO, Bravo, and Syfy will be providing programming to Xbox 360 owners later
this year. And if you have an Xbox 360,
you can actually stream Netflix and Hulu directly, making it easier than having
to connect your computer to your TV everytime you want to watch something on a
bigger screen. Hulu has just launched
"Ad Swap," allowing you to choose which ad you want to watch. So if you have to watch commercials, at least
you get to choose which ones.
Even with setbacks, I'd say that
ditching my cable was worth all the money I saved. You can basically watch
anything you want online, all you need is a computer. Now if they can only figure out how to stream
the NFL...
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