Jen, aka the Pop Culture Curmudgeon, asked recently if the Networks are still relevant. (check out her article here.) Yahoo recently published an article stating that 800,000 Americans have dropped their cable subscriptions in favor of receiving signal out of the air or watching online or via download. While this is a relatively small number in the grand scheme of things, it is growing by leaps and bounds.
I watch most of my tv online, via hulu or netflix. It's nice to be able to watch it when I'm ready and with limited commercials. How about you? What are your viewing preferences?
I used to be a regular TV watcher - had to be home on Tuesday nights for Buffy, etc. Then I started stockpiling - back in the day, at the beginning of grad school (so late 90s, early aughts), I'd tape things and watch in binges at the end of the quarter. Now, I TiVo things. I start off watching, but often get distracted by work and build up a backlog. If I get behind by enough, I put it on the DVD list - TV on DVD is really one of the best things ever. The problem is that now the "to watch" list is as long as the "to read" list.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really gotten into online viewing, except in "emergency" situations. Flash Forward, for example, which is on at the same time as TVD. Mostly, I've got no patience for watching things in real time anymore. Even when I watch something regularly, I wait until I've got a buffer to fast forward through commercials on the TiVo!
Ah, taping. I knew you when... You're absolutely right- tv on dvd is the best but I'm often too impatient to wait.
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for sports programming *hubby's passion), I would be happy getting rid of the satellite dish (and the monthly bill) and just buying the shows I like on iTunes. It is easy to find network and cable shows, but sports programming is not readily offered online. We could subscribe to Duck Vision, or whatever the UO calls their online game vieweing, but I don't know if the Packers or the Blazers offer that. And then there are the other teams he might want to watch. Thankfully, it's only football and basketball--I don't know what I would do if he was into baseball, hockey, and whatever other sports people get rabid about, too.
ReplyDelete