Blog Post #9 EOTO: Cord Cutting

For my last EOTO Project of the year, my topic was on Cord Cutting.

The real definition of Cord Cutting refers to the practice of canceling cable or satellite TV subscriptions in favor of streaming services or other forms of content delivery.

Cord Cutting has a lot of Pros and Cons.

Pros to Cutting the Chord:

1. Cost Savings

    Can be more affordable than paying for cable or satellite TV subscriptions. Compare to traditional TV providers, streaming services usually charger lower monthly rates and give a much greater selection of programming

2. Flexibility

    Instead of being restricted by pre-determined cable or satellite channel packages. Using streaming services and new media subscriptions you can easily choose which streaming services you wish to pay for. You also don't have to watch the content on streaming services at set times and worry about filling up a DVR. All your media is available at your own time and convenience.

3. No-Long Term Contracts

    Long-term contracts are often required by cable and satellite TV providers. They can also be expensive to break mid-period with contract fines and fees if you don't want or need the cable anymore. When you switch to these new services and cut the chord you'll have much more flexibility and control over your media spending because most if not all streaming services work off a month-to-month payment schedule and no payment break fees. This allows people to make decisions on their financial commitment whenever they can.

4. Access to wider range of content

    The variety of movie, TV, documentaires, and genres on streaming services is endless. With most streaming services they still provide shows that are found on cable and satellite TV providers 24 hours after viewing. Shows like Family Guy & Bobs Burgers that air new episodes on Fox two times a week are viewable on Hulu 24 hours after airing and also available any time after that at your viewing pleasure. These streaming services also now offer original content. For example Netflix's hit series Strager Things. A world-wide phenomenon that is only available on Netflix channels or pay-per-view via AppleTV.

Cons to Cutting the Chord:

1. Streaming media is dependent on internet access

    When it comes to streamed media most services require a stable internet connection to be able to watch their media. This can be challenging in more rural areas and where internet speeds are too poor or non-dependable streamed media may not benefit the consumer. Though this con is slowly changing with Netflix and Hulu's new download feature where you are able to download the content for a certain period of time to watch online. 

2. Content Fragmentation

    Content Fragmentation refers to the up-and-coming issue where media content is spread across multiple platforms for example streaming services. This makes it incredibly difficult for consumers to make decisions and access all the programming they want to watch without breaking the bank in monthly fees. For example the TV shows Friends and the Office were loved by many consumers and easily accessible through the one streaming service of Netflix. But then ABC created Peacock and HBO created HBO Max and consumers lost both TV shows accessibility on 1 platform. So now those consumers would need to cancel their Netflix subscriptions and buy 2 other different streaming services. Content Fragmentation has caused frustration and large expenses from consumers

3. Limited access to live programming

    Certain new streaming services do not have access to live programming such as news or sports media. Though some streaming services offer packages for live TV it gets expensive fast. The range and accessibility of these live TV options for streaming services are also limited. For example, YouTube TV gives subscribers access to news stations and sports but does not give access to live programing. This can get incredibly dangerous in this day and age because if people cut chords and aren't willing to pay for any form of live TV they have access to entertainment media but no informational media leading to these people possibly diving into a lot of false news.

Coming into this project I hadn't heard of the term Cord Cutting till I talked to Professor Smith about it. He told me about the term Incumbent Media and it played a large role in learning about Cord Cutting.

Incumbent media refers to the traditional media organizations that have built a solid reputation in the field through time. These businesses may have begun as print publications, radio stations, or television networks before expanding to operate in a variety of media, including internet platforms.

Some examples of incumbent media providers is The New York Times, CBS, BBC, NBC Universal, & The Walt Disney Company