About 15 years ago, realizing that we were spending $70-$80 a month on something we rarely ever used, we unsubscribed from cable TV. I rigged up some bunny ears on the roof, and we had access to 7 or 8 local "over-the-airwaves" channels. We have never been big television viewers, usually preferring to read a book of an evening, and we didn't really miss cable at all.
Since then, we have retired (and have much more time to read books, for instance), and the cable connection to our bunny ears gradually degraded to the stage that we couldn't actually receive ANY free channels, and when there was a rare series or sports event that we did want to see, we couldn't anyway. So, an element of frustration set in and, a couple of months ago, we bit the bullet and took advantage of a preferential deal and re-subscribed to cable. It has been kind of nice, I have to say.
A couple of things have changed drastically since 15 years ago, though. One, of course, is that it's not really cable television any more; it's all streamed over wifi. But that does not really affect our experience as such (at least not until we all get cancer from the constant exposure to microwaves).
Another is the advent of steamed services like Netflicks and Crave. And Gem and Hulu and YouTube TV and Amazon Prime and PureFlix and Acorn and Disney+ and Hayu and HBO Max ... Each has slightly different content and focus, and each has its own subscription fee (kind of just like different cable packages back in the day, so how far have we really come?). You could end up spending a lot of money if you were tempted by more than one (we're not, we're trying just Crave for a while).
The other thing that has struck me is the extent to which certain channels have changed their content in the last couple of decades. My memory of the History Channel, for example, is of lots of interesting documentaries on generally historical subjects. Now, the History Channel seems to air constant re-runs of shows about antique hunters (Pawn Stars, Rust Valley Restorers, Canadian Pickers, etc), and lurid populist shows with little or no historical connection like Ice Road Truckers, Border Security, Forged in Fire, etc. What little I have seen in passing has been terrible, but maybe it pays better than historical documentaries. In the same way, the Discovery Channel no longer does nature documentaries, but specializes in vaguely outdoorsy reality shows like American Chopper, BattleBots, Bitchin' Rides, Disasters at Sea, Mighty Cruise Ships and Highway Thru Hell. It's all so disappinting. Even Bravo, which used to show some quite cutting-edge arts shows, now seems to be all about America's Next Top Model, Daytime Divas, Project Runway and re-runs of old cop shows (the few interesting series it does carry are available on Crave - without advertising - anyway).
I guess the paradigm has changed, and "highbrow" content doesn't sell any more. But it does all seem to have been dumbed down for an audience with short attention spans, which is a bit depressing. Still, I suppose, at least we can now watch Wimbledon and the basketball playoffs and the Handmaid's Tale. Who are we to complain?
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