Television: Same Old Song, Different Verse.
“I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills.
Man came by to hook up my cable TV.
We settled in for the night my baby and me.
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn.
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on.”
- 57 Channels ~ Bruce Springsteen, 1992
Although released back in the day, “57 Channels” is now apparently the theme song for many American households that are switching from cable to broadcast-only television. According to the Pew Center Internet and American Life Project, people are canceling their cable subscriptions in favor of traditional broadcast television. In fact, there has been a 22% rise in broadcast-only homes from November 2007 to November 2008.
But wait, there’s more!
Remember how awesome the DVR (Digital Video Recorder) seemed just a few years back? It seems many Americans no longer feel that way, with DVR growth falling from 42% two years ago to just 21% this past year.
So does this mean we’re no longer a nation of couch potatoes? Far from it. The most recent reports from Nielsen Media Research reveal that the average American watches 153 hours of television every month at home, which is a 1.2% increase from last year. In this economy, people are simply looking for ways to save money, and cutting off their cable with DVR is one great way to do it. According to David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, online video will be the growth area for time-shifted viewing. New TV sets with Internet access and Microsoft Vista operating system-enabled computers with DVR capability will help this trend.
And our lust for constant stimulation just keeps growing. Most of us now juggle our television viewing with Internet usage, regardless of age. In fact, an average of 30.8% of adults 35-54 and 33.8% of adults 55-64 watch television and use the Internet simultaneously. David David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision said, “They may not be online as much as the younger generation but when they are, they are just as likely to be watching TV at the same time.”
Now let’s talk about children’s television viewing habits and their dramatic effect on health, emotions, behavior and overall well-being. Better yet, let’s save that story for another time. American Idol comes on in five minutes so I’ve gotta run. Maybe between commercials, I’ll do a little Internet research on this topic for a future blog post. Stay tuned...
©2009 Angel Reyes
www.ReyesLaw.com
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I am still waiting for cable and satellite companies to offer a la carte programming. I do not watch the majority of the channels in my package and it would be great if I only paid for the channels I picked. If it was up to me, I would order all the ESPN channels, The Science Channel, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Travel Channel, CNBC, the local channels, and some HD music channels such as Palladia. The cable companies claim the a la carte model would be more expensive for consumers, so I don’t think we will be selecting our favorite channels anytime soon.