Cable kept the entertainment industry alive for decades, millions of Americans would sit down at night and watch a TV show or movie as it aired. There were no such things as pausing or watching it on your phone, no apps, just quick bathroom breaks in between commercials. But now you can watch anything, and everything anywhere you want on your phone.
The Death of Cable
Before TVs living rooms were a place to gather and host guests, but by the 1950’s living rooms were dedicated to the TV—all of the furniture faced toward it which took away the face-to-face conversations. But as phones became less about strictly communication and more about entertainment TVs took a back seat. The introduction of “On Demand” by the cable provider, Comcast in 2003 allowed customers to pause and decide when to watch a show. It wasn’t like screening on a DVR, the show or movie was already there for customers to watch.
In January 2007, Netflix took its physical business model and took it to the digital world. The company began the streaming part of its brand and changed the entertainment world forever. My family hasn’t used cable since 2015, the constant fluctuation of prices and hidden fees were an issue that couldn’t be overlooked.
Gen Z and TV’s
Now, as an adult, it has never crossed my mind to set up cable in my apartment. At nineteen I don’t own a TV nor want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy one. My roommate and I use a 24-inch computer monitor as our “TV” in our living room since we mostly watch entertainment on our phones and laptops. But in the 2010s TVs were all the rage, getting bigger and flatter by the day. Some even had multiple screens to watch movies and shows at once. Every Black Friday people camped out in long lines hoping to buy a thousand-dollar TV marked down to three hundred dollars.
There are so many streaming services now that it’s hard to keep track and just like cable the prices keep changing. Netflix’s starting price used to be five dollars and now it’s $6.99 with ads! Streaming services having ads is something that perplexes me because the charm of streaming is that the viewer gets to decide when they watch something. Ads also increases watch time, even if it’s a few extra minutes.
The rights to movies and shows are passed from one streaming service to another. For example, New Girl was on Netflix for years but moved to Hulu. People have jokingly speculated that the streaming services might combine to make one huge platform. This doesn’t seem entirely impossible.
TV as Art
In the 90’s and 2000’s people used to put their TV’s in fancy armoires and closed the doors when guests came around. Around 2020 I noticed the TV as art trend all over YouTube. They were trying to emulate Samsung’s “The Frame” TV. This product runs around 1400 dollars! There are other brands and website you can find the same style for much cheaper.
But people also DIY the frames by buying long wooden planks, painting them gold, and adding them around their TVs. The most important part is mounting it to the wall to make it look like a painting. Adding real pieces of art around the TV let’s it blend in which is the whole point. The TV as art trend says a lot about our society today. Whether you disagree that the US is in a recession, we can all agree that the cost of living is too high. TV’s are the last things on people’s mind to buy, especially large ones. So hiding it or turning it into something like art makes people feel as if it useful and not just for entertainment.
Do you own a TV? Do you hide it or disguise it as a painting? Were you wondering how to turn your tv into a picture frame? Let us know!
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