Aoife Devereux
Website Editor
After sports, hours of homework, dinner, family time and jobs, it’s often difficult for young people to find the time to watch television programs when they originally air, causing younger viewers to abandon traditional broadcasts.
Nine in 10 Internet users in the 18-29 age group watch movies and traditional television programming through online streaming, leading all age groups in online video viewing, according to Pew Research Internet Project.
“I prefer to watch TV shows and movies online, mostly because of commercials,” senior Anna Lyons said. “With companies like Netflix, I don’t have to be interrupted every five minutes by another five minutes of commercials. When I go online, I can catch up on the shows I’ve missed during that week, or even that month.”
Sixty-six percent of Convent students are opting out of watching cable and satellite television and spending their free time on streaming websites, according to a Broadview survey completed by 60 percent of the student body earlier this month. Hulu and Netflix are taking over flat screen TVs with mirroring technology from Apple TV and Roku.
“The only reason I would turn on the TV would be to watch on a bigger screen, but even with Apple TV, I can simply just mirror what is on my computer to the TV,” junior Serafina Cinti said. “The news that solely used to be on the TV is now on all types of social media, most of which is free, so it’s pointless to pay for something when you can get the same exact thing for free or at a lower price.”
The Apple TV box, when connected to a television or display, allows viewers to stream content both directly through the Internet or wirelessly through a laptop or iPad.
A subscription to Hulu offers hit current and past TV series with limited advertisements, and Netflix offers thousands of movies, television series, and exclusive Netflix-created programs with no advertisements. Cable and satellite television average 14 minutes and 15 seconds of commercial time per hour of television, according to the Los Angeles Time Company Town report.
“Online streaming is much more convenient because you’re not spending overwhelming amounts of time channel surfing, or hoping that at the moment when you turn on your television that your favorite show will be on,” Lyons said. “With online streaming I get to watch the shows that I want to be watching within seconds of going online.”
Subscribing to cable television can be pricey. DirecTV’s basic package is $49.99 per month without premium channels such as HBO and ShowTime, and Comcast is $39.99. An online subscription for Hulu is $7.99 per month and Netflix is $8.99.
“I think the price difference will play a huge role in the decline of television,” Lyons said. “Over the next few years, young people like me, who have gone through high school and college, will be moving out of their parent’s homes. With Hulu and Netflix, young people will have cheaper options when they’re first starting out.”
Seventy-eight percent of Convent students or their families subscribe to Netflix, and 50.7 percent of students surveyed said they do not watch cable or dish television during a typical week.
“I watch online streaming because it’s just so much easier to access for me,” Cinti said. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have a TV, I just had my computer, so it’s not natural for me to go over and turn on the TV. Through online streaming, I get to choose what I want to watch, rather than settling with what is on TV at that moment.”
