Fearful Tumbles

I watch a lot of television. House and Burn Notice are must sees and back episodes are good alternatives when nothing new is on. Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, and Mythbusters are the height of reality television as a serious genre. All that gets watched when I’m not tuning into a live sporting event. And if I want to see the worst of reality television, there’s always The Soup.

I didn’t come to a realization that any of this was less “necessary” to me than it was before. Rather, I came to the realization that a $125 cable bill was less necessary (i.e. not at all) to get it.

Availability of Alternatives

I had dabbled in internet television increasingly, starting with the occasional night watch Hulu instead of cable. Then came the epiphany that I wasn’t watching The Daily Show any sooner than when it was available online if I recorded it. Finally, ABC’s decision to put the entire series of Lost on Hulu, for free, prior to the final season enticed me to get involved, a binge that lasted a couple of months, three or four episodes a night.

All of this was against the backdrop of increased alternatives. Podcasts like Macbreak Weekly and other shows from the TWiT empire. Jordan, Jesse, Go! and the Maximum Fun gang. Back episodes of You Look Nice Today. And finally the recently launched 5by5 network

But it wasn’t until I finally maximized my use of Netflix that I really got it. The availability of back episodes of TV shows, movies, and documentaries both instantly and overnight approaches magic. Combine it all with my status as a university employee (meaning I have access to ESPN3.com) and there’s virtually no need to pay for cable.

The Lack of a Water Cooler

For the record, my office does in fact have a water cooler. And it does in fact draw people into conversations about topics outside of work, including television shows. But the notional water cooler, the place where something as mundane and repeatable as a television show is elevated to an event no longer exists.

Our tastes are too varied now. You can’t count on one television show to captivate even an entire office, no matter how many people it seems watch American Idol. The same people who might have all watched Dallas now might be split between Celebrity Fit Club, Desperate Housewives, or a web series.

The practical effect of all this is to make more feasible what DVR made possible. You can now consume media on your own terms, at your own pace. The VCR first made it technically possible, but until you could be confident that passing a group of people on the way to the bathroom wasn’t going to ruin a show for you, it wasn’t as appealing.

Support What You Love

Not only would I argue that giving up cable is a better viewing experience, I believe it’s better for the content producers. The more swiftly we move to online distribution, the less pain will be felt by networks. If everyone switched tomorrow, I believe only the cable companies would suffer greatly.

Contrary to popular belief, I’m more likely to support my favorite shows now. Online streaming forces you to watch a palatable set of adds (two 30-second spots) rather than compelling you to skip through three minutes of commercials. All in an environment that offers better tools (although not properly used yet) to target and test the effectiveness of advertising.

The Pitter Patter of Little Hard Drives

It would be disingenuous to suggest that my apartment does not feel quieter or less “cluttered” without a fire hose of instant-on content. And it would be false to say that in the first few hours, that isn’t liberating, calming, and eerie all at the same time. Not having the clock under my TV is a big change as it is.

But that’s not the reason I did it. I plan to watch every show I watched before. I plan to consume as much if not more media than before. It will just be on my terms, from more diverse sources, with less of a hit to my wallet.