Grand Strand residents are cutting the cord to stream more entertainment
Steve Hampton of Myrtle Beach gave up cable three years ago and never looked back.
“I don’t watch cable,” he said. “Because I hate ads and commercials.”
The popularity of online viewing keeps growing for all sorts of reasons. Josh Harrison of Myrtle Beach cut the cord a year and a half ago.
“I stream instead of using cable because it’s immensely cheaper and the amount of content on both Netflix and Hulu is enough to satisfy my entertainment needs,” Harrison said. “Not to mention no commercials on Netflix.”
Then there are those viewers who have also made the switch from television sets to more mobile devices. Matt Worrell, a Myrtle Beach resident, uses a Roku and iPad for his viewing needs.
“I watch everything I want thru streaming so no need for cable,” he said.
With online viewing becoming so popular, will there be a need for cable in the years to come?
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that “Netflix has been built on the back of great content from studios like our own,” Fox Television Group Co-Chairman Dana Walden said in an interview at the Television Critics Association media tour. “It has helped to reinvigorate fan bases of shows. But from the network side, it’s very challenging. They’re a competitor.”
It seems as though companies like Netflix are bringing fear to the studios and cable companies alike. The positives keep getting stronger as well. With series like “Orange is the New Black” and “Making a Murderer” only being available through Netflix, the less than $10-a-month fee seems unquestionable.
Cable would look to be going out of style from recent news, but in Jan. 4, 2016, a press release from Time Warner stated “Time Warner Cable Inc. today announced that its full-year residential subscriber growth in 2015 was its best ever.”
“TWC’s stellar 2015 residential subscriber growth is a testament to the efforts of our entire team,” said Rob Marcus, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable. “We’re especially pleased that we were able to add residential video customers for the first time in nine years – a real milestone for our company and the industry.”
Scott Pryzwansky is the director of marketing for Time Warner. Time Warner is “continuing to make our TV offerings even more compelling,” Pryzwansky said. “Apart from the live sports and news and other programming you cannot get from any streaming service.”
“We’re also providing our customers with access to an expanded On Demand library with more than 25,000 movie and shows, growing to more than 30,000 in early 2016,” Pryzwansky said. “As well as an enhanced DVR that can record six shows simultaneously and store 1 terabyte of content — about 150 hours of HD programming — two to six times more storage than our regular DVRs.”
Competitors at HTC are also making changes to maintain and grow their viewing population.
Nicole Hyman, senior marketing coordinator for HTC, said, “Cable services will continue to evolve and have already done so with services such as TV Everywhere (TVE) that allows viewers the options of taking their television viewing with them wherever they are on multiple devices such as smartphones and tablets.
“This technology also adds an improved user experience in the home allowing a family of four to all be in the same room watching different programming at the same time. In many cases, over the top viewing has become a complement and not a competitor to traditional cable by offering binge viewing to catch-up on previous seasons of shows in preparation of watching a new season.” Hyman says. “For HTC, our research has proven that cost is a big concern for our members when subscribing to our services.”
HTC has worked to keep cost down, “through successfully managing cost and fighting hard against excessive programming increases from large programmers, HTC has been able to keep cable rates $15 to $20 below the national average.” Hyman says. “By offering competitive rates below the national average, we have been able to provide our members with the opportunity to spend the additional savings on OTT services in addition to traditional cable. So instead of looking at OTT as an alternative, most HTC members are able to have both services for increased options.”
Whether watching from the couch, streaming on the go or watch numerous devices in the same room, it appears as though the ways you watch are getting bigger, better and more evolved by the day. The only drawback” Harrison says. “Comes with live sporting events.”
Which leaves us with the realization, we’ll always want more.
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Grand Strand residents are cutting the cord to stream more entertainment."