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Cable TV vs Video Streaming From the Consumer’s Viewpoint

 Television is very important in our lives and can be considered one of the most revolutionary inventions of the world that represents media. Everyone watches television either to keep up to date with the news around the world or for entertainment; it is an important part of our lives.

We have come a long way from aerial television which was the initial stage of watching television consisting of no more than a couple of channels transmitted, but this method got obsolete as newer privatized networks were launched that gave exclusive coverage to sports and entertainment channels, which is why it became a necessity to subscribe to get these extra channels.

After successfully giving access to satellite channels and the widespread use of the internet, everyone was stuck with two choices, whether to continue their cable network or subscribe to video streaming. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of both of these prevalent methods of watching television.

Cable Television:

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After the prevalence of aerial TV came cable television, where the channels were transmitted through satellite and carriers would send wires to the subscribers. Cable television, since the beginning, has supplied an extensive menu of channels to view without any significant need to subscribe to additional channels. There are exclusive channels, especially for sports, but the majority of channels are already included in the standard subscriptions.

Cable TV has been around a long time so we are widely familiar with the workings of cable service. If a problem occurs, we have the ability to call our cable service provider, and the problem will be taken care of.

Cable TV comes with a lot of benefits at a very minimal price, this is because the cable can be spread over a huge area. Television has become a basic need for almost every household; an entire area provided by the same cable provider helps to divide the total cost among many houses, giving cable to many houses with reduced cost.

As we moved forward, technology moved ahead as well, the introduction of High Definition in television screens left people wondering how would they access HD in their LCDs and LEDs when the cable provided to them transmitted standard definition. Then came the time for set-top boxes that can be connected to high-end televisions and provide the user with high definition channels with the same old cable provider.

The only problem with cable is that there is a charge for each TV set in the home that receives the cable transmission. There may also be a monthly charge for a DVR. Although convenient, these charges add up when several TV sets are used for multiple viewing options. For several good reasons to keep your cable TV provider click here.

Video Streaming:

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As the internet connects the whole world making a global village, people realised that they could broadcast television shows online through the world wide web. The best part about video streaming is that you can use it on multiple devices, previously our television sets were simple and relied on cable for viewing channels, but the advent of Smart televisions that come with operating systems and can be connected to the internet have provided the ability to stream videos on TV through the internet.

The biggest problem with video streaming is that there are very limited number of channels that can be viewed and the cost in the long term is very high as media service providers are segregating; which means that if you want a broad spectrum of channels to view, then you will have to subscribe to many media service providers individually which in the end costs a lot of money to the consumer due to overlapping services.

If something goes wrong with your system, there is no place to call to have a repairman look at it.

Conclusion

If we weigh the pros to the cons of cable television and online video streaming services, the pros of cable television outweigh its cons, which is why it is the best option to continue viewing a large selection of TV channels with a reasonable cost.

About Suzan Vega