Say goodbye to the cable bill.

The television networks HBO and CBS announced earlier this month that they will soon offer streaming services that will allow subscribers to watch current and past content without needing a cable subscription. Some experts say that the standalone streaming services won’t affect college students’ behavior toward watching cable television, but reflects television most recent trend.

For $5.99 per month, CBS will offer 15 primetime shows one day after they’ve aired, according to an Oct. 16 Washington Post article. It also says that in CBS’ 14 largest markets, viewers can watch live streaming of CBS content. HBO has not announced how much the service will cost or what content will be offered, but according to an Oct. 15 Washington Post article, HBO chief executive Richard Plepler said streaming services will be offered to subscribers in the U.S.

Elin Riggs, director of the Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Services, said the HBO option might be more popular with college-aged students than CBS streaming because CBS is available without purchasing cable.

“Most students don’t have cable because students prefer higher Internet rates,” Riggs said, adding that students often bypass the option of a discounted rate for cable and Internet that the Off-Campus office offers through Verizon.

Barbara Jones, a professor of television, radio and film, said the new streaming services will change the way people gain access to television.

“The announcement is a sea of change in the distribution of traditional television programming,” Jones said.

But Jones believes the new streaming services will have a minor influence on college students specifically. She said most college students use their parents’ accounts for streaming services and will not be grossly affected by new services from other companies.

Larry Elin, an associate professor of television, radio and film in the Newhouse school thinks otherwise. The announcements come in the midst of a changing environment in the television industry, with companies like Netflix and Hulu already siphoning off sections of viewers, Elin said.

Elin said Netflix owns the online streaming market right now and that these developments signal a “rapid and pretty significant upheaval in the television business.” Most college-aged students either watch TV on computers or don’t do so at all, he said, but added that the behavior of college students is already “bad news for incumbents in TV and film.”

Both Jones and Elin emphasized that the trend of watching television through cable is going away from existing distribution models. Jones said viewers are moving toward a more “à la carte mode of programming.”

This type of trend, one moving toward the consumer controlling his or her intake of content, has its roots in the Internet. As more avenues for producing content open up, consumers can pick and choose from where and from whom they want to consume content.

Elin explained that this has caused a recent increase in what he calls “cord-cutters,” or people who terminate their use of cable. While many still rely on traditional cable companies for Internet access, such as Time Warner Cable or Comcast, they are more apt to engage in “over the top” programming, which is anything consumers can view on a television that does not come from cable or broadcast.

Netflix, the largest of the streaming services, announced this year that it will spend billions of dollars on its own programming, Elin said. This rivals the amount Hollywood spends on films, which shows how the landscape of television production and distribution is shifting.

These online streaming services will also compete with Hollywood for viewers by appealing to viewers who would rather stay at home to watch TV shows and movies.

Elin said that the younger generation “will affect what the industries look like in five to 10 years.”

Published on October 29, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Danny: dmantoot@syr.edu