Without a doubt, television has been one of the most popular household items since its debut in the late 1920s. However, over the past ten years, alternatives such as various streaming services and cable streaming options have dominated the industry. Nowadays, it’s so easy to watch whatever we want, whenever we want, and without having to switch over to cable, which we all know tends to bring weak programming and staggering bills.

In 2020 alone, over 5 million people in the United States decided to completely forgo their cable services and rely solely on streaming subscriptions. These are known as “cord cutters,” those who cancel their cable or satellite television and switch completely to streaming alternatives.

According to The New York Times, “the flood of new streaming services will cause more people to cancel traditional cable subscriptions.” With popular streaming services such as Netflix, which has over 200 million subscribers worldwide, services have begun to not only offer some of everyone’s favorite shows and movies, but even some of their own “originals,” all for a low monthly cost.

On average, a basic cable plan costs about $100 a month, and for premium services, it could cost over $200 whereas many streaming platforms are significantly cheaper.

Netflix costs only $9 a month, and $18 for the premium service that includes the ability to download videos and allows more screens to be used at a time. Hulu, another popular streaming subscription, starts at only $6 a month. They also offer a Hulu, Disney Plus, and ESPN bundle for only $13 a month, considerably cheaper than regular cable. Some mobile companies offer free services, like T-Mobile offers Hulu and Netflix to its customers.

Personally, my family canceled our cable service about two years ago. Instead, we use Hulu, which offers a live television service and the top plan is only $72 a month. Although it is still about the same as a regular cable plan, this package includes regular Hulu content (tons of movies and shows, all ad free), and nearly 50 live television channels including major news networks and other popular channels. Thus, you get to replace cable altogether and get more for less. Similar platforms such as Youtube TV and Sling TV have been created that still allow viewers to watch live television, but avoid the cost of cable.

Aside from lower costs, streaming services also offer many more features including a variety of options of shows and movies to watch.

Disney Plus, one of the newest and more popular streaming platforms, came out in November of 2019. Now, nearly a year and a half later, they have over 95 million monthly subscribers and are projected to hit 260 million by the end of next year. Disney Plus offers every single Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic show or movie ever made.

At this point, the only reason why cable television hasn’t gone completely obsolete is due to the amount of streaming services there are now available. “So much change is suddenly happening so quickly that viewers are becoming overwhelmed,” the Times mentioned.

Since there are so many different streaming platforms now, consumers don’t want to spend money on each individual service, yet, millions of people every year are still canceling their traditional cable. Most say it is because of accessibility. People can download an app on their phone and watch whatever they want to matter where they are instead of only being able to watch on a television at home.

With the rise of popular streaming platforms dominating the industry, it is predicted that within the next decade, cable may even become obsolete. This may be due to the more affordable cost of streaming subscriptions and the variety of shows and movies offered.

There will eventually be a point where regular cable might not be needed as there are now more affordable and accessible ways to watch movies and shows through popular streaming platforms.