The cord-cutting movement and streaming wars are going hand in hand. It looks like the cable TV providers have failed to meet the expectations of their customers. This is contributing to this new trend of getting multiple streaming services for home entertainment. However, the real question is whether these streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have completely taken over Cable?” The answer is no.
Cable TV has something that Netflix and Amazon Prime do not. For the news and sports aficionado, getting rid of their cable service is a cardinal sin. Although they will get better quality and hassle-free entertainment on these services. However, these services do not cater to news, sports, weather, and local channels as well.
Also Read: Benefits of Having a Digital Marketing Career
In light of this growing debate, we did a comparison between Netflix and Cable TV. Out of all the streaming services, we chose Netflix because it is leading the streaming wars with its quality and exclusive content.
Binge Watching
There was a time when you were conditioned for a single episode in a week. The idea was to keep the curiosity intact, build up the hype and make sure those excitement levels are high. This was a common strategy to stretch out the potential for advertisement-based revenue.
Netflix turned the world upside down. They had no regard for advertisement-based revenue and went in the opposite direction. You get an entire season’s worth of episodes for all the Netflix originals in a single day. This gave us the freedom to watch our favorite shows at our own leisure.
In terms of binge-watching content, Netflix outshines the Cable TV by a mile.
Content
To be fair, there is no comparison in the kind of content they offer. Netflix is home to a library of TV series, movies, and documentaries. Gone are the days when you have to seek refuge under pirated sites to download your favorite movies and TV series. Netflix lets you stream all of the popular TV shows at your convenience. With high-speed internet, streaming saves you the pain of downloading. Netflix has produced some exclusive content all these years and shows like House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Black Mirror, and Kimmy Schmidt have won audiences like never before.
Conversely, cable has something different to offer. You get all your favorite news channels and political shows together in a service. With the elections just around the corner, cable TV is a reliable option to witness all the historical Presidential debates.
Moreover, Cox cable TV has to offer all the sports content. You can watch all your favorite games live, track your local team’s performance, and enjoy all the special events in the world of football, soccer, basketball, and boxing. Lastly, with Cox On-demand you get access to a huge library of movies, TV series, and documentaries. These are not equivalent to what Netflix offers but are a great add-on.
Pricing
Netflix is a clear winner here with monthly charges starting from $12.99. There are no added fees, surcharges, taxes, and your monthly bill does not go up every year. You do not have to pay extra for equipment or high-definition.
Cable TV takes a hefty sum out of your pocket every month. You have to pay for the basic package, the equipment rental, Broadcast fee, sports surcharges, taxes, and DVR fee.
Quality of Service
Your access to Netflix is contingent upon your internet connection. If your speed is low, the streaming will suffer. Of course, you can download all your favorite seasons in a go and watch them later on but without fast internet, you are going nowhere.
Cable TV also suffers similar problems. The routine power outages, cable box issues, and wiring problems can frustrate you a lot. If something like this happens, you have to wait for a technician to come over and fix everything for you.
Ease of access
Cable TV has a lot of complications associated. When you are moving to a house, you have to make sure the wiring is fine and the cable port is near to the place where you want to fix the TV. Conversely, Netflix is quite convenient to use. You can take it anywhere you want to.
Also Read: Web Development
How to decide which one is best for you?
There is no clear answer to this question and varies from person to person. If you don’t fancy sports, news, or bulky channel lineups and just like to binge-watch TV series, Netflix should be your ultimate choice. Moreover, if you can’t live without your football, basketball, soccer, and political humor, stick to cable or have both.
