The Good Old Days Of Cable TV

Older people reminisce about the good old days of linear television. Those good old days were my childhood. During family dinners, the TV would cycle in the background through news, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune. There'd be long commercial breaks and you didn't really have a choice of what to watch except by flipping through channels to find something you wanted.

Then comes along Netflix and streaming video on demand (SVOD). Everyone views SVOD as an objectively better user experience. Watch what you want when you want. Even from a business perspective, the big cable businesses gave up their cable bundle monopoly for streaming multiples.

After a nostalgic evening experience watching the Bachelorette on cable TV (albeit on the Apple TV's ABC app), I realized maybe the good old days weren't just the good because they were the old days, but because they actually got TV right.

We tuned in a bit earlier than the 8 pm West Coast start and caught Wheel of Fortune while we were cooking dinner. There was a bit of anticipation for the 8 pm start and some novelty to knowing that thousands of people were watching at the same time as us.

The true magic of linear TV became apparent as the show started. Streaming is often a solitary and quiet experience. That's what happens when you can watch what you want, whenever you want. This creates three points of friction to watch SVOD with anyone else:

  1. With unlimited choice, watching anything means paying the opportunity cost of not watching something else you might prefer more. Why watch the Bachelorette when you prefer Love Island?
  2. Because there's no time restriction, SVOD fits around your schedule. If the 8 pm showing of Bachelorette doesn't work for you, you might as well tune in later on your own time.
  3. The expectation with streaming is there are no ads (though it's starting to change now). No ads means the content everyone made time to watch is playing (unless someone pauses the show).

The setting for SVOD is you watching the show you want by yourself. If you happen to watch live with others, they:

  • Paid some opportunity cost to watch a certain show that might've not been their top choice
  • Made time to watch at a time convenient for everyone watching
  • And are sitting in silence together because there's no natural commercial break to talk

Cable TV on the other hand, gives you no choice in what and when to watch, including commercials (there's not even a premium tier with no ads). The commercial breaks aren't even a bug but a feature. There might be a good enough option for you and your friends (like the Bachelorette) and you all have to watch together at 8 pm. And when there's a commercial break after a juicy segment, it's time to discuss.

I wasn't an adult during the cable TV heyday, but the setting for cable TV felt perfect for a casual evening hangouts with friends. Go over to a neighbor's house and watch whatever is on TV together. Commercial breaks offered a chance to talk and grab snacks, and the current show is a topic for conversation.

SVOD turned TV from a social to solo activity. In a generation where loneliness is endemic, maybe it's because one of the country's favorite pastimes changed from a social to solo activity.