Going into the wintery months of third year, I knew that watching TV would become a daily activity in our new house. We soon found out however, that maybe this year we wouldn’t be watching TV as much as I had anticipated…instead of the advertised modern television, we were given a glorified monitor, no cable and a dream.
For our house, TV has completely shifted from a simple source of enjoyment into a luxurious, inaccessible item. On a grander and less landlord-involved scale, television is transitioning into a pastime that many find economically inaccessible or simply not worth the expense.
"...we see a distinct move away from these networks and instead, mass audiences are moving toward subscription based streaming platforms."
The typical standard browsing of broadcast networks may seem inexpensive. Yet, TV license alone costs £180 per annum, totally removing the ‘free’ from Freeview. However in this digital age, we see a distinct move away from these networks and instead, mass audiences are moving toward subscription based streaming platforms. The most popular being Netflix, Prime Video or Disney +, all of which have layers of paywalls you have to battle through to watch your favourite 20-minute sitcom.
For instance, Netflix price their standard rates at £13.99 and for premium a whopping £20.99 per month. And if you were wondering what advantages you gain from this mass sum, it is multiple streaming devices, improved audio and video quality. Is it worth it? Debatable.
Why are we now paying so much for such a simple thing? When did we shift away from channel surfing to buying subscription after subscription in an oversaturated market?
"...there simply isn’t enough channels to broadcast the diverse range, forcing audiences to face the paywall laden streaming services that dominate media today."
We can mostly thank social media as a dominating factor in the growth of subscription based streaming platforms. Consumers can rave on sites such as X, TikTok or Letterboxd about their favourite shows and film, exposing these media forms to the masses. But, there simply isn’t enough channels to broadcast the diverse range, forcing audiences to face the paywall laden streaming services that dominate media today.
Through making so many TV shows and films accessible, limitations are enforced through these economic barriers. For many, viewers instead resort to other forms of media consumption – predominantly through short form content on social media. The excessive prices and barriers are pushing TV into this state of luxury and are in turn, putting people off television.