Times change. Once, back in the day, television consisted of a few blurry and fuzzy channels. Cable TV changed that to many channels that were less blurry. Thanks to satellite feeds, cable TV can be crystal clear; 500 channels and nothing to watch.
The internet has changed the very nature of television and I am about to go with the flow. Instead of hundreds of channels, thanks to YouTube, streaming TV, and more content than we could read or view in a thousand years, TV has become a totally customizable experience.
Two of the most recent entrants to streaming media are Apple’s Apple TV+ and Disney’s Disney+ I’m ready for a change. Which one?
Why not both? Cable TV runs about $100 a month. Streaming Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, and one or two more could be half that price. Toss in a few hundred YouTube channels and television just isn’t the same.
Is it worth it to dump cable TV and go into streaming?
Yes. No. Maybe.
Yes, a few bucks can be saved, but not all of what cable TV offers can be replaced by streaming systems at a much lower price tag. Sports and local TV channels come to mind as issues.
No, because the cable TV company also is the internet service provider, which means the bundled price tag might make standard cable network fare worthy of keeping. So far, it’s not.
Maybe, thanks to altering standard cable TV viewer behavior. As much as I disdain the cable company’s remote as overly complex, Apple TV is far simpler to use but much slower to navigate thousands of channels just to save a few bucks each month.
Yes. No. Maybe.
The biggest detriment to a massive switch from cable TV to streaming seems to fall into two basic camps. The first is obvious. Convenience. Cable TV is easier to navigate and comes with one monthly fee that includes everything; TV, DVR, telephone, internet service. The second is less obvious, but remains an issue– navigating streaming TV choices is far more cumbersome.
Apple TV+ comes with a modest price tag but the content– relative to YouTUbe and other internet streaming video services– is less than modest; boredom by comparison to Disney+. Disney+ looks like a keeper, while Apple TV is a test to see if Apple can up the ante and create enough content in the first year– free, thanks to the iPhone Upgrade Program– to keep shelling out money in the second year.
We also have Amazon Prime but have yet to take advantage of streaming content. Yes, the interface sucks that badly. If I had to choose between the two– Apple TV+ vs. Disney+– I would go with Disney. More bang for the buck.