TV ownership declining « Columbus Underground Messageboard

Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » TV

TV ownership declining

[26 posts] [13 contributors]

Topic Rating:

(Total Ratings: )
Rate this topic:

Started 5 months ago by News
Latest reply from Neil Jaye

Tags:

trends
tv

12 Next »

News
Columbus Underground
Login to Send PM

TV ownership is declining — a little bit
By Amy Saunders
The Columbus Dispatch
Saturday December 10, 2011 5:42 AM

On the job, Caitlin Schultz shoots, edits and produces video for the Ohio Channel, which broadcasts state-government proceedings and local programs. At home in her apartment Downtown, she never turns on the television to see her work. She doesn’t own one.

Schultz is among a still-small minority of Americans: Nielsen, after all, predicts that 96.7 p ercent of households in 2011 will contain at least one working television. That percentage, though, is at its lowest point since 1973 — down from 98.9 percent in 2011.

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2011/12/10/tv-ownership-is-declining--a-little-bit.html

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
Login to Send PM

We've got a TV in our living room, but cancelled our cable around 4-5 years ago. Use it for movies, video games, and TV streaming through online services. We often watch TV shows streaming on our laptops as well.

I don't see us ditching the TV all together anytime soon, but we don't necessarily use it in the same way that I grew up with.

Posted 5 months ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
Login to Send PM

I'm in the same boat, Walker. I have a TV, and will likely always have one. But since I ditched cable/DVR, I just don't watch in the same way that I did. I might stream a movie or two, there are even a couple shows I try to keep up on, but it doesn't have the time-importance that it did somehow, when I had the DVR & had a backlog of things I was always trying to catch up on. It's strange to find, when I do sit down to watch something, that it's been a couple-three days since the TV has even been on. That never used to be the case.

Posted 5 months ago #
gramarye
In Exile
Login to Send PM

As a follow-up to that, I would be interested in seeing if the average and/or median number of televisions per household has declined. I'm curious because I grew up in a house with one TV, but lots of the other houses nearby had TVs in many rooms (and this wasn't a rich area by any stretch of the imagination).

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
Login to Send PM

Twixlen said:
...but it doesn't have the time-importance that it did somehow, when I had the DVR & had a backlog of things I was always trying to catch up on. It's strange to find, when I do sit down to watch something, that it's been a couple-three days since the TV has even been on. That never used to be the case.

Yeah. Random "surfing" is way down for us. When we watch TV, we specifically picking a show and usually watching through an entire season in a short amount of time.

gramarye said:
As a follow-up to that, I would be interested in seeing if the average and/or median number of televisions per household has declined. I'm curious because I grew up in a house with one TV, but lots of the other houses nearby had TVs in many rooms (and this wasn't a rich area by any stretch of the imagination).

Growing up, we had one main TV in the living room, but over time, my brother an I each got smaller TVs in our bedrooms for a grand total of 3.

Today, we have one "true" TV in our living room and that's all. But technically, we have three laptops and two iphones, which add an extra five screens that can be used to watch video content easily from any room in the house, or while in the car, or beyond...

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

Login to Send PM

Devices that share video and advertising are becoming ubiquitous. I can imagine that some sort of 'main large monitor' will always grace peoples living rooms as part of the fun of watching programming is sharing the experience with others.

Posted 5 months ago #
Roland
Clintonville
Login to Send PM

Still have a TV but the way we consume media has changed vastly since the days of my youth. Mostly internet streaming, some gaming, and a home media server.

How long will we continue to call it a TV?

Posted 5 months ago #
gramarye
In Exile
Login to Send PM

The source of the input doesn't change the fact that it's a television, though. TVs were still TVs when people switched from over-the-air to cable and satellite. The same will hold true as they go to Internet TV ... or back to broadcast-only, which I've done. With digital signals, a given spectrum band can hold a lot of content (which is why they now have channels 23.1, 23.2, etc.).

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

Login to Send PM

gramarye said:
The source of the input doesn't change the fact that it's a television, though. TVs were still TVs when people switched from over-the-air to cable and satellite. The same will hold true as they go to Internet TV ... or back to broadcast-only, which I've done. With digital signals, a given spectrum band can hold a lot of content (which is why they now have channels 23.1, 23.2, etc.).

+!

Posted 5 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
Login to Send PM

ha, you can use your tv for this if you have TWCable:
With the click of a remote control, Time Warner Cable (TWC) TV customers can enjoy the warmth of a crackling holiday fire. Through New Year’s Day customers can find a free Virtual Yule Log on Local on Demand (LOD) Channel 411.

The free Virtual Yule Log is a great way to class up a holiday cocktail party or enjoy a peaceful night at home, without starting an actual fire. The earth-friendly program, set to holiday music, is fun and perfectly safe for children. Best of all: the free Virtual Yule Log proves that for Time Warner Cable customers, the best things in life are still free.

Posted 5 months ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
Login to Send PM

Anne said:
ha, you can use your tv for this if you have TWCable:
With the click of a remote control, Time Warner Cable (TWC) TV customers can enjoy the warmth of a crackling holiday fire. Through New Year’s Day customers can find a free Virtual Yule Log on Local on Demand (LOD) Channel 411.

The free Virtual Yule Log is a great way to class up a holiday cocktail party or enjoy a peaceful night at home, without starting an actual fire. The earth-friendly program, set to holiday music, is fun and perfectly safe for children. Best of all: the free Virtual Yule Log proves that for Time Warner Cable customers, the best things in life are still free.

When travelling in Canada in December one year, the yulelog was pretty much all we "watched" on our hotel TV. It was just as mesmerizing as the real thing, somehow.

Also, Amazon Prime has a couples fireplace videos streaming for free with membership...

Posted 5 months ago #
GCrites80s
5xNW
Login to Send PM

I've got a VHS tape called Video Fireplace.

I used to watch TV to relax when I was younger, but now everybody's constantly yelling and crying to melodramatic music and trying to sell me things I don't need like diabetes testing supplies.

Posted 5 months ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
Login to Send PM

GCrites80s said:
I used to watch TV to relax when I was younger, but now everybody's constantly yelling and crying to melodramatic music and trying to sell me things I don't need like diabetes testing supplies.

Posted 5 months ago #
BuenaVista
OTE
Login to Send PM

I am part of the group that does not own a tv.

Posted 5 months ago #
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
Login to Send PM

BuenaVista said:
I am part of the group that does not own a tv.

Same. I probably haven't owned a TV in over a decade.

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
Login to Send PM

Have either of you two watched tv show or movie/film content on computers or laptops though?

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

Login to Send PM

Walker said:
Have either of you two watched tv show or movie/film content on computers or laptops though?

Yeah, not owning a tv used to be some kind of Marshal Mcluhan nod about the great wasteland and avoiding mass culture. Now it seems more in vogue about being hip with technology.

In today's appliance riddled world I doubt not owning a tv is necessarily a sign of erudition or edginess.

Posted 5 months ago #
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
Login to Send PM

Just wait until the Apple TV's hit the market in the next year or so. With their track record with the iPod, iPad, & iPhone... I'm guessing things could get really interesting soon, especially regarding cable TV service. When people start buying these and ditching Time Warner, U-Verse, etc I'll be curious how they compensate by further implementing data caps or raising prices on broadband.

Posted 5 months ago #
leftovers

Login to Send PM

I thought Apple has been marketing apple tv's for awhile with limited market success. I am refering to the roku like box they had out, I am not sure what the new thing may be.

Posted 5 months ago #
Mister Shifter
Lewis Center
Login to Send PM

No, actual HDTV panels with built in Apple TV, Siri, etc functionality, not the little Apple TV boxes. Sorry if I worded that wrong.

With the built in App Store it also sort of doubles as a game console.

Posted 5 months ago #