I Have 300 TV Channels! (yippee)

In 1992, Bruce Springsteen released the “Human Touch” album. One of the songs on it is called, “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)”. In the song, The Boss sings:

“Man came by to hook up my cable TV We settled in for the night my baby and me We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on”

Thirty years ago, it seemed like having that many television channel choices was a miracle of modern technology. As it turns out, we were still in the dark ages.

According to recent Nielsen research, the average United States household receives 206 television channels. Some cable and satellite packages offer over 300 channel choices. And that’s before the myriad options for pay and free streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Pluto and Tubi. Americans are literally drowning in video choices delivered into their homes. In fact, these days, Chicagoans can watch more than 57 over-the-air channels with just a good antenna. This has led to a new malady called “Subscription Fatigue”. While not nearly as serious as Covid-19, it is none-the-less causing checkbook stress in households across the country.

Yet Nielsen came up with another interesting fact in their study. The average American only watches 12.7 channels a month (I wonder what’s on that .7 channel?) The amazing thing is that Americans are actually watching fewer TV channels today than they were ten years ago when the average was 18 a month. Perhaps we are watching less channels now because of those new streaming services that I mentioned above. After all, we only have so much viewing time before we melt our collective eyeballs.

This is a great example of quantity over quality at work or to put it in more testosterone terms, my number of channels package is bigger than your number of channels package. But, to quote another song from the Swallows in 1951, “It Ain’t the Meat, It’s The Motion”. It’s the quality and not the quantity of the channels that count. Cable, satellite and streaming services know this. That’s why it’s almost impossible to find a channel plan that is perfect for the consumer. My 12.7 channels are different than yours so, we both end up getting charged for stuff that we never watch.

Wouldn’t life be sweet if we could just invent our own channel line-up and pay for what we view on an "à la carte" basis? Well, life doesn’t work that way. At least not yet. As of this writing, there is simply no way to purchase individual channels that you want to view without having to pay for others that you will never watch. The cable, satellite and streaming services know they have us. There isn’t much you can do outside of paying for local sports networks, even if you haven’t watched the Cubs since 2016 or MTV, even if you haven’t watched it since Michael Jackson did the moonwalk or CNN, even if you haven’t watched it since Larry King hung-up his suspenders.

Will there ever be a time when the consumer will be able to choose their own channel plan? Up to now, content suppliers (the channels) have not wanted to bite the hand that has fed them (the cable, satellite and streaming services). However, as competition among those services increases and subscribers look for alternatives, content suppliers are starting to think about "direct-to-consumer" plans. If this happens, it could change the entire way television is consumed. It also will wreak havoc on the industry, but what's a little disruption to our Cable-TV friends?

Sports appears to be the canary in the coalmine in this arena. In fact, just across the border, Bally Sports Wisconsin now allows users to purchase that network all by its lonesome. Brewers and Bucks fans can watch their teams by paying $19.99 a month with no other subscription plan. All they need is a decent internet connection. South of the border, the Cubs' Marquee Network is starting to talk about letting consumers directly subscribe to it as a standalone channel. As of opening day 2023, that has not yet happened, but the sports television landscape is rapidly changing. If you want to read more about those changes, please check out my posting titled, "Major League Problems With Sports Play-By-Play".

The good news is that there are several ways to save significant money on your TV, Cell and Internet expenses. Lower Tech Bills has been able to save households from hundreds to even thousands of dollars with some savings ongoing. I'm happy to examine your bills for free by emailing hmwellsradio@gmail.com or visit www.lowertechbills.com.

Eventually, the content providers will win this battle even if the cable/satellite/streaming services have to buy or merge with them. Knowing how commerce works, it probably won't mean much to your checkbook, but at least one day, your channel guide will be filled with only what you want to watch. Until that day comes, simply put, to get the "good stuff”, you'll have pay for the "I’ll never watch that stuff". So, when Bruce comes to Wrigley, I’m gonna hold-up a request sign and ask him to play “206 Channels (And 12.7 On)”.