The Lost Art Of Cable Television

I'm sorry if your favorite TV show didn't make it in this video! But if you support me on Patreon or become a channel member, I will make it up to you. ;)

Does anyone remember Cable? That shared experience of just turning on the TV and going on a whole new adventure? Whatever happened to that?

It seems that broadcast television has definitely seen better days. According to a study from the website nScreenMedia, US households with cable, satellite, or telco TV went from 100 million in 2014 down to 60 million in 2023. That’s a 40% drop, and the lowest its been since the 1980s. I mean, this is no surprise because of streaming; the privilege of being able to choose what you want, whenever you want, without any ads, and at a much more affordable price. A whole new movement known as “cord cutting” is now on the rise.

There’s no denouncing the incredible convenience and flexibility of on-demand content, but it does lack that very unique autonomy that its predecessors had, that feeling of just turning on the TV, flipping through the channels, not having to give it any thought, especially after a long day of work or school, and then just eventually discovering something. And with that, comes that feeling of togetherness, watching a live broadcast with thousands of other people, something that, by the nature of how Cable TV is designed, has yet to be replicated. And now, we are seeing the aftereffects of that. So how did Cable TV, as an artform, start? What went wrong? And how do we go back?

This is a deep-dive into the history of network and cable television in the United States and the shape it has had on the entertainment media of today.

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JJJreact! Love you guys!

[nationsquid]

I am sorry if your favorite TV show didn't make it in this video!
But if you support me on Patreon or become a channel member, I will make it up to you. ;)

[tebo]

Since people are complaining about your videos being too long, let me personally thank you for longer format videos. The only reason I would ever come to YouTube would be for something I could settle into and relax for a while. Picking something different every 15 minutes isn't for me. So, thanks from at least one person.

[gabe_s_videos]

It's funny, I remember the joke about cable in the 90s being "200 channels and STILL nothing to watch." As early as twelve years ago, I remember making the joke that now it's "Every TV show and movie ever made and STILL nothing to watch!"

[MacUser-ilcx]

Nothing will beat the 90s-2000s era of cable television.

[janedoe]

Cable TV was destroyed by greed. When niche channels existed with their own themes and modest prices, the ads weren't even a negative. You got a curated experience that was fun. Classic MTV, Nickelodeon, A&E, Bravo, Discovery, and the like didn't draw everyone but who they drewhad better taylored ads than Google manages so that wasn't bad. The cable cost was extreme because these weren't all controlled by five companies yet, and that lead to very cheap shows being made by people with passion.

People think of cable as it is now, but in the past it was actually more like YouTube was 14 years ago. It had something for everyone because the people had the ability to make anything and get an audience somewhere.

YouTube should take this as a warning of what will happen if you get too greedy. Netflix and them are just waiting for cable to die officially to crank prices up into the hundreds.

This didn't happen in the late 2000s. It happened by 1999.

[nubtail]

Cable tv was such a huge part of my daily routine growing up, I remember my mom turning on the Weatherscan channel in the mornings while everyone is getting ready for the day. I remember hanging out with my parents to catch star trek reruns at night before bed. The thrill of staying up later than I was supposed to in order to catch some anime on adult swim 🤣

[corpix]

Cable service providers played a big part in the decline too. They divided all the worthwhile stations and bundled them in with a bunch of stations you didn't want. So to get the history channel, you had to get a $20 bundle which included like 5 - 6 stations you didn't want.

[techwiz]

The ability to flip through channels and find an episode of Seinfeld or an old movie or whatever rather than having to choose what to watch is definitely something I miss.

[Crocogator]

There's a reason why there's a huge push in the last few years for full streams of TV blocks from the 90s and 00s, complete with commercials. It reminds a lot of us of a certain time.

I remember when we first got 'digital' cable in 2001. My dad was blown away by all the sports channels. It introduced me to the food network and teletoon.

[mirandam]

I think one of my favorite and last memories of cable TV I had is watching the Cartoon Network show over the Garden wall with my mom. My mom was the type to hate cartoons. She thought they were just gross and full of fart jokes. She just happened to be sitting on the couch as I was watching it and slowly she looked up from what she was doing, and started to really fall in love with the show. She was so invested. She even made a little fan theory as we watched. We discussed our predictions. It’s such a lovely memory I have of us just enjoying something together. we struggled to find common interests normally so I’m grateful for that memory.

[hothmandon]

A major downside to cable was if you got grounded from TV for a week, you could miss a big TV event that won't air again, and you gotta catch it years later on YouTube. That happened with me a few times.

[sachikofox]

I had the privilege of visiting Cartoon Network Studio back in 2017. The culture surrounding the studio as well as the people I got to meet was honestly the motivation I needed to study animation in college. I was devastated when I found out that the building for the studio was shutting down. Not because I wanted to work at Cartoon Network, but because that studio culture and history is not going to be present in that building anymore.

[ecstaticryan]

I will say I do miss being able to channel surf when i was a kid and early teenager because thats how i discovered a lot of the shows i like today. Obviously we are spoiled for choice today, but that leads to the ability to watch whatever we want but not being able to pick because there’s too much to pick from.

[ADreamingTraveler]

The loneliness thing you mentioned about streaming services is part of why I think livestreaming on youtube/twitch is so popular. There is community and it feels alive because you're interacting with the streamer and the people there chatting. It also fills this void of loneliness people experience being online so much and alone because there's others they can share experiences with. I cannot tell you how fun it is to watch tv shows with other people in Discord communities or just friends in general. You get a group of friends or a community and watch the same show together. Same with watching Amazon tv shows on twitch with hundreds or even thousands of people at the same time. That very thing was something I had hoped so badly would be the future back in the mid 2000s and I'm so glad it happened. That is one thing cable tv could never replicate.

[MegaUtube]

One thing I’ve been desperately waiting for streaming services to add is a “shuffle” or “randomizer” feature where I don’t have to necessarily think about what to watch. It can be specific to each show or you can randomize the whole platform based on your preferences

[nickwallette]

Bravo. I saw a screenshot of a Twitter post recently of an actual listing of a cable channel's line-up for the next three days. It was almost entirely a marathon of one show, with a movie and its sequels back-to-back, but out of order, during one of the days. It felt very much like when someone leaves a streaming service playing the in the background, and it asks "Are you still watching?"

[thecrow]

For me cable TV died when everything became reality TV. Cable in the 80's and 90's was the best and like you say: streaming feels 'lonelier' indeed. I think you nailed how most people felt about cable TV and how it died.

[MarjaMariachi]

What killed cable for me was the ads, way worse than broadcast TV.
Sat down to watch "Catfished" on MTV one day, and it was in a 70-minute block. Show had a 40-minute runtime, and they weren't doing any special event to fill that time. 30 minutes of ads, 40 minutes of show.

[saraceaser]

Nothing will be more nostalgic for me then the 90's/00's bumpers for teen/kid channels, like CN, Nickelodeon, Boomerang, etc. I Love cartoons and those always were so much fun to watch, (I especially adored when CN had those fun bumpers where characters from All of their shows were walking around real life areas and interacting with each other even if it made no sense), and as much as I do prefer using Streaming when watching something... I miss those.

They gave the channels and the shows you watched... something More special. IDK, but man this video made me nostalgic as heck, particularly the part with the Rugrats theme song. :)

[PeteOliva]

Beautiful, well-conceived video. I actually got teary eyed thinking about how many shows I just walked in on already playing and the memory I have spending time with those family members I saw them with.

Your points are all so well arranged. Do NOT cave to pressure for shorter videos. I love content in this form.

It feels like ... TV. 😊