Viewpoint by Elaine Bonilla/se news editor
After a long, stressful day of work or school, coming home, sitting on the couch and watching TV sounds like a perfect way to relax.
As a college student, I try to budget where I can, and this includes my entertainment options. I don’t own a TV, and because of this, people often ask if I watch TV. Of course I do! I just do it a little differently.
I do this by paying for a streaming video service, which I watch on my laptop. This offers a variety of movies and TV shows starting out at about $8 a month instead of the cable service I previously had which varied from $50-$100 a month.
The price for streaming services is fixed and only changes if the subscriber changes the plan. Even the most expensive streaming plan is a lot less expensive than basic cable.
With cable, the bill never seemed to be the amount said when signing up. The prices would fluctuate for various reasons.
Like sometimes, the cable company would offer a week of free movie channels, and the next thing you know you’re subscribed to those channels. The catch: the subscriber needed to cancel the channels at the end of the trial period to avoid being charged.
Then there’s the chance that someone watched pay-per-view movies. Too many factors affected the fluctuation of the bill. It was just too much.
In fact, the streaming service has a library filled with a variety of movies and TV shows to choose from, many of which were shown on cable.
The bad thing about giving up cable is giving up channels [like HBO] and shows that aren’t available without a cable subscription. This also meant giving up the news channels, which just so happened to be my only source of news at the time.
After a while, I realized I could keep up with current events by reading a newspaper or even going online to news sites.
That being said, there are shows I miss that aren’t available with streaming, but the money that was saved can be spent on going to the movie theater, renting movies or even buying movies.
After considering the differences between streaming and cable, I am content with what I get for the amount I pay. Streaming fits the college student’s lifestyle and budget and makes the choice well worth it.
