The future of television
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
Two years ago, various streaming services—including Shomi and Crave TV—were launched to compete with Netflix. Many people think that streaming services are the future of television and that they will replace TV. Recently, Shomi unexpectedly announced that it will be discontinued on November 30 because of the television landscape and its competitors. Because of this, the future of television is changed, and TV might be still the same as before. The discontinuation of Shomi means that half of the shows that are on TV are no longer available on streaming services, and you may have to watch season DVDs or buy the episodes on iTunes or Google Play.
This means that you cannot watch NCIS, Hawaii Five-0, New Girl, Modern Family, or Family Guy on streaming services. Transparent, which is a show that a lot of people are talking about, will also be unavailable. Hopefully, Amazon Prime Video will be made available in Canada so that you can watch it. If you are a fan of The Man in the High Castle, you would finally be able to watch it on Amazon Prime Video too. There is a likely chance that Netflix and Crave TV have better offerings than Shomi, because Netflix has their original shows including Masters of None, Stranger Things, and Making a Murderer.
Crave TV claims that they have all of the best shows on TV. But that is false, because they do not have Game of Thrones (which many think is the best show ever made), Veep (one of my favourite shows) and Breaking Bad. They recently announced that Showtime is now available on Crave TV in Canada, which means that you can watch Shameless the same day it airs on cable. Many of the great shows today are shown on cable channels, and most you cannot watch the same day on streaming services.
Out of the four major US networks, there are only two shows that are shown this fall that are great: This is Us and Pitch. Many shows today are like movies, and if you like to watch them, you have to pay more to get the channel or streaming service that airs it. In the case of Canadian channels, there are a lot of great shows this fall including Kim’s Convenience, This is High School, Second Jen, and Travellers. The closest that you can get to watch a high quality show is with Masterpiece Classic and Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. PBS also airs other quality shows, including Sherlock and soon, Victoria.
One of the reasons why cable TV will not go extinct is because of live shows. Cable is still great for live shows because they create excitement, and everyone gathers in the living room to witness a moment. The Super Bowl is the biggest event on TV, and it is something that has to be watched live on a TV because you don’t want the final score ruined for you before you watch it. You also cannot wait to see who will be eliminated on Dancing with the Stars and The Voice. TV is also a great platform for live musicals, including the live versions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hairspray. TV will stay the same for a long time, because it is the place for live shows. If you like to watch high quality shows, you can still watch them on cable channels, or through streaming services.
