by Brittany McSorley
Recently, I tried to figure out how to watch the World Series. Like the majority of Americans as of 2023, I don’t have a traditional cable subscription, opting instead for a handful of streaming services to which I dedicate every spare moment of my time so as not to have a single thought. (Just kidding! I read and stuff, but it’s election season, so I don’t blame you if you need constant background noise to keep the panic at bay.)
Anyway, the World Series is aired by Fox, so the easiest way to watch it is through your local Fox affiliate (cable). The next-easiest way is on Hulu (requiring the “with Live TV” subscription). Some other ways, in no particular order, are on the Fox Sports website (free trial lasting 45 minutes), through Fubo ($80 per month), and via begging my mom for her login info (wouldn’t work on the West Coast). I eventually settled on a five-day tree trial of YouTube TV, which typically costs $73 per month. And I’m glad I did, because Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam at the end of Game 1 was very cool to see, but at what personal cost? I used 100% of my brain trying to figure this out. And my free trial only lasts until tomorrow, so the Dodgers better wrap this thing up!
Streaming used to be a cheap alternative to expensive cable packages, but these days it seems there are so many services with creeping prices that we might as well circle all the way back around to 1998. According to Forbes, Netflix remains the most popular streamer with around 260 million subscribers worldwide. It’s followed by Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Max, Paramount+, Hulu, Peacock, ESPN+, AppleTV, and Starz. Doesn’t just seeing that list stress you out? There are so many services! If you love sports, binge The Office and Friends when you’re feeling down, have a thing for Outlander, and occasionally need to revisit a classic animated film, you need to pay for five of those babies. Do you miss cable yet?
To make matters more interesting, streaming itself may be declining in popularity due to how young people consume entertainment. The Wrap reports:
“About 60% of Gen Zers surveyed said that they prefer watching user-generated content videos because it’s easier to find something to watch…Nearly 50% said they spend too much time looking for streaming content to watch. More than half (54%) of millennials and Gen Z believe they get better recommendations for TV shows and movies from social media than from streaming services.”
Are we creating a world in which cable and streaming will become relics of the ancient past? In twenty years, will I be listening to teenagers in a grocery store say things like, “Did you catch the new nano-episode of Flork this morning? You can watch it on the Bonzo app, but you have to log in through your Klopper account.” As usual, I have no solutions, only complaints. I guess we could read more and watch TV less. Or just make sure never to move out of our parents’ zip code, just in case we want to watch the World Series.
