BY Daniela Cespedes
Staff Reporter
For some students at Sacred Heart University, streaming services are appealing with their discounts and packages that are targeted towards college students.
“The student deals are what attracts me the most about streaming services. My Apple Music membership comes with Apple TV,” said sophomore Paolo Samin.
According to Apple.com, a student membership costs $4.99 a month and comes with Apple TV+.
Cable has become less popular among some college students.
“I used to watch all the shows on the cable services provided by the school. Now, I do not since I’m no longer attracted to cable,” said junior Frank Alfano.
Sacred Heart provides students with free cable for those residing in campus housing. According to the university’s web page, under cable TV and telephone support, some of the channels they offer include CT News and other local news channels, a variety of sports channels, and other popular television networks such as TLC, and E! Entertainment.
Although the university provides cable access to any student living in campus housing, some feel that their cable packages are not enough.
“I used to use the school’s provided cable but, it wasn’t that good. They just have basic channels. I don’t feel a need to use it anymore because I have streaming services available to me,” said junior Thomas McKenna.
Some students prefer the convenience of streaming services.
“I like streaming services because I can watch the shows I want on my own time, rather than waiting for it to come on a cable channel,” said sophomore Jessie Wells.
Netflix and Hulu provide their users with original content that is not seen on any other platform.
“I like that each streaming service has its own shows, for example, Netflix has its own Netflix originals. They also have their own TV shows that do not air on cable,” said McKenna.
Most students agree that some of their favorite streaming services include Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. For some students, their most-watched shows include “All American,” “911,” “Game of Thrones,” “Black Mirror,” “Family Guy” and “Chopped.”
When it comes to cable, both Wells and McKenna said that the only thing that attracts them to cable is that cable airs some of their shows before they appear on their streaming services.
Some students say the future of cable does not have a long time stamp and they believe the number of users will decrease.
“I think cable TV is going to be outdated, and eventually will really only be used for live events, news and weather. However, television shows and movies will not be featured nearly as much on TV. I think this is already being seen with several companies opting for the customer to ‘only pay for the channels they want,’ ” said Belluche.
On the other hand, some students say the future of streaming looks more promising.
“It’s going to progress and there are going to be more services, but the ones right now are going to increase their costs,” said Samin.
