Participants share and describe the modern TV landscape in nuanced ways that are informed by their own experiences. While most respondents were quick to say that their reconceptualization of television comes with how much streaming has influenced their lives and that it is what they consider to be television in the modern era. Several, but not all respondents expressed that they have practiced cord-cutting to various degrees. Keith said,

“I have completely actually stopped watching cable. I don't have a cable box anymore. I only use streaming services. I find that… I think cable has gotten… Subpar. I feel streaming services… they are a lot cheaper than cable. You can watch what you want, you know what you're there for. I just feel like it's better all around.”

Ashley agreed by sharing, “So, I mean, I personally don't, at my apartment, I don't pay for cable. I only use streaming services. And. In my world, that is what TV is. We, me and my friends watch shows that are weekly updated, but we only watch them online. We only stream them.” Several other respondents expressed that they have either fully committed to just streaming services, or that they practice cord-cutting themselves, even if their families still have cable. These responses support the idea that people are leaning toward viewing streaming as the only way they view television in the modern landscape, showing how they have reconceptualized television.

Interestingly, other participants offered alternative commentary that suggest that their concepts of the television landscape are either in a transitional phase between cable and streaming, or that their concept of television has not changed entirely. Barbara expressed that when she thinks of television, she is still subscribed to a traditional definition of television, however she then said, “Well, I feel like I watch a lot more on like Netflix and Hulu than I do on live TV. I feel like I don't watch a lot of live TV, and if I do, I'll watch it, like DVR from my laptop” With regard to if she considers streaming content to be television she noted, “I feel like I would just consider it to be a streaming service cause I feel like a lot of the shows on Netflix now are being made specifically by Netflix and you can't really watch them on live TV. So, I don't picture it to be TV if that makes sense”. Her concept of television seems to be implying that she considers television and streaming to be two distinctly different things. Her ideas of television connect to Hesmondhalgh and Lobato’s (2019) study where they discussed the significance of the set-top-box and the continued relevance of broadcast and cable technology. Their study addressed how this technology paved the way for the streaming age, where they found that these so called over the top technologies, or streaming services, have complicated the means of distribution, release and marketing strategies. This helps explain the struggle for some people to clearly define television because of such complications. Barbara’s quote shows how DVR connects to other devices of watching television such as a laptop. Jerry took things a step further and expressed,

“Well, when it comes to me, when I consider like watching TV, like for me that's strictly like cable, like On Demand. If someone's watching like Netflix or Hulu, that's just not, that's not watching TV. To me, that's just like, Oh, I'm watching Netflix. You know what I'm saying? Oh, here and I'm watching the game. I'm watching TV. Oh, I'm watching Rick and Morty on Hulu. Like you're watching Hulu, you're not watching TV. It's two different things. It's not one thing.”

While the majority of participants showed that their concepts of television have changed in that streaming is what is dominantly television today, these responses indicate that people are still sticking to traditional concepts of what television is. It also shows that consumers are defining the existence of streaming as something entirely different from television.

Interestingly, people that have described their reconceptualization of television as one that is fully versed in streaming and cord-cutting practices that streaming services in particular influence what they consider to be television. For instance, Keith shared that,

“I consider Hulu more TV. I feel like Hulu has better TV show options. Netflix definitely has more movies, so I would consider Hulu as watching TV. Netflix is more, I'm watching Netflix. Like you specify I'm watching Netflix. Whereas Hulu, I would just say I'm watching TV”.

He classifies Netflix as a separate entity from both television and movies and defines it as its own entertainment entity. This idea intersects with Jerry’s concept as television as he thinks that streaming is its own entity, however Keith has completely identified as a cord-cutter and acknowledges that streaming platforms can take on their own form as an entertainment platform that is separate from television.

People describe how they are generally in favor of the development of streaming versus broadcast and cable because of different themes surrounding access and convenience.

This interpretation informs both research questions as access and convenience fall under the reconceptualization of television that interview participants expressed as well as they are heavily emphasized characteristics of the modern television landscape. Kevin acknowledged ease of access and the eradication of cable as key points when asked about how his concept of television might evolve moving forwards, he said,

“I think moving forward it's going to completely get eradicated. So broadcast and cable. Yeah. I, I don't even have cable anymore. I'm at my house in Boston and I don't have cable. There's no reason for it. I have Hulu, I have Netflix, I have Amazon prime video, I have HBO.

I pay for all these different services so that I don't have to pay for cable. You know what I mean? And it's, and it's just ease of access at that point. So with an Xbox, you have all those apps that you can get right onto the… I have all those apps that I just readily can get on my TV.”

Morgan addressed how the future concerns more streaming services coming into the environment and creating a sense of streaming overflow:

“It's gonna evolve, like on the same kind of path that it has already with just all the streaming services. Cause even like cable for cable providers and Apple and Disney plus and a lot of the, companies are making their own kind of things, right? I feel like it's going to go more along those lines where it used to be Netflix was the big thing and everyone had Netflix and you could have everything on there, but now it's kind of breaking up and, if you want like these specific shows, you have to sign up to this specific streaming service or provider.”

She hints at the decentralization of television content for the future and she is not alone as Max expressed similar sentiments regarding how the future is concerned with streaming. He said,

“I would almost say like, I wish there was like a package deal and then we could do, or like all of these streaming platforms could kind of just combine into one and you just pay that, that rate for it. Yeah. Anyway, I guess that's called cable television and that didn't really pan out too well."

Max also hints at how cable television is on the decline and also wishes that there was more centrality concerning streaming services. Keith comes to this line of thinking as well where he expressed, “as of right now, I think the streaming services are definitely taking over. I think eventually they'll probably run the cable companies out of business as the cell phone did with the telephone.” Even with the case of Jerry, who was explicit in describing cable and broadcast as his concept of television expressed that he thinks the future is going to be mostly streaming, with potentially the exception of sports. At first he expressed that as far as particular programs are concerned that they could make the transition to streaming, such as reality TV shows, where other programs like sports and the news would be harder to adjust, keeping broadcast and cable relevant. However, later he said,

“I feel like with a lot of these streaming services, they will all eventually absorb more and more power, um, from TV. I don't know if sports are going to fully transfer over the streaming services, but like aside from sports, I feel like these streaming services will, definitely, in probably like 10, 20 years take everything from TV and just be all streaming services primarily. Again, with the exception of sports, cause I have no idea. But yeah”

Binge-watching was emphasized as a key characteristic as to how people are viewing television. People expressed they feel it is a regular practice and something that has become socially acceptable. Interview participants indicated that binge-watching has become the norm for how people tend to view television content because of streaming services and their availability. They also indicated that binge-watching has become so profound because the nature of how things are released invites that style of viewing. Morgan was blunt in her response about how binge-watching has become more common. She addressed; “I feel like TV has become so much more of like a common thing and so is binge-watching. I feel like it's still like when someone says, Oh, like I watched like a whole season in a day. I feel like that's not a surprise anymore.” Ashley responded to how binge-watching effects our culture and noted,

“it's made everyone impatient for sure. If the show that I watch every week was available by season, I would absolutely watch the whole season all at once. I would not wait every week to watch one episode. I personally think that I prefer having the availability to watch all of it whenever I want cause if I want to watch one more show or a half of a show or whatever, I can, rather than just like having to wait week to week, especially like with traditional streaming services or like on TV, if you're not available at that one time.”

Max’s response aligned with Ashley’s, but went further by addressing how instant access and a wealth of content made for our consumption is now an inherent part of culture. He said:

It's just another way of showing that we want as much of one thing as possible in. The fastest amount of time, and once we have that, it's just finding the next day we just move on, you know, and forget about it, unless it's like The Office or, you know what I mean? We're giving up actually connecting with the narrative and divulging into what it's trying to say and what it's trying to make us feel. And it just, it's now just like, Oh, I finished all of Stranger Things, and that way nothing is like spoiled for me. You know what I mean?

Max’s perspective surrounding binge-watching shares concern for how people are generally less likely to appreciate the quality of the content than if they were stretched out. He also implies that another reason that people are trying to watch things at such a rapid pace is so something like spoilers do not affect the viewer. This idea relates to Steiner & Xu’s (2018) study about how uses and gratifications theory influences binge-watching and television viewing. They express that binge-watching is important to people because it is something that helps contribute to filling social needs. This is insightful because it highlights how television works as a part of culture in general. Keith addressed how binge-watching is normalized now, but when discussing the social aspect of television with respect to binge-watching, Keith stated:

“I feel like the social aspect has increased because like you said, you can watch it at your own pace. Usually all the episodes for some things, it's released periodically, but for most series they're all there ready to view for when you're ready for it. So, you can say you were talking to somebody about a show, you would say… Instead of, did you see the episode last night? You would say, how far in are you? What episode are you on? So, but I mean, you already know if you’re further, you already know what happens. So, you can still talk about from that point.”

Interview participants also noted that while binge-watching is generally a socially acceptable and normalized part of how people watch television, some shared that it is only socially acceptable for people in younger age groups. This finding is consistent with Jenner’s (2015) study on binge-watching and quality TV where it found that binge-watching has escalated to a socially appropriate phenomenon. In response to asking if he believes that binge-watching is socially acceptable, interview subject Dale said, “to my age range. Like people within my age, I would say binge watching is an acceptable culture. To the people that are older, probably not as much. They might binge watch, but I feel like it's more negatively looked upon. I don't really know why. Just the feeling.” Barbara seemed to agree with this sentiment, she stated

“I feel like for people our age, it definitely is, but I think that older generations may not agree with that as much because I feel like we're known definitely to be way too into technology and our phones and everything. And so, I feel like it's probably not the best for us, but I feel like with our age group and generation stuff, it's definitely more accepted than in maybe our parents' age or our grandparents.”

Additionally, Jerry provided his take on binge-watching as a part of culture and said,

“I would say for the most part, yeah. Like if you went to, you know, anyone our age, you know, like early twenties said, “Oh dude, I just binge watched Breaking Bad or whatever. I'd be like, Oh, cool, nice how it was it? Like they wouldn't, they wouldn't be frowned upon for doing such a thing…I mean, if something like my dad or one of his friends, they'd be weirded out like, Oh, you're wasting your time. But, it is what it is”.

Binge-watching is something that interview participants feel is a highly significant part of the television viewing process and will only continue to be a pattern. Moving forward as the younger age group that was the subject study starts to approach that “older age group” that they referred to, it would be interesting if future research might find if binge-viewing habits die with age. It would also be interesting to see if this is a characteristic of the streaming generation and subsequent generations after.

Interview respondents generally believed that content found on streaming services and premium channels are typically preferable to content that airs on broadcast and cable television. Interview participants iterated that most often the quality of content that can be found on platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Amazon Prime Video is better than what they would find on broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, and CBS. In most cases, participants indicated that they agreed completely with critical recognition and favorability toward original programs that appear on streaming platforms and premium channels. They generally agreed that content is made better because these services are allowed to push the envelope of creativity and not have to adhere as strictly to FCC guidelines as cable television. In response to being asked if he thinks there is a difference in quality between streaming and cable Kevin explained,

“Oh, 100% I do think that, I think that they are seizing the market. I think that that's them recognizing that broadcast, the FCC, can put these regulations and realize we can't put out content like that because of these regulations and being able to not show specific things. I think that that adds a whole new, a whole new realm of what you can put into a show.”

Keith backs this idea up even further, he said,

“Oh, I, I 100% agree. Yeah. I find I guess like the R rated as it would be called, shows, and the service originals that offer said shows, I find them better in quality instead of censoring certain things. Like if somebody says a swear, they'll beep it out. I find the show better. I find it kind of flows better. It's more smooth. It's more entertaining really. So, I do agree completely.”

Other interview participants agreed that shows that were on streaming services were better, but not necessarily due to what they define as quality. Morgan noted,

“I don't know if it's a difference in quality, but I feel like what you said about like they don't have to adhere to as many guidelines. So like they can show more things and go different ways. Then like cable can cause… cable has some stricter guidelines cause I know a few of the shows that I watch on cable are just as good as shows that I would like find on Netflix or Hulu or anything. But. They are. The ones on streaming services are more… I don't want to say raw, I don't know the word for it. It brings me in more because I feel like I'm like watching real people no matter what, like the genres, I feel it's like I connect with it more.”

Ashley felt similar to Morgan where she would not describe the difference as quality, but rather allowed for a different kind of creativity she enjoys. She noted,

“Um, I kind of think, yes, I would say that I, as an adult, I think that all of that's fine cause I'm choosing to watch something, um, and I know what's in it.

Whereas I do understand why CBS and like traditional television outlets would have to adhere to the other guidelines. But I do think that it. Allows for more creativity. So I do think that there probably is, I don't know if I would call it higher quality cause that seems not correct exactly. But I do think that it is, it can lead to a different type of creativity that I enjoy. I think it's just allowing for a different direction that isn't traditionally like allowed. Like you can just, you can push the envelope so much further. Um, and I think you can just tell a lot of different of story that you weren't always allowed to tell on like traditional cable.”

These opinions are interesting because they acknowledge that generally speaking, the shows that they find are on a different level compared to something on cable television. They emphasized that content on these platforms are more engaging for the creative freedom that is involved with developing them rather than the quality associated with it. An interesting perspective about the quality found on streaming platforms came from Max, who agreed that content on streaming services was better than cable television programs, but had some prejudice against Netflix programs in particular as compared to HBO. Max said,

“when looking at it from solely in a Netflix perspective. In terms of just like creating their own shows and stuff like that. It seems like the creative vision and the creative subtext and all that stuff. It seems like that's kind of being lost in turn, for just easy streaming. A perfect example is Stranger Things. Season one, is I think is by far the best because, you know, they had all this stuff and they really… It was a story about a mother, looking for her child and, you know, growing up and all this, and the fears of the unknown and stuff like that. Stranger Things One had a really complex narrative that was really engaging and everything like this, but now season three is just, it was just eighties nostalgia and there's just, yeah, I don't know. It seems like the content that they're putting out is more just here, have this, have this, have this, and not like something like HBO, where it's something like Euphoria, which is of course hyper stylized, but is a dense and tough to swallow narrative that it leaves you thinking and talking about it in a way that is not just like, Oh my God! can you believe Hopper's uh... Whatever. You know what I mean? So it's, it's very much becoming, just take this, take this, take this, and not, it's just over-saturation and not in a good way.”

This is indicative of how opinions of something like a television show is very nuanced from person to person, but in the sense of this study, that nuance also carries over to how people have different opinions of television content based on the platform that it exists on. In Max’s case, he feels that for the most part that Netflix original content is not as good as something that would be found on HBO, another streaming platform. Some of the commentary here relates to Frolova’s (2017) study where interview respondents expressed that television to them is quality television that they seek out and plan to watch. Interview participants in this study generally expressed that content found on streaming services were overall better than cable television, although expressing this difference as higher quality was not mutually agreed upon.

The decentralization of television content is a trait of streaming that is becoming more prevalent as more streaming services are created. Interview participant attitudes toward the decentralization of television content are mostly negative. Interview participants expressed frustration towards the dispersal of television content all over the landscape and most participants would like to see a more centralized means of obtaining content. Participants disliked the notion of paying for a plethora of streaming services in order to view content that they have an interest in seeing. While they initially stated that ease of access is one of the things that they emphasize as far as characteristics in the modern television environment, they do not like how it is seemingly going to become more decentralized with new services. Participants noted that they would like to see one place that has all the television content they want, but some also realized how unfeasible that may be. Dale expressed his frustrations toward the decentralization of television content and how money was a large factor in this frustration. He said, “I don't spend too much time watching TV and the fact that I have to go and spend another $10 here, $10 there, $10 on everything else, the streaming services seem to be coming back to ending up more like cable. And I've got to start paying for everything in order to get everything.” He also acknowledged how a failed streaming service resulted in one of his favorite series getting cancelled. He said,

“Yahoo wanted to get in the game and make their own streaming service. Which that tanked, and they dragged the Community TV show along with it because they decided to buy the rights to it. They made their own service and it crashed and it crashed the TV show that I like. So, I don't like the idea of multiple services”

Participants acknowledge that there is a growing market for streaming services and think that eventually they will fail, or be bought out by other companies. Morgan said,

“If more different like of different services keep coming, then there's, I feel that there's bound to be a few that are gonna flop because there's going to be ones that like if no one's going to want to buy all of them. And like have a monthly payment for like five different services. So, I feel like if too many come out, there's going to be ones that people just will end up not using. And I feel like there's enough big ones out there already. Netflix and Hulu are like the big ones that if new ones come out, then people probably won't… they'll probably die out eventually. There's too many”

Ashley also thought that the market is going to get flooded and that everything content wise will be too spread out. She noted,

“I think that the end game will be that they get bought out and re brought back together, but I think that before that you're going to see everyone get way too far spread out and they're just going to be massively losing money because there's too much content and that they'll probably decide that they need to recentralize again.”

Several participants expressed that they would it would be good to see one service that had everything they wanted to see. In regard to the diversity of services, Keith said, “Oh, I think it's great. Um, it would be nice if one had mostly everything, but certain people like different things. So it's good to have a variety of them.” He said that one service would be nice, but he also likes that there is diversity now as how things are currently distributed in 2020. Dale thinks that eventually streaming will move to more of a hub distribution environment, he expressed,

“I think it's going to end up going towards a hub. Don't really like how many companies that branching off and making their own streaming services makes it too difficult to keep track of and even know where I'm going to be able to find the program that I want, that I want to watch.”

In response to asking if she thinks there are currently too many platforms Ashley addressed, “No. I mean it would be better if there was one that had everything, obviously, but I do also find that that would be overwhelming and I almost feel like I would like platforms to streamline further.” It is noteworthy how people seem to agree that as of early 2020, the availability and number of streaming services available are at a satisfactory medium, but with the future of streaming service abundance people want to see a return to one realm of television content.

The research instrument used in this study was more than adequate and enabled internal validity. The interview guide allowed for quality data collection through a series of well-thought out key questions and probes. Most questions were prefaced in a way that gave background and context for how the questions should be answered. This allowed for participants to know what to consider before providing an answer to the questions asked. Their responses were helpful in analysis and finding patterns and contradictions between individual answers and how they compare to other responses from different participants. The questions allowed for clear and on-topic responses which led to the eventual and successful answering of the research questions.

This research study was accompanied by a number of limitations that naturally come through qualitative research. External validity cannot be applied to this study as the group of participants that contributed to the sample population is too small and as a result is not representative of a greater population. The results of this study might be helpful in providing information about how college students feel about the changing and modern television landscape, but the findings here are not applicable to how the vast population of college students might collectively express opinions, feelings, and thoughts on the subject. Each interview lasted roughly between 30 minutes to 45 minutes. This was another limitation of the study as longer conversations would have potentially provided a lot more information to analyze and encounter more patterns as more data would have been available. External validity is absent in this study because the data was provided by a sample population that was too small to generalize and be representative of a greater population.

The interview guide might have been organized in a fashion that segmented the research questions more efficiently, rather than having some responses inform research questions that was not specifically the intent of the key question asked. Questions might have been more efficiently prefaced with respect to a participant’s potential lack of understanding of an aspect of the television environment. Some interviews were conducted over video conference platforms rather than in a face-to-face environment because of the restrictions that came with the COVID-19 crisis. A full collection of face-to-face interviews might have led to conversations flowing differently, leading to different or new information to analyze.

A convenience sample was used for the information gathering process which implies that the sample does not have geographical diversity. Eight college students were interviewed, and they attended institutions that were located in New England, mainly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with two participants attending colleges in Rhode Island. Diversity was achieved in one aspect however, as the amount of television and the way that people watch television was varied among all participants. Because of convenience sampling, the data obtained in this research lacks diversity and this is primarily due to the geographical confines of the study.