Watch TV your Way

When it comes to watching TV, oh, how times have changed—it has been quite the evolution. We went from having to tune in to broadcasts at a specific time, eagerly anticipating the moment to gather with family and watch something together. This content arrived through the square box in your home, broadcast freely over the air. And if nothing was scheduled late at night, you’d see nothing but a test pattern filling the screen.

We moved from that to having another box beside the TV—a VCR—that played VHS tapes and let us record shows to watch later or archive for the future. Soon, a thriving marketplace emerged where we could buy VHS tapes and, later, DVDs, building personal libraries of favorite content. This physical media could even be resold if it was no longer wanted. Those were the days. How many of you remember the excitement of picking out a new movie to rent on a Friday night from your local Blockbuster?

As time went on, this approach became less and less popular. Soon, cable companies introduced DVR boxes, allowing us to record shows as digital files stored directly on the device. But this marked the beginning of losing control—unlike VHS or DVDs, we could no longer share this media with friends or sell it secondhand. We became locked into their ecosystems, and if we canceled the service, we also lost access to our saved recordings.

With the rise of the internet, streaming media became more accessible, opening up a whole new world. Netflix was ahead of its time; before high-speed internet was widespread, they capitalized on DVD rentals by mail (something younger people might not even realize Netflix once did). I’m a true fan of Netflix over other streaming providers for one main reason: they give you the freedom to watch content how you want. If I want to binge an entire series in a day or two, I can.

Several other platforms—like Apple TV and MGM, to name a couple—still cling to weekly episode releases, as if we’re all going to gather at a set time like the old broadcast days. That’s just not how most people consume media anymore. These platforms need to adapt and let viewers choose how they watch.

For that reason alone, I’ll choose Netflix over any other platform. Well done, Netflix.