HBO’s Latest Announcement a Sign of the New Digital Era

For the first time ever, HBO will be available for customers who don’t have cable in 2015. This is great news for fans of shows like Game of Thrones, The Leftovers, Silicon Valley, Veep, and Girls. However, HBO’s offer also reeks of desperation. This transparent grab for extra income is indicative of how television is struggling to keep pace with the internet.
When you can stream everything online, why waste time watching TV? Trellis has asked this question since our founding in 2012. Many critics argue the only thing keeping people watching TV is live sports, and even then sports are already making the transition to internet streaming.


Eating meals in front of the television is a fixture of American culture, and has been since the end of World War II.  What will happen when we’re no longer interested in watching the nightly news on our clunky boxes (or clean LCD displays)? Will we simply watch streaming internet content via a monitor, or will the culture make a more drastic change? It’ll be very interesting to see how television’s demise plays out in the future – a fifth of Netflix members have canceled their television subscriptions already.
Are TVs already archaic, just a relic of the past? Or is television still relevant? Share your thoughts in the comment section.