By Aliyah Kiesler
Have you ever wondered the details about the makings of Netflix and Hulu? Why, when, and how? August 29th, 1997 was the day that Netfilx was created in Scotts Valley, California. It was all because the CEO, Reed Hastings, was sick of having to pay a late fee at his rental place he went to. Hulu proceeded Netflix in March of 2007. It was first advertised during Super Bowl XLIII starring Alec Baldwin. Netflix and Hulu didn’t really hit the public eye until much later when they started advertising and promoting the benefits over TV. Since then, both streaming sites are in the process of slowly, but surely convincing people all over the world that they are better than television in many ways.
While streaming sites have become very popular, everyone who The Acorn interviewed admitted that they still watch television. Angelle Whavers (’18), said that she watches TV at home but not at school. If she had to choose, she said that there are strengths and weaknesses to both TV and streaming. Television is good because you can discover new shows by just flipping through the channels while with Netflix, she has a problem deciding what she wants to watch because it is all there on her list. At school, she doesn’t have time for TV so “it’s easier just to go on the internet” during her free time. Olivia Rios (’19) and Kepra Kamali (’20), both said that they watch TV as well, but were more vague on that subject.
Two out of the three interviewed admitted to having TV’s in their dorm rooms. “I don’t have a TV, I use my computer to watch TV,” Kamali said. The other two gave different reasons for having one. Whavers said that she does have one. She continued by saying, “My mom thought that I would use it more than I do. The last two years, I haven’t had any channels” Rios said that the only reason she has a TV is because she won it. They all said that watching TV is less accessible in college is less accessible because we all have little time and we aren’t given the correct resources to do so. For these reasons, many people did not watch the Emmy awards, except for Kamali, who only “watched a few acceptance speeches online.”
Whether they stream or actually watch TV, many students still keep up and watch their favorite shows one way or another. “There are so many good shows out there. Every day I would give a different answer as to what my favorite shows are” Whavers said. She expressed that she enjoys animated shows and recommends Bob’s Burgers, Steven Universe and Cowboy Bebop to anyone who feels the same way. Rios and Kamali both enjoy live action shows more like True Blood, American Horror Story, Grey’s Anatomy, Doctor Who and Sabrina the Teenage Witch!
Now, most people have moved from television or rental stores to streaming websites. Since this is the case, students have limited options as far as cable in the dorms is concerned. There was a consensus that the most convenient to stream Netflix or Hulu and as Whaver said, “I use Netflix to catch up on TV I can’t watch over the semester. But Netflix doesn’t have everything. Yet.”
