CU student Tess Weber checks out streaming options on her phone. Photo Credit Amanda Brault/ Castleton Spartan

More and more people are cutting the cable and satellite cord these days and Castleton University students are no different.

A recent news report showed that pay TV companies lost 1 million customers in its largest-ever quarterly loss.

Rich Greenfield, a media and technology analyst, called the third quarter of 2018, the worst quarter in industry history and the worst overall since 2016.

This trend for satellite TV providers also continues to worsen. AT&T recently reported that DirecTV lost 297,000 subscribers during the quarter, while adding 49,000 new subscribers to its streaming TV service DirecTV Now, according to an WCKY news report.

Cord cutting has become the new normal for millennials with a trend for them to get their TV and film content online. According to New Gieno Blog, college students can have access to numerous films, channels and shows using products like a Roku streaming stick.

Castleton University student, John Boule, has been using his Roku’s stick on his TV at his off-campus apartment.

“I can set it up in minutes. It has a very strong antenna, even if it’s not close to his router. The streaming is strong,” he said.

He also noted how small it is and how it can “fit into his backpack.” He said he can use it in dorms also, or bring it over to his friends’ apartments.

Kevin McCarthy is a graduate student in the Master of Education program at Castleton. He is currently living in Granville, New York and said the cord cutting is going on at his family home too.

“My parents are starting to cut back on their cable. They use Roku TV. They were a little disappointed to no longer have the Weather Channel, but were glad to find they still had ESPN,” he said.

Lindsey Marcy is an undergraduate student working to become an English teacher.

“My parents still have Dish-satellite at home, but I’ve started to pay for my own streaming. I use my Netflix and Amazon Video subscription frequently. I guess that’s part of the ‘adult life.’ I have never paid for a cable bill and I don’t ever plan to,” she said. “The biggest thing I enjoy, from streaming my content, is that I get to personalize what I’m into. I enjoy being able to watch my shows at any time without having to wait for it to come on live, like you would with cable. I tend to do a lot of binge watching.”