Streaming TV Arrives on Campus, Could Prevent Cord-Cutting

Tivli understands that young adults today are not watching TV in the traditional manner, but instead they are taking in programming via streaming subscriptions and other online alternatives. The startup is an “attempt to adapt to the ways young people increasingly want to watch TV — through a computer or tablet or video game console — while keeping the existing cable model intact,” reports The New York Times.

“Young people watch less TV than they used to, and some say they do not see the point of an expensive cable or satellite subscription,” notes the article. “That could chip away at the profits of cable companies like Comcast and programmers like HBO.” Tivli may be part of the solution for the television industry.

Residents at Harvard and Yale can now log into the service with school credentials to “stream local TV stations, a couple of dozen cable channels and the universities’ own in-house channels to their devices anywhere on campus,” explains The New York Times.

The service is free for students because it supplements the school’s cord-in-the-wall cable system. However, the startup “will need to sign up dozens if not hundreds more universities to make a dent in television consumption.”

“We think people just want TV delivered to them in a convenient way, whether it’s in their dorm or on computers, tablets and mobile,” said Christopher Thorpe, the company’s president. “People who are getting what they want won’t cut the cord.”

“Students cannot take Tivli home with them, since it works only on the wireless network of the institution providing it. But by the time students move off campus, the theory goes, they will be hooked on cable — and may expect TV Everywhere to fully exist elsewhere too,” writes NYT.

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