Cable and satellite TV providers have been shedding subscribers for years now as millions of cord cutters flock to streaming services, and the trend is only accelerating.

Traditional pay TV is becoming less affordable and less of a value. On average, cable customers pay around $105 a month for their packages. Since 2000, the average bill has increased 74 percent, even after adjusting for inflation.

So, what gives?

It’s been a long year of masks, distancing and working and learning from home. But there’s still hope for having happy holidays. Even if you can’t get the family together this year for gifts and caroling, you can still toast Christmas—and, ahem, ​THE END OF 2020—with your closest fam and friends.

Ah, the holidays. A time to slow down and reflect. To catch up with family over a table loaded with roast beast and who-hash. To relish bankrupting your uncle in Monopoly because one Christmas he gave your sisters 20 bucks each and nothing to you. (But let’s not get petty.)

Well, the 2020 edition is even better. Now we get to experience it all on the soft glow of a video screen instead of face to face. Yes, folks, the socially distanced holidays are here.

Speed has been an obsession of internet users as far back as the dial-up days of the internet stone age, when 56k modems still roamed the earth. And the quest for ever-faster internet speeds rages on in the fiber era.

Breaking news: Internet usage is going up.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone, thanks to the tablets, home security and other smart devices that gobble up the internet speed and bandwidth on our home WiFi networks.

While you can find plenty of similarities in the range of app-based streaming TV services available, they aren’t created equally. Some excel in original programming (Netflix), while others are strong with current programming (Hulu). Others, like Disney Plus, give viewers exclusive access to specific movie franchises such as Star Wars.