Making Home through Cord-cutting: The Case of Korean Transient Migrants’ Postcable Culture in the United States

Abstract

With the rapid development of new media technology, many people are “cutting the cords” and viewing television through Internet-based video services via streaming or downloading. This study aims to better understand and contextualize this phenomenon through investigating Korean transient migrants’ television-viewing practices. Through forty qualitative interviews and employing the framework of the domestication theory perspective, this article examines how these deterritorialized individuals who experience dislocation make home through cord-cutting practices. By making use of the Internet and delivery technologies/interfaces legally and illegally, Korean transient migrants go beyond territorial limitations and make home materially, feel home affectively, and connect home relationally in their diasporic space. Moreover, the study debunks some utopian ideas about online audiences and shows what remains fixed in terms of transnational postcable culture. I argue that the article provides many insights into investigating contemporary television audiences and suggest a novel approach to studying migrant media practices.