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Streaming and Cord-Cutting Take a Toll On the Pay-TV Industry
First time accepted submitter ClarkSchultz writes "Harris Interactive confirms that consumers streaming video content prefer the practice of binge viewing.The news isn't a big shocker to streaming concerns such as Netflix, Amazon, and Redbox Instant which have been mining viewer habits data, but it has an important read-through for broadcasters like CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC. Though ad rates could fall if more viewers wait until series are available for streaming, the payoffs for quality content are proving lush: 1) CBS says it paid $700K per episode for streaming rights to Under the Dome 2) AMC Networks has pointed to Netflix as contributing to the success of Breaking Bad after initial ratings were soft. If streaming wins, who loses? Front and center is the Pay-TV industry. A wave of merger rumors (Charter/Cox/Time Warner Cable/Comcast/Dish Network) indicates the industry knows the trend of subscriber losses to the cord-cutting phenomenon will continue. An online TV initiative from a tech heavyweight like Sony, Apple, Google, or Intel could also disrupt the industry enough to put cable and satellite companies into an even bigger tailspin."
140 bucks per month for Dish... I'm really thinking about going to just streaming and getting the Tivo with 4 ota tuners.
Just stream shows over the internet. Same as cable, they make money through ads
And they also own the politicians who might otherwise support net neutrality. That gives them a lot of power in this fight. Basically, most people (in the U.S. anyway) have to rely on cablecos for internet. The only other option for most of us is DSL (which is much slower, such as in my area where the DSL isn't even fast enough for Netflix HD).
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Goddamn. Now I'm gonna have this fucking tune in my head for the rest of the day.
I can't see Apple doing a big takeover unless they start opening up their platform so that your iTunes purchases can be viewed with Roku, Android devices, etc.
Will they finish airing the season? Will they air episodes in the correct order? Will they move schedules around so you have no idea where to find a program? Ahhh... obsolete broadcast model.
...and really don't miss it. We've found that there are so many free options that it doesn't really make sense to pay for TV, especially when there are repositories with large numbers of episodes available, legally, completely free with no ads, and there are other repositories like Crackle with lots of movies and TV shows free with the caveat of having to sit through an ad every little bit.
Last time we had cable, there were ads that we had to sit through. If I'm going to have to see ads, I don't want to pay out-of-pocket for the content.
Best part is, it's easier to turn off the damn TV to go outside or to go do something else when one isn't paying for it and isn't so dependent on a set schedule.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I know many people who still have cable television simply because it was cheaper to have a cable + Internet bundle than it was cable alone, or it was only $5 extra if they rolled in a phone line to their DSL connection, and so on.
The problem is that they let the quality of service as an ISP suffer compared to the pampering they give their primary business. Last week while we were at a friend's house streaming off Netflix, the cable Internet cut out at least three times. Yet the cable TV in the living room rolled along with no problems.
As more and more alternative ISPs are added that allow people to break away from the monopolies of Time Warner, Comcast, and Charter, customers will seriously consider dumping their cable package in favor of an ISP that doesn't break on a nightly basis.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
1. Show your programs as scheduled.
2. After the show ends, post the episode for purchase within 24 hours.
3. After the season ends, post the entire season at a discount over individual episodes.
People want content and they want it right away. If you wait too long they will pirate it, or they'll just stop caring. Get the money while you can and stop worrying about breaking your business model, because TV is dying anyway. Adapt or die a quick death.
The only other option for most of us is DSL (which is much slower, such as in my area where the DSL isn't even fast enough for Netflix HD)
Yet another reason that TPB is so popular. Again, not only is it free, but better. My DSL connection sucks. Trying to stream HD from the iPlayer or 4OD or something is painful in that it comes out blocky, jerky and stops for buffering.
Or, I can go to TPB and download a nice, high quality file which I can view without all the problems. And yes, I do actually get stuff off TPB which is available on 4OD (I am a license payer!) since the service is substantially better. For iPlayer I use the get_iplayer script which uses some mild back door to save it to a file. Though I must say finding stuff on TPB is easier than the on the BBC.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
While I have a tendency on Slashdot to post conservative posts. (I try not to be crazy conservative though). However I think it the governments responsibility to offer us a high speed Internet Infrastructure, and not the Cable, and Telephone industry who is in essence competing against itself.
Companies nowadays don't want to get involved in big infrastructural projects, such as laying fiber to every home. Because of a lot of reasons. But much like Power it is becoming a situation that the internet is needed to function in modern society.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
There's billions at stake, created out of virtually nothing (replicating a digital signal). This supports thousands and thousands of rent-seeking monopolists. The holy grail of capitalism.
The RIAA/MPAA fights are just kindergarden name calling compared to the fight that's getting ready to be fought.
From society's perspective, we should be well into the fiber optic cabling of the entire planet. These people will fight that, because it obsoletes their model. Once you have fiber to your door - and I do, in small down Canada - it's over. It's just a matter of time and everyone knows it.
Google's fiber projects are just a small piece of what's to come. The dirty little secret is rolling these networks out isn't hard. It's all legislation and poltics stopping. The tech is ready.
Get some popcorn. It'll be fun. I haven't had a TV subscription in 7 or 8 years now.. saving me $100/mo or so. That's a lot of money, especially when it starts paying dividends.. but I sure don't own any broadcasters. :)
..don't panic
That's the position I'm in. I can use Time Warner Cable for my ISP or Verizon DSL. Not only is DSL slower, but Verizon has all but said they want out of the DSL business. They've ignored their DSL lines and outright ditched them where possible. Verizon didn't run FIOS to my neighborhood so that's not an option. Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable and the other cable ISPs have financial interests in people not doing a lot of video streaming. That's why they've introduced caps and "per bit billing." They frame it as a "fair billing" or "protect our network from data hogs" practice but really it is a method of killing streaming so that people go back to their (uncapped) VOD solutions.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Everyone involved with 'traditional' broadcast tv have done everything they could to give a terrible experience.
And commercials are at the top of that list. Even on the 'pay' networks you still have commercials.
Disgusting commercials too. I can hear all about some chicks yeast infection, but can i see one titty? Nope.
Gotta goto the 'premium' pay networks for that. Can you just add that to a tv? NOPE! You have to buy several hundred channels you don't want before it's even an option!
And my god. The program repetition. How many times are we going to see iron man. I'd bet it's been on tv now at least 100 times.
I could complain for several hours. But lets just leave it at GOOD! FUCK THOSE PEOPLE!
The faster tv dies off the better things will be. For everyone NOT in the tv industry.
All of these media "giants" became giants because they offered alternatives. Yet, they all think that their business model will be eternal. The studios fought against cassette tape recorders, VCRs, video rentals, streaming TV, MP3s, torrents, iTunes, time shifting. In other words, anything that made it more convenient for viewers to -- you know -- view their content was seen as something horrible. If they had their way, we would adjust our schedules around the 6PM Tuesday timeslot to watch some sitcom. Why do they fight technology so fiercely when they should be embracing it? Find out what people like to do and offer a solution... Or, develop a new way and people will flock to it.
If I could get Big Ten Sports and ESPN streamed I would cut the cord today. That is currently the only thing holding me back. My family never watches "live" TV everything is either streamed or DVR'ed for later viewing.
The REAL REASON is the fsking advertising.
When Congress has to pass a LAW banning loud commercials something is seriously wrong.
Every 8 minutes there is an interruption to the content you are paying for, so they can get paid more? ADHD anyone? Train your brain to only pay attention for 8 minutes at a time? Advertising has killed TV IMHO.
I have not had Television for almost seven years now, I read and listen to music for entertainment in lieu of television. I feel I am better for it, just my opinion.
My first experience with binge viewing was discovering House in season 4 and back-watching seasons 1-3 over a few weeks on Hulu. Shortly thereafter I watched all of Dead Like Me where, as I approached the end, saw it had been cancelled years before.
Then Hulu started sucking with 300 seconds of commercials between segments, like regular TV, so I abandoned it. Recently I signed up for Netflix, online-only (apparently, there's a DVD mail service, WTF grandma). Currently round-robin binging on half a dozen series, 5-6 shows at a crack.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
We cut the cord about a year ago when our Dish subscription was up for renewal. My wife was a little hesitant at first because she watched some primetime shows, but with a combination of Netflix, Hulu Plus and Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" network (hey, don't flame me, we enjoy watching him and there's nothing wrong with that), we ended up saving almost $100 a month. My 8-year-old doesn't care either, he can find whatever he wants on Netflix kids area. I stuck a couple HDTV antennas in the attic as well, so if there is something OTA that I may want to watch like a football game or the evening news, we still can. We've got an AppleTV and a Roku 3, each of which costed, for a one-time purchase, what we were paying monthly to Dish.
They have been taking advantage of their monopoly for decades now.
I would gladly keep cable TV service if it was a reasonable price. However paying over $140\month for Internet, TV and no movie channels is absurd.
I saved money by switching to Verizon's FIOS from Comcast, however this also has drawbacks. While I get a much increased and more reliable Internet connection, the TV part is terrible compared to Comcast.
If I could, I would use FIOS for Internet and Comcast for TV, but they make is so this is also impossible.
Even though I pay $119\month for Internet, TV and Showtime\Starz from Verizon, if I were to drop my TV it would still be $109\month for just the Internet. This is how they abuse their monopoly.
They charge you X amount for one service and give you the other basically free, with exception of the movie channels.
I would drop Verizon TV in a second and get Comcast for TV, but then I would end up paying well over $180\month.
I can't remember who it was now, but I just read an article about a black stand-up comedian who is making millions off of a business he created where he produces low-budget TV shows. The key to his success? He realized there are many time slots out there on TV stations that need to be filled with content, but especially for the early morning (1AM to 5AM) -- the low number of viewers means they can't justify paying the prices usually demanded for the right to air existing programming. (That's why you see so many ridiculous 30 minute to 1 hour long infomercials in those time slots.)
So what he does is he cranks out material on an accelerated time-table (shooting a whole episode of a comedy show in a day, where it would normally be done over the span of several days to a week), and using non-union labor. Half of the actors/actresses are friends of his from the stand-up comedy scene and others are "fresh out of college" people who want to catch a break in the business. Then he gives the shows away FREE to the TV stations to air, with the stipulation that they split ad revenue earned while it's airing with his company, 50/50.
His latest tactic is creating multiple Court TV type shows, except none of it is real. (He said he was able to buy a complete courtroom set for only a $1 when a real courtroom wanted to remodel and get rid of all of the old furniture and decor.) He saves a bunch of money on production since there are no real litigants who need to be flown in, put up in a hotel while filming is taking place, etc. And the real win for him? These types of shows draw in a lucrative advertising crowd of people offering legal services!
Sure, this guy might just be creating a bunch of garbage quality television ... but I think he's on to something. It speaks to the "big picture" changes, where studios need to come down to earth on the costs of producing programming. Today's actors are where yesterday's rock stars were before the music industry was turned on its head by digital distribution. People, now, are starting to say, "Hey.... I like the entertainment you make, but enough's enough! I'm not going to keep giving you this much of my paycheck for the right to enjoy it! Make me a better deal....."
My problem is that the government allowed the telecom industry to charge the public to build the infrastructure to build high-speed and they've taken the money and done nothing with it. And the government hasn't taken the industries to task.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
I don't know where everyone else lives, but I have yet to find a free wireless or wired streaming video capable Internet connection anywhere in the place I live. I use Netflix and Hulu but I still pay a communication utility for Internet access, so while I am not paying that same provider for cable content, it still is not free. All I have done is separate the data access utility from the content provider. Cord cutting is really a misnomer, few (if any) are truly cutting the cord, they just choose to consume content as Internet data rather than TV signal.
Although it's going to take a couple of years, you can expect H.265 to help DSL big time. I've read and watched several industry talks on H.265 and by far the two biggest things that H.265 will help is mobile/low bandwidth content delivery (DSL users were specifically mentioned) and of course video conferencing.
Figure a DSL user has a downstream capacity of 1 to 1.5Mb/s of downstream capacity. H.265 will make decent 720p over those throughput capacities a reality.
The problem in my area is the total lack of real competition. In my area, I can only get Time Warner. Verizon FIOS isn't available. AT&T U-verse is not available. Another cable provider is not available. Yet most of them clutter my mailbox with flyers and ads about their service that I can't get. In Austin, it looks like AT&T is offering fiber finally (but only because Google is coming). My friend who works in the industry says that AT&T is hedging their bets by offering it in adjacent areas that Google Fiber will not initially service (if only to survive).
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
We need more channel choice.
also OTA channels need to stop the Retransmission or at least make on cable and sat to say I will use my own OTA hook up to get the channels so don't change me for them.
ESPN and disney need to be in there own pack
local RSN's need to be on there own and full choice of buying outer ring ones as well.
the other channels are not that bad for price and stuff like HBO needs to be on it's own as well.
Yeah, it sucks, but there are other options. Here's one. Start your own ISP. No, I'm not crazy. Here's an excellent example. Here in Lincoln, Neb., a guy with an idea started a company called WideRange Broadband. (standard disclaimer, I have no connection to them other than as a very satisfied customer) They're a wireless ISP. They rent tower space on a few tall radio antenna towers around town, toss some Ubiquity antennas up there, and call it good. Yes, that's over simplifying it, but in the end, I have a little antenna on my roof about the size of my forearm, and I get a solid high speed connection for $30/month. And they're pissing off the local telco (Windstream) and cableCo (TimeWarner) because they can offer as good or better speeds for less money. Yes, there are some line-of-sight issues if you're in an older neighborhood with lots of tall trees, but it's a solid start. Shortly after I cut off TimeWarner, I had one of their people stop by the house trying to get me to resubscribe (at $49/month). I told him who I was using, and he got a nervous look on his face and said "Oh, they're not a real company, that's just someone's hobby" and left. I mentioned that to the WideRange installer a few months later when we bought a house and they were moving my antenna. He chucked and said "Yeah, we hear that a lot."
If your service sucks it may be due to the wires or distance. Ultimately it just might not be an option for everyone. For those it is an option for its great. I have not had any problems streaming HD content over DSL- ever. There is also one side benefit in that its cheaper (at least in my area) than cable. If your a heavy user (multiple streams for instance) I'd probably just get a 2nd DSL line. Cable companies are evil. They advertise one thing and provide another. Always. It's just how the networks are designed. If it wasn't for that they advertise cable as being faster when its not and the speeds advertise never what are promised I probably wouldn't object so harshly. But sadly we see additional steps to reduce cable companies traffic (from shaping VOIP to the point it doesn't work to killing torrent traffic).
I don't remember the last time I actually had cable service. Maybe 10 years ago. Back then I rented a lot of DVDs and went out to movies. I'm quite happy these days to watch what's available on netflix and iTunes. I love not having to put up with commercials and for the most part I can watch what I want when I want and even where I want. I haven't done the math but given the number of shows I watch in a year I can't see my investment in iTunes content and my netflix membership adding up to anything close to a year of cable bills. Even if it did the convenience factor is more than enough to make up for it.
Last time I checked the largest ISPs in this country were cable companies. Even if you drop cable TV entirely in many regions there is no faster connection available than a cable modem, hence they are still making money off of you.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
The first step to recovery from the mental illness known as conservatism is admitting that the free market often gets things wrong and the natural outcome is the formation of large monopolies that control governmental policies to maintain their monopolistic practices. If you freely admit the free market has failed with broadband, maybe you can open your eyes and take a look at the other free market failures such as healthcare that stem from the same root causes.
You've got all the hospitals in many areas owned by the same corporation. You have the AMA acting as a cartel limiting the number of doctors that can enter the system and blocks foreign competition. Then there is the large overhead dealing with insurance companies and the amount the insurance companies skim off the top for themselves. The same free market that makes wages for everyone middle class and below plummet and stagnate, magically can't do the same for the insane amount of money paid to doctors and insurance compaines.
It's not a cord-cutting phenomenon at all.
People are sick of cable company's bullshit. We don't want a land line - we don't want to have to add that to our bundle in order to get services we want.
People also watch what they want to watch - they want al a carte programming so they go to a source that provides that service. Cable companies are going to continue to lose out until they get with the times.
I'm not a huge user of Netflix. I mostly have it as a sop to wife and daughter so I don't have to pay for cable. What I've noticed in passing is that the Netflix GUI is set up to encourage binge viewing, much like certain video games are crafted so that the most natural thing to do upon completing a level is to start the next level. When watching a series, the next episode is cued up and takes only a single press to play. It's much more work to find something else to watch. Although this almost certainly isn't the root cause of binge viewing, I suspect it's a factor.
Another factor is that series with a story arc work better when you can see several episodes end to end, instead of waiting a a week as your memory of details fade, to watch the next. I think writers can write tighter stories with subtler details if they can assume you don't have a week to forget after 43 minutes.
As to how this will affect the industry, I'm not sure. I find it interesting that much TV is still written for the "tv tray generation", the progressively older group that watches whatever is on, in the order and on the days chosen by the network. I don't think that's a viable business model anymore.
How does this affect content creation? Maybe the industry will have to get used to creating shows for less money.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I get 113 channels OTA here in Houston. With that many channels it's not uncommon to have 4 shows being recorded at the same time (especially older series that are broadcast just before/after midnight). I've been recording older shows like That '70s Show and watching them in order. Have seen a number of episodes I missed back in the day. Also recording cable series I'd missed in the past, like Burn Notice and Psych, that are now being broadcast OTA.
I purchase other cable series, like Dexter and The Walking Dead, à la cart from iTunes or on physical media. I've saved $1300 since dropping DirecTV in January (savings = old DirecTV bill - à la cart series).
I went a little overboard on the Mac mini setup (Drobo raid system, extra RAM, CPU upgrade, etc) so it'll probably be another year before the savings pay off the hardware investment.
If anybody's interested, I've been documenting my DVR Project in my blog.
My wife and I haven't had a connected television for almost a decade, but we are the definition of binge viewers.
Our phases have gone something like this:
2000-2002: Stopped watching cable T.V, computer games for entertainment, news via the newspaper and library. DVD movies for viewing entertainment.
2002-2004: Still gaming, now catching news on internet websites. Movies still via DVD; starting to acquire show DVD seasons (Southpark Season 1, etc)
2004-2006: Still gaming, shift to Netflix due to cost of DVD collection and size.
2007-2009: Dropping netflix due to limited selection, Telecos implementing data caps, monthly cost not necessarily utilized well.
2009-2011: YAAAAAARRRRR. ZOMGFREEMOVIESANDGAMESWITHNOADSPIRATEDAY!
2011-Present: Still gaming, Amazon Prime apparently has every movie and T.V show ever made. Mostly free. If we like something, we'll buy more of it.
Now, here's the takeaway:
For more than a decade, we've been searching for some reasonable method of consuming media that was convenient, convenient, convenient, and not prohibitively expensive. None of our attempted solutions (or current solution) have involved Comcast, TimeWarner, any other cable company, or an interest in advertising outside of looking up Superbowl commercial on Youtube.
What consumers want isn't some secret. There's no conspiracy. The worst that could happen to our existing telecos is the least that they deserve. I'll stop there before I rant.
Comcast and its brethren are disrupting themselves with high prices, packaged offerings cluttered with unwanted channels, and the truly awful customer service.
Starting my own ISP would require investing time and money into the project: Two things that are in short supply for me right now. I have a full time job, have no time to start an ISP business on the side, and can't take the financial risk of quitting my job to launch an ISP in my area. I have nothing but respect for the people who do this and if someone like this was available in my area I'd definitely look into it as a possibility, but launching it myself isn't really an option.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
If they stopped fighting it, and embraced Netlifx, et al., as a legitimate way to distribute their shows, they could make incredible amounts of money. They aren't interested in art or money, they just want to keep control, rather than let people decide what they actually want to watch.
And Comcast (Owned by NBC)'s answer to all of this.. put in bandwidth caps and charge if you go over.
Next month the contract with the cable company expires. We're discussing because work has offered to pay for a business class internet connection into our house as I work from home most days. Between Netflix and Hulu Plus we're seriously considering cutting the cord. We rarely watch anything live anyway and usually do watch the DVRed episodes within a week.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/09/telco-to-town-were-suing-you-because-we-care/
and even from slashdot:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/08/09/12/2326251/telco-sues-municipality-for-laying-their-own-fiber
People are (finally) wising up.
It's nice to see a lot of people have rediscovered antenna TV. Since the digital changeover (and the recession), I've seen a good number of aerials sprout up in my neighborhood, something basically dead in the 90s.
The question is, how long can that last? The network affiliates are ever more addicted to their retransmission consent money from the pay-providers. Hell, Comcast owns NBC and the other main networks have heavy ties into the paid TV world. Several of the network executives have already threatened to go paid-only in light of the Aereo decision. There will be a lot more temptation to go dark when the FCC lets them reverse-auction 'their' spectrum to internet/mobile providers in a year or two. Besides that... people like me who watch antenna TV instead of paying for cable are either poor or cheapskates. In neither case, anyone's favorite target market demographic.
It will be a slow shutdown, with all the affiliate agreement model, NFL contracts, and the like. But I think that, in a decade, the free OTA world will pretty much be PBS and maybe a couple of infomercial channels.
even forgetting the cost piratebay is a superior service to streaming
I feel sorry for the people who need to pay for cable to fuel their sports addiction
This seemed to be a fairly big product category about 5 years ago, but since then it's dropped a lot, and in the MacOS space, has evaporated - I can't find a single currently-shipping product like this for the Mac. (Whether for USB or for Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt - there are some USB ones, but none with Mac software.) I might be ok with just buying a TV, but I don't have much space, I don't know what my OTA reception will be like, and a USB dongle would seem to be a lot smaller and cheaper than buying a whole TV... but I can't find such a product anywhere, the few manufacturers that 5 years ago purportedly made them, don't seem to sell them any more.
I happily watch Netflix and YouTube on my laptop, and would happily watch broadcast TV on it too, if I could just tune it in. But how?
Somehow the opposite direction seems to be the only way to do things, there are lots of products to watch internet video on a TV, or ones that require a cable connection. But what about watching TV ON A COMPUTER? That would give me a lot more options for content, especially the kinds of things you can't get on Netflix (or can't get until a long time later).
I really have come to despise watching TV on most channels because of the overwhelming advertising content, so generally I wait until shows are available for streaming. And then BINGE.
The last binge I went on was Breaking Bad. Watched the entire 5 year series over 3 days. It was a great experience.
The first binge I did was watching LOST over a 4 day period. That was really cool too.
The exceptions are mostly shows that are on HBO or PBS - which are aired without commercials. These I can tolerate.
Eventually I imagine I will cut the cord, but there are a few things like live sports that I haven't found a way to get around the franchises for.
I think Microsoft will be the ones leading the way as the tech heavyweight shaking up the TV industry. The Xbox One with hdmi IN is only their initial step to work with the existing infrastructure. They have original exclusive content coming to Xbox Live next year and the 360 had TWC and FIOS TV apps so I think its safe to assume those apps will make their way to Xbox One. Cable companies need to evolve or they will only be hurting themselves. Maybe their share of money will be less but if they don't evolve, they won't have a share at all.
During playoffs I can spend that $1200 that I saved by cutting cable out at the bar.
Which doesn't work when the finals of NHL ice hockey are shown on cable's NBC Sports Network, and you're not 21 (or you are 21 but your kid wants to watch too).
I hope they die a horrible horrible death. Honestly I am now on year 5 of no cable TV and love it. Sadly I will be dropping Hulu Plus as they are shovelling in even more ad's now and I'll gladly pay a premium for ad-free content so it is back to buying episodes on Apple TV. They need to understand that some of us will gladly pay $18.95 a month for no advertising in the middle of the show. And I would not complain if I had a way to skip the ad's like I did before I cut off cable TV and I used a TiVo.
Traditional media is useless, they are invasive, evil, and act as if they OWN the airwaves. I OWN the airwaves, they rent it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I see very little difference between government and private monopolies as an end user, and letting the government do it puts me in the additional position of having to make good on any debts or liabilities they incur. I think you put up a competitive bid process for a heavily regulated monopoly infrastructure provider, and just accept that it won't be the most efficient thing ever. Then let anyone rent the "pipes" to be the ISP/cable/telephone provider. In other words, the utility model. Crap customer service, not as cheap as it could be, and a little behind on the technology curve - but fairly reliable and available everywhere.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
The DSL technology keeps improving. Here in Montreal I'm getting about 8 Mbps on a 7 Mbps connection. I previously had about 2 but I got moved to a new switch that is more effective over copper. I might need fibre if I wanted 60 or something but by the time I seriously need that (1 MB/s is quite OK so far) I expect it will be available over twisted pair though I may have to upgrade my now 5 year old DSL modem.
There is competition here, though, so the cable/telcos can't get away with just leaving people on existing tech until it dies. Though you do have to ask. My bill is the same for 4 times as much bandwidth. A tech visited but ended up not doing anything; the change was in software on the provider's end. Easy decision for anyone here I would think, you just have to call.
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
The telco/cableco industry owns the FCC, which is why cablecos are now allowed to encrypt basic cable and force everyone to extra-cost rented boxes (or put them through hell if they have the audacity to ask for a CableCard so they can use their own equipment).
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
um, no. If you are the service provider, you are more then welcome to encrypt your signal. That has ALWAYS been the case. IT's not new, nor is it a product of regulatory capture.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
themselves to blame.
Ridiculous prices, nickle-and-diming their customers to death, still no al a carte package choices.
Comcast is one of the worst. Their service was great and rarely had any interruptions, and the Internet connection was fast, but got tired of the rate hikes, and the nickle and diming and went back to AT&T. At least by switching back to AT&T we got a great rate for the next two years, plus we don;t have to pay extra to get ALL the channels we're paying for in all rooms we have a receiver in (Comcast only gives you a cheapo box that gets hardly anything channel-wise unless you pay 10 or more extra bucks to get a "full-featured" box to get all the channels you are already paying for, plus another 8/month/box to watch the stuff you have DVRs on the main box.
You have far more power of things the government has then things corporations do.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'm so old, I remember that when cable first came in, the selling point was that you would never have to watch commercials again.
Really.
And you didn't, in the eighties, into the nineties on some channels.
Fact: back in the sixties, the hard limit from the FCC was something like five minutes of commercials PER HOUR. Last time I recorded an allegedly hour long show off cable, it was 22 min of commercials.
mark
Get a HDHomeRun. It connects via Ethernet and provides TV to any device on your network that cares to consume it (including Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS and Android, albeit sometimes using third-party software). It is also compatible with most DVR software, including MythTV.
Note that there are a couple of versions. You don't want the HDHomeRun Prime, since that's designed for CableCard only and does not have ATSC support.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
A corporation can be made to do anything that you want. Just enact legislation. Local utilities are particularly susceptible, as they cannot go anywhere. Sure, they have lobbyists - but public unions do, too.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
On the contrary, encryption of basic-tier cable was NOT ALLOWED until FCC 12-126 was adopted on October 10, 2012, as a result of intense brib...err, "lobbying" by the cable TV industry.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
In my area they used to reshuffle the channels every few hours, so even though the signal wasn't encrypted, you couldn't pick the right channel without a box (Philadelphia early 2000's).
It was a pain, as I had purchased a lifetime Tivo, and it was no longer particularly useful.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
If you follow more than one sport, or you have more than one person in the household following a sport, you have to buy more than one season ticket, which can cost more than a year of pay TV. Not to mention airfare for away games.
Before the advent of time shifting, people were at the mercy of when broadcasters would air shows. When the VCR came along in the 70's, it was the beginning of the end for the major networks. With online shows, streaming and the like the monopoly that the networks, cable & satellite services had on how & when we watched television has changed forever. Ad revenue is going to continue to shrink, which might be a double edged sword. It's that ad revenue that helps offset the costs of televised shows. With it shrinking, how are they going to pay for the shows? Will we reach a point where everything will have to be pay for view?
I still have pay TV, and probably will for awhile longer, but the handwriting is clear. Every year, I find regular TV to get worse. The ads drive me nuts, and I hate it when a show I like goes on hiatus for a few months. I'm watching more on Netflix, and less on regular TV. Eventually, either Netflix will get good enough for me to cut the cord, or TV will piss me off enough to do so.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Easy to find.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116034
eight years ago, been using TVTorrents.com/TPB/Crunchyroll since then. Only time I tune into online broadcasts of tv channels is when my less progressive mum comes to stay :)
We fetch your mail, we route your packets, we guard you while you surf. Don't fuck with us.
I've got something like 6 not counting the Jesus channels, here in Albuquerque. I must be living in the 19th century! :-)
TWC rep came to the house, said we had been paying an 'outdated' service plan for over a year and that he could save us $60 a month. I asked him if their overcharges would be deducted from my future bills? The 'deer-stuck-in-headlights' look I received was all the answer I needed...
I would love to see TWC fall into a tail-spin.
I second the recommendation for the HD Home Run Dual tuners, I got a couple of them a year ago and have been documenting about my Mac mini DVR Project in my blog over at AtariAge. I've saved $1300 so far since canceling DirecTV in January 2013.
Looks like they're about to come out with the next generation HD Home Run Dual, they've added support for DLNA.
think you put up a competitive bid process for a heavily regulated monopoly infrastructure provider, and just accept that it won't be the most efficient thing ever.
The difference between having the government do it vs a private monopoly, is that the private monopoly will take its profits and lobby the government to relax regulatory restrictions.
This happens in every highly regulated industry we have, monopoly or not.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
And on the other side you have public employees unions, so we end up with a bunch of liability that doesn't even show up on the government's version of a balance sheet. I personally feel that both should be banned from lobbying, but the Supreme Court recently disagreed.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I would not cut the cord at $50 per month.
At $90 per month- yup.
Comcast is trying to raise bandwidth/price for internet to make the exercise pointless but their is competition on raw bandwidth so I can get it for 1/3 to 1/2 the price.
I currently have both services. But it's been 30 days and the other service is working fine so Comcast goes before the next billing cycle.
You know at $100 a month- that's $12000 dollars over 10 years??? Ignoring investment returns, that's a huge chunk of money. With investment returns, it's probably $20,000 -- i.e. a NEW car or 4 trips to Europe/Asia.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Probably about two years ago I cut the cord. Took an old PC and stuck an avermedia dual tuner PCI card in it.
Windows 7 with Windows media center is amazing. Much better than any other DVR I've used. So simple even the wife can use it without issue.
I wanted to use MythTV originally but WMC works *too* well not to use it.
I can't believe people are eschewing $80 advanced package cable bills, $50/mo premium channels, and the sleazy teaser rates that usually they come with.
I love that there's always a new bundle coming out that will save you money, only lasts for 3 or 6 months, and then goes up to a rate above the new bundle.
Either get stuck with a $170/mo bill for all the channels and internet, play the new bundle game every 3 months to save $30-50/mo, or just say "fuck it" and cut the cable way down and enjoy amazon prime, hulu, and netflix. I love that all together are cheaper than the cable services they replace.
Yeah if you get premium channels.. Or your paying to watch newly released movies. Why are you even complaining? Concasts monthly fee for standard package is just about 80 dollars/month. Direct is less then half of that, for the same packaged channels. Pay for premium channels that show the same stupid ass movies, or have some show few bother to watch.
I was on Cox, but the same thing applies. I cancelled cable TV about 2yrs ago and since then, my internet service quality has gone down (despite higher peak mbps claims) and the prices went up by ~40%. They're obviously targeting "cord cutters" because the prices of the bundle packages aren't increasing at the same rate. So I finally decided to drop Cox service entirely (at least officially, they still haven't disconnected analog cable TV after 2yrs)
Where I am DSL just isn't a competitive option, so I decided to up my phone internet plan to unlimited data and forgo any wired internet. I'm now paying $45/mo less between internet and phone and the 4G speeds are comparable to what I was getting on cable. The only drawback is that I have a limited amount of tethering data, so I use that sparingly and watch streaming video on the TV through my phone with a slimport adapter.
It seems crazy that wireless providers can offer a competitive service against a company that has a physical cable into the house, but that's the state of affairs when there's no competition in the market. Although I doubt my solution would be acceptable to a majority of the population, it's still a good indicator of how severe the problem is with wired ISPs abusing their monopolies.
Knowledge Brings Fear
I get my TV "off the air". I have a USB device that demodulates ATSC (I use the "DViCO FusionHDTV5" but there are other Linux compatible gadgets :http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/ATSC_USB_Devices ) For software, I use VLC in a script. I use a simple "bowtie" antenna for $20. This web site will tell you how much gain your antenna needs : http://antennaweb.org/
Ditto except I can't get DSL because COs are over 20K ft. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The entire way pay-TV companies operate is based off of outdated business practices that are crippled by the Internet. With the ability to stream content at will, networks as they exist fail to provide a useful service, and scheduled-content TV programs are having trouble retaining steady viewership. Consumers have decided that sitting through commercials in equal proportion to content isn't very enjoyable, and now that there are options that don't require the customer to sit through them, the customers are going to leave in favor of those options. It's coming on time for those pay-TV companies to adapt to a business model that suits the customer or die out.
I have read stories about mysterious businesses presumably associated with the cable or DSL operators buying tower space to put up WiFi gear with the intention of blocking local WISP operators.
Sure, but instead of getting almost $200 in revenue from their capital equipment and maintenance crews they are only getting $70. Same wire.
Not necessarily. Cable companies have been known to charge less for both.
Perfect, awesome, thanks (you and SpiceWare both)