Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
With a good antenna, OTA is really nice these days. Unfortunately, most new tvs no longer include it, but ota also includes an episode guide.
Rather than spend money on a tivo, look into the homeworx or iview units. $40 for a digital tuner that acts as a pvr with your own USB drive.
I also use kat to catch other things. I'd pay for a similar service if it were available, but alas it is not, nor will it ever be.
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.
Nah, 4 tvs in one room, tuned to skinemax, spice, weather channel (don't ask) and playboy for an extended jack off session.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
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
Is your contract up?
Don't be so sure. If you made any changes to your service during the initial contract period, you automatically get re-upped for another 2 years.
Free installation? Autmomatic 2 year contract. Added ESPN? Another 2 years. Eliminate something else? 2 more years.
And the customer service people do not tell you. And when you try to cancel, oh, there will be a $300- $400 cancellation fee.
It's not just them - they all do it.
That's why cable and satellite TV providers can all go to Hell for all I care.
cocksuckers
Not sure how well it will work with your provider, but I've gotten out of a lot of those bullshit fees and unauthorized contract extensions by demanding to be provided with a physical copy of the alleged updated agreement bearing my physical signature. No physical signature, no legal grounds, so fix it or I'll see you in court.
YMMV as always, but I've been amazed at how often that actually works.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
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.
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."
I've found that MythTV helps me watch less TV.
Because MythTV is on the job, you don't have to watch the show NOW, when it's scheduled. Because MythTV lets you put gobs of hard drive there for recordings, you don't even have to watch it this week. At some point, you realize that you don't really have to watch it at all.
As long as the computer is doing something useful besides MythTV, the only "wasted" cost is the tuner and the dedicated hard drive space.
Plus some time you might actually WANT to watch that TV show or movie - "Day of the Doctor", anyone?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.