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Cutting the Cord? Time Warner Loses 184,000 TV Subscribers In One Quarter
Mr D from 63 (3395377) writes Time Warner Cable's results have been buoyed recently by higher subscriber numbers for broadband Internet service. In the latest period, however, Time Warner Cable lost 184,000 overall residential customer relationships [Note: non-paywalled coverage at Bloomberg and Reuters]. The addition of 92,000 residential high-speed data customers was offset by 184,000 fewer residential video customers in the quarter. Triple play customers fell by 24,000, while residential voice additions were 14,000.
Exactly. Minimum basic cable price (if I don't want to sell my entire soul to the cableco) where I am is $39.48 + $3.99 for a converter box + 13% taxes + some other silly fees I've forgotten about (LPIF?), every month. Ends up about $54. As encouragement for me to never sign up again, they'll punish me with a $49.99 one time bonus fee.
Primewire, netflix and even sometimes the sites for the stations themselves gives me all the content I need (no hulu in my country). I'd actually pay $20 for what I watch on top of Netflix, but it has to be equally convenient and unlimited to what I get now, and typically anything I've seen isn't. Basic cable is a joke.
Cable TV can DIAF.
They blatantly lie and claim that the box is "necessary" "because digital", but it isn't. The real reason they want you to use the box is because of their unilateral insistence on encrypting even the signals that you'd otherwise be able to get unencrypted from an antenna anyway, so that they can charge you a rental fee. But even then, it still isn't necessary because you can get a CableCard instead.
When I had cable TV (only because the TV + internet bundle was cheaper than internet-only that year), I refused the box (and refused to be charged for the box) as a matter of principle.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
TV is going through a wierd shift right now.
It's both the very best it's ever been and the very worst. There are a handful of very very very high quality shows. Honestly the most well produced, well written, entertaining, amazing video ever made and rivals even the best cinema.
The rest is crap. Really really really crap. Repulsive, base, cheaply made, immoral, sensational, manipulative, pandering shlock that insults your intelligence. Well, it's not all as bad as Fox News but it's not much better either.
At some point the makers of the handfuls of good shows are going to realize that they don't need traditional TV distribution to gain viewership and make money. HBO is going to "cut the cord" and and sell content online. I predict cable companies are going to start imploding when they can no longer rely on forced bundling to sell you drek you don't want to watch.
So we have some good shows, but it's not enough. Personally I've found you can get everything else you want and more on youtube. I don't give a wet fart about celebrity gossip but I can watch some english guy in his basement take apart vintage 70's laboratory equipment and explain it's theory of operation for hours. And I do.
When the government put out regulations where companies couldn't use lead-based solder in consumer electronics products anymore (it's still widely available for private purchase), all electronic devices began suffering significantly shorter operational life. The lead kept the solder from developing micro-fractures that eventually caused joints to arc, or disconnecting altogether. If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can often resurrect dead electronics by touching heat to the joints which has the effect of making the solder become molten again and thus eliminating the fractures. Under constant operating conditions it can take about 2-3 years for the fractures to progress to the point where a device will no longer work properly. It's one reason why you hear about Red-Rings-of-Death, Red lights of death, etc. from gaming systems released in the last 10-15 years while a good portion of classic systems from the Atari, to the Oddessy2, to the Sega Master System, to the N64 can still be found 20-30 years later still running as well as they did on day one. You always hear the phrase "They don't make 'em like they used to." It's because literally (in the very literal sense, not figuratively speaking type of literally), they don't.
That's what I had done until Comcast started encrypting everything.
The FCC sold us out about two years ago.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
They blatantly lie and claim that the box is "necessary" "because digital", but it isn't. The real reason they want you to use the box is because of their unilateral insistence on encrypting even the signals that you'd otherwise be able to get unencrypted from an antenna anyway, so that they can charge you a rental fee. But even then, it still isn't necessary because you can get a CableCard instead.
When I had cable TV (only because the TV + internet bundle was cheaper than internet-only that year), I refused the box (and refused to be charged for the box) as a matter of principle.
They are prohibited by FCC mandate from encrypting over the air channels, those must be broadcast "in the clear", and with the copy protect flag set to "copy freely". You just need a tuner capable of grabbing Clear QAM signals to view it (some TVs but not all). If you see a violation of this you can report it to the FCC and they'll get in big trouble. As for the rest of the channels, Time Warner Cable is objectively the worst cable provider, in that they encrypt ALL channels (excluding the Discovery Channel) that they aren't required to decrypt by law. They also set the copy protect flag to "copy once" on all channels except those they are required not to by law. Comcast is a better TV provider than Time Warner Cable, and that's saying something. Comcast uses the copy protect flag more sparingly, and offers more Clear QAM channels. If the merger goes through the only silver lining is that my TV will get better (while my Internet gets far worse... fucking data caps should not exist on wired broadband).
When a product sucks, people stop buying it.
*** Don't be dull.***
Nope.
Also, nope. In my area, Comcast started encrypting everything, including over the air channels, over a year ago.
LOL, you poor, naive fool. You only think that because you haven't experienced the Hell that is Comcast "customer service." I've filed multiple BBB complaints. I once almost got arrested by the sheriff's deputy Comcast hires to guard their office from irate customers -- that's how bad they are!
Comcast is so bad that I've even resorted to lobbying local politicians to try to kick them out of my city.
I tried. In my case, Comcast started encrypting (some of the) OTA channels weeks before sending the notice required by Title 47 Section 76.630 (a)(1)(v) (look it up!). I filed a complaint with the FCC, and heard nothing whatsofuckingever.
The FCC is in Comcast's pocket.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
It looks like the rules were changed last year, so what I said should be considered wrong. And boy does that suck.