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Unbundling Cable TV: Be Careful What You Wish For
schnell writes Consumers have long complained about the practice of "bundling" cable services and forcing customers to pay for channels they don't want — and an increasing number of "cord cutters" are voting with their wallets. But an article in the New York Times suggests that if cable companies are finally forced to unbundle their services it may actually result in higher prices and worse service. From the article: "there's another, more subjective dimension in which the rise of unbundled cable service may make us worse off. It's possible for a market to become more economically efficient while becoming less pleasant for consumers. For a prime example, head to your nearest airport."
When one revenue stream goes away, corporations will gouge their customers in other ways to make up the difference, or make more money in the long run.
The cable companies are screwing us now, and will continue to screw us in the future using whatever means available to them.
It's a rigged game, played by people who feel entitled to the revenue, and who have more power than we do.
This isn't a surprise, nor should it be.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Worse service? Than a cable company? I'm 99.99% sure that is impossible.
Nearly everyone I know has dumped cable and in most cases it wasn't to make their budget better but that once they got Netflix that commercials became insufferable and the cost per cable hour watched then skyrocketed. In my area to have a half decent set of packages you will end up paying around $100 per month. So for people who were just watching the occasional news show and not much else they realized that they were paying pretty much the same per show as the entirety of their monthly Netflix cost.
But then I hear other complaints which is that the news is becoming wildly biased while the quality of most programming is in freefall. I hear that it is becoming clear that many of the new programs are being made on silly low budgets. For instance I was over at a cable using friend's house and the weather reporter was talking to a camera on a tripod. They had eliminated the cameraman. Plus some of the travel shows are basically all selfie shots with a selfie stick or a tripod.
And CNN really took the cake when they had 1000's of hours of reporting on the missing airliner when their only two real facts were that it was missing and that it turned left.
So while in 1994 I would have killed to get my channels a-la-carte at this point it is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Food, drinks, legroom, checked baggage.
The thing about cable is that large majority of people don't want all the crap they force down our throat.
For example there are romance centered channels, sports centered channels, reality show channels, cartoon centered channels, science centered channels and fake science centered channels (which USED to be real science centered channels).
If you are a family with a wide array of interests than you might probably want all of that.
But I have zero interest at all on the sports channels (total geek), fake science channel (TLC, I'm looking at you), reality show channels, etc.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
its only 7 days into the year, I dont smell that bad, lets give it another 3 weeks before you bully me.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
Cable (and IPTV/satellite) is unbundled where I live. Guess what happened? People ended up getting less channels, paying more per-channel, and at the end their monthly bill ended up about the same. Now the CRTC is likely going to force unbundled cable to be required nationwide, and I expect to see the same thing happen in all other provinces.
Cable companies will set their prices so that their ARPU remains unaffected. The vast majority of people will save no money. A small number of people who pick an extremely limited number of channels might save some money.
Dish just introduced a $20/mo. streaming service that includes ESPN. Seems like the cord cutters have the final piece of the puzzle now.
However, what's wrong with bringing fewer bags, if you want to, or else paying the going price for the bags you really need?
The cognitive burden of facing all those "decisions" and the constant bombardment of the nickle and diming fees makes the entire experience less enjoyable for everyone.
Imagine a game where you paid a fee to unlock each level, each quest, each item. If you don't play the game much, its more economical this way.
However, the game itself isn't much fun because instead of playing it you spend all your time deciding whether its really worth another 50 cents for a bigger bag or whether that dungeon is going to be worth $2 or whether equipping this item is really worth another 25 cents...
I'd MUCH rather pay $30 for the game, and have it all available, even if I don't end up exploring every nook and cranny.
My problem with bundling is that your cable dollars *underwrite* crap like the Kardiashian shows, whether you watch them or not. I don't, but through my cable bill, I'm as responsible for the Kardiashians (as a media entity) as much as anyone.
I'm surprised more people aren't irked at this aspect, that as cable subscribers, they are funding any shows/channels they detest.
I have a couple friends who are senior people at Cable companies I am not sure it is always the Cable companies fault.
1. Cable companies have to pay distributors to license feeds
2. Those distributors bundle their channels. One or two popular channels, 8 - 10 undesirable ones. Cable company has to buy the whole block, it is priced as a monthly charge per subscriber to the tier that includes the block.
3. Distributors are always trying to raise the rates. Thats when you get the websites about "Tell Comcast you want to keep your channels", because the cable company is trying to hold the line on price increases
4. ESPN is the most expensive part of the cable bill. Last I saw the numbers, it cost the Cable company $5 per subscriber per month. It is probably higher now. That is why there has been an explosion of Sports Networks on cable. They are all trying to get that sweet sweet cash flow that ESPN gets.
5. The content providers have been fighting al a carte pricing. It will signal the death of a lot of channels that get few viewers. In the end, it may lead to less choice
My Cable company was very slow to get a lot of HD channels. My friend told me it was part of their strategy to hold the line on prices. They refused to pay extra to include HD feeds. Their belief was, the production company already had sunk the costs into producing the show in HD. It cost them extra to produce a non-HD feed. A customer who was watching the HD channel, was not benefiting from having the non-HD channel available too.
Maybe if I ever had Comcast, my attitude would be different, but I feel like my Cable company is doing what they can to control costs.