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Cord-Cutting Spikes Fivefold In Cable TV's Worst Quarter Ever (fastcompany.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Fast Company: Cable's day of reckoning has come. With all the major cable and satellite companies having reported their quarterly numbers, analyst firm MoffettNathanson put together a new cord-cutting report, and things are bad. Pay-TV providers lost an estimated 762,000 pay-TV subscribers over the first three months of this year -- five times more than they lost during the same period last year. To make matters worse, Q1 has historically been a strong season for pay TV.
I think I speak for lot of people when I say fuck Comcast.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Back in the 90s when I had a ton of channels for $25 it wasn't a big deal. Now that same package is $100 or more. Considering a lot of channels duplicate content as it is, people are just tired of paying through the nose for it.
Add to that youtube/chromecast/etc and OTA in most major centres... well, there's just no reason to pay that much for TV.
They don't need to change their business plans they just need more ads! And more forced bundling! No a la carte! People won't cancel their cable if it makes their internet cost more than having internet and cable! /s
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
Dropping revenue means they need to squeeze the remaining schlubs by playing more ads, and increasing monthly fees. No dropping of revenue can be tolerated by these guys.
I know it will still be years off, but I still welcome their impending demise.
No one actually cares about channels anymore.
Netflix and the likes has made people realise they watch programs, and, even worse for the advertising industry, they watch programs with no advert interruptions.
I go back to "linearTV" and it just annoys the hell out of me, so it back to Netflix we go.
I can't afford cable, so first chance I got I cancelled it. My internet is $80/mo no matter what I do. After that they start getting nervous that I'm gonna buy a cell phone with HDMI out and watch Netflix that way. Last I had cable (for my kid to watch shows so she could chat with her friends about 'em) it was $80/mo from Dish and they were set to raise it to $100 soon. Sorry folks, after 20 years of stagnant wages I can't blow that kinda money on TV. Netflix is less than 1/10th that.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Companies are going to have to justify their cost to continue being in family budgets.
I recently had a revelation: I was paying more for telecom than any other thing. Between land line phone, cell phone, cable TV, and internet, I was paying almost $500/mo.
Land line phone is an obvious place to cut, but cable TV is quickly becoming just as redundant.
I ended up cutting back to basic cable. How long will I keep even that?
yes
There is no reason that cable channels couldn't survive the transition to streaming perfectly well by making it as easy for customers to stream as to watch on air. Set up a consistent verify-with-provider interface that works for all customers, show the same ads online as on the air, and gain new customers with the ability to bingewatch and time-shift.
But no. There are a lot of networks in my cable tier that don't include my cable provider in their signon list. Those are the ones I have to watch on Kodi, in which case their commercials don't get aired.
Oh, if someone did that to me, I would keep chatting in over and over and over giving them bad surveys as they disconnect from me. I would do that in as much free time as I could.
If techs didn't disagree with each other, then Microsoft would rule the world.
What does direct comcox up your bum not know how many customers they have?
The estimate comes from the analyst, not from comcox.
But the number is meaningless anyway, because many people have cable but never watch it. I am a cable subscriber because it is actually cheaper to subscribe to Internet+TV than to subscribe to just Internet. But I haven't watched live TV in years. I think they give away the TV at less than zero cost so they can quote a higher subscriber number to advertisers.
ESPN just laid off 100 employees holding on-air or content-producing positions.
For years I've just had just the $15/mo cheapo cable internet and it works for me. Straight OTA, and I still watch too much TV.
Aside from banner ads on the Guide menu, does Comcast get any money from cable advertising? My understanding is that your standard 30-second advert revenue goes to the channel operator.
I find it more likely that they're trying to shore up cable subscription rates to prevent stockholders from dumping their stock and running far away, I know I would be if I held Cable/Satellite operator stock. They're one telecom regulation away from no longer having a captive market, the house of cards can fall at any time. Market penetration is complete everywhere it's profitable, the only ones without cable are in rural areas where it's not profitable to expand to and the govt. won't subsidize buildout, and those people often can access satellite TV. Overall, not a good position a stockholder would want to be in.
Also remember that broadcast/cable/satellite tend to be the last to get new tech. Most OTA broadcasts are still 720p, and broadcast was last to get the tech to support HDR color. Discs and streaming software tend to get the newer tech (4k, HDR, 3d) first. I imagine 360degree/VR broadcasts will be so many years behind streaming services (Youtube supports those already) that it won't even occur to consumers that it CAN be broadcast. Broadcast is going the way of landlines.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
When the "hot new shows" are Honey BooBoo's mother losing weight for her pedophile boyfriend, and Sassy African American women flashing attitude, over the top flamers, and weird white guys in Alaska and down south, and ESPN is now the 5 people arguing at once and poker channel that by themselves represents around 10 dollars of every bill and a dozen channels selling jewelry- who knew? Cable TV needs ala carte channel selection, and then they might survive, and a lot of worthless shit can go away.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
OTA is terrible, so does Cable. Channels? Ad breaks? Not gonna fly. I won't use a service that doesn't offer an ad-free experience. Happy to pay for it, but I won't be forced to watch ads. I think this is a very good thing. I want to watch what I want when I want it. You shot the whole season, why make me wait to watch it? There's no benefit anymore. I'm willing to pay for access. Some weeks I don't watch anything, because.... life! Other down weeks I'll binge watch GoT. I love the flexibility, and since the cable providers don't provide any and are ludicrously expensive, they are going to lose, of course. But it's a good thing. Business models will come in and fix what they refused to today.
I can't speak for others, but I watch very little tv these days - broadcast, cable, or internet. Very few shows appeal to me anymore, plus they took off COPS, which was literally the only show I watched regularly. (Okay, it might be on FX now, but I'm not paying for cable just for one show.) Of course, it doesn't help that I work in the evenings, so I am rarely at home for primetime. But again, most of the shows either suck or are getting very redundant.
I recently called Comcast to drop my internet plan to a lower tier. As part of that hassle, they offered me $75/mo for the Xfinity tier I wanted, and $73/mo if I added TV to that.
Essentially, trying to keep their subscriber numbers up is worth $2/mo/person to them. So, I'd assume the number of subscribers who are actually using the TV service or even *want* their TV service is far lower.
Maybe if their prices were more in line with REALITY some people would consider it, but when you figure 80% of the channels, NO ONE WATCHES, and the other 20% have some lame shows, and you can get a lot of them online, why bother?
you can get live TV for $20 a month. I had sling for $25 and switched to AT&T unlimited and then got direct tv now for $25 a month
next year look for cheaper bundles with no sports. MLB Advanced Media owns the streaming infrastructure along with the commercial CDN's and everyone else just makes the players and does the customer facing stuff that runs on top of it
I won't use a service that doesn't offer an ad-free experience. Happy to pay for it, but I won't be forced to watch ads.
Me too. My family went on a trip and my kids turned on the TV in the hotel room. When the first commercial came on, they thought the show was over, and were confused by the ending. I realized then that they had no idea what a "commercial" was.
I spent the next hour explaining my childhood, and how every kid knew all the jingles, like "Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs" , "I wish I was an Oscar-Meyer Weiner", and "Rice-a-Roni". I told them about Tony the Tiger, Mr Clean, and Cap'n Crunch, but they just rolled their eyes and started watching Youtube on their Chromebooks.
Careful, there, you're showing your age with those jingles. On the other hand, what does it say about me that I recognize them too. ;)
Well, at least I can still use my compression tool and RG/6 cable for installing new satellite dishes.
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
Kriston
the house of cards can fall at any time.
I see what you did there.
They don't get money from the commercials that are played but they charge stations such as CNN, ESPN, and the rest of the specialty networks based on the number of subscribers. Well, a cut of what the charge the subscribers for those channels. So if the numbers of subscribers drop then the cable/satellite companies are going to be making less from selling specialty channels. Of course the channels are going to be in trouble too because they are losing revenue.
You fuckers cant keep forcing us to buy 2524356345868 things we dont want just to get the 1 we do. Its ridiculous.
They can when the 1 is Internet and the 2524356345868 is TV for which they charge you negative dollars: $75/mo for Internet only or $73/mo for Internet and TV.
OTA is terrible, so does Cable. Channels? Ad breaks? Not gonna fly...
The PC in the back records 3 shows at once, and MCE Buddy strips commercials, compresses to a VLC readable format, and nicely organizes them in folders. Long ago, when cable let me record, I had cable TV. When they wouldn't let me do that anymore, I got an antenna.
Used to have Netflix, but I canceled. They kept dropping the stuff I wanted to see, and I got bored watching the remains over and over.
There's still lots to record, and there's the library with years video on big hard drives. Used to have MythTV, but I'm just not into watching everything everywhere anymore. I watch too much TV anyway.
If a new business model offers a better deal, I might change my mind.
Burma Shave.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
I just reached a new deal with Comcast. The prices for my services were way out of control. it pays to call them every few months to see if new deals or bundles are available. It saved me a fortune.
I mainly gave up cable due to cable news and the talking heads who had an inability to answer a question without preceding it with: "well", "you know", "look", or "well, you know, look..."
The extra $60 to $80 a month I now have is just a bonus.
Lately Comcast Xfinity has been touting features they think set them apart from the competition. Voice Remote. Being able to watch on-demand on any device, and a few other things.
But the thing is, never in my entire life have I ever had a desire to TALK to my remote control, and I can't think of a reason, short of losing my mind entirely, that I would ever do that. The idea of uttering "Show me sitcoms" makes me want to die inside.
I don't know anyone else who has ever wanted this feature, either. But Xfinity thinks it's fucking amazing.
Video on any device is a joke. I don't have time to watch video on the go, driving, or at work.
What I want from Xfinity is a stable internet connection with decent speed, and I get that. They don't need to offer me more. I don't want more. I would like a cheaper bill but I'd also like a giant robot, and we cannot always have what we want.
Sig for hire.
Well, at least I can still use my compression tool and RG/6 cable for installing new satellite dishes.
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
True story: When Comcast came to wire my house for cable a few years ago, the installer opened a brand-new 1000ft roll of RG6QS with carrier wire, used what he needed to do the drop install, and left the remaining spool behind when he was done. His service truck had about 20 rolls of cable in it. Any chance he got to ditch a spool, he would. It was taking up too much room.
So I now have 700ft of Comcast-grade RG6QS on a spool. It's quite good stuff.
The installer did a fine job. I let his boss know and said nothing about the freebie spool. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, you know.
Why in 2015 was Comcast just now wiring my house? It had been wired for cable years before, but a passing box truck ripped out the cable drop about 15 years ago. We had satellite for TV and DSL for internet and didn't care. So Comcast had to redo the drop when I dropped AT&T slow DSL. Once told about the truck ripping out the old wire, the new installer did a MUCH better job of stringing up a new drop from a higher place. So he also listened to me, did exactly what he needed to do to prevent another issue, and left me a spool of cable. Nice.
I may be the only happy Comcast customer. Or I may be drunk. Pick.
Sig for hire.
I still need the cord for Internet. I just don't subscribe to TV channels anymore, not since every channel started permanently embedding .their logo on the screen all at the same time around 15-20 years ago, along with pop-up animated ads while the show was running. Distracting and unacceptable. Plus commercials are universally deceitful.
When I went to cut the cord, they offered me basic cable plus HBO (and I can switch it to Showtime on a month to month basis) for $10 a month more.
Ordinary cable has gotten TOO EXPENSIVE.
I'm not sure they care tho.
They may feel, "Well 20% of the market will pay $240 a month and that's more profit than if we charged everyone $120 a month".
Or their just greedy and dumb.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
In before some Millennial yells "They want to be called Myanmar now, respect their decisions, stop using colonial terms!"
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
For a Close Shave Use
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
That's still not forcing, that's just "encouragement".
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Maybe you should blame the generation that thought it would be a good idea to hand out participation trophies just for showing up.
Furries make the internet go.
I think it's just greedy and dumb. I pay Cox $80/mo for 150Mbps. For comparison, that's about the same price my mother is paying Frontier for gigabit (and they keep giving her basic TV for free when she calls to drop the TV since she doesn't really watch that much). Needless to say, my cable company can suck my Cox.
Furries make the internet go.
Every generation fucks up education more than the one that preceded it. Just wait what kind of monsters the Millennials will produce.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
A couple years back I did the math. I was paying close to $200 a month for internet, tv and phone. Told them to leave the net service (which is now $88 a month because $15 is the modem rental)
It was stupid to have the phone ant tv when everything can be found on the net these days.
Maybe they will wake up and serve up some a la carte channels.
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
All you need for OTA is a $40 Mediasonic box and a hard drive. VCR functions with one time $120 max. Of course, Tivo and a big hard drive is pretty good too, at a higher price point. I can't watch 'real time' TV either anymore, and that is all there was when I grew up. The kids ? The only time they watch "TV" is when a group wants to watch something together, and then there's a cable from the computer to the 'big screen'
Went from $240 a month for triple play to about $120 for about the same service.
Here's what I am using:
1. OTA with Tablo (4 channel at a time recording) - 5tb hard drive. We record EVERYTHING! We get about 35 channels, crystal clear.
2. Playstation Vue
3. Dropped the phone line - wife doesn't miss the junk calls and kids are grown so no strong need for 911.
We continue to have these services.
1. Netflix
2. Hulu plus
3. Amazon prime
The killer difference between Netflix and Comcast/DirecTV/Dish Network (the only three I can get at my house) is honest advertising and billing. With Netflix, the price advertised is what you pay, end of story. With the others, the price advertised is a fancy and you have to check your bill carefully every month because they start playing games and introducing fees and package changes. And if you're not willing to call up sales and customer retention departments and chew out some hapless entry level representative every six months, they will keep jacking prices until you're paying $180 per month for something that said "$30 per month" on the original sales brochure.
Comcast doesn't want our business.
I got a letter from Comcast a few days ago offering TV and Internet for $89.95 which is twice what it's worth.
BUT after calling them and inquiring I learned that that $90 deal would actually cost me $130 plus taxes each month.
Before the phone call I was ready to sign up. After the phone call I said screw Comcast.
I currently have Dish which doesn't allow me to watch TV when it's raining, snowing or windy outside. Where can I get cable TV and Internet for a reasonable price?
Why would you rent for $15 when you can buy for $75?
They shot themselves in the foot ~10 years ago when they all "went digital" to help "provide better service" which basically meant they could charge tons of extra fees for cable boxes, DVR, etc. which were locked to their system...and where you couldn't just plug in a TV and watch.
They should have jumped right on the streaming bandwagon from day one. They had (have) the tech to do so after all - digital cable isn't broadcast like old school analog (where all channels are there all the time and you tune the one you want). But no...they wanted to preserve a dying business model just like MP3s over CDs and music streaming services over radio.
And ever since all the content producers basically gave netflix (Etc.) the finger for so much...they went to make their own content. And guess what? It's working.
Cable TV is a joke these days. 100's of bundled channels that no one wants. "options" to unbundle that just just adds significant cost. Overpriced cable box/DVR rental, limited computer/mobile device viewing options, etc. etc. etc. I gave up on TV a long time ago. Between a few streaming services and BT I've no need for it.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
Do you block all the ads on the chromebooks? I know Youtube ads are usually at the beginning of the video but I'd think that analogy would've worked.
Every generation fucks up education more than the one that preceded it. Just wait what kind of monsters the Millennials will produce.
They won't. They're too busy protesting for equality in the pupae stage for the northern woodland spotted butterfly or somesugh stupidity to have children. Hipsters though...watch out for them.
On a slightly more serious notes, very often the educated, intelligent, successful people are having fewer (or no) children while the poor uneducated are having many. There's a day of reckoning coming.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
BYoM.
You can buy a cable modem for $50-100 (or less depending on the lanes you need) and your ROI is under a year. Not sure why anyone pays such a premium for a commodity device.
My crystal ball says that cable providers will start jacking up rates on unbundled internet even more and introducing data caps (or more restrictive ones) as the cable subs drop so they can balance. $200/month internet service (and per-GB usage fees) here we come. Despite cell providers finally moving away from that nonsense.
Maybe cell providers eventually replace cable providers?
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
Considering that Comcast owns NBC and all of it's channels, I'd imagine that they still make a good chunk of money off of TV advertising and TV product placement.
It's $2 less* now.
*Plus taxes and fees, surcharges, and the not-infrequent misbilling. Also, DVR service is included for 12 out of your 24 month contract and after 12 months bills at $29.95/month plus $19.95/month DVR rental fee. Be prepared to waste 8-12 hours trying to return the DVR and get a (working) normal cable box which will then break and require a service call with a 8AM-8PM window and 3 minute notice of arrival with $150 fee if an adult can't get to the door within 7 seconds of them ringing the bell.
I've been tempted with similar a few times over the decade+ i've not bothered with cable tv...and it's never been worth the hassle.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
Pretty sure it is already upon us. We just had an election between Trump and Hillary. How much lower can we go?
There was a movie about this, kinda like a future documentary that has turned reality since.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Funny thing. Comcast's service has always been bulletproof for me. Fifteen years in one house, one Internet connection outage lasting more than hour.
It's just the sales and billing department that deserve a spot in the fifteenth level of hell.
you could rotate through them in succession and binge the shows of interest.
Which I guess is part of the rationale behind the 12-month minimum for Prime.
CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS, CW, etc. are all free with this metal thing in the attic.
Then you need to pay $750 for a TiVo DVR ($200 for the hardware and $550 for the required program guide subscription) or just accept that you'll miss any program aired when you happen not to be at home.
Amazon Prime? Free since I already have it for deliveries
"Super Saver Shipping" for large orders is also free, albeit with a minimum order of $35 and longer delivery time. People rationalize not paying extra for the upgrade from Super Saver Shipping to Prime because they consider faster delivery a luxury that can be dispensed with. Their time/money tradeoff is biased toward time.
PLaystation Vue: $35 with auto DVR to the cloud!
The FAQ implies that one person can have PlayStation Vue service only at two home addresses in his lifetime: "You can only make a home location change one time, otherwise your account may be blocked from service." Thus it might not be practical for people who move often following job opportunities.
how well does that work for someone who doesn't already own a PlayStation 4 console on which to play PlayStation 4 games?
Is anyone concerned that if Ajit Pai (the FCC chair) and his financial backers get their way, the only distinguishing factor between broadcast TV and an internet package will be the IP protocol?
I dread a ‘free/low cost Internet’ with the caveat that you can only visit ISP approved sources (like their own commercial ridden streaming platform and Facebook), and eventually, enough people will find it sufficient that the cost of equal access internet packages will become prohibitively priced. I’m concerned that Google, Apple, Facebook, MPAA, et al will even concede to this for the sake of controlling the narrative and keeping consumers away from what they judge as ‘fake news’ or ‘pirate sites’ (with true and legal but contrary perspectives and content conveniently lumped in with honestly fake or pirated info).
Cable would be doing better if they offered channels that showed entertainment, news, sports, etc. instead of one-sided politics masquerading as entertainment, one-sided politics masquerading as news, one-sided politics masquerading as sports, etc. etc. etc.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
If it's Comcast, you can buy your own modem. (be sure to get a receipt when you return theirs -- one of their favorite tricks is to wait a couple months, then star billing you for their modem again, or claim it hasn't been returned and bill you for full replacement cost)
So what do you need 150Mbps for? I was able to cut the cost $360 a year by dropping to 25Mbps and I don't notice a difference. I suspect I'm getting over 25Mbps for one thing. I had a multi-gigabyte download finish in under 10 minutes a couple weeks ago. Maybe more stuff is cached locally.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
But how do you get TV then, legally? Netflix drops things, usually because the license is pulled and not because Netflix wants a smaller library, but it's still got more I want to see than I'll ever be able to get to. Adn $10/mo is a better deal than any other possible legal option.
But how do you get TV then, legally?
There's more than 25 stations over-the-air. Mostly crap, but there are gems here and there. And I've got over a decade of TV recorded. I can pick whichever Dr. Who, cartoon, monster, detective, superdude or smeghead to waste the weekend with. Then there's Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Creative Commons, France24, DW, NHK, Sky ... and of course, Kodi. I stay totally legal with Kodi. I know about Exodus, Phoenix, etc., but Metalkettle ain't even installed. Stuff like this that's giving the UK a shit-fit. If these addons were were legal, Kodi would rule the world.
People, particularly the most desirable group aged 18-24, are watching less TV and spending more time online.
In sum, between 2011 and 2016, Q4 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds dropped by almost 10 hours a week, or by roughly 1 hour and 25 minutes per day. In percentage terms, Q4 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds was down by 7.1% year-over-year and has now fallen by 39% since 2011. In other words, in the space of 5 years, almost 40% of this age group’s traditional TV viewing time has migrated to other activities or streaming.
http://www.marketingcharts.com...
I've been saving somewhere around $15/mo by getting the internet+TV bundle vs just internet from Comcast for years now.
It surprises me they use RG-6 when RG-56 was typical the last time I looked (but that was a few years ago). No doubt it's copper-clad steel and not pure copper. Pure copper is expensive stuff. I know because I have a spool of it.
Kriston