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Cord-Cutting Still Doesn't Beat the Cable Bundle (wired.com)
I'd like to cut the cord, writes Brian Barrett for Wired, then, the very instant I allow myself to picture what life looks like after that figurative snip, my reverie comes crashing down. From an article: Cutting the cord is absolutely right for some people. Lots of people, maybe. But it's not that cheap, and it's not that easy, and there's not much hope of improvement on either front any time soon. Not to turn this into a math experiment, but let's consider cost. Assuming you're looking for a cord replacement, not abandoning live television altogether, you're going to need a service that bundles together a handful of channels and blips them to your house over the internet. The cheapest way you can accomplish this is to pay Sling TV $20 per month, for which you get 29 channels. That sounds not so bad, and certainly less than your cable bill. But! Sling Orange limits you to a single stream. If you're in a household with others, you'll probably want Sling Blue, which offers multiple streams and 43 channels for $25 per month. But! Sling Orange and Sling Blue have different channel lineups (ESPN is on Orange, not Blue, while Orange lacks FX, Bravo and any locals). For full coverage, you can subscribe to both for $40. But! Have kids? You'll want the Kids Extra package for another $5 per month. Love ESPNU? Grab that $5 per month sports package. HBO? $15 per month, please. Presto, you're up to $65 per month. But! Don't forget the extra $5 for a cloud-based DVR. Plus the high-speed internet service that you need to keep your stream from buffering, which, by the way, it'll do anyway. That's not to pick on Sling TV, specifically. But paying $70 to quit cable feels like smoking a pack of Parliaments to quit Marlboro Lights. You run into similar situations across the board, whether it's a higher base rate, or a limited premium selection, or the absence of local programming altogether. It turns out, oddly enough, that things cost money, whether you access those things through traditional cable packages or through a modem provided to you by a traditional cable operator.
Seriously, the majority of people cutting the cord aren't looking to ensure a 1:1 replacement of all channels they may or may not have been watching previously, and the industry damn well knows it. A lot of people are perfectly happy with general internet news, available content on youtube, and maybe 1 or 2 streaming services (netflix, hulu, hbo go, amazon, etc).
Given that people are unlikely to subscribe to cable but not internet, the cost of internet is a non-factor making cord cutting very reasonable to a huge number of people.
Ice Cream has no bones.
For between $20-$50 up front, plus maybe a $20-$50 tuner, you can get several channels at no additional cost!
I get about 25 channels with my crummy $10 antenna in a window plugged into my television. If I paid for an rooftop antenna, I could probably get about 40 channels.
Beware gentle readers, some television companies don't include a built-in tuner with their televisions anymore.
Just stop watching TV and you save the full bill. Seriously, cable cutters aren't doing it because they are getting an equivalent service for cheaper - they are opting out of some or all of the service because they don't see value in it. In fact, I would say cable provides negative value for many people, because it's time that could be better spent doing something a lot more rewarding. Seriously, when was the last time that you spent an evening flipping through channels on cable and felt like it was a worthwhile use of time?
Because this is the way the cable industry thinks. When I called my local cable company 17 years ago and told them to discontinue my cable service, and after all the back and forth about how I simply didn't want it and wasn't watching it, and after they finally agreed to disconnect me, their final words for me were "see you in a couple of months". The person on the other end of the phone just simply couldn't grasp the concept of a person without cable.
That attitude hasn't changed. It's not that they're trying to trick you here, they honestly just don't understand the concept. This is also why people are cutting the cord, because the cable industry doesn't understand their needs. The fact that they cling to the concept of airing shows at a certain time on a certain day and not just adding them to the VOD library at that time, the fact that they cling to channel packages instead of lone channels, the limitations on viewing on specific devices in specific locations. All of these things show that they just simply don't understand their customer base.
This "article" is just a shill for the cable companies trying to convince people not to cut the cord, but as usual, they've just shown how little they understand about what people actually want.
You can actually, you know, go outside if you're bored.
No, thank you.
I decided to finally try that, earlier today. I stepped outside, but the sun got really dark... it was pretty scary. It was obviously a sign I should hightail it back to the safety of my couch.
#DeleteChrome
Any TV manufacturer that advertises a television flat screen will include an ATSC tuner; that is required by federal advertising laws.
A flat screen that does not have a built in ATSC tuner is a monitor or flat screen. They can be used to view "TV" programs, but that does not let vendors advertise them as TVs.
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