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Columnist Mocks The Case Against Cord-Cutting As 'Too Many Choices' (techhive.com)
An anonymous reader quote TechHive:
The cord-cutting naysayers are trotting out a new argument in favor of cable, and it's even more absurd than the old ones: Having too many high-quality, standalone streaming services, they say, is actually bad for consumers, who are apparently helpless at using technology or making sound purchase decisions... The New York Post's Johnny Oleksinski concluded that all those sneering hipsters who've had the nerve to ditch cable are about to get their comeuppance -- in the form of additional services to choose from... By now, anyone who's actually cut the cable cord should be screaming out in unison: No one's making you subscribe to all these services! You can pick the ones you care about most, rotate between services, or occupy your screen time with a growing number of other digital distractions...
I will concede that if you want to use multiple streaming services, trying to sift through them all can be confusing. But even this concern is blown entirely out of proportion by naysaying pundits, who seem to ignore solutions that already exist. Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV all offer universal search across services like Netflix and Hulu, while features like Roku Feed and the Apple TV TV app demonstrate how system-wide browsing is getting easier. Besides, using a handful of apps to get what you want isn't that burdensome -- especially for the growing audience of people who've been raised on smartphones... consumers are smarter than they're getting credit for. That's why cable subscriptions continue to plunge, even as these bogus stories keep popping up like clockwork.
I will concede that if you want to use multiple streaming services, trying to sift through them all can be confusing. But even this concern is blown entirely out of proportion by naysaying pundits, who seem to ignore solutions that already exist. Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV all offer universal search across services like Netflix and Hulu, while features like Roku Feed and the Apple TV TV app demonstrate how system-wide browsing is getting easier. Besides, using a handful of apps to get what you want isn't that burdensome -- especially for the growing audience of people who've been raised on smartphones... consumers are smarter than they're getting credit for. That's why cable subscriptions continue to plunge, even as these bogus stories keep popping up like clockwork.
It's 2017 and those are 90's arguments.
And how much did the cable and satellite companies pay Johnny Oleksinski to write that article?
#DeleteFacebook
The fragmentation of services like HBO and the new Disney service will lead to a case against cord cutting, but the same can be said for piracy. A legit case against cord cutting is also a case that can be made for piracy.
You would have thought they learned their lesson.
Make SELinux enforcing again!
... you could, you know, just go outside and have a life away from screens.
Age 51, computer geek since 1977. My dad began with RCA in 1947 installing television sets. We never had cable or satellite, the concept of paying for television being bonkers, so what's there to miss? Movies and CDs I can check out from the library. Seriously, paying for television?
Too many choices? If you say so. I think people can handle having choices. I personally choose not to participate.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Cord cutting reveals the content distribution chain as a series of monopolies. By copyright law, the producer of content owns a monopoly. But through subsequent licensing deals, additional monopolies are created. Like the last mile pipe, content distribution networks, and DNS, streaming infrastructure is a shared service that provide benefit to everyone on the net yet when commercially owned creates monopolies or walled gardens.
I remember interview with some Hollywood type in which they expressed a strong hatred for streaming services because the brand was no longer the studio or the production house but it was the program itself. The same effect is happening with streaming services. I don't think of "Man in the high Castle" as part of the Amazon brand. Its brand is "Man in the high Castle".
I think it's past time for a RAND policy for all content and a method of making sure everyone gets paid
It's absolutely a viable option. There is more produced every day than you could ever hope to consume in a lifetime. "Cord cutting" is mainly a matter of getting over your current addiction, and acquiring a new one.
Whatever it is that you 'want' to watch on cable, there's another option online that will entertain you just as much.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Having too many streaming services isn't "too many choices" it's "too many bills."
This isn't an argument that can have a single truth that covers everyone. There are some people who are experiencing the difficulties described and many who aren't. People are different with different levels of capability and tolerance. If there is no way that you will give up live access to CNN, you can't cut your cable. I cut my cable more than a decade ago and still miss certain aspects.
In my case, I will not pay more than about $20 per month for the family beyond my internet costs for all media purchases combined. I'd likely maintain that limit even if I had limitless income because it serves the purpose of limiting my viewing time too.
That generally means I'll pay for two services and no more. Right now, I'm just paying for Netflix and a music service. There is no chance that Disney or any other service will ever get my business unless they can fully supplant Netflix for the same price. If the price point is significantly compromised, I'll go back to watching only what is free.
I think its just that sometimes change due to market forces is pretty slow. In the case of cable television, change away from them is slow because the cable market has never really been free. The market has to route around government intervention itself in this case, and its still a long road ahead.
"His name was James Damore."
Streaming used to be seen as an alternative to cable, but let's face it: It's turning out to be the same. Yes, yes, you can now choose when to watch your show instead of having to wait for it to appear on X-day Y-time, but face it, the difference is nonexistent. Now, instead of watching it when it's aired you watch it when it is available for streaming, and if you want to watch it later, you basically save yourself the VCR programming, because that's basically what watching it later than release essentially is.
Well, maybe (soon) without the ability to skip ads.
No ads you say? There were no ads in cable either in the beginning. Give it time.
The rest is already the same as cable was. Again you get different streaming providers that offer different content, which isn't so different from the different cable packages. Again you get to pay for provider (package) A, even though you are only interested in 10% of its programming. You'd want to watch show B, but show B is only available from provider (package) C, so you either have to shell out another X bucks to get that provider (package) even though all you really want from it is that one show and you couldn't care less for the rest of what comes bundled with it.
Face it: Streaming is the new cable. You just let someone else rip you off.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
All the new stuff is full of swear words and sex, bleh, not in my living room.
How do you know?
Also there is a huge logical fallacy in the articles argument, which is that you will subscribe full-time to these services instead of switching every few months.
When I first used Netflix streaming, I held the plan for about a year. Since then I subscribe for ~2 months per year because I've already exhausted their core catalog. They have some content I am not getting elsewhere, but I dont need a 24/7/365 plan to consume it.
Amazons non-prime model is pay as you go, while their prime model is tied to more than just streaming video. Disney can do the first and that would be great, but they cant do the second at all. They are going for the Netflix model and that just isnt going to land 24/7/365 business.
"His name was James Damore."
And you'd be wrong.... although I wouldn't argue that you might be right as a generalization, speaking from personal experience, after my wife and I cut our cable subscription, we still watched all of the shows that we would otherwise watch on television entirely legally, by just streaming them from the network's website. The only caveat to this was that you couldn't watch it until the day after it aired, and an episode was not available for free streaming anymore after a week.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's quite different here in Australia, cable/pay tv is not the norm here, most people have stuck with free-to-air tv. Streaming services, as a result are gaining in popularity, because they're a lot cheaper.
With that said, free to air audiences have dropped significantly, peak audiences are about half what they were from a decade ago (excluding sport). I really watch very little TV, and go months at a time without switching it on. I tend to find more interesting things published on youtube. While I'm not indicative of everyone, it is a trend that has been noticed. There was recent market research on TV viewing habits which found that baby boomers were the only age group to maintain their screen time, all others are in decline, especially current adults in their 20's.
This is spelling trouble for our TV networks, as their business model is significantly changing. One of the networks (there are only three free to air networks) here is close to going bankrupt.
Having different standards doesn't mean having none.
I'm fine with sex but not so happy about violence and religion.
But most of all, I'm fine with people having a choice.
My own cure for the problem of that interesting show being on the streaming service I don't have is to wait for the end of the season, which means only about 10 episodes these days anyhow, and then view it on Netflix DVD.
The streaming market is now in that phase after a new tech becomes popular when there are large numbers of brands on the market. It was this way with cars in the 1920s. After the forthcoming big wave of consolidation, it won't be so much of a problem.
The key issue people have had with the subscription service we call "cable TV" is their (former) monopoly status.
"Former"? In many areas, the incumbent cable ISP retains a monopoly on home Internet access with a data transfer quota exceeding 100 GB/mo. This lets the cable ISP dump TV service on its Internet subscribers by pricing a bundle of Internet access and basic TV the same as Internet alone, leaving the subscriber to pay only the local network affiliate retransmission consent royalty and the regional sports royalty. The competing ISPs would charge several times more for the same cap, as they're limited by their satellite or cellular last mile.
Nah. Netflix's "Kids mode" is plenty nice.