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Verizon Loses 18,000 Pay TV Subscribers, Signals Delay For Live TV Streaming Service (hollywoodreporter.com)
Verizon announced on Thursday that its FiOS video service lost 18,000 net pay TV subscribers in the third quarter, compared with the addition of 36,000 subscribers in the year-ago period and 15,000 subscriber drop in the second quarter. Hollywood Reporter reports: The company said the drop in the latest quarter was "reflecting the ongoing shift from traditional linear video to over-the-top offerings." Verizon, led by chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam, ended the third quarter with a total of 4.6 million subscribers to its FiOS video service, which competes with cable and satellite TV companies. Asked about a planned over-the-top (OTT) TV service from Verizon, Ellis said that the company continues to feel that "there's an opportunity for us to play," but signaling a delay, he emphasized that the company "doesn't want to launch a me-too product." He didn't provide any guidance on when the OTT service would launch, saying that was still "TBD" (to be determined), or what content it could offer beyond saying it was likely to be built "around live programming." Verizon also reported Thursday that it added 66,000 net new FiOS broadband connections in the third quarter to end it with 5.8 million.
when a company loses business, they lower the damn prices.... but NOOOOOO not pay television services. they gouge the remaining subscribers to try to "make up" the lost profits instead.
captcha: ignorant
Maybe its just a shift in consumers finally being able to say "FUCK YOU" to $50-200 cable subscription fees for 200+ channels that we don't really want. That we really only want two or three of them, and those channels are either offering direct streaming packages of their own for a good price, or are offering their content on Netflix/Hulu, also for a good price. Its about $$$$, not just stream. It just so happens that the streaming people figured out the economics of not fucking over a consumer is a great way to get and keep consumers!
Verizon, Comcast, TimeWarner, you name it. Twenty years ago when I was willing to pay for a la carte they said no.
I have an antenna, but even so I barely watch any OTA even. There's a few things I watch on streaming sites; I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime, and I use the family share from my daughter's Hulu. I miss the days when "free" Hulu actually had good content. I get a lot of reading done. I work on other hobbies. I don't miss it.
Streaming FTW.
...oh no, if we stop watching TV then who will fund the obese Jewish rapists who have corrupted the popular culture to the point FX was showing a boy in a dress and bondage gear?
Oh no.
Here's a thought: If a company sells bandwidth, it should not be allowed to sell content.
You are welcome on my lawn.
with buffering. etc...in my experience, Verizon offers nothing worth paying for.
> or what content it could offer beyond saying it was likely to be built "around live programming."
To me that is code speak for content that contains unskippable commercials. Exactly what consumers do not want. "Live" also implies no time shifting and no storage. Exactly what consumers do not want.
Wow, what wonderful way to fight declining video customers!
I have FiOS and I can see why they are losing customers. Their prices have been constantly increasing. We crossed $250/mo and I decided to drop equipment and go back to a contract. That's still $177/mo. Their pricing for equipment is aggravating. More so than Comcast. CableCards are $4/mo. That's outrageous. Their most basic cable box (no DVR, no guide) is $5/mo. I tried to drop some channels to save money, but was told my price wouldn't change with fewer channels unless I gave up almost all HD channels. Once I'm done with this contract, I'm leaning toward dropping the TV portion. Plus their DVRs are pathetic. My ReplayTV from the late 1990s remains better than anything they offer. Even so, I'll likely have to jump to Comcast since FiOS won't offer decent rates on internet only for existing customers.
I don't know, but it works for me.
The only content that needs to be broadcast are sports and news. Maybe the first run showing of big shows like Game of Thrones but everything else can be consumed via streaming. The cable companies had better find a way to pare down these bundles or they won't have any video customers yet.
No duh they are losing customers. Who wants to pay for tv from a company that won't stand for the national anthem?
Wait, what were we talking about again?
I'd be quite happy if Verizon offered a me too, mainly having a means to watch ALL subscribed channels via a web player. TimeWarnerSpectrum had this for years and it worked very well even over their unreliable and patheticly slow connections. Another welcome me too would be a properly working 3rd party ID service. When using Fox2Go on mobile the login via Verizon typically does not work. This wouldn't be "copying what others do", but considered catching up. For what they charge their service and devices should be significantly better, crash less often, and have reasonable hardware replacements included. I think after 7 years they can give me a new remote for free having paid for it at least ten times over already.
The right keeps bleating on about how the government taking more and more of their money is making them poor. So it's clearly a rightwing myth, not a leftwing one.
Just what the world needs, another meaningless and arcane term for something that could be explained in just as many words.
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Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
I've been waiting 12 years and counting for Verizon Fios to come to my area. I have also called multiple times to ask. Their loss.