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Pirate TV Services Are Taking a Bite Out of Cable Company Revenue (arstechnica.co.uk)

TV piracy services are being used by about 6.5 percent of North American households with broadband access, potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year, a new analysis found. From a report: Pirate services that offer live TV channels are apparently responsible for more downstream traffic each night than torrent downloads. Based on these figures, there may be 7 million US and Canadian subscribers to pirate TV services that generally cost about $10 a month, the report by Sandvine said. That amounts to $840 million of revenue a year. We don't know how many people using pirate services would purchase a traditional cable or satellite TV package if the piracy option didn't exist. But if all of those people instead purchased a legal TV package for $50 per month, that would amount to another $4.2 billion revenue a year for North American pay-TV providers, the report said.

26 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Assumptions by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Informative

    But if all of those people instead purchased a legal TV package for $50 per month

    Let me stop you right there...

    These devices cost like $50 - I don't think people would suddenly come up with 12x that just because the little device they picked up on the street was not working.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    1. Re:Assumptions by rogoshen1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I know right?

      "If you liked your grey-market TV package at $10, let me tell you about a GREAT deal! For the low, low price of $50 you can get exactly the same thing, with the added benefit of 13 religious channels, a Filipino-language cooking channel, and 75 home shopping channels! Trust me, you'd totally love it at $50. Because we; your poor, downtrodden cable company need your money. The legal expense needed to maintain a nationwide jihad against municipal ISP's and google fiber add up! Please, think of your cable company Subscribe today"

    2. Re:Assumptions by MightyYar · · Score: 2

      Not to mention that these devices - despite the pain that Kodi can cause in finding dead streams - work better than the cable box. You just plug the fire stick or whatever into the HDMI slot, hook it to your WiFi, and go. Somehow Comcast can't seem to get things working without a visit from a contractor who - after arriving at some 4 hour window (maybe) - drills holes through the side of your house. And for this honor you pay $100+ per month.

      I feel for the companies competing with the grey market, but not too badly. It's like taxi companies... how bad am I supposed to feel for companies that couldn't figure out how to make a smartphone dispatching app?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Assumptions by omnichad · · Score: 2

      drills holes through the side of your house

      And they have the audacity to call this "professional installation."

    4. Re:Assumptions by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 2

      Money isn't the only issue. If you could watch any TV show available and just pay for that, I think a lot of people would do it and not engage in piracy. The problem is, that all the providers want to sell subscriptions and bundles, with exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else so you have to buy several bundles and subscriptions, which just aren't a good deal if you just want to watch a few shows and movies.

      --
      Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
    5. Re:Assumptions by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, an amatuer wouldn't know to wrap the cable around the outside of the attic fan once or twice so that it stays in place when the wind picks up.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    6. Re:Assumptions by cmaurand · · Score: 2

      Right idea. Needs to be way less expensive than even you're talking. If I paid $5.00 for everything, then I'd be paying more than if I just grabbed a package from the cable company. $8.00/mon for netflix + 8 for Hulu + 8 for amazon prime +10 for CBS and HBO. What's the point of cutting the cord. I'm not saving anything? It all still sucks.

    7. Re:Assumptions by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      Pirate TV, what a crock. The TV is being legally broadcast at it's location, done and finished. You the end user are just digitally placing yourself at that location, it is not being rebroadcast, that is a lie, you are pulling it down, you go to that location to get it, how your route to get there is neither here no there. Just another great big ole fat pigopolist lie. Complete legal broadcast and it is completely legal for you to watch it, whether you travel there in person or do so digitally by what ever avatar ie digital agent you choose.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. No, just no by TimothyHollins · · Score: 4, Insightful

    TV piracy services are being used by about 6.5 percent of North American households with broadband access, potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year, a new analysis found.

    potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year, a new analysis found.

    potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year

    potentially

    No. Just no. Not a potential no, a solid diamond-hard no. Like, seriously Chuck Norris testicles-hard no.

    Every study ever on the subject concludes a solid 'no'. Even the frikkin RIAA/MPAA alliance of Evil that has supplanted Satan as the goto source of pure Evil hasn't found a single study to support that losses from poor services translate into increased sales if you muscle the competition out.

    No.

    1. Re:No, just no by Sniper98G · · Score: 2

      The cable industry is really devoted to the "force people to use a shitty service" model.

      If they would start offering services that people actually wanted for a price they are willing to pay they might be able to turn things around, but everyone in big content seems to be really against that idea.

    2. Re:No, just no by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Funny

      No. Just no. Not a potential no, a solid diamond-hard no. Like, seriously Chuck Norris testicles-hard no.

      Ok... sooo... I'll put you down as a "maybe". ;)

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:No, just no by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 2
      If you are paying for _pirate_ content, you are not doing it right!

      Even at $10 a month, its hard to see how its worth paying for that dross.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    4. Re:No, just no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only thing they can say is that they're losing the exact same amount that people are paying for those pirate TV services.

      No, they can't even say that because there is no way they'd get 100% conversion.

      We are a 100% Netflix household. I'm sure by their stats we're one of those pesky pirates and "costing them money".

      The problem is, I'm not costing them money. I'm refusing to give them my money, and instead I'm paying someone who delivers exactly what I want.

      And that is no commercials ... no shows which start late because of a sport I don't care about ... or not at all because president McDoofus wanted to yammer ... I don't want to see amber alerts for some fucking kid in a state I don't live in because I don't care if they've been abducted ... I sure as fuck don't want to see some idiot morning show host ... or some prick stumping to get me to send him money because god said so.

      I'm so over the bullshit that is cable it isn't funny. I don't pirate, but oddly that $10 bucks a month is around what you pay for NetFlix.

      The problem is they wish to exist in a world without competition, where we all pay to pad out the bottom line, prop up margins, and otherwise maximize executive bonuses.

      They can't claim they are "losing the exact same amount that people are paying for those pirate TV services", because there are legal alternatives people also use because they have no intention of further enriching a cable company.

  3. No commercials by irrational_design · · Score: 2

    Duh. Of course the pirate TV services are preferred, they don't have commercials.

  4. Their own fault by OverlordQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    for not providing reasonably prices a la carte options. Or people *would* give them money.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    1. Re:Their own fault by cyberchondriac · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This.
      Plus, the damn commercials. Everytime I sit down in front of my TV and starting paging through channels to find something interesting to watch (a challenge in itself) the station I invariably settle on is mid-commercial, and then it continues for another 3 to 4 minutes. Finally the program returns, but 5 minutes later, we're back to 12 more commercials back-to-back.
      All the while, because I pay Comcast over a hundred dollars every month, I'm paying them to watch all these commercials! Increasingly, near 50% of my viewing time is now wasted on commercials. And none of them make me want to go out and buy their stupid product.
      Especially the pharmaceuticals: "May cause dizziness, rash, diarrhea, difficulty in breathing, loss of consciousness, extreme pain, bloody stools, flaccidity, amputation, blindness, suicidal thoughts, insanity, lesions, boils, bubonic plague, anal warts, vomiting up toads and lizards, violent convulsions, death, and likely poltergeist activity.

      I'd like to see the whole thing crash and burn, cable television has gotten beyond greedy.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
  5. Hulu costs $10 a month by gurps_npc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So does the pirate TV they are talking about.

    Do they think Hulu is a pirate tv channel?

    Are they too stupid to realize that the people that pay for pirate TV would use HULU rather than a cable company if they gave up pirate TV?

    Do they consider people that use rabbit ears antenne to be using 'pirate tv'?

    Article is biased a lot.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  6. From their article.... by Kiralan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The number of cable and satellite TV subscriptions has been dropping for years due to rising prices and Internet-based alternatives, both legal and otherwise.

    My conclusion: Charge fair prices, instead of soaking everyone while you can, and while the market will tolerate it. When the cost and inconvenience of replacing cable with internet alternatives and OTA (Digital antenna) becomes less of a deciding factor, more viewers will do so. Also, the younger generation wants portable media, not one bound to the cable box at home.

    --
    V for Vendetta: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
  7. Too Much by Toxiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If 6.5% of your user base not signing up is costing you over $4,200,000,000 in a single year, the issue is that you are way overcharging for your service. Your Whinging about only making $64.5 billion a year is really pulling at my heartstrings.

  8. What was that by BeemanIT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think I just heard some whining noise coming from the cable..... Pirate companies like Netflex, Amazon Prime, or Hulu no longer require you to have entire packages with the cable company.... Wait, those are actually legal companies people are watching shows on now..... Cable Cutters Untie!!! and Snip!!

  9. The great equalizer by Arzaboa · · Score: 2

    Piracy levels the forces of regulation in any industry. Anyone that sells products that can be pirated or knocked off, knows this well. Its not a fun market force to play against as a business. The reality is that the market will always win. Netflix and HULU are products of these market forces playing out.

    --
    "Beam me up Scotty" - Captain Kirk

  10. Re:For science and a friend by omnichad · · Score: 2

    This is linked from the article:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/IPTV/...

    Also, please, name a legal cable/satellite company with a package that costs $50.

    I think they were underestimating to prove their point. Wrong conclusion, but nice big number.

  11. Not all Non-subscribers are pirates by freeze128 · · Score: 2

    Not everyone who doesn't pay for your service is a pirate. There are always other options. Rent DVDs from RedBox, borrow DVD's from the library, go to a friend's house to watch Game of Thrones, etc.

  12. media to garbage ratio by WolfgangVL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A $50.00 cable package includes a ton of additional commercials. At this point it looks pretty close to 50:50 media/interruptions. I suppose all the sponsor breaks might be useful if your in the market for fast-food, trial lawyers and medication (with miles of scary side effects)

    Honestly, I would consider buying back into a cable sub if they did away with all of the commercials. As it stands, cable subs are inferior products at half the asking rate on account of the commercials alone. No wonder everybody pirates like crazy.

    I'd rather read a book.

    --
    You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
    1. Re:media to garbage ratio by kelemvor4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A $50.00 cable package includes a ton of additional commercials. At this point it looks pretty close to 50:50 media/interruptions. I suppose all the sponsor breaks might be useful if your in the market for fast-food, trial lawyers and medication (with miles of scary side effects)

      Honestly, I would consider buying back into a cable sub if they did away with all of the commercials. As it stands, cable subs are inferior products at half the asking rate on account of the commercials alone. No wonder everybody pirates like crazy.

      I'd rather read a book.

      This exactly. I'd be on cable like white on rice if they'd get rid of the damn commercials and make it as easy to use as kodi type systems. I'd even pay more than cable costs now for that.

      It's not just that pirates are cheap, it's that alternative services are superior.

  13. Less than one in 15 households with broadband ... by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2

    Pirate TV Services Are Taking a Bite Out of Cable Company Revenue ... TV piracy services are being used by about 6.5 percent of North American households with broadband access, potentially costing legitimate TV providers billions of dollars a year, ...

    Less than one in 15 North American households with broadband access subscribe to a TV piracy service.

    FTFY

    Of course that means there's a vast, untapped, market for TV piracy services. If everybody with cable or satellite TV service switched to a piracy service (and dropped their high-priced "legal TV package") that WOULD cost them billions.

    "Quick: We've got to block the rollout of cheap broadband Internet! (Oh, wait. We already did that.)"

    --
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