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Cord-Cutting Keeps Churning: US Pay-TV Cancelers To Hit 33 Million in 2018 (Study) (variety.com)
Millions of Americans have already scrapped traditional pay-TV service, and the exodus is expected to continue apace in 2018. From a report: This year, the number of cord-cutters in the U.S. -- consumers who have ever cancelled traditional pay-TV service and do not resubscribe -- will climb 32.8%, to 33.0 million adults, according to new estimates from research firm eMarketer. That's compared with a total of 24.9 million cord-cutters as of the end of 2017, which was up 43.6% year over year (and an upward revision from eMarketer's previous 22 million estimate). That said, even as the traditional pay-TV universe shrinks, the number of viewers accessing over-the-top, internet-delivered video services keeps growing. About 147.5 million people in the U.S. watch Netflix at least once per month, according to eMarketer's July 2018 estimates. That's followed by Amazon Prime Video (88.7 million), Hulu (55 million), HBO Now (17.1 million) and Dish's Sling TV (6.8 million).
Who wants to pay to be bullied?
That's why your cords are cut cable cartels...
Cutters must be in cities with Google Fiber or some other non-mega-cartel(s) controlling internet access.
I actually have 3 different providers - Verizon, RCN, and Comcast.
For all three of them, there is no way to get a decent connection of at least 50Mb down without bundling in cable. It is actually cheaper to buy the bundle with 50MB down than just internet itself.
And then, of course, once you've got the cable, you're charged for the box(es), HD upgrade, and pretty much anything else you'll someday accidentally click OK to upgrade (or they'll just start charging you for anyway - good luck waiting on hold for hours to get it fixed).
And of course with the $10-$15 in fees that they pretend are taxes.
How about people who never been subscribed to cable TV. I came to North America 12 years ago I never signed a single contract with cable companies. The are the most prominent violators of net neutrality and blockers of internet development!
Free live streams are everywhere and easy to find.
I'm all for cord-cutting and 'sticking it to the man', but I would spend almost as much for single services such as HBO, Netflix, etc. (10-15$/month for each service) that I do currently for FiOS.
Do we really think the cable companies care, so long as we're still paying them for the internet access? They have a monopoly no mater how you look at it.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Sure we do -- with the money saved from not paying for cable, we can attend actual games :D
When did you last check?
Verizon offers 100/100 FiOS for $40 (really $42) per month, unbundled. Price-locked for two years.
I've always disliked the term "cord-cutting", because it presumes that having a cable TV subscription is the normal default state of affairs, and that it's some weird deviance from that norm to not buy a service that you would normally not have if you didn't go out of your way to buy it.
When I first moved out on my own, and had to start paying my own utilities and such, I was really tight for cash and so decided that I didn't need to spend my very limited money just to watch TV. Fast forward a decade or two and I still don't have TV. I never have had TV, at least not since it could rightly be said that *I* did or didn't have it, rather than my parents.
I'm not a cord-cutter, because I never had a cord to cut.
How many of the tallied "cord-cutters" in these figures are like me? Especially younger people, who increasingly see TV as unnecessary, and who are increasingly strapped for cash they are unlikely to waste even starting up service for an unnecessary entertainment package when they could just as well do without.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
I swear, I went through every single channels on our cable TV for which we pay $60 a month... There was literally nothing I wanted to watch or was even remotely interesting to me, except maybe the News, which I can get to the ones that matter to me in a matter of seconds on the internet instead of waiting for the host on TV to arrive to it.
TV these says is all Ads and shows aimed at older people, idiots(reality TV) or very young children.
Checking the guide, there was maybe one or two show I would want to watch... that were hours away. It just ain't worth it.
If it wasn't for my mother who come over to babysit the kids, I would've cut our cable subscription LONG ago.
The end of "cable TV" will be when the sports broadcasters start making deals with the over-the-top suppliers. Until that happens people will continue to pay telcos and telcos will continue to find creative bundling ways to take as much of our money as they can.
That whole industry is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
... fails when there's weather South of me.
The Hopper3 box has an RJ-45 network wire connected to my backbone.
When I get the alert that satellite is down, Dish should switch to stream.
--
I can stream Dish on a smart device from anywhere, assuming my box at home works.
No good if there's a weather outage or if my home loses power.
--
If I subscribe to this or that online stream at $8 - $15/mo., pretty soon I'll be paying more than I am now.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
they donâ(TM)t watch live sports
We participate in live sports. We have a bunch of soccer, swim, softball, touch football and tennis leagues all over my area - and they're pretty cheap - less than the cost of one month of cable or satellite.
We get exercise, hang out, talk face to face, and the single people meet other single people. For the price of three months of Comca$t XFinity, I can buy a whole years of tennis league and two new rackets.
Now watching professional or college sports on TV is just passive entertainment.
1. Watch "illegal" stream.
2. Pay sports website a much-cheaper-than-cable monthly fee and watch online.
3. Go to sporting event.
4. Go to bar/restaurant and watch there.
5. Wait a few hours then torrent video.
People still watch sports, they just aren't going to pay cable prices to do it.
I cut the cord earlier this year after Charter decided to raise the price on my extremely basic cable package (the standard channels plus 10 of my choice) and went with Playstation Vue. Vue is nice, I like the free DVR feature and the basic package has all the channels I wanted and more (more than what Charter gave me with that 10 channel thing), but now that I'm not subsidizing my internet connection with the cable bundle it ends up being about the same price that I was paying. I still think it's worth it though as I can use my PS4, PS3, and Fire Sticks to stream instead of needing a separate cable box for each one.
Eventually the cable companies are going to raise the internet price so high if you don't have a cable subscription with them that you'll almost be forced to do it. They're not going to go quietly into that good night.
My out-the-door price for 100M Internet-only is $44.99/mo (with all fees and taxes) from my cable provider
My out-the-door price for bundled cable was $129/mo
Add Youtube TV, Vue, Sling, or DTV Now for around $40/mo (plus tax) and I'm still easily below the bundled cable price
Verizon offers 100/100 FiOS for $40 (really $42) per month, unbundled. Price-locked for two years.
In my neighborhood, it's $74.99/month.
I watched the whole world cup recently on streams. Legally. Welcome to the 21st century.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I've looked at the cord-cutting possibilities in the past, but what it really came down to was that for the same set of things that my wife watches now (including a lot of sports), I'd be paying close to the same amount (or more) for various subscriptions plus wasting time tracking down dodgy and unreliable live sports streams, all in the interest of saving what, $10-15 a month at most? Maybe? In a good month....
fencepost
just a little off
Notice there is no mention of OTA programming, which is, oh yeah, FREE! (Unless you count adverts as a cost, but they show up all over anyway.) I have also discovered the broadcast signals for HD are much much better than most cable/satellite/streaming.
When I cut our cord, we already were paying for internet service due to our need for remote work access.
Excluding internet, but including Netflix, Hulu and Acorn, our monthly viewing costs have dropped from $ 110/mo 3 years ago to less than $25/mo.
I also bought a DVR+ from Channel Master and record the OTA programs we like to watch. Do not really miss cable/satellite.
Cable + Internet being cheaper than Internet only is typical of a promotional pricing. Check your bill because the promotions typically have a time limit, often only 3 months.
That said, I probably watch way more Crunchyroll when it's not soccer season (the only reason I do cable)
I think I paid like $30 for the HDTV antenna, and it lets me get a lot of other services as well, which if you can speak multiple languages, is super sweet.
Cable did this to themselves.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Never going back to regular cable/satellite TV, was constantly ripped off and getting bundles that were never good for us.
I decided to try the Nvidia Shield because I heard it natively supported Plex and Kodi, while giving me the option to use Netflix and Chromecast.
As it turns out I also hated Kodi and Plex just wasn't what I was looking for, but along came YouTube TV and we always liked Netflix we have local channels/news, Netflix for binging and when we need it Google play movies for streaming movies.....all while saving $30/month when compared to Direct TV.
I heard the cost of the Nvidia Shield was reduced during Prime Day sales, but regardless, this has to be one of the most underrated devices for streaming TV/Movies/Music that you can buy now.
Hmm...well, you might look into getting a business connection, takes no real proof of anything, and you can get a good connection, low level SLA and no ports blocked or throttling.
I've been on my plan for years with Cox cable and pay $69/mo.
Also, why would you need 50 Mb down? HD tv doesn't require that much, you can stream quite readily with multiple connections going on (multiple tvs in home on different channels at same time) for 20Mb range.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Why do you need 50mb down anyhow?
I remote into work, start my large downloads and then rsync to my laptop, come back home and it rsyncs to my NAS. Just get the cheapest plan you can.
I almost saw a goal! - Homer
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I actually responded to a telephone survey on this topic a few days ago (here in Canada). At the end, my basic point to the person taking the survey was "Why in God's name would I pay someone to show me advertising? Get the advertising down to 2 to 3 minutes an hour, and we'll talk." Instead, I have Netflix and Prime for watching what I can, and Usenet to grab everything else that isn't on Prime or Netflix.
Every time I travel and wind up watching the TV in Hotel rooms, it just boggles my mind at how people can put up with so much advertising.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
I'm in one of those cartel cities (ATT and Comcast), but somehow lucked into Comcast offering me a no-contract 55 Mbps connection with basic cable and HBO all in for $54 (including fees etc.; I do own my own modem and don't pay for HD). Of course, adding in Netflix and DTV Now I'm up to $100/month, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got (Regional Sports Networks+ESPN+Major Networks+TNT+TBS for sports, Netflix for comedy and sitcoms, HBO Go for movies and dramas). I've found that with this setup I went from a pretty serious "near nightly torrent saturation" of my old 6-10Mbps connection about 5 years ago to nearly no use of torrents at all now. Now if only DTV Now would get around to building that native Xbone app...
Someone with points please mod this up.
Nope, no sig
Because with mediacom there's a data cap and the 50 Mb down only has 200Gb cap. Which with a family watching Netflix, Amazon, Hulu we hit that in less than two weeks. The 100 Mb down has a 1Tb cap.
Of course our internet service is picking up more. A small cable company will provide you with fast and reliable support.
I want to add that I have FiOS as a separate Service. Regardless of Service, internet access was a constant. I am greedy (plus my wife and I work from home very often) so we get the fastest tier of internet access. That said, I don't include the cost of the internet in the calculation as Direct TV didn't offer this with similar bandwidth. As others have mentioned, the introductory/promotional pricing for TV/internet/phone bundles all go up within 1 - 2 years (really, who still uses a land line?).
For things like HBO or Showtime, I tend to activate the service only for the length of the series that I need to watch (e.g. Game of Thrones) then I cancel.
nou
you regularly fly thousands of miles to attend? in that case you can afford cable.
No, you become a fan of the local team, and you accept that you'll miss out on its away games and post-season.
you regularly fly thousands of miles to attend? in that case you can afford cable.
Dude, bay area CA: Giants, A's, 49'ers, Raiders (well...), Sharks, Earthquakes, and Warriors. Not to mention all the minor leagues and college teams.
Moved from DC: Nationals, Orioles, Racial Slurs, Ravens, Capitals, United, and Wizards. Not to mention all the minor leagues and college teams.
You just live in the wrong place: anywhere cable makes sense for watching live sports.
2. Pay sports website a much-cheaper-than-cable monthly fee and watch online.
Blacked out if exclusive rights have been sold to national cable or regional cable.
3. Go to sporting event.
Misses away games, a favorite team that has relocated, a favorite player that has been traded, the team of the city where you grew up, or the team of the university that your university-age child attends. Nor is a lot of the country within reasonable cycling distance of a major league or minor league ball park, especially outside the top 100 metropolitan markets.
4. Go to bar/restaurant and watch there.
Can't bring your kids to a bar to watch with you in a 21-to-enter state.
What neighborhood is that?
Why do you need 50mb down anyhow?
Probably because the plan with a greater data rate per month also happens to come with a greater data rate per second as a side effect. A 50 Mbps plan with a 200 GB/mo cap is in effect a 200*8000/(86400*30) = 0.6 Mbps sustained plan.
If the selection on one all-you-can-eat over-the-top video-on-demand provider is incomplete, then rotate among providers. Have Netflix for a month, and watch Netflix exclusive programming during that month. Have HBO for a different month, and watch HBO exclusive programming during that month. It's not like either of those services specializes in live programming (with the exception of Bill Maher on HBO).
Yes, someone with mods point please use them on behalf of drew_kime to upvote an off-topic AC.
brandelf -t FreeBSD
Want to watch GoT? Sub when it's running and cancel.
Unless a series is running year-round, such as Sesame Street or Real Time with Bill Maher. This is also why people on the left keep traditional cable, as The Rachel Maddow Show runs year-round, and why people on the right keep traditional cable, as Hannity runs year-round.
That's why I mentioned the business connection, those don't have data caps.....otherwise it would not be good for a business.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
What does that even mean? I googled it, read the wiki, but still that makes no sense as a name. Over-the-top of what?
In my area that's only true on the "short-sighted sucker" deals.
The bundle is discounted for the first several months to bring it below the cost of the internet only bundle but it's more expensive after that.
I had to check into your assertion, and it seems you're almost right: on the surface, it does indeed appear that Verizon has lowered their new customer base prices -- and increased the base speeds -- since I signed my own Fios contract, three years ago. That said: it's always good policy to probe deeper behind any "promo" price, because "the devil is in the details," as they say.
The "price lock" at $40 appears to be only for the first year -- not two years; it looks like the price goes to $55 thereafter. (I can't find this additional detail, but the price almost certainly goes up again after the conclusion of the contract's second year; it has for me in the past, on multiple occasions.) And as you noted, that doesn't include fees... but you may have overlooked that one of those fees is the not-so-insignificant "equipment fee," which is either $10 per month (rental) or $149 up front -- and Verizon has been known to require new equipment deployment for new customers, in the past. As an aside, to be eligible for these prices you apparently also have to sign up for both paper free billing and auto-pay... but those final requirements will probably just be minor blips to most people.
So some people might be able to get a "good deal" out of this promo, but not necessarily everyone. I still need to do some math, to determine whether or not it would be worth it to me personally, to juggle my account around and try to get that new rate plan.
I either pay $30 a month for basic cable or I $30 a month for unlimited internet. If I don't have one or the other I am throttled at 1 terabyte per month.
What do friends have to do with sitting alone in a recliner watching sports on TV?
I don't own a TV either. Hell I don't even know how to spell it.
Taxes/fees are about $2 per month extra. No auto-pay was required for me this year.
As far as equipment fee, that's only for their wifi router, which is junk anyway, though it's sometimes needed for their cable boxes to work. Not an issue here, since you're not getting cable. The "modem" (fiber to copper, aka optical net terminal) is free and remains as part of the dwelling.
They're more than happy to enable Ethernet on the "modem" if you certi-lie that you have one of their "approved" modems. As long as you certi-lie, there's no equipment fee, and you can connect any router you want to and have it work.
I don't watch sports, so I have no idea how sports streams look like - but do they have the same amount of advertising as cable tv? I find it hard to watch anything with too many ads - streaming gets rid of ads.
What made me leave was a combo price but being treated like shit as a customer long lines at the office. Fuck me no fuck you.
$39.99 for internet only when I just checked, but not available in my area. When it advertises as fiber to the door, you really do need to have fiber very close to your door.
... No auto-pay was required for me this year....
Well, acknowledging that I'm being a bit pedantic, now... but when was the last time you checked? (As for me: it was about half an hour ago, while preparing my response to your previous message.)
That may work for you, but there are cord cutters who end up paying the same amount, albeit split up. They will have Netflix,hulu,Amazon,etc just for the content. So much for cord/cost cutting
I may have had to provide an account # initially for autopay, but I could turn it off after setting up the Web account.
Not that auto-pay is so bad -- just link it to an account set up to reject payments in case of insufficient funds instead of charging overdraft fees... essentially same effect as no autopay, since you can still deny VZ their money if you have an issue with service.
Single, and 200GB cap is plenty for me. I don't constantly stream though, but even binge watching a show I've never hit more than 150GB (gigabyte, I hope you don't have 200 gigaBIT cap).
So ya, families tend to watch more, but then parents do have opportunities to cut back on the kid's television hours. But if you've got three services, then maybe you haven't really been weaning yourself off of TV much? Hulu seems like a complete redundancy if you've got both netflix and amazon and don't need to watch the current season of your TV shows. But it is a bit like giving up smoking, just needs a lot of willpower.
"How many of the tallied "cord-cutters" in these figures are like me? Especially younger people, who increasingly see TV as unnecessary, and who are increasingly strapped for cash they are unlikely to waste even starting up service for an unnecessary entertainment package when they could just as well do without."
What other reason for cord cutting is there?
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Depending on the service sometimes they just stream the TV channel itself to you so you get the same ads as TV, other times they have filler which is basically that company running some ad for themselves to you and lastly though very rare they just leave the stream on one of the cameras so you just have a shot of the crowd or something in the arena with no audio or just dead air. Regardless any extended break in game time will usually be filled with ads of some sort, I find it's rare to not have something being aired in breaks
What kind of experience TV can provide, what internet does not?
Sport events? I watched FIFA championship over internet .... ... ... ...
News? I read and watch new over internet, including life stream
Irrelevant commercials? Yes, I missed the days when I was shown women related products, nowadays Google is precise, so It does not feed them to me anymore
Movies? It does not matter when I see them
What kind of real time experience I miss without TV?
I recently moved from an apartment with Fios at 75 up/down to a house without Fios available, but was able to get a Gigabit connection through Comcast for about $90 / month (just internet, no cable). Even with Adding Hulu and a few premium channels from Amazon, I'm saving a significant amount of money over what I was paying Verizon, and with a much faster connection.
Comcast has since called me up to try to up-sell me on cable, and it fairly reasonably priced (I think about $20 more per month, with Showtime included), but I love never having to change inputs on my TV (use FireTV for everything), they don't have an X1 app on FireTV (despite what the sales person insisted), and the sales person was so pushy and annoying that I eventually hung up.
Check the price on tickets for all of Alabama's home games for the coming season. I could pay for cable for two years for what those tickets cost. With cable I can watch every game, including the post-season.
:p
Of course, games involving lesser teams may not be as expensive to attend. Everybody can't be a Crimson Tide fan.
Or like, go to the bar.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Then you are not some loser sitting at home by yourself watching sports. Sit at the pub, slam some shots and beers, B.S. with your friends, and watch the games. Just saying for those that say you can't see away games. Uh, yea you can if you go out to watch the games and INTERACT with PEOPLE.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
You can watch past episodes
True, you can watch an episode that's no longer quite as relevant as it was when it was released. Part of the draw of political talk shows is analysis and opinion about a political event within one business day after the event happens.
I canned Direct TV in March, and I'm missing cable news. I almost signed up for Playstation Vue last night. But I did some research and found I won't be able to pause and FF through commercials. I'm tired of paying monthly to watch commercials. Over the years it's just gotten more and more obnoxious. Back when it was at the top of the hour for 2-3 minutes it wasn't so bad. But now it's 5 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of programming. It's just absurd that I was paying $80 /mo for satellite to spend 1/3 of the time watching commercials or forwarding through them. At $40 sure it's half the cost, but now I won't even be able to forward through it anymore. That's not a solution as far as I'm concerned. And they won't stop until it seriously costs them. So for now I abstain and get my content from the internet for free.
I don't believe in karma, I just call it like I see it.
Unless the cable ISP for your area charges more for a 50 Mbps business connection than for a 100 Mbps residential connection. Or unless the cable ISP for your area doesn't offer business connections at all to customers in residential neighborhoods.
Cable is cheaper than moving to the right place, especially with inflated Bay Area real estate prices.
What I want to know is where the hell is APK screaming RUUUUN PFORREST RUUUUUUN?
I used to watch my favorite sports on a now defunct site.
They aren't on any channels offered by the local cable company.
I can't buy a ticket to watch online, because of exclusive rights.
I can get a ticket for audio only cast, but the required app won't allow me to listen, because of those exclusive rights.
First they scrambled a signal I paid for, and forced me to rent descramblers for each set for $8 per month. Then, they decided that I'd pay $6 per month for Disney-Espn, even though I watch no sports. ESPN was that straw breaking the camel's back. A repurposed Mac Mini, an antenna, and a lifetime TiVo cover pretty much all bases. I don't miss cable at all. Sometimes, in a hotel, I'll see it, watch for ten minutes, notice I can't FF the commercials, and shut it off... My kids don't even know WHY you'd subscribe to cable....they just need a wifi connection. Guess that's why all the TV commercials are for horrible end-of-life drugs and retirement homes. Since a standard CATV bill in my area is about $220, I've paid for all my toys....about ten times so far.....
MLB.tv? Sling? Plenty of legal online options.
There is a catch, you must watch the stream with windows closed.
True story: People watching a stream (in a pub or like) could hear roar of a goal from down the street - from people watching the "live". Lag of stream is a lot bigger than delay from sound (300m/s).
It's a good thing that stupid people watch sports. It keeps them indoors and out of trouble.
Why - because they kept hiking the rates for it. When I called to see if we could lower the bill they said they could add phone service for $29.99 a month. I told them "What are you trying to get me to cut the cord completely?"
And fyi it's Cox Communications. Now I read Susan Crawford's "Captive Audience" and in it she says the cable providers overcharge like mad for net service. For example she said the actual cost to provide data on Comcast network was $2 per month so why are they charging closet to $100 a month. Same is true for Cox too.
African-Americans are grossly under-represented in the media. Just sayin'.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. 90% of a soccer game is boring. So I ran it on a second screen while programming in the first. When I heard the pub next door roar, I knew it was time to turn the head to see a goal in all its glory.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hmm...I'd never heard of it not being offered....have those ISP's you mention never heard of "home businesses"?
And what would you rather have (mostly for streaming)....50 Mbps with no caps, or 100Mbps with caps?
50 is MORE than plenty for streaming a whole house full of tvs.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
have those ISP's you mention never heard of "home businesses"?
Some have not. And even those that have might ask to see a prospective subscriber's state-issued business license.
Excellent question. Apparently the OP thinks sitting alone your underwear in a dark room holding a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other is somehow social while going out for a night at the pub with a group of friends makes you an anti-social loner.
I guess it's true that you can find an idiot with every possible opinion on the internet.
How to watch sports without paying insane cable prices.
Go to bar/restaurant with TVs that are known to play games of those teams.
Order food/drink
Enjoy game and food/drink.
Single, and 200GB cap is plenty for me.
I could not even reinstall part of my Steam library with that much.
Depending on your interest in sports, you might find a lot of that content is available no additional cost over the one time expense of buying an antenna. Though that generally will only gets you the local teams for your market. And admittedly one of the ways the cable companies are fighting the cord cutters is inking deals to move more and more of that content onto paid TV services. On the upside, the video/audio quality of the OTA broadcast often exceeds that of the paid TV services.