 AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ
kudos:1 | somebody? Its going to be comcast or verizon that will, eventually, roll out an IPTV solution with dedicated set top boxes and some sort of accepted standard. Not a question of IF just when.
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standard disclaimers apply. |
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 SSX4lifeHello WorldPremium
join:2004-02-13
kudos:2 | I've been cordless forever Started college back in the late 90's and never had a land line. Never had cable TV either.... Skype / Boxee / Netflix is all I need. Can't beat the price of 35.00 for tv and phone and internet |
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 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·Comcast
 ·Callcentric
 ·Site5.com
1 edit | A pipe dream Until....
1. Content you want to watch can be easily found.
2. The technology exists where you can watch it anytime you want.
3. The technology is easy to plug in and go.
4. The content is 720p, 1080i, or 1080p
5. All streams are 100% legal
6. The output to the TV is easy.
You won't see the cord cutting happening widespread. Case in point, I love live sports. What I don't love is trying to find these live sports streamed over the internet. The Versus debacle on Directv is a good case in point. If I wanted to watch hockey on Versus, I had to find a stream for it. Browsing all over the place for the streams and then finding something that would lose its picture was just not acceptable.
So now, here I am hearing about all the cord cutting going on. The fact of the matter is that its all economy driven right now. Until all of the above things happen, you won't see any widespread cord cutting.
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My domain - Nightfall.net |
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| Cost reality check... I imagine that some households require that +$100/month subscription. But not the majority.
(Sports packages, 3 or more HDTV DVRs, PPV, ...) but some I know have cut the cord (due to cost and quality).
Extra box fees.
Almost bi-monthy channel re-org (under the guise WE ARE ADDING MORE CHANNELS).
Moving good channels to higher-cost tier.
Charging more per hour/per household.
Yes, the economy. I think the figure is more like 14% unemployed or greater number of employed with pay cuts, no more bonuses, and poor annual increase.
When salaries go down or flat, and prices get inflated...something is going to break.(Hopefully them before me!) 
BTW, I cut the cord on FiosTV a year ago. How about you? |
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 markofmayhemWhy not now?Premium
join:2004-04-08
Pittsburgh, PA
kudos:5
·Comcast
| Model isn't changing, delivery doesn't matter quote:
What happens when Apple, Google, or an unknown upstart finally creates a broadband TV service that provides an inexpensive, simple, a la carte alternative
Who knows, as Apple is not providing an inexpensive, simple, a la carte alternative. The show is a rental, 24 hours delayed, and more expensive. As I read another reporter say (paraphrasing, couldn't find source again): "If I watch 2 hours of TV with my wife per day and my kids watch 1 hour of TV per day, on a weekly average, it will cost me $90/month for Apple iTV's 720p only, 48 hour deleted rental, 24 hour delay after airing product, with no solution for live events, news, weather, or sports".
GoogleTV is NOT a product in competition with cable, sat, nor Apple's iTV. GoogleTV is just like Android for the cell phone (Android didn't knock off Sprint, nor Verizon, nor AT&T), it is nothing more than a gateway/interface to combine traditional pay-TV with Web 2.0 Google solutions. It is a marriage of cable and Youtube. Why would Google take the time to do this? Because Google is about to compete directly with Netflix, iTV, Amazon, etc. GoogleTV is in competition with Rovi, TiVo and Moxi.
People are choosing food over TV. This is great news! It is refreshing to see that in an economic downturn, TV is not increasing. Finally! It is the only way to correct the market for entertainment. Unfortunately, it has zero to do with how the 1's and 0's are sent to our homes to make images. QAM, 8PSK/QPSK, ATSC, IP... really? It makes a difference, huh? |
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 FrinkProfessorPremium
join:2000-07-13
Scotch Plains, NJ
1 edit | My expierence I haven't gotten a "bi-annual rate hike" hit in a very long time. Years. Once FIOS competition arrived to compete with cable company monopoly, my rates have gone down significantly - for vastly better service. I do need to sign contracts, but for zero price increases over the last two, and the foreseeable future, it's worth it. Sure I won't be cutting the cord anytime soon, but I need live football anyway, something my newsgroups have yet to provide a solution for 
Edit: forgot the no-contract changes recently. There goes the contract. |
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 FBGuyPremium
join:2005-03-19
Evanston, IL
·Comcast
 ·T-Mobile US
1 edit | reply to Nightfall
Re: A pipe dream or any entire generation of couch potatoes dies off and the next generation of couch potatoes comes forth..
i'm probably an expection, but of all the people I know only those over the age of 30 have cable/satellite. everyone else does netflix, hulu, filesharing, usenet, or goes outside. |
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Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| if your paying... more than $100 for triple play entry level is highway robbery... doesn't matter which company!
Yes, eventually consumers not locked into buying cable-tv because they can't get OTA for free plus a HPTC server for video aren't really getting the best value for the dollar. You overpay for set-tops, franchise fees, taxes (yes, they're in there somewhere), etc. More and more hardware are doing the streaming video feature... LCD-TVs, Blue Ray Players, Consoles, HTPCs, DVRs, probably even some HD Tuner boxes with the feature by now (for the analog tv hold-outs). Compare that with a dumb set-top which is a almost compeltely walled garden and makes you jump through hoops for vod, value added and other features.
All this is pointing to the cable companies & the entertainment industry being screwed in the coming years. They better get on the video distribution bandwagon sooner rather than later because about 25% of the residential footprint of the country (think population, not geography numbers), have 6+ megbits available to them.. and they will download for free if a competitive legal alternative isn't forthcoming. By competitive that doesn't necessarily mean FREE, but AT LEAST must fit the criteria as more user friendly than torrent hunting, lacking restrictive DRM, e t c . |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | reply to Nightfall
Re: A pipe dream said by Nightfall:Until.... 1. Content you want to watch can be easily found. 2. The technology exists where you can watch it anytime you want. 3. The technology is easy to plug in and go. 4. The content is 720p, 1080i, or 1080p 5. All streams are 100% legal 6. The output to the TV is easy. You won't see the cord cutting happening widespread. Case in point, I love live sports. What I don't love is trying to find these live sports streamed over the internet. The Versus debacle on Directv is a good case in point. If I wanted to watch hockey on Versus, I had to find a stream for it. Browsing all over the place for the streams and then finding something that would lose its picture was just not acceptable. Yeah the streams you found sucked because they were illegal. The NHL offers legal broadband streaming. |
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Reviews:
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Optimum Online
·EarthLink
1 edit | Alternative = "OFF" button I canceled my overpriced Cablevision service. They were charging $54/month for a whopping 45 channels. Getting more channels would have raised my bill to over $80/month, just for TV.
Now I don't watch any TV.
I don't care about "alternatives", either. I simply don't watch TV at all. (Well, I downloaded a whole 3 pirated TV shows this year. Not 3 series. 3 episodes total.) |
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maubs
join:2010-02-26
Farmington, IL | Was THIS close to cutting the cord And then I moved to a house that can only get 650 kbps DSL service. Ugh! No streaming for me! |
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 jester121Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Cutting the cord isn't always by choice cable companies lost 711,000 subscribers, which represents the biggest quarterly loss in cable TV's history. Six out of eight cable TV operators also reported their worst subscriber losses ever last quarter. Telcos and satellite TV providers were able to pick up some of those customers, posting combined gains of 495,000 subscribers. That still leaves 216,000 subscribers who cut the cord entirely.
And how many of those 216K households were evictions or non-payment shutoffs due to the awful economy?
It's just as silly to twist a news story to fit one's pipe dream of a free content broadband-driven media utopia that punishes those evil cable companies. |
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| reply to Bobcat79
Re: Alternative = "OFF" button I am finally going to cut the cord/feed/whatever in two months. I've had my DirecTV suspended while the wife is getting a new business up and running. I haven't looked back...neither of us have. I thought it was going to be difficult, but everything I want is online.
I am a sports junkie and while finding decent streams is a drag, at least I have my choice of WHATEVER game I want to watch. Between those streams, Netflix, and The Daily Show, I'm a happy camper. That's $90 staying in my pocket each month.
Being in the northeast, there's zero competition and even less quality service. I don't like my options so I'm letting my wallet do the talking to the companies. |
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 djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
kudos:1
·VOIPo
·Verizon Wireless..
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T U-Verse
·PHONE POWER
| reply to FBGuy
Re: A pipe dream I only know one couple who've cut the cord. They have OTA and TiVo. Cutting the cord is a much easier proposition for people who can still get HD network channels off air.
I would have no problem cutting the cord (I can wait for shows to come out on DVD before I watch them), but compared to my other bills, my satellite TV is relatively cheap and convenient. It's a luxury I don't need to give up.
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AT&T U-Hearse
Your funeral. Delivered.
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| So... It's just an assumption then that the lost cable subscribers are cord cutters using Internet video, and not people who can no longer afford any service, or people who had to move because of foreclosure or no longer being able to afford their mortgage in this economy? Or people who lost their jobs?
And the Internet video services are only going to be as good as the content providers will let them be. If Disney suddenly wants to force Internet video services to charge per subscriber if they want to carry ABC and ESPN shows, even if those subscribers don't watch, then where will all of this be?
That's what happens to cable, satellite, and telco TV right now. It would be naive to think that the content providers won't try to continue the same thing with the Internet if they lose TV revenue. |
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 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:6 | My (not) cord-cutting plan I'm a TV junkie, but it's mostly older shows in re-runs and news/talk.
Next spring, I plan to cut back to the most basic tier cable-TV service for the local stations (there is very little OTA here). I'll supplement that with online video (free and Netflix), a budget for (mostly used) DVDs, and more activities out of the home (which is why I'm waiting until spring).
As a result, the cord won't get cut, but it will be significantly thinned.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Cape Cod, MA -- KE1MO
Tweet! Tweet! -- »twitter.com/funchords |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI Reviews:
·Comcast
·Callcentric
·Site5.com
1 edit | reply to BF69
Re: A pipe dream said by BF69:said by Nightfall:Until.... 1. Content you want to watch can be easily found. 2. The technology exists where you can watch it anytime you want. 3. The technology is easy to plug in and go. 4. The content is 720p, 1080i, or 1080p 5. All streams are 100% legal 6. The output to the TV is easy. You won't see the cord cutting happening widespread. Case in point, I love live sports. What I don't love is trying to find these live sports streamed over the internet. The Versus debacle on Directv is a good case in point. If I wanted to watch hockey on Versus, I had to find a stream for it. Browsing all over the place for the streams and then finding something that would lose its picture was just not acceptable. Yeah the streams you found sucked because they were illegal. The NHL offers legal broadband streaming. For $160 for the season AND blackout rules apply.
Remember, the whole idea behind cord cutting is to be able to view the same content on the TV like we do with DVRs today at the same quality level for free or at least a very limited cost. I don't know many people who would drop that kind of money to watch in a crappy format over the internet. Not only to the content providers need to get their crap together, but the internet speeds as a whole need to go up and the caps need to disappear.
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My domain - Nightfall.net |
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bt
join:2009-02-26
canada
kudos:1 | reply to BF69
said by BF69:The NHL offers legal broadband streaming. For out-of-market games only. |
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bt
join:2009-02-26
canada
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| 216k is trivial That still leaves 216,000 subscribers who cut the cord entirely 216,000 sure seems like a big number, but it works out to under 0.2% of US households cutting the cord. (based on US Census Bureau projections for 2010 household count).
Yes, it's enough to show that cord cutters exist. It also shows that (for now), they are a trivial fraction of US households. It's less than the typical margin of error on this kind of statistics work. This is not the start of the TV revolution, it's standard quarterly fluctuations.
Oh, and the very article that points that number out also has this to say:
SNL Kagan expects the industry to gain a total of 900,000 subscribers in the third and fourth quarter. Internet video is very likely the future, but cable/satellite is definitely still the present. |
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 MoracCat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
kudos:1
·Comcast
| Paying too much for cable After watching the Emmy's last night I obviously don't watch that much TV since I had no idea who many of the people who won or who were in the opening number were. That makes me wonder why I'm paying all this money for cable TV.
I probably watch a handful of channels, but have to subscribe to all channels to get them. I've very seriously considered dropping cable and using the Internet, but considering how often I have problems with the Internet in my area lately that's probably not likely to happen.
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The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. |
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