 | | Price-based cord cutting doesn't matter? I think what Moffett is saying is that price-based cord cutting doesn't matter, presumably because these folks will come back once they have more disposable income. He may be right, but I don't think so, at least not in all cases. First, some will find that OTA and/or Internet TV gets them all the programming they need. Second, he's assuming that both OTA and Internet TV will remain in their current state, which they won't. For instance, TV stations often have subchannels that are being under-utilized, mainly because few are watching. If more people go the OTA route, it will become more profitable to program those channels, thereby creating more free choices, which may bring even more people back to OTA. The same is true for Internet TV. Look how cheap the Roku boxes have gotten. Sooner or later, a major programmer is going to decide to take a risk and try it. Finally, even if people might consider coming back to cable when their economic situations improve, how many rate increases will have occurred in the meantime? By then, they may decide that they can better spend that money somewhere else.
There is absolutely no reason that these cable channels have to cost so much. They're expensive because we're willing to pay that much. Look at all the channels that Europeans are getting off satellite, many of which are free. The main difference between us and them is that there is the expectation here that we have to pay to get these channels, while, in Europe, they must survive on advertising, which is exactly what they do. In short, we're getting screwed. | |
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 | | | Re: Price-based cord cutting doesn't matter? said by ISurfTooMuch:There is absolutely no reason that these cable channels have to cost so much. They're expensive because we're willing to pay that much. Look at all the channels that Europeans are getting off satellite, many of which are free. The main difference between us and them is that there is the expectation here that we have to pay to get these channels, while, in Europe, they must survive on advertising, which is exactly what they do. In short, we're getting screwed. There are plenty of free channels available via satellite here too. The thing is that they aren't appealing to most people unless you're a fan of religious or foreign language programming.
As for surviving on advertising in Europe that is not universally true. A lot of European TV is Government subsidized, such as the BBC. You will find that Europeans still have to pay for their TV if they want a wide variety of channels via cable or satellite such as Sky. | |
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| | poolek
join:2003-11-04
Austin, TX | Re: Price-based cord cutting doesn't matter? In the UK, it's subsidized by a 'TV License'. If you have a TV, you have to pay for an annual license that was around $300US when I lived there a couple of years ago.
You do get Top Gear, though.... | |
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| | | | | Re: Price-based cord cutting doesn't matter? Yes, it's a TV licence. 
Years ago a lot of people only had b/w TV sets because the licence fee for colour TVs is higher than that for b/w sets, by almost £100. It still is but I don't think a lot of b/w sets are available anymore. | |
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| | | | said by fifty nine:said by ISurfTooMuch:There is absolutely no reason that these cable channels have to cost so much. They're expensive because we're willing to pay that much. Look at all the channels that Europeans are getting off satellite, many of which are free. The main difference between us and them is that there is the expectation here that we have to pay to get these channels, while, in Europe, they must survive on advertising, which is exactly what they do. In short, we're getting screwed. There are plenty of free channels available via satellite here too. The thing is that they aren't appealing to most people unless you're a fan of religious or foreign language programming. As for surviving on advertising in Europe that is not universally true. A lot of European TV is Government subsidized, such as the BBC. You will find that Europeans still have to pay for their TV if they want a wide variety of channels via cable or satellite such as Sky. True, some channels are government-run, but not all. For example, look at what Freeview and Freesat are offering. The BBC may get funded through a license fee, but not the commercial broadcasters. And there's plenty of free programming on the Hot Bird satellites, as well as others. Much more variety than we can get here for free. | |
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poolek
join:2003-11-04
Austin, TX Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·ViaTalk
| not what I'm seeing My experience is the exact opposite. The folks I know that don't have cable/pay TV tend to be higher income. The least economically advantaged folks I know tend to be the ones with the priciest cable packages (and biggest TVs, for that matter).
I'm sure there's an interesting cause/effect debate in there somewhere.... | |
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|  56403739Less than 5 months leftPremium
join:2006-03-08
Naples, FL
kudos:2 | Re: not what I'm seeing said by poolek:he least economically advantaged folks I know tend to be the ones with the priciest cable packages (and biggest TVs, for that matter). I'm sure there's an interesting cause/effect debate in there somewhere.... It's the $30K millionaire syndrome. The less they make, the more they try to flaunt it.
In the case of TV, if you're well-off you also tend to not be parked on your ass with a cable TV remote embedded in your hand flipping channels all day, so a lower-class-style video addiction less likely.
Most people don't realize they're being played like a crack addict. | |
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| | Ala Carte or Nothing I never cut the cord. I never had one. When Comcast and the satellite sellers call me and tell me how much money I can save by switching service I have to ask them if they are going to pay me to use their stuff. I use an antenna and am very happy due to superior video quality. Next they tell me I can get 150 channels and I tell them I only would pay for about 10 and would seriously consider if I could get Ala Carte service. At that point the called normally hangs up. However, last week the guy calling for Comcast said I was the second person that week who asked for Ala Carte service. So the word is being passed around.
ALA CARTE OR NOTHING! | |
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| | | Re: Ala Carte or Nothing I told Adelphia 20 years ago that I wanted a la carte. The rep finally called me a couple of names, including un-American since I didn't want STARZ or entertainment tonight or some such crap. If I couldn't get New York baseball, I wasn't interested. I've got a house full of books. | |
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 JonPremium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL | Moffett is a Cock That is all | |
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| | Nonsense I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. I "cut the cord" 10 months ago. I'm 29, with a wife and 2 kids and bring in 6 figures. I have PS3's and/or Xbox's + HTPC all around the house and have a 50/10 connection from Comcast. I saved ~$60/mo by paying $~120 to Comcast for the connection + Hulu Plus and Netflix.
I don't see my self being a TV sub again anytime soon - and friends and family are already asking me about how to follow suite... | |
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| | Last I checked.... ... the economy is in the tank and a lot of people have become much more pro-active managing their personal finances.
$70/month or $130/month or whatever.... adds up to real money over a year. People are looking at creative ways to outsmart this.
A loaded cable bill can be viewed as a luxury item --and you have to ask yourslef is it worth the cost or not? To some folks it is for sure and to some it isn't. But as the cable bill continally rises (particularly in a stark economy) up up and up, more folks are going to find other means of entertainment.
Netflix pulled off a coup by adding streaming without raising prices. For those of us that already used Netflix to rent DVDs, we saw increased *value* for the same money. The cable bill going up? Not so much. | |
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 kdwycha
join:2003-01-30
Riverview, FL
·Bright House
| Nearly did not recognize a Moffett post....
Douche? |
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| | | Re: Nearly did not recognize a Moffett post.... I do not know what makes me wanna do to him when I look at his photo. Knock his teeth off, screw his nose, poke eyes, pull ears or pull down his pants and stick something.... | |
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1 edit | Poor & Eating Dog's Breakfast -- NOT I cut the cord. I'm not a figment of someones imagination. I make a 6 figure salary and that doesn't include my wife's income. My dogs eat rather well by-the-way. I am not 40 years old either. For what Cable TV charges, you can get a lot of news and entertainment from alternate sources. If my ISP starts charging me for the bandwidth I use, I may need to evaluate the options again. However, if they raise my rates for bandwidth to combat Internet programing then they will raise it anyway for the other bandwidth I use downloading software and operating systems. | |
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Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| wide demographics from tech saavy kids to rich adults who can't stand the couch potato lifestyle... cord cutting is quite a serious matter. the more there is less original programming on cable & broadcast tv, the less consumers are going to be willing to pay for it, if it's just a few clicks away from a *FREE* copy on the internet.
broadcasters such as fox should take note... consumers won't be ripped off anymore. | |
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Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
·Mediacom
 ·T-Mobile US
1 edit | Not everyone cuts cords because they can't afford it. Its because its too expensive and not worth it. No one who has 300 channels watches them all. And packages with fewer channels come with less attractive offers and fewer rebates. Some more interesting channels are only on higher tiers yet ordering then individually or only few of them is in most cases impossible. We need more flexible packages or la carte options! | |
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| | Ha..Moffett the speculating-whore... "The reality is it's someone who's 40 years old and poor paying off debt and settling for a dog's breakfast better choices on Netflix and short-form web-centric variety video."
Fixed that for you Moffett! | |
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| | Cord Cutter? I my opinion none of this is cord cutting. You are still using a cord for your Netflix. Or whatever you are using. Cord cutting would be cutting all the cords and reading books the rest of your life. | |
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