Cablevision Loses Basic Cable Subs

Does this surprise anyone. People are hurting. First thing they do is cut out extras. If you are in an area that get good tv signals, then it's an easy sell. That and that if you have FIOS in your town and is available to you then its another option. Hey CV want to save and get more subs. Get more channels we want (BBCA ect.) and reduce the cost (Ok I know delusional I am). You might see some better growth.

The best HD in most of Cablevision's area is OTA. With football all games are on free TV with better quality than Cablevision can provide. I find I watch mostly broadcast channels even though I had to get an advanced cable package and an HD converter box to watch just one cable channel I wanted.

Of course Cablevision will lose subscribers when AT&T is shelling out big bucks to bribe entice new accounts, and they offer every-imaginable-channel in their base package.

at&t is a non-issue for CV. Most of their service area is served by Verizon, and only part of it FIOS. I think they are losing to satellite and ota.

I have Time Warner, and I'm getting basic cable for a grand total of $1. Honestly, I wouldn't pay more for it, simply because there's no value in basic cable when there are OTA (which has been stated various times)

Simply put, basic cable is simply way too overpriced -- and when other options are available for television shows (Hulu, Netflix, OTA Broadcasts) why stick with it?

cablevision doesn't seem too focues on the low end of the market anymore. they are pushing the UPSELL, which is why they FINALLY, after Verizon kept pushing their tiers upwards:
first 15/2, then 15/5, then 20/5, now 25/25, 35/35, 150/35

Cablevision has a 50/8 triple play for about $115/month. The next step would be to actually advertise it on TV.. and not the $29.95 triple play.

They do... Often.

I'm waiting to see Verizon's response.

Anyone at Cablevision who did not see this coming is an idiot. Hopefully, this trend will continue and cause the cable operators to realize that we don't want to rent a box AND pay for service.

Really, the benefit of cable was the fact that I did not have to rent a box. With this new "Digital Only" trend, I might as well subscribe to satellite service.

Once Comcast goes digital only in my area, it's just Netflix, Torrents, and Hulu for me.

Consumers factor set-top rentals into their BOTTOM LINE PRICE. That's where the cost push above $100 for the typical triple play plan.. taxes, rentals, surcharges, franchise fees, etc, etc. Telephone Cos (at&t/verizon) has a nice $6 HD rental price too for an ordinary HD set-top. Once the price is too high, they'll chop down to dual play & download content over the internet or do mail rentals & seek alternatives. This is about $40-$50 a month for expanded basic. Once the company charges more, it becomes expendable. Right now I have expanded cable @ a great rate.. once it expires.. I'm not exactly hooked on the stuff, I can do without should the price be too high after the price lock expires. Churn (switching providers) & Burn (unsubscribing) is good for competition. Telco Nor Cableco should take the consumer's money for granted. I expect Verzion will respond to Cablevision's Boost Plus with new promotions within 3 months to keep customers loyal.

I got rid of TV and the phone, just kept the internet. I had no need for the phone at all and all i watched on TV was like 3 or 4 channels and then making me pay for each remote and each box, i just felt like i was already paying for TV from them, why charge me for boxes and remotes.

I found it pointless pay for TV. Netflix and other things are good enough for me.

It has nothing to do with channel disputes, its all about their price increases and horrible service.

Verizon gave me more offerings, a super stable service which is something cablevision is struggling with, 25/25 internet, and $25 cheaper a month.

I'm part of a neighborhood move to dump all cable and go with an ethernet based media server type feed, supplemented by ATSC.

Essentially, I fired iO about a year ago from the confines of my bedroom and computer room. I have a WHS and can easily stream content, more so than I'll ever see from Cable at will around the home.

Initially my wife found it hard to adapt with no cable in the bedroom, but once I tought her to use the WHMS and interface to it via our Sony Bravia-3 equipped inet-capable set, plus the amount of content sites like netflix and hulu+ were capable of providing, the tempetation to save another 60-65 in bills overrode any minor temporary inconveniences.

MY PC room had basic cable. No more. I have ATSC and WHS, and can stream more crap than Cablevision.:)

There is a neighborhood grass roots effort to use technologies like WHS and Sony's Bravia-3 sets to do away with needing a cable provider to begin with.

Regards -- morning boost+ speeds are 52/8