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Comments on news posted 2012-08-15 08:43:59: As they have a tendency to do, the FCC has released some rather stale statistics highlighting something we already know. According to the agency's annual report on cable industry rates, the average monthly price of expanded basic cable TV rose 5. ..

mob (banned)
On the next level..
join:2000-10-07
San Jose, CA

1 recommendation

mob (banned)

Member

This played a role in my choice to drop cable TV

I'm tired of paying companies to offer horrible channels. So I just won't pay them or watch their horrible channels.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

this is what I said..

in 2010, the average price was above $50.. so in 2012, the entry level (lowest tier above "broadcast baisc") is about the same place.. you simply can't buy cable tv as a stand-alone product for under $50 when you include all the fees that go along with it.. you might save about $10 in a triple play bundle, but forget dual play, you're likley to get no or very little discount.

also, with the degraded quality of cable-tv's content (propaganda, overloaded with commercials), weekend "LITE" programming schedules, it is no wonder consumers are leaving in droves.

pjcamp
@comcastbusiness.net

pjcamp

Anon

Gee

Who ever would have thought that monopolies would work this way?

You learn something new every day.

norbert26
Premium Member
join:2010-08-10
Warwick, RI

1 recommendation

norbert26

Premium Member

Don't forget

Forced box rentals . Bundle deals ???? Who wants a forced glorified Landline anymore.
ender7074
join:2006-11-21
Saint Louis, MO

1 recommendation

ender7074

Member

Well duhhhh...

You mean the cable companies are trying to make a profit? How dare they! Its no different than what the telco companies do with their 14.99 phone line that ends up being 30 bucks a month or charging 30 dollars for a 6 meg DSL line that barley delivers 2.5. None of these business are in business to give their services away and prices are going up everywhere. I can say for a fact that I pay less for my cable connection than I did for AT&T/DirecTV by quite a clip and I get more channels and internet speed thats about 8 times faster. Im not waving anyone's flag here but so far, cable is the much better deal.
axiomatic
join:2006-08-23
Tomball, TX

axiomatic to pjcamp

Member

to pjcamp

Re: Gee

EXACTLY!!
cableguy619
Premium Member
join:2003-06-24
Chula Vista, CA

cableguy619 to pjcamp

Premium Member

to pjcamp
said by pjcamp :

Who ever would have thought that monopolies would work this way?

You learn something new every day.

umm who ever thought you run a business not to make money?
Albert71292
join:2004-10-31
West Monroe, LA

1 recommendation

Albert71292

Member

Can't get better than FREE

All the TV I watch now is on an "old fashioned" over-the-air antenna on my roof. Actually find MORE to watch than I did when I was paying for 250 channels that rarely had anything on I wanted to watch!

Some pretty good "sub-channels" that weren't included in the Dish package.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

Happydude32

Premium Member

What ‘good content’ is actually available OTA? Besides NFL on CBS, a few of their primetime shows, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, UFC, Animation Domination on Fox, I can’t really find much of anything worth watching on the networks. Every Fall, I get interested in a few new series, and usually most of them get canceled within the first six episodes. I’m pretty much done with shitty network TV. There’s much better series on cable and premium cable, and there’s no reason to watch FCC controlled network TV other than sports coverage that can’t be seen anywhere else.

Mr Fel
INTJ - The Architect
Premium Member
join:2008-03-17
Louisville, KY

Mr Fel to cableguy619

Premium Member

to cableguy619

Re: Gee

Every Nonprofit Organization in existence. Too bad cable and internet aren't one of them
Albert71292
join:2004-10-31
West Monroe, LA

Albert71292 to Happydude32

Member

to Happydude32

Re: Can't get better than FREE

I like all those NCIS shows, Grimm, Dateline NBC, David Letterman, Craig Fergusun, Rock Center, 60 Minutes, Antiques Roadshow, History Detectives, NOVA, PBS Newshour, Person of Interest, Body of Proof, the Britcoms on the PBS stations, etc... all free OTA.

Not a sports fan at all. If I'm not watching TV, I'm watching Leo Laporte's "This Week in Tech" network online.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

1 recommendation

old_wiz_60

Member

prices will continue to rise..

even as consumers drop out. the Cable people firmly believe they have a captive audience that has no choice and needs cable TV more than food.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to ender7074

Premium Member

to ender7074

Re: Well duhhhh...

said by ender7074:

You mean the cable companies are trying to make a profit? How dare they! Its no different than what the telco companies do with their 14.99 phone line that ends up being 30 bucks a month or charging 30 dollars for a 6 meg DSL line that barley delivers 2.5. None of these business are in business to give their services away and prices are going up everywhere. I can say for a fact that I pay less for my cable connection than I did for AT&T/DirecTV by quite a clip and I get more channels and internet speed thats about 8 times faster. Im not waving anyone's flag here but so far, cable is the much better deal.

And besides the cost increases above the CPI are almost all because of increases by the content companies.
HiDesert
join:2008-08-17

1 edit

HiDesert to old_wiz_60

Member

to old_wiz_60

Re: prices will continue to rise..

Content providers will continue to extort more carriages through channel bundling and providers will accordingly hike it up that amount, plus a little extra for themselves. IMO, when the content holder raises rates, providers hike it up a bit as well. I'm sure they see it like if the content holders make more, so should they. Consequently the super normal hikes past the rate of inflation. I cut the cord not because I can't afford it, but because I knew I was not getting a value for this overpriced junk. OTA more then does it for me and for what I get, it's the raw HD feed which has a nicer pic then the compressed versions that cable/sat use.
cableguy619
Premium Member
join:2003-06-24
Chula Vista, CA

cableguy619 to Mr Fel

Premium Member

to Mr Fel

Re: Gee

lol.. TBH they do have to make money in order to provide the services or event through donations, etc, they just do not make income.

I applaud those who do this.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

... and if they figured in full packages it would be worse.

"Basic" and "Expanded Basic" are stripped down packages.

If they looked at the most common tiers it would be a lot higher--- box rentals, DVR fees, etc etc

Much, MUCH higher.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

at the end of the day..

when you're in that back and forth about negotiaing a good deal on a cable-tv rate.. this is a good one liner...

life is too short to be a tv couch potato... (then tell 'em how you'd prefer to spend that money)

cable-tv is the high fructose corn syrup in soda... have too much for too long and you die of obesity and diabetes. (tell 'em you want to buy 20 a-la-carte channels for $10 and get a free set-top box, no rental fee)- and while your're at it, a rate lock for life..

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

Useless Government Agency

They really needed a study to figure this out?

When was the last time the FCC actually did anything useful or beneficial to the public, never?
public
join:2002-01-19
Santa Clara, CA

public to cableguy619

Member

to cableguy619

Re: Gee

said by cableguy619:

said by pjcamp :

Who ever would have thought that monopolies would work this way?

You learn something new every day.

umm who ever thought you run a business not to make money?

There are regulated utilities that provide universal services.
HiDesert
join:2008-08-17

HiDesert to pnh102

Member

to pnh102

Re: Useless Government Agency

said by pnh102:

They really needed a study to figure this out?

When was the last time the FCC actually did anything useful or beneficial to the public, never?

That's funny, your profile says "Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge" Do you realize that someone like Romney would take it a step further and eliminate the FCC altogether and let companies do whatever to whomever they want.

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

said by HiDesert:

That's funny, your profile says "Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge" Do you realize that someone like Romney would take it a step further and eliminate the FCC altogether and let companies do whatever to whomever they want.

First, the FCC does that currently.

Second, I don't have cable TV anymore, and price is part of the reason why. No pay TV provider can screw me, ever, under any circumstances, because I won't allow them to do it.

Third, this agency wasted a ton of money that proves the very obvious. Perhaps next they can tell us the sky isn't plaid or something equally enlightening.

The government, regardless of who is in office, cannot protect you if you choose to be screwed by someone else.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to ender7074

MVM

to ender7074

Re: Well duhhhh...

said by ender7074:

You mean the cable companies are trying to make a profit? How dare they! Its no different than what the telco companies do with their 14.99 phone line that ends up being 30 bucks a month or charging 30 dollars for a 6 meg DSL line that barley delivers 2.5. None of these business are in business to give their services away and prices are going up everywhere. I can say for a fact that I pay less for my cable connection than I did for AT&T/DirecTV by quite a clip and I get more channels and internet speed thats about 8 times faster. Im not waving anyone's flag here but so far, cable is the much better deal.

I have never paid, and never will pay, for cable/sat TV. I've got friends and family with AT&T U-verse (IPTV), Charter, Comcast, DirecTV, and Dish. The prices they pay for the channels they get are outrageous.

Hopefully soon I will get unlimited and local POTS for $19.98 and ADSL2+ Internet, at about 10 Mb/s, for $19.97.

sk1939
Premium Member
join:2010-10-23
Frederick, MD
ARRIS SB8200
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Juniper SRX320

sk1939 to HiDesert

Premium Member

to HiDesert

Re: Useless Government Agency

said by HiDesert:

said by pnh102:

They really needed a study to figure this out?

When was the last time the FCC actually did anything useful or beneficial to the public, never?

That's funny, your profile says "Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge" Do you realize that someone like Romney would take it a step further and eliminate the FCC altogether and let companies do whatever to whomever they want.

As opposed to Barack the amateur socialist?

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So ··· _economy

Socialism:

2. a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3. a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

mikedz4
join:2003-04-14
Weirton, WV

mikedz4

Member

go back to 1992

before congress stripped the fcc of any regulatory powers they held. Sure there wasn't digital cable but my rates were regulated now because of congress the rates are un-regulated!!
Why can't anyone in congress understand this and re-regulate tv services? Oh wait they probably get their cable or satellite for FREE!!!
SatManager
join:2011-03-17
North Las Vegas, NV

SatManager

Member

Unbundle Channels

Have the FCC require that the cable/satellite services provide all channels unbundled. Once the consumer sees the cost of each channel, he can choose what he wants in his package. This will require all digital channels along with addressable set top boxes, but you can either buy the box or rent it. Then the provider adds an infrastructure fee to provide the backbone connection (regulated service fee).

PacWestAnon
@qwest.net

PacWestAnon

Anon

quote:
Have the FCC require that the cable/satellite services provide all channels unbundled.
The business models to do this are still unfortunately in their infancy. The legacy players, the media giants who own the content don't want to change. Until they have real competition from independents who threaten their business models, they have no incentive to do anything differently.

The providers (cable, sat, streaming) can't just do a-la-carte due to contract stipulations from the media giants and programming costs (to get Disney buy these blocks of ESPN, to get AMC buy these blocks of xyz channels, et.).

The FCC is tarnished on this topic. Outgoing FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin "doctored" a study on a-la-carte back in 2008 to say costs would be too high. Congress investigated and found misconduct, since then the FCC has been defanged, has no real regulatory power (which is the job of congress).

Then there's also the mechanism to "buy" those a-la-carte programs, does each station then become their own store, do they provide their channels to iTunes, the Windows XBox Store, Amazon, et?

There's a lot to be figured out to make it work for the consumer, more to make it work for those making the content. Companies like Netflix and DishNetwok are trying to break down the legacy business models but it's painful for them and their consumers, e.g. Netflix lost their Disney contract, Dish dropped their AMC contracts and don't even get me started on the Hulu business model.

It's going to take time to break down the likes of Disney who meets their shareholders needs through their ownership of ESPN. It's going to take more than just Netflix and DishNetwork, it's going to require that consumers demand it, do it effectively and in a way that truely hurts the bottom line of legacy giants, so - don't count on it happening anytime in our lifetimes. As long as people will pay anything for their ESPN, then the legacy media companies will keep their business models as they are.