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CableHater to Nightfall
Anon
2014-May-19 5:19 pm
to Nightfall
Re: Want to stop the price increases?I ditched cable over 2 years ago. Run internet through my unlimited plan on my mobile, subscribe to Netflix and Hulu for a total bill of $16/month. Antenna cost me $60 (one time "fee"). It can be done. |
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 maartenaElmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA |
to gigahurtz
said by gigahurtz:Take a look at your priorities and cancel services appropriately. The only way we can send a message to ALL companies out there is to cancel services and speak with our wallet. That's why I cancelled DirecTV. But it is not just the cable companies causing the prices. It is the media companies owning channels and sports teams. Sports programming is a huge chunk of money. I don't like basketball so i don't watch it. Yet there is no package I can choose that does NOT have TWC Sportsnet, aka "The Lakers Channel", and they charge $4 per subscriber. Now, they haven't signed a deal yet with the new Dodgers channel, but they charge $4, and when they get to a deal you can bet they settle on something very close that that $4 number. I also pay a $2 Local Sports Team surcharge, and then there is the Ducks, the Kings, The Angels, 2 MLS teams, ESPN/Fox/NBC Sports networks.... and before you know it, you are looking at $25-$35 in sports programming alone, and I cannot choose ANY packages without those sports. So, I told DirecTV to shove it (who had been raising my rates yearly at the rate of $5 a year), and went with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime only. (And a SmartDNS for BBC iPlayer, CBC (still can watch hockeynight in canada if I want to!) and other countries. |
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| maartena |
to cableties
said by cableties:Yeah. But factor in the net cost of internet.
$40-60/month (25 or 50Mbps package of internet only)
Streamin services ($9/month for Netflix... they raised the price $1)
Hulu Plus ($8/month)
So that is $77/month. Add in anything like Roku, AppleTV, Gaming console content..
that could jump to $100/monthly.
So what is to stop the ISP from bi-annual rate increases? Obviously, not congress.. Not that great of a comparison, because you don't choose between Internet OR Cable TV, it is usually a choice between Internet AND Cable TV, OR Internet only. Chances are you have internet anyways. I cancelled DirecTV, and increased my speed a little. At the end of the day, with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and SmartDNS I still save about $80 every month. $80 times 12 months, is $960 dollars. Sports is just not worth a grand a year to me. |
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chuck109 to Nightfall
Anon
2014-May-19 7:00 pm
to Nightfall
add $5/month for proxy service for the duration of the season, bam local blackout problem solved. Also XBMC for the win! |
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to Nightfall
But a good VPN or DNS service can get around those blackouts. |
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 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI |
to BiggA
said by BiggA:That's the promo price. The normal price for that combo is about $150. That's basically what I have. 6 more months of the $90/mo (before tax) Blast/Preferred/HBO package... Negative. I haven't been on a promo in 8 years. I do call and ask them to reduce my bill because Uverse is in my area. I do that every 6 months. The normal price for this package in my area is $110 plus taxes. I get about $15 off per month. |
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| Nightfall |
to CableHater
said by CableHater :I ditched cable over 2 years ago. Run internet through my unlimited plan on my mobile, subscribe to Netflix and Hulu for a total bill of $16/month. Antenna cost me $60 (one time "fee"). It can be done. Not saying it can't be done. In fact, it would be foolish to say it can't be done. I am just saying that you can't do that and get everything you want through legal means. No sports programming is a killer for me. Then you have shows you can't purchase or stream legally when they are aired. |
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| Nightfall |
to chuck109
said by chuck109 :add $5/month for proxy service for the duration of the season, bam local blackout problem solved. Also XBMC for the win! Yup, except that is something that many non-techies are not going to be able to implement. Heck, many can't implement the HDHomerun Prime. Not saying it isn't possible, but I just like the Windows Media Center interface on my cable card. Makes it easy for my wife who doesn't have to mess with the console or the proxy service. The WAF (wife acceptance factor) is a key as well. |
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| Nightfall |
to bookertdub
said by bookertdub:But a good VPN or DNS service can get around those blackouts. The quality of the streams are also not the best. I get better quality using 1080i. I would also have to purchase the MLB pass, NHL pass, NFL pass (which I can't purchase unless I have directv), college football pass (which isn't streaming yet), and so on. It just isn't worth the hassle to me as well since I am not the only one operating the TV. |
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BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT |
to Nightfall
Oh, you're getting special pricing then. |
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| BiggA |
to Nightfall
Yeah, the quality isn't as good, and there's a huge value to not goofing around with streaming and proxies and whatever else every time you want to watch a game! |
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 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Zoom 5341J
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KrK to Mike
Premium Member
2014-May-20 2:28 am
to Mike
They are working on "Fixing" those pesky Net Neutrality rules so that Internet Video will become the new Cable TV. My Prediction: We'll finally see ala carte, online programming available on demand---- once it's so expensive to watch that PayTV subscriptions are cheaper. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI |
to BiggA
said by BiggA:Oh, you're getting special pricing then. I will tell you this much. I have never had Comcast deny giving me a price cut when I have my uverse quote in front of me. All it takes is a phone call every 6 months. Heck, before Uverse came into the area, I used to call and ask for a discount and get it every time. I would say that I can't afford my services or that I have to cut back and want to disconnect TV. They would ALWAYS give me a discount. The simple fact of the matter is that if don't call and ask for one, the answer is no. |
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 TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA |
to Boulet77
said by Boulet77 :What does this do to your argument? In my area, the slowest broadband is about $50/mo. It may not stream without buffering, but at least your connected. Add that to your monthly and I think you'll find the savings is not quite as aggressive as you think. The problem with including the full cost of Internet access in your "does cutting the cord save money" argument is that most people (especially those who cut the cord) would have paid for Internet access even if they had kept cable TV. If you are signing up for a faster, more expensive Internet access, then the difference could be said to apply to "cutting the cord", but merely cancelling cable doesn't mean that your existing Internet bill winds up counting, in full, towards "cutting the cord costs." |
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BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT |
to Nightfall
Interesting. |
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| BiggA |
to TechyDad
The regular tiers are usually more than fast enough for streaming video. Streaming video, even with a few HD streams going simultaneous is only going to take 10-20mbps total. The 50 and 100mbps tiers are for large downloads, or to get the faster uploads. |
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to Packeteers
and I shall shed nary a tear when it comes to that. Nobody mentions the hundreds of blockbuster style video rental stores put out of business and hundreds of ppl who lost jobs working thanks to the likes of netflix. No netflix is ALWAYS good in the eyes of the internet because they made things CHEAP and nobody seems to give a damn about the consequences just as long as they can get something for a penny less. Same goes for selling our manufacturing overseas, cheap cheap cheap$$$ Americans. |
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TechyDad
Premium Member
join:2001-07-13
USA |
TechyDad
Premium Member
2014-May-21 9:22 am
Netflix provided a service in competition with the Blockbuster-style video rental stores. It was a service that competed so well that Blockbuster couldn't keep their old business model and stand up to Netflix. Times change and if businesses don't change to keep up, they get left behind. It's the sad fact of business-life.
As a side note: Blockbuster was actually considering buying Netflix at one point, but decided not to. If they had bought out Netflix, we might still seeing Blockbuster video stores nationwide alongside the Netflix streaming/DVD rental service. |
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to David_K
Really? You're really going that route?
Blockbuster refused to adapt to new technologies. They were stubborn and had every opportunity to make it work and they didn't. They also overcharged customers for rentals and provided subpar customer service. They got what they deserved. |
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 jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA |
jmn1207
Premium Member
2014-May-21 10:35 am
Blockbust(er) ran against similar issues that Netflix faced with licensing content to be streamed. The entire rights process is convoluted. Even Hulu is unable to stream some content to specific devices such as phones, tablets, or streaming media players, as the contract they have only covers online streaming to a computer. It really is that silly and restrictive.
Blockbuster did not initially have the rights to offer their content online as a streaming video product. It was impossible to pay for the b&m infrastructure alongside the necessary equipment to provide streaming videos. They were essentially cannibalizing their own business that already had very low profit margins. In the end, they hung on too long to their old business and ultimately could not stay afloat.
It did not help that they were a public company and were essentially chewed up and spit out by the typical millionaire's club on Wall Street. Most of the idiotic decisions made toward the end only served a few wealthy and powerful individuals with little regard to the company's future. |
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