3.7% Have Cut The Cord

I've just been doing more reading anyway....

If I wasn't splitting my cable bill with another person, I would ditch the TV part of it. It' is WAY overpriced, and the amount of airtime devoted to commercials sickens me.

I'm keeping it for now, there's a few shows I like to watch when I've had a few brewskis, and reading would be a waste of time.

But, I've found over the years no movie or TV show can match what my imagination can make of a good book. The story evolves in my mind's eye and fits like an old pair of jeans.

Don't get me wrong plenty of good shows & movies I enjoy, but I find I just enjoy a good read more. It's the one thing they could take from me at this point that would bother me. Fortunately, they can't....

well you have FiOS so your already in a comfy position to be talking. You enjoy a good read more because you know your FiOS FTTH is always there when needed with uncompressed signals. That's the truth, you're more relaxed than say the average cable user.

Yeah, and the e books download at lightning speed

Good for you. You are better off anyway!!

to dropping DirecTV. Given that I pay $50/mo to watch my local news, Disney Channel and the Food Channel, it just makes very little sense. I already have my Netflix subscription. If I dropped satellite, I would pay $200 to put an OTA antenna up and add on a Hulu plus subscription. How does anyone justify the prices they charge?

BTW - the $50/mo is for the most basic Family package with HD. The Family package has to be requested and they keep on trying to force other packages. Half of the Family package is commercials and most of those are in a foreign language.

That could be good, if you're in an area that is blessed with good OTA HDTV signals. I strongly recommend a Channel Master 4221 if you do go this route.


And instead of Hulu, save more bucks and grab XBMC and all the plugin's you can get your hands on, especially Navi-X, I watched the entire first season of Game of Thrones this way!

I have a Winegard HD8200U in my attic - big antenna, tight fit, but the quality of some OTA signals is phenomenal. And zero monthly fees. Over the years (with both analog and now digital TV) I have saved a small fortune.

LoL @ Lagz That'll do it, though it won't be as good as an awesome CM4221HD antenna with 45 mile range (provided you get it up high enough).

We dropped DirecTV after nearly 15 years in December, 2010. That extra $70 a month in our pocket was nice, especially when our income tax went up and my husband was forced to take unpaid furlough days. It got to the point we'd forget what we were watching after a ridiculous run of stupid commercials.

Now we've learned that our car insurance is going up $30 a month *per vehicle* (it's a Michigan thing, hitting everyone). Good thing Verizon Wireless let us out of our aircard contract for $60 a month because they screwed our data signal.

I'm running out of places to cut.

Like the article before outlining the risks of increasing rates, it just doesn't matter. As cableco's and content providers begin hitting price nirvana and 40~90% net/gross profit margins, the service becomes a money machine. Sure they'll lose some, but they'll be able to afford hanging on if they need to as the wind will remain at their back, with no effort on their part.

And people who do leave aren't lost forever, cable in general enjoys a captive market, they'll get a few back over time.

The industry does indeed "work tirelessly" to keep it this way.

Why is it in 2012 we have no streaming TV service that would open up the market (competition) in America? Because contrary to GOP economics, competition is not in best interest of any company.

It's why you can pick any industry and will notice that in majority of the cases, it's big Gov nations that offer the most competition to their citizens. Their powerful consumer protection agencies and FCC equivalents have mandated and enacted market conditions (rules) that promote competition.

Microsoft, Google, and Apple also need to team up and use their billions in hard cash go after these crooks. The consumer would jump ship overnight as most people loathe and despise their monopolistic cable company.

The cable company isn't completely "fired" though. I still have their internet service. I upgraded to the 100/5 plan due to usage caps. The local phone company can't even come close.

We have a Netflix subscription, an OTA antenna, a MythTV backend DVR, Roku / MythRoku, Wii, and 360.

I tried Hulu+, and it sucks ass. Too much $. Every time I found a decent show it was "only available on PC". They can shove off if they think I'm going to sit in front of a PC/laptop to watch TV. I do occasionally splurge on an Amazon instant video.

For the record, I DO NOT download any pirated or illegal content. It's too much trouble. If it's not available, I simply don't watch it. While I like TV, in the grand scheme it's just not as important as I though it was prior to "cutting the cord".

The family grouched and griped for a while (mostly the kids), but they eventually got used to it.

Saving about $60 / month, and that does account for the Netflix and HSI upgrade.

Cord cutting is actually kind of fun if you are into tech.

You could connect a PC to your TV to watch those " "only available on PC"" programs. I have an inexpensive MPC and it is my device of choice for watching anything not coming from the cable box. No need for Roku, appleTV, DVD, BR player, or anything else...

I cut the cable about a year and a half ago and I am still very happy that I did. It is almost hard to watch Cable now, with the 15 minutes of commercials per show and all..

Netflix still works for me (even though selection is getting slim), along with an occasional Amazon movie.

The shocker for me was when I discontinued Comcast cable my internet bill went up quite a bit. I didn't realize the bundling had such an impact. Comcast told me that by including basic cable my monthly bill could be smaller with HSI than by itself. Sticking to my guns, I only have HSI.

1 1/2 years later, I recently switched from Comcast residential service to their Business Class contract. The 250 gig cap goes fast when more and more TV's in the house get a streamer. HSI bill is now $99 for 22/5.

Watch this 3.7%. That percent will only grow as people get educated. TV's are embedding the most popular streamers along with wifi now. That "only" 3.7% is going to burst.

I'm with ya and my story is similar but I opted for the basic cable because it was cheaper. All I needed was the internet, I wanted the fastest they had for gaming and streaming at the best price. Even if that meant having basic cable included. But we did drop all the rest and we had everything but phone.

Netflix, the local Blockbuster and Hulu Plus see the most action but all in all we don't spend anywhere near the time we used to watching TV. We found other ways to entertain ourselves.

Anyone up for a race on Grand Turismo 5?

The year 1980 was a pivotal year for network television viewers. That was the year that many people began to subscribe to premium channels like HBO and Showtime. That meant that viewers with discretionary income would watch first run movies on the premium channels and not on network Sunday through Saturday night at the movies. Between 1980 and 1990 most of the X Day Night at the movies disappeared. Then came the replacement of really quality network programs with crap. Look at the program guide. We now have junk shows like:

The Voice.
The Biggest Loser.
Fear Factor.
Amazing Race 20.
Celebrity Apprentice.
Dancing With The Stars
Fashion Star.
Survivor: One World
Undercover Boss
American Idol
Q'Viva! The Chosen
Which are cheap to produce and have minimum entertainment value. All CBS needs to do is exhume Arthur Godfrey and restore Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.
We now have two local channels showing programs from the 50's through the late 80's. Do you want to watch The Voice or the Dick Van Dyke show?

Unfortunately one must subscribe to cable to have a greater choice of quality programming. Right now any broadband service provider that offers entertainment programming is scheming for ways to block streaming program services like Netflix.

VoIP subscribers are dumping their VoIP service when the promotional pricing expires and find that their telephone service is only as reliable as their cable service which isn't very.

I didn't end my cable TV subscription, but I did stop paying for the premium channels and downgraded to the basic Plus pkg(just above the basic tier). It cut about $60/mo off the bill. Could I have afforded to keep paying that? - sure. But I took part of that $60/mo and subscribed to Netflix and get a movie from RedBox every now and again. It is all Comcast's fault because I just refused to accept their never ending price increases.

quote:

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It is all Comcast's fault

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No competition. Ultimately, the telcos are to blame because they said deregulation in 1996 would promote competition.

Comcast can happily keep pressing the more money button every year.

And no desire to subsidize cable television. We don't have time to watch TV. I had Dish for my mom, who never visits, so we ditched it.

It shouldn't be a surprise that they could charge much less for your internet connection one way or the other and still make money, but there isn't a lot of competition out there.

They give me a welcome package for about 22 bucks a month. It gives me local channels,some others and some HD and I still have my DVR capability. Its not gone yet but i notice i only turn my sat box on when it records shows i dvr'd off the big networks. (easily found on hulu or w/e).

yeah. look at this yeah to cut dish network. not worth the amount for what i watch

The biggest problem is.... sports. If you are like me, you like 2 or 3 sports teams but really could care less about the entire league, you aren't going to be any cheaper with an online package for those sports.

I like the Anaheim Ducks, Anaheim Angels, and the occasional L.A. Galaxy game. If I get the most basic package of cable or satellite, all these three teams are included, and broadcast in full 1080i HD via a regional sports network.

If I wanted to catch those teams online, I would have to subscribe to NHL Game Center and MLB.tv. And not watch L.A. Galaxy, as they don't have an online subscription yet.

Getting those two subscriptions will get you ALL NHL and ALL MLB games.... but costs the same as a full year of cable or satellite. So if you are like me, and just like your *local* teams, but don't need to see all the games cross country..... it is just as cheap to stay with cable or satellite.

Also, I find it relaxing sometimes to climb in my lazy boy, grab the remote, and just see whats on. No need to think ahead for what I want to see and where I might go to see it.... just turn on a channel, and surprise me.

To each his own.... but I will keep my DirecTV subscription.

exactly. i know the majority of people on here hate sports but the people who like sports are kind of stuck.

even if i wanted to cut the cord, i couldn't anyways because where i live the only internet i can get is a 1mbps WISP connection

...and haven't looked back. Well, at least the cable TV cord. Not the internet cord, unless you count the WISP I subscribe to for teh interwebz.

So, I've never had pay tv services. I'm not a cord cutter... What's the percentage of folks like me?

My cable bill came yesterday and it was just too much. I was paying $60/month for HBO, Showtime & Starz. I looked at my Tivo and had just 7 season passes on those channels of which only ONE is currently airing. $60 for one show!?! Cheaper to buy the DVD box set when it comes out.

Comcast graciously cancelled my premium channels and even gave me an addtional $25/month discount for not cutting the cord completely. If you're not getting a discount call Comcast and threaten to cut-the-cord. I've received a $25-$30/month discount every time I have.

I cancelled all of my movie channels about 2 years ago when Netflix was very popular. Recently my cable company started new packages that were very competitive. And Netflix raised their prices and lost Starz content for streaming. Plus my cable company started HBO GO this past month. So I guess I am returning to premium pay TV. I get HBO, Showtime and Starz for $25.00 and I watch HBO GO in HD through my Roku on all the TV's in my house. I am cancelling Netflix streaming and cancelled the DVD's a few months ago. I was very disappointed in cable's constant rate hikes but more disappointed in Netflix's poor business decisions and lack of new streaming content. When HBO GO is launched on the Xbox Netflix will really look like just a bargain basement service. I am sure that I am not the only one who has returned to premium movie channels due to HBO GO and cable promos.

It's lame that these cord-cutting surveys never mention the number of people putting up antennas to receive OTA hi-def local TV stations.

OTA (not the internet) is the only credible replacement for the average household when cutting the cable-cord.

VOD = RSS

not even the six strikes plan will put a significant dent in the changeover from cable-tv subscriptions to internet video as a primary source. keep arguing that model doesn't fit a family of "X" all you want.. the cost savings realities of being lower income families of the 99% speak louder than that tired rhetoric.

Frankly I think it's about time more cut back on cable and dish. We put up with a lot of crap, form the amount we way to the shear length of commercial interruptions.

I personally end up watching my TV over the internet via Netflix or other services. I also watch a lot of british TV which on the whole is better than ours, I think because they have far fewer commercials and they write their seasons before recording them, where we write along with recording, so their shows have a more recognizable plot and tempo.

Add to that the fact that I pay $180 a month for 'all the best' cable, phone and high speed internet and I have friends in the UK who gets a similar package (phone, 70+ channels, 30mbps broadband, TiVo) for under £50! Mind his is slightly more restricted as he has a cap on his broadband, but the example shows with clarity just how much us folks here in the US are willing to take it up the ass for our TV and internet. Not to mention the 20 minutes of commercials for 1 hour of television. In the UK it's about 4 minutes.

Funny thing is my only option is cable or dish (and the dish here is horrid). He has half a dozen companies who offer services. So prices are low because of competition. Where here all these mega corporations have a complete monopoly on the system. All my 'bills' are that way.

So thank you but I'll stick with my cheap or free internet TV and reserve my actual cable for shows I really love, like HBO. But frankly with HBO Go I don't even need that anymore.

Yep, Antenna, MythTV, Roku are saving me over $1,000.00 per year. Here's how I did it:
»marcjw.wordpress.com/201 ··· -how-to/

If you had 100Mbits up/down to your house, why wouldn't all your friends privately share their video libraries with you? (This is exactly what is happening right now offshore in bandwidth rich markets).

Right now, you can buy 4TB disks (the price will come down again). The size of disks doubles every year -- and the only thing that really fills them up is TV and Movies.

Just wait a couple of years and it will be EXACTLY like MP3s, only you can watch video from your own PC or anyone else that has bandwidth.

Fact check reveals that single largest hdd is only 3tb capacity... yes 4tb is highy anticipated THIS year, but don't hold your breath...

I agree with the premise that this is the year we will see a tipping point with more consumers choosing internet video and shunning the traditional catv bus model.