 | | Pain Threshold Well, if they continue to raise rates year after they will indeed exceed many subs pain threshold of what they are willing to pay.
Personally, I can afford it but made a decision a few years back to cut the cord. Mainly since I decided that I was not getting a good value for my money on cable. Plus the fact that I can get 20 HD channels OTA is all I really need. The content IMO, is getting worse while the prices are going up. Not a good combination to keep me as a sub. | |
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 | | | Re: Pain Threshold said by HiDesert:Well, if they continue to raise rates year after they will indeed exceed many subs pain threshold of what they are willing to pay.
Personally, I can afford it but made a decision a few years back to cut the cord. Mainly since I decided that I was not getting a good value for my money on cable. Plus the fact that I can get 20 HD channels OTA is all I really need. The content IMO, is getting worse while the prices are going up. Not a good combination to keep me as a sub.
Yeah,
I could afford it also, but can't stand watching tv anyway. Only reason I even own one is for the wife! Wish I could get a couple channels on basic cable that I get on expanded basic, so I could downgrade that cost!
Even at the expanded basic rate, I'm not THAT far under that average in story, with the way Charter nickels and dimes you to death!
--
The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ | |
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| Reviews:
 ·Shaw
| said by HiDesert:Well, if they continue to raise rates year after they will indeed exceed many subs pain threshold of what they are willing to pay.
Personally, I can afford it but made a decision a few years back to cut the cord. Mainly since I decided that I was not getting a good value for my money on cable. Plus the fact that I can get 20 HD channels OTA is all I really need. The content IMO, is getting worse while the prices are going up. Not a good combination to keep me as a sub.
I wish I could get some OTA HD channels. I would seriously thing twice about paying for cable if it was a viable option here. Unfortunately its not. Canada (except for Southern Ontario) doesn't seem to be nearly as good as the US for OTA. | |
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IanR
join:2001-03-22
Madison, NJ | go cell only to save? I am not sure that dropping a VOIP line for under $10.00 per month for unlimited North America and using up cell minutes would save any money! Certainly NOT on Verizon Wireless or AT&T! | |
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| zeke56
join:2009-03-22
Naperville, IL Reviews:
 ·VOIPo
| Re: go cell only to save? said by IanR:I am not sure that dropping a VOIP line for under $10.00 per month for unlimited North America and using up cell minutes would save any money! Certainly NOT on Verizon Wireless or AT&T!
I assume many of these get voip from the cable companies, which is much more expensive, is it not?
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| | | depends. do you already use that cell phone as your primary phone? Is everyone m2m or included in your plan to call? For most people, yes. | |
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|  RadioDocYeah, like it matters.Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL
kudos:2 | Who are you getting cable VoIP for under $10/month from? | |
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| | | | Re: go cell only to save? said by RadioDoc:Who are you getting cable VoIP for under $10/month from?
maybe under promo. mediacom was $9.95/mo until the promo went out, then it went to about ~$50 called them to try and get back the $9.95 and told them flat out if they couldnt do it i was porting the number out to another line on my cell, they didnt, and i ported, now i keep getting sale papers and phone calls and people knocking on my freaking door trying to get me to switch back for $9.95/mo
nope sorry, they had their chance, and they always pulled the "well you should have a cell phone for backup" any time it went out and i called about it. so fine, i got a cell for "backup" and lowered my bill 
i currently have 6,406 RO mins (thats 106 hours) we (me, mom and dad) dont need unlimited minutes. what i would like is a phone that has fewer minutes at a lower monthly cost (post paid, i know i could do this with prepaid but still under contract, once that expires tho im ditching for prepaid), currently $108/mo for 4 lines including two with the 200txt for $5 plan that no longer exists. love how they keep sending me emails saying wed save by switching to unlimited texts, yeah we barely use 100/month between the two lines.
as for cable, $62/mo for basic tv and "intro" internet (3Mbps/256Kbps) | |
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| | They'll need to shift increases over to the broadband side.. As this probably won't be sustainable on the tv side. Broadband has become a 'must have' for an increasing number of households. Cableco's can take advantage of this and should be able to use their market advantages to increase base broadband rates without worry. And since most are implementing cap/overages they'll have increasing revenues with rising future demand. | |
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| axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | Re: They'll need to shift increases over to the broadband side.. Especially when Verizon is raising rates, the market followers have room to match. | |
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|  myosh
join:2001-05-03
Cupertino, CA | Comcast is already doing that in my area. Their Performance Tier (12/2 I believe) is increasing from 46.95 to 49.95 this month. This is on top of a $7 increasing in my Cable TV bill...  | |
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| | | | Re: They'll need to shift increases over to the broadband side.. Greetings,
My Comcast Internet only jumped from 44.95 to 62.99. I called and dropped down a level of speed, I think 12M now and it still cost me $5.00 more a month. grrr.
-RavonTUS | |
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| | Donut
join:2005-06-27
Romulus, MI Reviews:
 ·Sprint Mobile Br..
·Comcast
| Yeh my mom was pissed about the 7 buck increase. She brought it to my attention. I might just say fuck it and give comcast my Cable box back and go OTA. Fucking cable box is 10 dollars a month, thats a crock of shit.
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Mr. Donut
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approval from:
Linklist 
| they have to raise rates why do you ignore the fact that the price of their content is rising faster than the cable operators are raising their rates to subscribers? it's kind of intllectually dishonest. what u are doing is actually causing rates to rise faster this the blame is placed on the wrong party. the consumer outrage should be on the content owners, not the content distributors. the cable operators have shrinking margins because of this. | |
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| axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | Re: they have to raise rates It doesn't make the article less true. If you read the post, it's not making a judgement call, only reporting facts. The outrage shows up in the comments You're right to point out the other comments are only seeing one side of the story.
Now, I think the cable companies are politically savvy enough to lobby for a fix to this problem, if they wanted to. But taking a piece of the increasing rates suits them just fine. | |
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|  McShakenPremium
join:2006-02-20
Olympia, WA | So THAT'S why Comcast bought NBC Universal. Now that they have more control over some of their content, their rates can finally drop! Brilliant! I can't wait until they lower my bill!  | |
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| | | They choose to pay for the content and then choose how much they are going to raise the rates.
And I dont believe for a second that they pay more in a rate increase from the content companies than they pass on to the consumer. | |
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| | | "Resulting in a total return of capital to shareholders of $3.3 billion for 2011."
Ya, Comcast is totally hurting...especially when it's able to give 3Billion back to it's shareholders - def not a company that is in trouble, they are just milking ya more.
Again, this is why I dropped all cable access 10 years ago roughly..
Citation:
»www.cmcsk.com/releasedetail.cfm?···D=648704 | |
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| fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | That doesn't matter to anyone.. and sheeple won't understand that. (Odd how the sheeple term can be used against the group that like to fling it any chance they get) ... My point is that they want to have cable and go direct to the sources... and those sources are often the major cause for these rate hikes in the first place. | |
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 maartenaElmoPremium
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA
kudos:1 | Main Cause: The TV Stations demanding more and more money And this isn't even about corporate greed by the cable companies, because they KNOW there are alternatives from satellite and telco companies, so customers can easily switch.
It is the ludricous amounts that television stations are asking nowadays for carriage rights. Some TV stations have increased their price by 300%, and are then saying it is a "fair deal for our programming".
The truth is.... the last few years have been dismal for advertising income, and instead of slimming/trimming down the station, they are looking to offset those losses of income by asking more money from the carriers. Who, in turn, pass the buck on to us the consumers.
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"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" | |
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|  LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5 | Re: Main Cause: The TV Stations demanding more and more money said by maartena:And this isn't even about corporate greed by the cable companies, because they KNOW there are alternatives from satellite and telco companies, so customers can easily switch.
It is the ludricous amounts that television stations are asking nowadays for carriage rights. Some TV stations have increased their price by 300%, and are then saying it is a "fair deal for our programming".
The truth is.... the last few years have been dismal for advertising income, and instead of slimming/trimming down the station, they are looking to offset those losses of income by asking more money from the carriers. Who, in turn, pass the buck on to us the consumers.
+1
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»www.mittromney.com/s/repeal-and-···bamacare
»www.mittromney.com/issues/health-care | |
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| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | The TV stations don't charge anything close to what the sports channels such as ESPN or the regional sports networks do. | |
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|  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | At the end of the day people still choose to pay the higher rates. That's the only reason there is any additional value that is created in these channels that allows for them to insist on higher rates paid by the cable companies.
If more people just dropped cable TV, prices would have to come down.
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Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge. | |
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| | Misinterpretting data? Seems to me that this is not really measuring rate increases alone - it measures what folks are paying for video services. Which could mean rate increases and adding of HBO or DVR's and such. If the average spend is higher it seems that it is an amalgamation of factors not just price increases. It also measures consumers wanting to spend for more stuff. | |
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| | Time for Change I have always felt that any channel that accepts advertisement money should not also charge the cable co that is transporting the channel. The channels are double dipping. they get money from advertisers who are paying for our eyeballs. then they charge the cable co who has to charge us. Channels like HBO and Showtime show un interrupted programming and really only advertise their own schedules. They have a right to charge the cable Co's fro their product. All the other channels USA TNT SyFi History all of them should not. or they should eliminate commercials. Its never going to happen but I can dream. | |
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| KiwiPremium
join:2003-05-26
USA/MidWest
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
| Re: Time for Change That was my thinking as well, terrible programming [Re-runs forever], increased AD times to the point an entire movie is less than 50% of the time allotment. it's really hard to find 2012 anything on TV and we are well past half the year; most date back to 1980's to 2010. Talk about no accountability for increased charges, another ponsie scheme. I pretty much quit watching scifi when it became impossible to see that small action that told the story; because of half screen pop-ups -Dumb arses.
Used to be more tolerant of AD's but when they became the main feature, there is nothing much left and after going overseas, it was almost impossible to watch how infantile advertisements have become on American TV; they are simply put, annoying. | |
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| | I agree sorda I kinda agree with Leon. Specifically Karls quote "$75,000 spending 14% more per month than those with incomes under $30,000" I'm sure this can be said for most industries. Higher income brackets spend more and perhaps shocker buy more. It's all about how you want to read this. The simple statement about increase isn't calling out service changes or changes in the programing available that also raised the prices. Yes we all know price increases happen and I must confess just thinking back to the other threads about this 7% does seem to strike me as about a good average but possibly on the high side for simple increases over existing services.
Klein is right in that I agree with him it would be nice and it's true. But it's also different that those channels that serve commercials and stuff also sell to operators at a fraction of the price of say an HBO. Now, for channels that are based in over the air broadcasting I entirely agree. Charging the MSO for the right to provide your product in the clear to more people so that you can sell more advertising is well yea double and triple dipping. | |
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| | Cut the cord... The Cable co's and content providers will get the message sooner or later. Besides paying on average $80/month for all the crap they put on those channels isn't worth it if you ask me. | |
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| | | Re: Cut the cord... +1
And this »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession
See 1992 Cable Act (so much for reduction...)
E.G. Notice that average CD/iTunes/MP3 albums cost about $14-15 in entirety. Where a song might be $.99-$2.99 each...average 8 songs per album at TODAY's pricing is $13-$15.
In 2001, average audio CD was $14.99
In 1994, average audio CD was $14.99
So in the last 15 years, Audio (physical or internet delivered) has been basically flat (ups and down, not including piracy). We got our music, even at ala carte pricing (can get just a single or the whole album...but pricing method is more than 5 songs, get the album if it has 10 or more).
So why does cable content, which has increased in channels/content, tripled in advertising, gone from $19/month to $79/month in 18 years?
(»www.nytimes.com/1994/02/23/busin···l&src=pm)
Cut the cord if you want. Atleast you can.
And my dog rides INSIDE the car, not on the roof...!
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Splat | |
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 kingdome74Emotionally UnavailablePremium
join:2002-03-27
Syracuse, NY
kudos:2
·Verizon FiOS
·RoadRunner Cable
| VZ Price Jump I just received my first rate hike with FiOS and I went from 141.00/month to 161.00/month on a 35/35 Triple non-contract. As much as I like FiOS it's plainly not worth that much because I dropped Time Warner for the exact same amount. Time to explore options. | |
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|  aaronwtPremium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: VZ Price Jump said by kingdome74:I just received my first rate hike with FiOS and I went from 141.00/month to 161.00/month on a 35/35 Triple non-contract. As much as I like FiOS it's plainly not worth that much because I dropped Time Warner for the exact same amount. Time to explore options.
That's why I'm on contract. When I renewed for two more years a few months ago, I got my lowest rate on my services in the five years I've been with FiOS. Plus on top of the low rate I got a $327 gift card. My bill with taxes and three cable cards is currently $200 a month for cellular, Digital Voice, Ultimate HD, and 35/35 Internet. Even in the past when I didn't have Digital Voice my bill was still over $200 a month. I am so glad I signed up for a new two year term when I did. | |
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| | kingdome74Emotionally UnavailablePremium
join:2002-03-27
Syracuse, NY
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: VZ Price Jump When I called in June to see about signing a contract the rep told me it would cost me $5 more a month with a 2-year contract and getting rid of the phone. Actually my service itself didn't go up but rather they jammed me with big equipment charges... why, did my equipment suddenly become more valuable after a years worth of service? That would be a first. If Verizon is going to play the same games as Time Warner than I'm going to look for other alternatives. I love FiOS but I don't love Verizon especially their customer service which is the only thing I liked about TW. Talking to local people is a definite plus.
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If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans - Woody Allen
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| | one of many Just got informed of the price increase for the basic cable plus charter internet 30/4. went from 60 ish to low 70's. That was the straw. I all ready had netflix. the cable was occasionally used for news and cartoons. but gone now. netflix plus ota plus charter 3meg reduced the bill to a more tolerable 30ish dollars. | |
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| | right on GO GO GO GO make it 7 % each year for hte next 10 years and no one will afford it and .....yea with no entertainment human beings will go more and more crazy ...go ask the propogandists in hollywood they know....they want everyone to go crazy ....damn economic terrorists..... | |
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Reviews:
·AT&T U-Verse
·Mediacom
·T-Mobile US
| you know what industry has the most fidiculous fees?: Car rental companies, at least in California. 1 day rental can cost easily 100 dollars if u add GPS, equipment they provide gofr GPS is quite crappy, old and slow.yet it cost 20$. Yeah I could use from my smartphone but who like to get eyes of the road specially on unknown roads? And this was from Budget. | |
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| | VIDEO since 2 major telcos sell video services.. you might as well brush a broad picture of this VIDEO service industry. you can also say consumers are MUCH more willing to downgrade and/or cancel these services as the prices rise over the last 2 years.. | |
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Shrug... These rate hikes happen only because so many people cheerfully pay them.
I might go back to paying for TV if FIOS becomes available here (they are wiring my area up currently), but only if I can play Verizon and Comcast off each other to get the best deal possible.
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Romney 2012 - Put an adult in charge. | |
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djrobsd
join:2002-01-24
San Diego, CA Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| Greedy companies Basically what they are doing is making up for those of us smart people who cut the cord by charging more for cable TV, and internet. The Cox Internet service is now at least 15% higher in cost then the U-Verse equivalent. In addition, U-Verse gives promotional pricing for 1 year, Cox only for 3 months. They have also lowered their power-boost speeds so you don't get a 30mbps power boost if you have a 20mbps connection, you only get 22.5.
Eventually they will make themselves obsolete.. I suppose if people keep cutting the cord, we'll eventually be paying $100 bucks month for 10mbps internet. | |
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| | Good old price gouging This is just another reason to pull the plug on cable TV. With all the free content and media streaming services out there, I decided to ditch my TV/phone bundle 4 years ago and couldn't be happier. | |
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| | Sports Network are the problem The average subscriber pays at least $20.00 per month per for sports channels. If we had the option to not purchase the sports channels think how much more reasonable the cable bills would be. The real problem is how people are forced to subsidize one industry. | |
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