Cable Bills Could Reach $200 A Month By 2020

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These guys must have slipped, fallen and bumped their damn heads if they think anyone will be paying $200 a month for cable in 2020. At that price, you could get twenty or more different streaming services instead. My prediction? We'll finally have à la carte channel selections instead of the traditional bundled cable packages we see now.

A new report from the NPD Group says that even though wages have flattened in recent years, cable prices have continued to increase by 6% every year. And with those carriage fee disputes only resulting in higher prices for subscribers, NPD predicts that by 2015, the average cable bill will be $123 and will soar to $200 by 2020.
 
For Cable TV? Inane.

Cable internet, however...I foresee more and more gouging on that as streaming services get more and more popular.
 
That's about as bad as Verizon and Sprint (maybe AT&T - don't know, don't have their service) for mobile phone.
 
I haven't had cable since 2004 and I doubt I'll ever pick it up again.
 
That's funny considering I got sick of paying Comcast last month and ditched them for Uverse and Directv. Ended up saving me $360.00 a year.
 
Yep, gotta pay the cable (or phone) company to get the internets to get your streaming services...

Unless I interpreted this incorrectly, I think the article was referring to television broadcast programing.

"Right now, the average monthly cable bill — not including any bundled phone or internet services — is around $86."

TV content is so terrible now that we're considering dumping it...because we don't give a fuk about TV anymore. :p
 
The only reason I have TV right now is because Comcast basically forced me to get it to lower my HSI price. It was either pay $75/mo for HSI alone or $50/mo for HSI + basic digital. :rolleyes:

Ditching the cable as soon as I can.
 
ICOM, I think you are correct in referencing the article.

My (somewhat ambiguous) statement was directed at the fact that if you cut cable TV out of your monthly provider bill and then get your shows via streaming services, you are still paying said provider in a roundabout way. And I think MavericK96 has a good point in that the providers still control the gateway to TV (cable or net) for the most part and the potential to abuse that control will only grow if more and more people cut cable TV.
 
Internet bill: $39.99 per month + fees

Netflix: $8.99 per month

Cable TV: $0

I've never been happier.

Note: Yes, I have a few more alternative sources for my content.
 
Sure, you could ditch the cable TV service and go with streaming providers instead but...

be prepared to get bent over by your ISP when your streaming on top of your current usage puts you over the monthly cap.
 
If my cable bill even hits $100, it's gone. It's not even worth 1/2 that price.
 
you would think though that they want to lower the price since cable tv subscribers are going down i thought.

I know i haven't had cable tv in 6 years.. even basic cable for that matter. (basic cable here is 43 bucks a month!!!)
 
Well it's all about what services they can give you.

10 years ago, DirecTV I had the $24.99 package, basically essential channels, if you wanted local TV channels I think that was another $5.99 a month

Now I think I'm paying close to $70, first they got rid of the "El Cheapo" package, so I think the next cheapest is $54.95 (now that they've followed suit with Cable/Internet providers and only advertise the "New Customer for the first 12 months" rates), then there's $10/month for the HONOR of having HD channels, then there's $8/month for the use of their DVR...

So I don't see $200 too far off, basic packages probably will cost $100 by 2020, simply because they'll make sure basic still has a lot of stuff (even if you're not going to watch 90% of the channels), maybe the HD programming upcharge will go away but I'm guessing not, only reason it went away with DTV is because Cable was giving it away for free, if 1080p comes about expect another $10/month on top of that, if 3D stays around, another $10, if 4k resolution, anohter $20, then figure $20/month for premium channels. Yeah it can get up there..
 
WTF is TV? I seem to remember something that did nothing but ruin my life with a similar name (maybe the same name?) from 20 or more years ago but I'm not sure. I can tell you for certain sure that if they try to charge me more for the internet service I already have I'll piss fire.
 
$200 sounds about right for the average cable package by 2020. I've had cable since the 80's when it was $15 a month, now I'm paying $60 so the rate increases are well above normal inflation. Streaming will continue to grow, but it probably won't alleviate the costs much because ISP's will just continue raising prices for service and tiering and capping bandwidth.
 
you would think though that they want to lower the price since cable tv subscribers are going down i thought.
most businesses dont subscribe to that kind of common sense.

They subscribe to the "omg subscribers are falling, lets jack up the prices for everyone else to make up the difference in revenue"
 
Internet bill: $39.99 per month + fees

Netflix: $8.99 per month

Cable TV: $0

I've never been happier.

Note: Yes, I have a few more alternative sources for my content.

We just cut cable ourselves and couldn't be happier. Internet $39.99 w/ fees, Netflix $14.99 w/ DVD rentals, Hulu $7.99, and $0 cable. Maybe the occasional Redbox rental but not often. Sure we paid a bit extra for the DVR setup on my main rig and the media extender (XBOX 360) but those were fixed costs that will be paid for in less than a few months without cable (our package was about to jump to $110/mo when we cut the wire).

The only way I'll go back is if we have no OTA TV reception and there is per-channel pricing.

You'd think cable companies would get in on streaming service, abandon their old cable technology, and embrace what consumers keep asking for. But then again that would make too much sense.
 
Oh I remember now! I had "Cable TV" for free with an apartment I rented. I'm assuming it worked but I can't tell you since I had a projector at the time (2002) and only watched movies I selected and either bought or pirated.

Why would I pay (Actually pay my hard earned dollars!) to have the ability to see thing which will make me less intelligent and emotionally/socially healthy which are interspersed with an increasing percentage of advertisements for things which not only do I not want but will also ruin life for myself and my fellow man? How much of TV air time is commercials? I don't know because, as I've already stated, I don't touch that shit. It must be close to 50% by now.... no? People are paying for that? Commercials are some of the most sophisticated brainwashing known to modern psychology.

Good luck TV watchers. I hope Darwin was right.
 
Not surprised by this one bit.

I currently live in one of the poorest states in the nation, I'll let you detectives deduce which one. Comcast has had a monopoly in my state since the late 90's, and I'm not going to get into the politics on that one, but basically they took over after they bought off the cable lines in most of the big metro areas. Fast forward to today, your options are limited to either DSL, which is as slow as fuck, or Comcast; there's no CenturyLink, no Sprint Fios, and pretty the fiber optics in my city are non existent. So what are my alternatives? None. They can pretty much charge whatever they want, and the citizens are too poor, too uninformed, too uneducated to give a shit and will pay whatever Comcast asks, cuz they need to TV and Internet....
 
Monopolies, local monopolies. They wouldn't project $200 if it wasn't for that.
 
This article should mention that inflation drives the price of everything up every year. so over the course of the next 8 years people will have to pay more for everything. But.. People should also be paid more. in 8 years 200$ will not be worth what it is today.

Honestly I live in Australia and we have satellite tv. not cable but no one in their right mind would buy it when you can just download everything you want to watch if you have a fast internet connection with i high monthly cap anyways.

The cost of living here is much higher than the states and our money is worth more now as well and there is no way it is going on repeated monthly rubbish and have to wait for all the major shows to be released here when i can get them in 720p the second they are released via the internet.
 
I hope Darwin was right.

That's kind of how I feel. Why bother watching a lot of TV when you could be doing something more productive and fun? I'd rather spend my time designing iPad gaming apps and stretching my creativity rather than watch hours of TV, for example. Sure I'll watch 30 minutes of news at night over dinner but that's about it.
 
The only reason there are so many useless channels on TV is because cable/satellite companies are beholden to the several large companies that own all the cable networks and basically force consumers to subsidize their existence. We should be able to get only the channels we want. For me that's basically a few sports channels. Other than live sports, TV serves no real purpose for me.
 
The only reason I have TV right now is because Comcast basically forced me to get it to lower my HSI price. It was either pay $75/mo for HSI alone or $50/mo for HSI + basic digital. :rolleyes:

Ditching the cable as soon as I can.

Same. $40-50/month with 30 channels vs. $75 without.
 
We're not far from it now. When Frontier took over from Verizon FiOS here the bill was $163 plus change every month. Then they said they were going to raise the price of FiOS TV by $30 per month with an option to switch to DirecTV for no extra. IF keeping the FiOS TV, that would have put the bill at $193 plus change per month, and the increased tax would have pretty much made it $200. Comcast being the only other option, I am paying them about half for comparable service.
 
If that's the case, I forsee a lot of people dropping cable and going with standalone internet. There's not much on TV anyway that isn't total crap other than a few shows on the premium channels.
 
Comcast Triple play Cable + Internet + Phone is already costing me $200/month, guess ill be at $400 by 2020 :) Oh well, Money grows on trees.
 
Not surprised by this one bit.

I currently live in one of the poorest states in the nation, I'll let you detectives deduce which one. Comcast has had a monopoly in my state since the late 90's, and I'm not going to get into the politics on that one, but basically they took over after they bought off the cable lines in most of the big metro areas. Fast forward to today, your options are limited to either DSL, which is as slow as fuck, or Comcast; there's no CenturyLink, no Sprint Fios, and pretty the fiber optics in my city are non existent. So what are my alternatives? None. They can pretty much charge whatever they want, and the citizens are too poor, too uninformed, too uneducated to give a shit and will pay whatever Comcast asks, cuz they need to TV and Internet....

Must be Florida. Comcast took over, here in Jax, after Mediaone got ran out of the city. Hopefully something else will come along and run comcrap out of this city as well.
 
MTS Allstream, PVR/HDTV service + Phone + Internet (unlimited 32/2) CAN$146.00/month.

As others have mentioned top tier internet is only available with premium TV service, otherwise its a 10/1 DSL shitty little modem.

$200 dollars a month for TV, I might change my name to Ben Dover.
 
My prediction? We'll finally have à la carte channel selections instead of the traditional bundled cable packages we see now.

I can't wait for that to happen. There's so much crap on TV, I only need a handful of channels to enjoy it. Who need 150+ channels? I watch a dozen or so shows and they're spread out on 8 different channels I think... Then again, I couldn't just sit at home and watch TV to pass the time.
 
Internet bill: $39.99 per month + fees

Netflix: $8.99 per month

Cable TV: $0

I've never been happier.

Note: Yes, I have a few more alternative sources for my content.

This is exactly what I do. Works great.
 
Sigh I wish I could just pay $20 bucks a month and get local channels, epsn, and amc. Sadly I know that will never happen.
 
Cable prices raise because the content providers raise their prices.

Except that the cable companys (comcast and time warner at least) ARE the content providers

It makes perfect capitalist sense tho, just raise the fees that one department charges another department, and then pass the higher costs along to the customers, that way the "cable company" can pass the blame onto the "content providers".
 
Kicked cable to the curb in 2010 and haven't looked back. Netflix and MLB.TV handle the vast majority of my viewing(which is very little anyway, between two jobs and MBA). Anything else I miss, I'll eventually catch it on Blu-Ray, borrow from a friend or just never watch.
Of course, this will eventually screw over every single one of us, because they'll find a way to wrench every penny out of our wallets.
 
I have a prediction too. Cable companies will continue to coast on past infrastructure as to pay out dividends to stockholders while no advances in service will arise. Meanwhile your cable bill will go up and your internet speed will go down and there's nothing you can do about it besides getting rid of the whole scam service. For crying out loud cable bills are already almost that high now and the sheep still pay.

What makes anyone think they still won't pay?

Couple that with caps on service and I don't think the future is very bright for any real competition.
 
I already pay ~$160 a month for FiOS TV and Internet, and I don't even have any premium channels...

...just normal cable lineup, two HD boxes and a DVR.
 
Frankly? Free market has failed in the cable sector, so it's time to introduce heavy regulation.
 
Hence why I will likely not have TV, if I do it will be the most basic service...
 
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