Homes Without Cable Will Triple by 2016

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,400
Thanks to high speed internet connections, streaming media and a host of online services that make cable services unnecessary and obsolete, the rate of decline of cable subscription is increasing and will triple by 2016.

The number of people who never signed up for cable is expected to double - to 5 million, from 2.5 million today - by 2016, according to the report
 
I have never had cable and probably won't unless they fix their overpriced practices.
 
My house has cable, but I stopped using cable in my room a very long time ago. I just watch Netflix when I want to lay down. That, or I watch some blu-rays.

The only reason we have cable is because my parents don't want to buy HTPC's throughout the house for Netflix and Hulu. They also like keeping up with certain shows, understandable.

Personally, I hate TV. Everything is just... awful. That, and the fact that every 5 minutes there's a commercial break for 3 minutes. No thanks. I'll never get cable in my own house. My 50" 3DTV is my computer monitor, blu-ray player, and my PC is my media box :p
 
I have 4 children. Getting rid of cable altogether is just NOT an option....at least for a few more years.
 
I almost did, but when I called to cancel they gave me a *RIDICULOUSLY* cheap deal, price guaranteed for 24 months (not locked, no cancellation fee if I change my mind) that was only $30 more than the Internet alone and comes with most channels.... hehe. They're desperate to keep people.
 
I have 4 children. Getting rid of cable altogether is just NOT an option....at least for a few more years.

I have 2 small kids, 1 is a toddler and she has grown up without any cable.. only netflix and dvd/BRs.. so she knows nothing about the obnoxious commercials, news, or channels (MTV) that are out there.. it feels good to have control over what media comes into our home, with regular tv you have little control.. marketing departments get to shove their garbage down your throats, sure you can FFwd if stuff is DVRed but in reality it still gets through.. that's not to say we don't miss it but for us the cons definitely outweigh the pros...
 
I almost did, but when I called to cancel they gave me a *RIDICULOUSLY* cheap deal, price guaranteed for 24 months (not locked, no cancellation fee if I change my mind) that was only $30 more than the Internet alone and comes with most channels.... hehe. They're desperate to keep people.

Yep...just need to get some time on their books to make that negotiation.
 
Televised sports are the only reason left to want cable (or dish) TV.
 
I have 2 small kids, 1 is a toddler and she has grown up without any cable.. only netflix and dvd/BRs.. so she knows nothing about the obnoxious commercials, news, or channels (MTV) that are out there.. it feels good to have control over what media comes into our home, with regular tv you have little control.. marketing departments get to shove their garbage down your throats, sure you can FFwd if stuff is DVRed but in reality it still gets through.. that's not to say we don't miss it but for us the cons definitely outweigh the pros...
A co-worker says that his daughter has only ever watched cartoons that he obtains from DVDs and is not accustomed to seeing commercials so at one point when she happened to be watching TV and a commercial came on she asked her dad why the show stopped. heh

I haven't been interested in TV since the late-90's and my wife doesn't watch it either. When we have kids they'll watch the 8 channels we get with basic cable or they'll watch whatever cartoons I put on an HTPC; a little Ren & Stimpy, some Beavis & Butt-head to keep them from being too sheltered. ;)
 
I almost did, but when I called to cancel they gave me a *RIDICULOUSLY* cheap deal, price guaranteed for 24 months (not locked, no cancellation fee if I change my mind) that was only $30 more than the Internet alone and comes with most channels.... hehe. They're desperate to keep people.

Same here. Went from $175 to $110 a month for all three services with Comcast. They also threw in Starz and HBO for two years. And I can cancel anytime with no fees. And I STILL think I am paying too much.

By 2016 internet prices will more than make up for people not needing cable. They have to see this coming, and will adjust accordingly.
 
it should be mentioned...

by 2016, our data caps will be like 5gb a month by then
 
Only reason I had cable. No NBA = no cable though, and I'll probably just pick up NBA TV when it comes back.

Yep, I'm a heavy sports watcher so I need cable to watch it live.
If I didn't like sports then I probably wouldn't like cable either, I use the On Demand feature more than I watch tv.
 
how will people get high-speed internet without cable?

Unfortunately there is no way to get high"ish" speed low"ish" latency internet without ridiculous bandwidth caps without cable in most places. It's really the only reason I have it.
 
Cable is for suckers. I am not registered as having cable, but they just left it on (thanks comcrap!)

and I use full 3G for my internet needs.... phone 3G --> shared as wifi (Wpa2) ---> PC. Get 500-600kb/sec.... more than enough for loading MOST HD youtube video. All else loads the same as cable :)
 
I just moved and only had cable internet installed, no cable TV. A $30 antenna gets me 90% of the shows I watch and the picture is actually better than TWC's. The rest of the shows I want I can find on the internet or wait for the DVDs.
 
Just moved to a new house and got Uverse, need to have my sports so I need cable. Plus I get good internet speeds and DVR so it is worth it.
Just getting decent internet speeds was expensive compared to a package deal.
 
Contract finally ran out on my directv and I immediately canceled it. Satellite TV is the one that's really boned here. The cable providers can at least use their network to function as an ISP; which is what I use because their prices and speeds are good. Sattelite TV on the other hand has nothing to fall back on. They'll probably go bankrupt before too long; because of it.
 
I cancelled cable last year after the MLB playoffs. Baseball is really all I would take the time to watch anymore, and it wasn't worthwhile for the ridiculous pricing. I used MLB.TV for the regular season, I watched the Division Series games and NLCS with Postseason.TV, and I'll just miss watch the highlights of the ALCS and World Series or catch it when I go out somewhere. Cable sucks.
 
When I moved to my new place, I only ordered cable internet (20mbs), and used netflix/hulu for my needs. Now I still have the 'net but I dropped netflix and hulu as well since they didn't provide anything worth the 8/month they charged. Anything to save a few $$.

Cable TV just doesn't have anything worth paying (IMO) for that you can't get via other means (most of the time for free). But I guess I could understand the sport argument.. maybe.
 
it should be mentioned...

by 2016, our data caps will be like 5gb a month by then



Agreed, the major ISPs who are also the local TV operators will just tighten and tighten the caps so it'll end up costing you the same in the end.

Companies like their mega unreasonable profits so you'd be surprised at the lengths they will go to in order to keep the millions/billions rolling in.
 
Oh, and the way the US economy is going by 2016 your paycheck will no longer be written in your name. It'll be deposited to some major corporation bank who will then decide how much allowance money you are given each month.

Bussineses continue to raise prices and rates well beyond the rasies they are giving out to their employees.
 
few weeks ago i called comcast to see if i can make my bill any cheaper than it alreaady is, was thinking of sending my DVR back and just get a regular box for my room, cause i download any shows i realy wana watch and mainly only use cable for cnn, history, discovery, si-fi and g4 tv lol

and the guy gave me a year free of HBO and show time i think it was, and 6 months free for encore and one other

i guess they realy are scared to lose customers, I also have the net with comcast and i know they have a 250gb monthly limit but i go over that ammount every month usaly its inbetween 500gb and 800gb

they have never giving me a warning
 
I splurge. I'm trying to stay home more. Better for the pocket book and gut not to go and get intoxicated all the time. If I'm going to stay home, entertainment should be at the ready I figure. Plus it just makes me feel poor if I want to watch something on TV but can't. And I'll leave the pirating to the rest of you degenerates. :p
 
Funny timing with this article, I JUST cancelled my cable TV this weekend. Netflix and Hulu has everything my wife watches. The only thing I went out of my way to watch is hockey and I signed up for a streaming service for that.
 
I have 2 small kids, 1 is a toddler and she has grown up without any cable.. only netflix and dvd/BRs.. so she knows nothing about the obnoxious commercials, news, or channels (MTV) that are out there.. it feels good to have control over what media comes into our home, with regular tv you have little control.. marketing departments get to shove their garbage down your throats, sure you can FFwd if stuff is DVRed but in reality it still gets through.. that's not to say we don't miss it but for us the cons definitely outweigh the pros...

I always find it weird that you pay for TV and then it has advertizing (to pay for it)... Surely it should be free...or ad free. :D
 
The only thing keeping me using cable is hockey, since the Center Ice package doesn't work with local teams. I'd get the online version in a heartbeat if my team's games weren't blacked out.
 
Good. Cable is a rip off. Hi-def via antenna FTW! :cool:

In my area, you pretty much need a large roof mounted antenna to get any reception, and even then, it's iffy at best. I've really been wanting to cancel cable lately, but the only alternative is satellite. When is IPTV going to takeover already? I want a service like cable that I subscribe to through the internet. This would bring in some much needed competition.


There's 4 choices for TV in my area: Charter cable, Dish Network, Direct TV, or antenna. I currently have Charter, but their prices are terrible unless you have a bundle deal (mine's about to expire, and I pretty much have to tell them I'm going to cancel to get a new one), and their customer support is absolutely terrible.
 
In my area, you pretty much need a large roof mounted antenna to get any reception, and even then, it's iffy at best. I've really been wanting to cancel cable lately, but the only alternative is satellite. When is IPTV going to takeover already? I want a service like cable that I subscribe to through the internet. This would bring in some much needed competition.


There's 4 choices for TV in my area: Charter cable, Dish Network, Direct TV, or antenna. I currently have Charter, but their prices are terrible unless you have a bundle deal (mine's about to expire, and I pretty much have to tell them I'm going to cancel to get a new one), and their customer support is absolutely terrible.
How far are you from the transmitters? I'm about 40 mi. away and my Channel Master antenna works beautifully. It's about 1 sq. yd. in size but I have it "hidden" in my attic. :cool:
 
Guess I can't edit here... that's not the real problem, though. The problem is that all of the channels except for FOX are to the north east of us, but FOX is to the west. It's really hard to get FOX and the other channels at the same time with good reception.
 
Back
Top