TV Subscriptions Fall for First Time as Viewers Cut the Cord

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You know all the big cable companies out there have to be hating statistics like this. If you think the industry doesn't like "cord cutters," wait until they realize there is a growing number of "cord nevers" out there. :eek:

The U.S. pay-television market is passing its prime. The number of Americans who pay for TV through cable, satellite or fiber services fell by more than a quarter of a million in 2013, the first full-year decline, according to research firm SNL Kagan. If the slide continues in the coming years, that means 2012 was the industry’s high point.
 
If they didn't overcharge or give better packages with what they offer it wouldn't be happening. Just not worth the cost 9 out of 10 times.
 
There's really never anything to watch and paying for ads to be thrown in your face is also kinda dumb. My parents lived with the TV on and when I moved out I never got TV service. I love having a quiet place without all the annoying screaming ads telling me how much I need to buy something or the constant flashing from one thing to the next. I also only rarely even watch a streamed video because there are so many better things to do with my time. Plus extra money to have to save is nice.
 
If the commercials on TV had any relevance to my interests then, perhaps, I wouldn't scoff at the idea of paying for a TV subscription. With Netflix, AZ Prime, and a public Library card I seem quite able to fill any free time I have. In fact, I seem to have more free time to fill than if I watched TV, since I don't have to endure commercials for vagisil, luxury cars, <processed food x>, etc...
 
The loss in TV revenue will just be made up for through increases in monthly internet service costs. Instead of $50 tv + $50 internet with bundling, you'll just end up paying $100 for internet or something similar.
 
With the scam that cable providers pulled off getting legislation pushed through congress to allow them to encrypt all content effectively killing clearQam, they shouldn't be surprised. I know a lot of people dumping Charter in my area over this very thing right now. People don't want to pay for a bunch of boxes that aren't needed; it was obviously done as a way to fleece customers even more. Even the kids can recognize this.

I am happy to counsel people on what's available for free and discuss how I do not pay for television content. I still love the looks on peoples faces when they ask what I pay for tv service.
 
I get my local channels from over the air. Everything else I need I get from the internet whether it is from my PC/tablet/smartphone. I buy blu-rays or go to movies if I have to see one that bad. I think the cable/satellite companies aren't doing enough to give value to the consumer. It just isn't worth the money these days.
 
Yeah, the price of internet will just keep going up. It's not like there is competition.

And any OTT services will be throttled, or otherwise hindered to make room for a new product that eliminates the "problems" for a tidy sum.
 
Meanwhile..NetFlix xubscribers outnumber all the cable company subscribers together what? 2 to 1?
 
While we have cable internet currently, (lack of options, go USA!), we have no need or desire for the TV service oe phone service they also offer. Despite them all but begging us to sign up for one of their bundles so we could save $50 a month...by spending an extra $100.
 
If they didn't overcharge or give better packages with what they offer it wouldn't be happening. Just not worth the cost 9 out of 10 times.

Exactly. They have forced consumers to go this route. Watch though, they'll just start charging more for internet.
 
1) Allow people the option to only pay for and receive those channels that they actually want.
2) Get rid of the local cable monopolies to allow price competition.
3) Get rid of the $30/month of extra bull-crap fees tacked onto every bill (box rental and taxes mostly.)
4) Reduce the number of commercials every hour (1/3 of TV time is commercials... ridiculous... Its even higher on sports and cable news programs).

The list could go on. I cut the cord a couple of years ago when my TWC bill started topping $150 / month because the fees kept increasing every 2 or 3 months. After a while you just have to say 'enough is enough'.
 
Count me in the never category. I have nor ever will pay for cable/sat TV. Netflix for the wife and that's it. I have 1 show I actually make an effort to watch and that's easily done through a web purchase.
 
article said:
What’s changed is that fewer people are willing to shell out $40 a month or more for the wider menu of cable channels.
Does $40/mo actually get you anything? Pretty sure I was paying around $70/mo just for Comcast's HD starter service (not a promo price, no premium channels). I shouldn't have to call up every 6-12 months and barter with them for a good price and I shouldn't be charged extra for HD service after having to rent an HD cable box. There are just so many BS equipment and service charges that go along with the TV service.

I ditched Comcast TV in February 2013. I've purchased an antenna (+installation materials) and a Roku and a subscription to a streaming service that my wife watches; that stuff has easily already paid for itself. We don't watch enough TV to justify throwing away $50-$100 on TV service every month. I did have basic cable through Comcast, it started out at $14.95 and by the time I cut it the cost was just over $21 within two years. If I would have kept the service, they would have eventually encrypted the cable feed and then required me to rent junky (non-HD) cable boxes, bringing me up to over $30/mo for what I can get free over the air (in HD). If your landline phone needed just an antenna to make local calls, would you buy wired service from the phone company?
 
adjust to the market or die like the rest, at least cox is my area is offering "flex cast" for $20/month but its nothign I want so there you go.

If I am paying for a service I expect no mf ads. If its free and you ad me then I get that but the whole arguement and pay of "actors" is out of touch just like sport atheletes in my opinion welcome to my world of where I have to choose to spend my hard earn money. :D
 
The loss in TV revenue will just be made up for through increases in monthly internet service costs. Instead of $50 tv + $50 internet with bundling, you'll just end up paying $100 for internet or something similar.

we all know, deep down, that this will be the end game.
 
As soon as the snow recedes here I will be putting up an antenna and getting rid of Comcast. Encrypting the basic channels and making my htpc useless except for streaming was the end.
 
We cut in January. As this becomes a trend, I fully expect internet prices to rise to meet the demand. While this price rises, cable subscription costs will be the same. So welcome everyone to the future of high cable subscription AND high Internet costs.
 
1) Allow people the option to only pay for and receive those channels that they actually want.
2) Get rid of the local cable monopolies to allow price competition.
3) Get rid of the $30/month of extra bull-crap fees tacked onto every bill (box rental and taxes mostly.)
4) Reduce the number of commercials every hour (1/3 of TV time is commercials... ridiculous... Its even higher on sports and cable news programs).

The list could go on. I cut the cord a couple of years ago when my TWC bill started topping $150 / month because the fees kept increasing every 2 or 3 months. After a while you just have to say 'enough is enough'.

Some of what you are suggesting is not within the control of the cable provider though:

1) The content owners (studios and networks) do not want this and they are preventing this ... they force the cable and satelite companies to buy packages which prevents them from losing revenues on lower performing stations.

2) In most big cities there are few monopolies on "cable" left ... both satelite providers are available nationwide, in the Dallas Metro area there are at least 2-3 land based competitors available ... even in smaller cities you will still have access to both satelite companies plus one land based provider ... now Internet monopolies is a different thing completely

3) Since most cable companies do not own any content themselves this is the only way the can make direct money ... if they charge too much for the content side then the studios will eventually demand more money

4) Commercials are mostly a function of the networks and content owners (to pay for the content) ... there is some small amount of space that is reserved for local stations or the cable providers but most of the commercials come from the networks or station owners

The content owners will eventually allow ala carte service but it won't be cheap and it won't occur until they are confident it won't cost them negotiating power with the cable and satelite companies ;)
 
Way ahead of the game, cut the cord three years ago.

TV these days is basically:
commercialcommercialcommercialcommercial-RealityTV-commercialcommercialcommercial-FakeCourtJudge-commercialcommercialcommercialcommercial-AliensonHistoryChannel-commercialcommercialcommercial

That is, the channels that are even in English.
 
1) Allow people the option to only pay for and receive those channels that they actually want.
2) Get rid of the local cable monopolies to allow price competition.
3) Get rid of the $30/month of extra bull-crap fees tacked onto every bill (box rental and taxes mostly.)
4) Reduce the number of commercials every hour (1/3 of TV time is commercials... ridiculous... Its even higher on sports and cable news programs).

The list could go on.

5) NO MORE FAKE REALITY TV
 
Well that's no problem, they sell both TV and internet service, they'll just charge Netflix for access, fiddle with Quota limits, and steer people to their "quota-excluded" services to repeat the process again for 30 years.
 
The loss in TV revenue will just be made up for through increases in monthly internet service costs. Instead of $50 tv + $50 internet with bundling, you'll just end up paying $100 for internet or something similar.

^^^ THIS x10000!!!!

Especially when you realize (if you didn't already know, Doh!) that the cable companies are your ONLY choice for an ISP!!!! Yay, go "free market"....:rolleyes:
 
Well that's no problem, they sell both TV and internet service, they'll just charge Netflix for access, fiddle with Quota limits, and steer people to their "quota-excluded" services to repeat the process again for 30 years.

Nailed it. Sad but true
 
Maybe, just maybe, they might begin to listen to their customers.

Nah, who am I kidding? They'll never do that.
 
There's really never anything to watch and paying for ads to be thrown in your face is also kinda dumb. My parents lived with the TV on and when I moved out I never got TV service. I love having a quiet place without all the annoying screaming ads telling me how much I need to buy something or the constant flashing from one thing to the next.

I wanna build a house where an ad don't scream
I wanna live in peace-quietly
I'm building a house where I can think and have some balance and dignity
I wanna have a place of love and safety
So get off my dick
I'm building it brick by brick
 
Well that's no problem, they sell both TV and internet service, they'll just charge Netflix for access, fiddle with Quota limits, and steer people to their "quota-excluded" services to repeat the process again for 30 years.
Yep, the 250GB quotas are already total crap if you were to actually try to stream current high quality, especially if its 3D. And its most certainly not future proof with 4K media.

Problem won't be fixed until we have legistlation similar to the deregulation/forced competition they did with electricity in Texas. Before, there were local power monopolies, and you were more or less screwed, so instead they simply reimburse the major power company for laying/maintaining power lines, but then allow any powerplant startup on the grid to sell electricity directly to consumers themselves. If you want renewable, no problem. You want better customer service, you got it. You want just the cheapest budget coal plant, its yours. Paying only 8.2 cents per KWH now, whereas I hear from peeps on the east coast with monopolies literally paying DOUBLE that.

Capitalism is great, but ONLY when the government ensures that there is healthy direct competition from multiple sources in the market place. Don't micro-manage, just be a referee busting up monopolies, encouraging fair competition, and ensuring no one is doing anything illegal/harmful/dangerous to society.

Unfortunately, we allow major industries/monopolies to lobby government, and in some cases to have employees holding public office as "industry experts" cycling between public office and their private positions, and so instead we get legistlation that favors the big guys.
 
I cut the cord when I noticed we (the family) spent too much time watching show after show then actually doing anything else fruitful. It becomes addicting to not miss the a show.
There's this thing called "the outside". It's basically free and all the entertainment we needed. :D
 
There's really never anything to watch and paying for ads to be thrown in your face is also kinda dumb. My parents lived with the TV on and when I moved out I never got TV service. I love having a quiet place without all the annoying screaming ads telling me how much I need to buy something or the constant flashing from one thing to the next. I also only rarely even watch a streamed video because there are so many better things to do with my time. Plus extra money to have to save is nice.

Dude! I have a Hifi 4 head VCR with commercial advance. Just flip open the TV Guide and program the show times and at the end of recording it will mark the commercials to skip.
:)

Anyway, why should I pay for cable when free OTA got better, plus interwebs is great with a HTPC or media STB.
 
^^^ THIS x10000!!!!

Especially when you realize (if you didn't already know, Doh!) that the cable companies are your ONLY choice for an ISP!!!! Yay, go "free market"....:rolleyes:

If it was a free market, we'd have competition that would drive down prices and drive up customer service quality. We'd have half a dozen services, at least, with different prices based on if people want cheap or good quality, just like we have with cars, computers, and many other things.

The problem is that the cable TV and internet service provider industries are a local government enforced monopoly. As long as the local government prevent other companies from being formed or moving it to provide competition, we'll be at their mercy. What makes it worse is that it is not just the local cities, but the cities surrounding them as well. If an ISP wants to move into one town, they have to get a main connection that could go through multiple suburbs. If those suburbs refuse to let the main connection in, then competition can't move in.

For example, I live in Parker, Colorado. In order to get a competitor in this area, they'd have to have a link come in from the main internet trunk (owned by AT&T, I believe) from downtown Denver, then come across much of Denver, Englewood, Greenwood Village, and Centennial. Even worse, most of those are in the most corrupt county in the state, Arapahoe County. Both Denver and Arapahoe counties would have to permit the trunk to run through, as well as all four cities. I know for certain that Arapahoe county won't allow it because they're practically owned by Comcast. They've voted down six attempts at competition in the area in the last 15 years. That's why we're stuck with just Century Link or Comcast.

So, either oust your local government or get them to allow competition. That's the only way you'll get an free market.
 
I'm in my mid 30s, and I'm a "cord never". I attribute this mainly to growing up in a rural area though. I notice that most people in my age group still subscribe to pay TV services and have a need/expectation to watch the latest shows and favorite news channel. I don't see that type of TV watcher cutting the cord until live/current TV is available online.

Conversely, I want to watch things on my own timetable, and having to schedule my time to watch a certain show at a certain time is almost baffling to me. I'm not going to schedule my evening around a television show. I don't watch sports at all either though.

The "younger generation" has a similar viewpoint, and consumes their media in a different fashion. Anyone born after 2000, will likely look at standard television programming as that thing that their parents/grandparents watch, an old fashioned medium that they have no interest in.
 
Charter just pulled a good one here in my area. They went all digital and require every TV to be on one of their cheap ass digital box for $13.95 a month even though your TVs are already digital ready. The biggest problem is the commercial users like hotels, etc with multiple connections were shut off clean without a suitable rate plan and were presented with a contract for 9 years at full face value per box. Most are looking for alternatives and not only pissed off the business owners, but guests and anyone who has to pay ransom to Charter to get their TV service restored. I'm going Roku, Netflix and Hulu. Screw 'em all.
 
As soon as the snow recedes here I will be putting up an antenna and getting rid of Comcast. Encrypting the basic channels and making my htpc useless except for streaming was the end.

I've never had a cable box. Cox only charges $2 for a cable card (about the only reasonable fee on the entire bill), so my HTPC gets all the HD channels. After the last price increase I called to drop some of the services, and they dropped my price to below what I was paying last year. Next year I'll likely be dropping at least some of the services as I;m sure there will be an even larger price increase.

I still get channels 2-70 in analog for the 2nd TV and the local broadcast channels are still in open QAM. If they start encrypting everything, then that will be another strike against them.

Still, 100+ channels and most the time there is nothing on worth watching. The big problem besides the high cost, is the absolute garbage they broadcast, like all the reality or white trash shows.

The wife has a couple friends that have already canceled cable due to the last price increase, and replaced it with Netflix/Hulu.
 
We've been "TV Service" Free for 10 years.
Too bad we can only (realistically) get Cable internet.
LTE and Satellite are not suitable for home internet.
I can get Fiber... 10/10 for $500 a month.

However, if my internet gets messed with enough that I can't use it for Netflix ETC, I'll drop that too, I can justify paying Time Warner for 30/5 when it covers all my uses, but it that stops, there no value in it for me.
If I'm not streaming or downloading video, the 3g on my cell works enough for that.
 
I'm in my mid 30s, and I'm a "cord never". I attribute this mainly to growing up in a rural area though. I notice that most people in my age group still subscribe to pay TV services and have a need/expectation to watch the latest shows and favorite news channel. I don't see that type of TV watcher cutting the cord until live/current TV is available online.

Conversely, I want to watch things on my own timetable, and having to schedule my time to watch a certain show at a certain time is almost baffling to me. I'm not going to schedule my evening around a television show. I don't watch sports at all either though.

The "younger generation" has a similar viewpoint, and consumes their media in a different fashion. Anyone born after 2000, will likely look at standard television programming as that thing that their parents/grandparents watch, an old fashioned medium that they have no interest in.

I have a 14 year old nephew who never watches TV. He plays video games often, and does things through clubs at school, but he just has no interest in TV. When he's home, he's on his computer almost constantly, reading news, chatting with friends, playing games with friends. He also almost never uses his minutes on his phone, but nearly always hits the cap on the data. He says he's not that unusual, and most of his friends are the same way.

The younger generations are definitely thinking differently these days.
 
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