Outamyhead
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2008
- Messages
- 4,263
A lot of the college games football, and basket ball games are on ESPN3, and some of the motorsport is moving there.
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Another 1.8M People Just Ditched Cable TV
- Thread starter HardOCP News
- Start date
A lot of the college games football, and basket ball games are on ESPN3, and some of the motorsport is moving there.
NeghVar
2[H]4U
- Joined
- May 1, 2003
- Messages
- 2,671
They won't "get with the program" until they are teetering on the edge of an abyss. Like other monopolies and oligopolies, they will do everything in their power to maintain status quo whether its bribing for new laws, acts and ordinances to hinder competition, SLAPP lawsuits. Throttling or capping data usage of streaming protocols. Up until just before their last breath will they "get with the program"
At which point they will just raise the price on the services they have left and we will be back at square one
JimmayLong
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2010
- Messages
- 333
same boat dropped cable/tv, I would love to ala cart. My decision was mainly cost.
Yakk
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2010
- Messages
- 5,810
Dropped cable and changed ISP at the same time for good measure (since it was a combo package).
It still feels sooooo good thinking about it today.
It still feels sooooo good thinking about it today.
you have to have a cable subscription or at least know someone to use WatchESPN, which covers ESPN 3 now.
More than you would expect. Curious why you would ponder such a thing.
devil_trigger
Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2007
- Messages
- 726
I have basic cable but only because it was cheaper to bundle that with my internet than just internet alone. If it wasn't for that I'd be perfectly fine without it.
fredgarven
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2006
- Messages
- 67
The real problem is the programming. There used to be a huge amount of great programming on all the Discovery channels, Science channel, History channel, etc. Now it's all reality garbage. All the great channels sold out and let stupidity win. That's why we dropped it.
Considering how cheap reality TV is and how much people still crave it, its no wonder why channels moved most of their programming to it.
Outside of following someone around who is experiencing different parts of life, I have no idea why anyone would watch an obvious ad-lib show about 5 people living in the same house.
I'd say a majority of the programming went stupid before reality TV reared its ugly head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ilMx7k7mso
Pretty sure that was front page already, but its sad that there's so much truth to it.
Pretty sure that was front page already, but its sad that there's so much truth to it.
pigwalk
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2004
- Messages
- 8,396
I'll be honest, I watch a lot more TV than I otherwise would, just because I get it free.
D
Deleted member 80813
Guest
hellokeith
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2006
- Messages
- 240
The difficulty level goes way up when trying to marry free OTA, Netflix/Hulu/etc., web streams, and torrents. So yes you can save money..
But it is very hard to beat having ALL channels I watch, including sports (mandatory / non-negotiable), in HD, coming from one source (cable STB) that just works.
But it is very hard to beat having ALL channels I watch, including sports (mandatory / non-negotiable), in HD, coming from one source (cable STB) that just works.
cageymaru
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2003
- Messages
- 22,090
OMG you must know my niece! K dramas are what she lives for.
I am probably one of the few that actually pays for tv and netflix and don't plan on cutting directv any time soon. Going with pure legal ways to watch shows, I just can't caught them all that I watch if I don't have tv service. Not all are on hulu or online that I watch. And i do watch a lot of tv. Currently following 8 - 10 different shows / series.
Ala carte is nice, but do keep in mind that not all stations cost the same, so if you pay soemthing like $100 for 200 stations. about 75% of those probably cost you a few cents while most of that cost is made up for the cost of having about 10 stations. I want to say I think AMC by itself makes up about $10 of a bill. So it isn't like all your stations are 50 cents, but most of the ones that you want to watch are probably eating up 5 - 10 each of your bill while the music stations and a lot of other filler stuff cost them nothing or a few cents. So looking at it like a combo at a fast food place or any other type of bundle, you get rid of the pricing of the group and getting 5 or 6 of the stations that you want could very well end up costing you close to what it cost you right now. Maybe you come out only spending $60 - $70 for 5 stations that you want instead of $100 for 5 you want and 195 that you don't. Which is a saving but it isn't like ala carte is going to make every stations be a few cents and you get tv service for $3 if you only want 5 stations. Plus that isn't including the overhead for the transmission, encryption and all of that stuff. Tack on another flat rate of $10 - $15 just for having the service of getting the stations to your home so that comcast, dish or however can make money.
Ala carte is nice, but do keep in mind that not all stations cost the same, so if you pay soemthing like $100 for 200 stations. about 75% of those probably cost you a few cents while most of that cost is made up for the cost of having about 10 stations. I want to say I think AMC by itself makes up about $10 of a bill. So it isn't like all your stations are 50 cents, but most of the ones that you want to watch are probably eating up 5 - 10 each of your bill while the music stations and a lot of other filler stuff cost them nothing or a few cents. So looking at it like a combo at a fast food place or any other type of bundle, you get rid of the pricing of the group and getting 5 or 6 of the stations that you want could very well end up costing you close to what it cost you right now. Maybe you come out only spending $60 - $70 for 5 stations that you want instead of $100 for 5 you want and 195 that you don't. Which is a saving but it isn't like ala carte is going to make every stations be a few cents and you get tv service for $3 if you only want 5 stations. Plus that isn't including the overhead for the transmission, encryption and all of that stuff. Tack on another flat rate of $10 - $15 just for having the service of getting the stations to your home so that comcast, dish or however can make money.
Cable and telco companies are doomed with the current model. 10 years down the road they will all become Data Delivery Companies.Unfortnatley I see a problem with this as well because now local Media companies will not have the Leverage nor the pockets to solicit their own revenues nor broadcast their own productions onto the same Data Delivery systems. You have to realize that a lot of companies depend on the basic cable programming because cable companies make it possible for the little guys to do so.
RangerXML
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2006
- Messages
- 6,402
Next big thing will be illegal streaming of sports online. All other forms of entertainment are dirt cheap online, but sports is still locked to the cable/satellite providers. In another few years we will see sports sub services pop up online for reasonable prices (reasonable prices...sarcasm).
That's been happening, but it usually gets broken up pretty quickly
Someone has to break them first. They still have sports as there is no alternative with HD quality out there, the questionable streaming sites are all SD at best.
They also controll the bandwidth, so they will strangle the pipe and when that starts not to work they will just raise the price of internet to offset the lost revenue. Resulting in no change to theirs or our bottom line. In fact it may become MORE expensive because we are paying the same price to the cable co, but now have to also subscribe to some streaming service.
The only real solution is something like Google Fiber. Unless of course the succum to the preasure and sell out.
I've cut the cord for 2 years now. I watched the NFL game last night on NBC.com so that wasnt an issue. Thursday night games on nfl.com are free as well. I can get CBS and FOX easily with a cheap antenna. Not sure if they show the games online sundays?
If ESPN wants my money, offer me $5/month. Otherwise i am just using someone else's account to log in for Football games. Same with HBO. I'll gladly pay you $10/month but until it is offered, I'll be using a friends account.
If ESPN wants my money, offer me $5/month. Otherwise i am just using someone else's account to log in for Football games. Same with HBO. I'll gladly pay you $10/month but until it is offered, I'll be using a friends account.
I cut the cord long ago and can't remember how long.
reasons to cut:
1) pay too much for a only a few watchable channels out of hundred of channels package.
2) ad within shows/movies and ad "on" Shows/movies on these few watchable channels
3) repeat of the same show/movie at a fixed schedule on these few channel
the whole cable TV model is polluted with ad with high price. why pay premium for ad?
reasons to cut:
1) pay too much for a only a few watchable channels out of hundred of channels package.
2) ad within shows/movies and ad "on" Shows/movies on these few watchable channels
3) repeat of the same show/movie at a fixed schedule on these few channel
the whole cable TV model is polluted with ad with high price. why pay premium for ad?
Ditto. TWC was ready to give me a virgin just to keep my TV business.
I took a blow off Mass Comm course in the early 90's, and the Prof said some day we'd get Ala Carte cable and we'd pay more to get less. Personally, I'd love to see ESPN moved to ala carte, but the rest just don't add enough to the bill to matter.
If you watch ESPN, then your not going to save a lot. And it could be that even if you picked just 20 or 30 channels your bill would be as high or higher than it is now. Estimate put Ala Carte ESPN as high as $30.00 -- it'd really depend how many dump it. My guess is that Fox News would go up at almost 100% (to about $2.50/month wholesale...that's $5.00 to you). MSNBC would likely go up more, but it's so cheap (currently around $0.20 wholesale .40 to you).
Now if you can live without ESPN, Fox, TNT ($1.00w/$2r) and NFL(.75/$1.5) then you'd probably save enough to go ala carte. If not, then I don't see where you save money. It looks like those alone make up $17/month (retail) of your non-premium cable.
Bottom line is that most stations are well under a buck
And that is very much true. I work for a small telco/isp. We have watched as our income from phone service has started to drop off more and more. We know that one day soon, we are thinking closer to 5 than 10, we will be nothing but a data pipe into homes. The current model is about to flip soon on how it works. Right now, you get phone service and you have taxes and other fees that are collected and then turned around and given back to telephone companies to help ensure that everyone gets phone service. The universial service fund. There is talks about how this is going to change. all taxes and fees will be moved off fo phone and put onto data plans instead.
Which is what I was saying up above. Most of the stations on your bills cost only a small amount, most of your bill is made up from the cost of only a few stations. So going Ala carte like everyone wants really isn't going to make your bill dirt cheap. it will be the same or more at that point. Glad to see somebody else knows that to be the case also.
This isn't the "next big thing" its been a big thing since broadband became mass available.
These guys spend mega bucks tracking down the streams and disabling them.
NeghVar
2[H]4U
- Joined
- May 1, 2003
- Messages
- 2,671
What I think would be a great infrastructure is a neutral fiber optic network that is independently owned and operated but offers no services. Instead, terminals are leased for companies which want to be an ISP. This would allow a wider market, more options, better competition and lower prices. The ISPs can dictate prices, ToS, throttling, data caps, etc. and if consumers do not like it, there are many other ISPs to choose from. Those ISPs can also setup deals with various television networks to provide TV channels ala cart.
NeghVar
2[H]4U
- Joined
- May 1, 2003
- Messages
- 2,671
The network operators could also have their own ToS for the ISPs. For instance, locked in term contracts are forbidden to allow the consumers to easily move from one ISP to another if they are dissatisfied with their current ISP.
Red Machine D
Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2005
- Messages
- 945
ITT: people tripping over their own dicks in a frantic and desperate rush to brag about how they cut the cord more than the last guy
seriously, we fucking get it already
seriously, we fucking get it already
I wonder how many people know that they will pay the same though. If a lot of people aren't knowledgable enough to understand the how and way of what they pay per month they are thinking in their head I could drop 100 stations and save 90% of my bill because I am paying equal amount per station. Instead of looking at it as I buy combo #3 at some burger place and pay $7 ($5.50 for a burger, $1.00 for fries and $0.50 for a drink) they look at it like i am getting 3 candy bars for $3 ($1.00 each). Knowledge in the hands of the comsumers can do good at times and make them realize why something is the way it is and that it shouldn't change in the way that they want as it won't be better for them.
The problem with that is cost. You can do exactly what you want right now as that does exist in a way. There are companies out there that their only service they offer is to provide fiber between you and larger ISPs. That is how rural ISPs get their service, but anyone can buy from them. I work for a small rural telco/isp and that is how we get our connection to the world. We lease fiber from 2 different companies between us and another location, there we peer with Level 3. And that is all this company does that we use. They provide transport for us and a lot of the larger guys. So if you really wanted to start your own ISP like that you go right ahead. But the price isn't free. There is nothing stopping any of that stuff that you said right now. Any CLEC can go into any place that they want and start offering you whatever they want. That is how some of the other DSL providers offered service (earthlink and so on) for awhile before they decided to just let the local telephone companies do it due to not making any money. And if you want to do pure fiber to everyone then again go right ahead. but the cost isn't cheap especially in rural areas. We are putting in fiber to the home in a subdivision. We were looking at a 3rd party contracter. We will have the fiber to a ped at the enterance of the subdivision already to a splitter. They just need to go from that to the homes. $2k per home. Now we are going to do that ourselves and can cut the cost down to half. so only $1K per home to just hit every home in a subdivision with fiber. That is with us already having the 7 miles of fiber ran in front of that place otherwise the cost would go up. But in the end, there is nothing preventing anything from what you said to happen right now. Anyone can get fiber from somebody that their only service is to provide fiber back haul. Then you just need to setup a peer with somebody to actaully get your data to go somewhere. And you can start your own ISP where ever you want.