Another Million People Cut the TV Cord Last Quarter

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monkeymagick

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In the last quarter another million customers have decided to cut the cord, reports SNL Kagan, a marketing and communications firm. At this rate, pretty soon there will be no more TV viewers and everyone will tell you how much they don't watch it or don't own one. Please think of the cable TV providers, won't ya?

The biggest reason for these ongoing defections? Customers are tired of paying an arm and a leg for bloated cable TV bundles and historically-atrocious customer service, and despite a lot of lip service toward competing more seriously on channel flexibility and price, most cable operators continue to think that raising rates anyway is the best path forward.
 
Flow TV already died to streaming. Doesn't matter how you price flow TV.

Young people are raised up with streaming and dont watch flow TV.
 
Furthermore, Look for cable companies who are also ISPs to jack up the price for internet access. They will get their 87bucks per sub one way or another!

Made up the 87 bucks but you know what I mean. :)
 
Yep, all set on paying an arm and a leg for the privilege of watching advertisements.

Traditional/linear CATV is going to go away someday, but the cable co's aren't gonna let it happen without a fight.
 
I just cut the cord last weekend. I kept internet...which, without the stupid bundles, is $95/mo (Comcast). My bill before was over $180/mo. I told the sales guy at the counter that there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to continue paying for boxes...I can get the same service with the same channels on Sling, Playstation Vue, and DirectTV Now with NO BOXES! I also told him that there was NO WAY IN HELL I would continue to pay for TV infested with advertising! I can pay that same $80 I spent with Comcast and BUY all of my shows through any number of services and watch COMMERCIAL FREE! Cable needs to make a choice...get your money from subscribers...or get it from ads. You can't have it both ways anymore...and I REFUSE to sit through an HOUR of commercials for a 2 hour movie! DONE!
 
TheHig said:
Furthermore, Look for cable companies who are also ISPs to jack up the price for internet access. They will get their 87bucks per sub one way or another!

Made up the 87 bucks but you know what I mean. :)
Click to expand...

Yup, I saved $ 5 by getting rid of basic cable. I swear they could cut $50 off my bill by using less than 10 sheets of paper for the envelope and invoice.
 
TheHig said:
Furthermore, Look for cable companies who are also ISPs to jack up the price for internet access. They will get their 87bucks per sub one way or another!

Made up the 87 bucks but you know what I mean. :)
Click to expand...

Close, I went from $180/mo for DVR with 2 boxes and rented cable modem to $95 for just internet, no boxes or modem!
 
I'm close to cutting the cord, however WAF keeps me from fully doing so. First step was cable card and HDHR Prime, and moving all TV show recording to plex instead of FiOS DVR. Once WAF is set on that, it's only a matter of time before I can cut the tv cord
 
Over here, since the cable company is the only ISP, if you don't subscribe to their cable package, you don't get Internet and, if you don't subscribe to their premium cable package, you don't get high speed Internet.
 
"Cutting the cord" wouldn't save me that much thanks to Comcast's bundling discounts. If I were to scrap my cable TV it would cost me more to re-aquire the same content (legally at least) via other a-la-carte online sources.
 
Because I have TV, AT&T gives me uncapped bandwidth. Uploading 1TB of backups to the cloud as I type this.

With kids, wife and family/friends visiting, it's hard to cut the cord.
 
I cut the cord years ago. However, I have noticed a desperate uptick in calls from my provider asking me if I want phone/tv service at incredibly low gotcha later rates. With no contract even. The answer is still no.
 
TheHig said:
Furthermore, Look for cable companies who are also ISPs to jack up the price for internet access. They will get their 87bucks per sub one way or another!

Made up the 87 bucks but you know what I mean. :)
Click to expand...

And just like the Cox article posted a few days ago, data cap overdraft fees. Hell, lets take it one step further if the FCC removes Net Neutrality, expect even more fees to be added to your bill.
 
yup. I cut our IPTV subscription and got a cheap indoor OTA antenna, pick up about 9 channels from our apartment easily. got a cheap DVR box to record the wife's daytime TV.. switched ISP to an internet-only re-seller.. overall our bill went from $96 a month (thats AFTER loyalty discounts from the retention department) to $44... and my speed went UP.
 
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i went from paying directv $213 per month to ps vue at $45 per month. same quality as before and it doesnt go out if there is a t-storm.
 
Now if we could only get more than 1 decent option for a ISP. I think that would allow some healthy competition and lower the prices of internet only plans.
 
lironmiron said:
Over here, since the cable company is the only ISP, if you don't subscribe to their cable package, you don't get Internet and, if you don't subscribe to their premium cable package, you don't get high speed Internet.
Click to expand...

Comcast can be like that. For me, if I want net speeds over 120 Mbits/s download you have to buy a combo package with tv included. Usually it isn't much more than straight internet plan with the tv added but they're getting worse requiring 1-2 year contracts to lock in a price and penalize you if you leave. They also charge for local over the air channels with a "rebroadcast fee", thats $2.50-10 bucks per month depending on where you live. I can get all the OTA channels just fine with a powered antenna taped to my tv room window. Top it off with a HD fee for getting a few channels in HD.
 
I hate this metric.

A lot of these people are still watching cable tv shows with apps. Plenty of them are stealing it with other people's passwords. etc.

What we can conclude, there are fewer people paying for cable TV connections. That's all.
 
I was going to cut the cord a month ago but I would only save $5 a month vs streaming the TV that I watch. It wasn't worth it.
 
I cut the cord about 6 years ago. I don't miss having TV service one bit. Got rid of the home phone too. Now all I have is cable internet and my cell phone. I'll never go back.
 
tacos4me said:
Yep, all set on paying an arm and a leg for the privilege of watching advertisements.
Click to expand...


Truth. Commercials are the reason I cut the cord. 5 minutes worth of commercials every 5 minutes made it pretty much unwatchable. Yes the 300 shopping channels and 250 Spanish only channels got pretty old too.
 
Comcast just tacked on another 40 bucks to my bill. No upgrade in service, no more channels added, no other perks. Just the privilege of paying them more money.

And that means the cable box now goes byebye and they should be happy I am keeping the internet.
 
I cut the cord this past June because Time Warner would not cut me a deal, said my July bill would be over 250 bucks. I turned in the equipment and just keep internet Ultimate 300/20 and paid only 84 a month. Started getting calls and flyers in the mail and I finally talked to a rep. She said that I can get on the 29 dollar dealio and so I got tv for 29 and my internet price dropped to 69 dollars. Way damn better pricing than the 250 they wanted when my special ran out in June.

If they can give all these deals like they are doing then how come that pricing model isn't used all the time.......oh wait I know MONEY and GREED.
 
Flow TV could be 5$ and it would still lose customers till its gone. Just as landlines vs mobile phones. There is no savior. Then you can argue till days end if the companies are greedy or not. Wont change the course.
 
And here I'm still paying Directv because I can't live without their DVR. Damn commercials.
 
Shintai said:
Flow TV could be 5$ and it would still lose customers till its gone. Just as landlines vs mobile phones. There is no savior. Then you can argue till days end if the companies are greedy or not. Wont change the course.
Click to expand...
I think free, is the right price.
I am dead serious, as ad-laded as cable is, its a freaking wonder ANYONE pays for it.
Free would guarantee its survival, forever basically.
Then again, they might have lost a million customer supposedly, they still have many more millions in the bank.
I know content providers charge cable operators for having their channels carried... what if?.. Comcast said fuck it, you are paying me now to carry your channel, I am giving my channels are cable service for free for now on.
I mean isnt this the internet right now? don't big operators have to pay?
I mean, chicken and egg I guess.
 
Cut the cord years ago. Although I paid for it for cable briefly again with my ex girlfriend because she insisted. She liked to just sit there and watch home improvement shows and stuff. But when I introduced her to Sling, she never looked back. Cord cutting is contagious!
 
Staples said:
I hate this metric.

A lot of these people are still watching cable tv shows with apps. Plenty of them are stealing it with other people's passwords. etc.

What we can conclude, there are fewer people paying for cable TV connections. That's all.
Click to expand...
Yep, all my non-techie friends are raving about these Kodi type streaming boxes and cutting cords left and right. I doubt they realize the questionable legality of these add-ons.

At any rate, I guess a lost subscription is a lost subscription regardless of how people are choosing to alternatively obtain the content.
 
Uvaman2 said:
I think free, is the right price.
Click to expand...

I dont think it would even survive as free in the long run. Would you keep a landline even if it was free? And would you install it in a new home?
 
rhexis said:
i went from paying directv $213 per month to ps vue at $45 per month. same quality as before and it doesnt go out if there is a t-storm.
Click to expand...

How do you like ps vue? I've been thinking about going that route instead of individual subs to netflix/hulu/etc.
 
We cut the cable 6 years ago, but signed up for cable two months ago. Not for the cable package, heavens no, but because the cheapest internet they could offer was bundled with basic cable. We don't even own a TV.

Metronet is installing in our neighborhood. They're offering 100Mbps for $60 all in. Comcast responded by offering 150Mbps for the same price. I'm pretty sure we'll jump ship to MetroNet once they're installed, if only so we can jump ship back to Comcast in a year as "new" customers and get on their $20/mo plan.
 
I cut it last month.

1. Overpriced
2. Bloated channel packages. See 1., above.
3. No a la cart plan. See 2., above.
4. 13 minutes of commercials per 30 minute viewing bloc.
5. Packages force me to subsidize channels which I would rather see go under. See 2., above.
6. Horrible service.
7. New customers get better pricing than I got. See 6., and 1., above.

I get internet from an independent isp, via fiber optic. (I live in rural America.)
I stream via several services. I love 42 minute long hour shows.
OTA gives me local news and sports.

As a kid, I remember the promise/premise of cable: pay for what you want, commercial free.

Adios.
 
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