More People Watch Netflix Than Cable

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You know the big cable companies aren't too thrilled about this.

That panicked wiggling you hear might just be cable giants quaking in their over-priced boots: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says subscribers watched four billion hours of streaming content in the last three months. Exciting for Netflix, not so much for the cable biz: According to one report, this all means more people are watching Netflix than cable TV.
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Good!! Because when cable first came out with its subscriptions, we weren't suppose to have the amount of commercials we have now. Thats what the subscription paid for originally. Then big money took over, we pay outrageous prices for it now, and get longer commercials/shorter shows.(Unless you pay $20 for HBO and another for Showtime.) I hope more and more people start cutting the cable/satelite cord. With the 30-45 age group or the PACMAN/gamers group as I call it, we don't have to have all this nonsense programming. We will go play online shooters/games and in general get our movies/shows through Vudu/Netflix. Don't need cable/satelite for entertainment any more!
 
It makes more sense to watch what you want, when you want. Cable has on-demand but it's very limited. I'll never go back to cable.
 
This is one of the main reasons companies that provide both cable TV and internet are implementing data caps.
 
NeghVar said:
This is one of the main reasons companies that provide both cable TV and internet are implementing data caps.
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And then Google comes knocking. With a vested interest in fat, cheap, unlimited pipes and deep pockets to make it happen. The cable/media companies need to pull their head out of their ass; before someone else comes along and puts them out of business.
 
I cut the cable back in 1996. The satellite dish came down in 2003.
OTA antenna went up in 2008 and have had broadband since 2002.
 
The article says that Netflix is now equivalent to any poplar cable channel, not that's its more viewed than all of cable TV.

I enjoy Netflix streaming, but there is no way I would ever give up satellite TV. I can't get Braves baseball or Nashville Predators any other way, and most of my college football and basketball games are on satellite/cable as well.

I do appreciate all the non-sports viewers subsidizing my satellite bill. :D It's only going to get worse with the SEC Network being launched this year.
 
And as the $ from cable declines, content creators will expect to get more for their product from online sources, so to make up for the increase, content providers will increase their prices to meet with the change (netflix) or start showing commercials (youtube), and then before you know it you have the same setup as your old cable service except you're getting it somewhat ala carte. Great for 1-3 show people, more expensive in the long run for heavy content types.

What complicates it all is that there are too many ISP's that are also content creators/owners, giving them an upper hand (that in an un-fucked-up world would be correctly regulated by the government)...
 
Gee, I don't know why. It just costs $8/month for many movies and TV shows I like to watch compared to $100/month for a few shows I like to watch and many, many more I don't like to watch, and none of the movies I'd like to watch. I don't see how people would want to switch from cable.

On a side note, I dropped cable in November, and Comcast called me 3 weeks ago with a special offer: $18 per month to add HD-DVR cable to my internet, with free self install kit including the DVR sent to me, even with free shipping. "Great," I said, "I see no reason to refuse it." After 3 days, I get one box: a remote control. Yeah, that's right, just a remote control. Three days after that, I get another remote control. 4 days after that I get the "self install kit." It's a regular cable box without even HD capability, plus another remote control. I haul it all into the local Comcast office and ask about it, and as it turns out, it was an extra $38/month, not $18 as they said, and did not include either HD nor the DVR.

Yeah, sure thing. Great job, Comcast.

They also sent me a notice that my internet was being raised from 25Mb/s to 50Mb/s. All I had to do was restart my cable modem. Sure, the speed tester sites show 55Mb/s, but I still can't get full HD from Amazon Prime streaming video or Hulu, or stay connected to STO. Netflix seems OK, though.

I'm back to internet only. For the price, it's still the best offer in town, but that's not much considering their competition: Century Link. I still think Comcast should be in second place for WCIA, with EA in third and BoA in first.
 
snowcat said:
I do appreciate all the non-sports viewers subsidizing my satellite bill. :D It's only going to get worse with the SEC Network being launched this year.
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Grrrrr.
This is what I hate about cable, having to pay for channels I never watch. Especially channels like ESPN, that blackmail the cable company into providing it to ALL thier customers with thier all or nothing rules.
People blame the cable companies for the high prices, but they should really be blaming the media companies. Should be illegal for the media companies to do this.

I'd drop cable and go with OTA, but I'm on the wrong side of the hills, so I barely get 2 or 3 channels on a good day.
 
Want to hear something funny? I would LOVE to sign up for cable at this point if it was available. But the Cabopoly in my area doesn't go down my road so no cable for me. DSL even at it's SLOWEST option (860k down / 160k up) is fast enough for Netflix on a Wii / PS3 / HTPC so there ya go.

Invest in the rural areas, invest in getting customers in areas that don't have a choice (you know, compete with other cable companies), and make it an affordable, quality service and then maybe you'll have something to talk about.
 
dgingeri said:
On a side note, I dropped cable in November, and Comcast called me 3 weeks ago with a special offer: $18 per month to add HD-DVR cable to my internet, with free self install kit including the DVR sent to me, even with free shipping. "Great," I said, "I see no reason to refuse it." After 3 days, I get one box: a remote control. Yeah, that's right, just a remote control. Three days after that, I get another remote control. 4 days after that I get the "self install kit." It's a regular cable box without even HD capability, plus another remote control. I haul it all into the local Comcast office and ask about it, and as it turns out, it was an extra $38/month, not $18 as they said, and did not include either HD nor the DVR.
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A year ago I didn't have a cable box, just used analog and the open QAM HD signals.
Then Cox offered my a free cable box. I asked them multiple times, if this was for a limited time, or if I would eventually be charged for it. They assured my that it was "free" and I would never be billed for it. (some cable companies give out a free cable box when they are cutting back on the analog signals)

3 months later they start billing me for the cable box, that I wasn't using (only set it up for a couple day to make sure it worked). Completely denied that anyone would have told me it was free. Had to take it back to the store and wait a couple months for them to credit me back.
 
This is what happens when you give people the opportunity to choose what they want to watch instead of selling only 50-5000 channel packages and charging them for what they don't want, complete with ads. I'm looking forward to the day that the internet kills cable TV. Adapt or die, cable companies refuse to adapt.
 
I just cleaned out my mailbox (something I do once every couple weeks - 90% junk mail, natch) and found 2 separately formatted mailings from Comcast offering some sort of $200 benefit if I'd order some sort of cable package. I'm vague because, of course, I have very little interest in cable or satellite at this point.
 
I know this won't be a popular statement, but this is just plain wrong information. The report that this is based off says that Netflix is watched more than any singular Cable Network per day. Not more than Cable. Huffingtonpost got it wrong, which then spread to Consumerist, who ALSO got it wrong.

The fact is, Netflix is more popular than a single Cable Network, yes. Of course it is, it has more content than a single Cable Network. But it is still dwarfed by ALL Cable Networks which in turn means, Cable is still watched more than Netflix.

I do want internet video streaming to replace cable tv, but reporting incorrect information is just horrible journalism.
 
But if TV shows get canceled due to bad ratings, how does one end up watching it on netflix?
 
4 billion hours of year old crusty content. Woooooo!

And as others note: this is huffpo generated misleading click bait.
 
Live events like sports and staying up to date on the latest HBO series is where they get me. Once there is a good solution for those I'd gladly switch but for now I have to pay up to enjoy. :8(
 
if NHL hockey was on netflix id drop cable and next season when my cable comes due I might drop it and pay the 50$ for NHL on demand, thats less than 1 month for cable TV for the season of hockey
 
You can get NHL games on your PC just subscribe to the NHL Package for streaming all of them, and HBO GO will be going to a seperate subscription model most likely they already said this much months ago they are seriously thinking about it.
 
Cheetoz said:
But if TV shows get canceled due to bad ratings, how does one end up watching it on netflix?
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There aren't that many shows on cable worth the paper the rating is printed on anyway. Survivor gawd knows how is still on.
 
I noticed only using Netflix has really changed a lot of my lifestyle. I used to spend way to much time mindlessly watching cable, but with Netflix I'll watch what I want for an episode or two(or a movie). After I'lll go do more stuff outside or just basically anything not TV.
 
Cheetoz said:
But if TV shows get canceled due to bad ratings, how does one end up watching it on netflix?
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People either buy them on disk or they get ratings from a streaming service. The makers of the TV shows generally watch those as well as the broadcast ratings. They can get more exact numbers from streaming services and disk sales, which means more reliable marketing info on what does work and what doesn't. I know USA and CW are embracing the streaming audience very well. The rest, well, they make crap anyway, so who cares.
 
Well because we don't have net neutrality in this country - ther ei snothing to stop the cable companies who are ISPs from throttling back Netfix to make the cable alternatives more attractive
 
OMG a failing business model based on greed and screwing your customers... time to buy some new laws to protect it.
 
stevejg61 said:
Well because we don't have net neutrality in this country - ther ei snothing to stop the cable companies who are ISPs from throttling back Netfix to make the cable alternatives more attractive
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I imagine they're afraid that it would resolve in net neutrality laws. Otherwise they would be doing it.
 
After my first month of Netflix I realized how much I hate commercials. At this point in time, I'll do just about anything other than watch cable. People will say TV is a waste of time, but the reality is that the waste occurs in content which is mindless, such as commercials....
 
I recently signed up for Aereo just to see what television was like nowadays (I stopped watching back in 2000 or so). Everything is exactly the same and equally as annoying.
 
Like most, I only watch regular TV for live sports.

Also, I did see a skippable commercial (kinda like the commercials on youtube) when I tried to play "The Mask of Zorro" on Netflix the other night, which I really hope is not a sign of bad things to come.
 
We have to go back to the original rules, one company can only own ONE media channel per media. Yes they can have a tv channel and a radio channel, but that's it. No more multiple channels, no more 'you can only have this channel if you also buy these 12' crap. Same with radio; one channel per company. Maybe then each area will have a variety of channels, not three dozen top 40 stations all vying for the same customers, and 10 of each of them all owned by the same few; Infinity, Clear channel, and whatever other crap media companies are out there.
One channel per company. Period.
 
All cable has to do is go to ala cart way and you'll get people to come back. Just imagine getting the only 10 channels you want for 10-20 dollars a month.

I think they need to do this. It's better than having no customer.
 
We can watch what we want, when we want, and without ads on Netflix
Gee I wonder why people are moving towards Netflix :p
 
wiseoracle said:
All cable has to do is go to ala cart way and you'll get people to come back. Just imagine getting the only 10 channels you want for 10-20 dollars a month.

I think they need to do this. It's better than having no customer.
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As I, and many others, have explained, right now thats currently impossible. Even IF you could get the content providers to split up the channels, because analog cable service is still in use you could not do al-a-carte. The only ones that could do al-a-carte are those that require a box per tv or a box to control multiple tv's. Cable companies would be stuck behind because they offer programming to tv's without the use of a box/cable card.
 
Ive been netflix only for at least the past two years. I was paying about $80 a month for basic cable + internet. now i only pay $8 for netflix (internet thru my work) Netflix doesnt have many big name shows, but i have discovered quite a few shows that we really enjoyed. I would like to watch game of thrones, but ill just rent it when its released to dvd at my local family video.
 
I quit cable and went Netflix only about a year ago, do not miss cable at all. If I need to watch sports I could go to a friends house or a bar around the corner. Local news? I go online. Good riddance to cable and their commercials. Plus at $8 month down from $60+ it was a no-brainer.
 
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