Netflix Is Now Bigger Than Cable TV

Megalith

Megalith

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Netflix has hit a major milestone by surpassing cable in total subscribers: US cable companies have 48.61 million subscribers, while Netflix has just hit 50.85 million. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, since the streaming service has seen rapid increases to its subscriber base. While things are beginning to look grim for cable, some say it’s actually not as bad it looks, being that major providers only lost 4 million subscribers since Q1 2012.

According to Leichtman Research Group, the country’s largest cable TV providers, representing around 95% of the cable market, had 48.6 million subscribers at the end of March, while Netflix had 50.9 million customers on its home turf. While cable only represents around 50 percent of the U.S. pay-TV market as a whole, it is by far the most popular way of getting pay-TV in the country. For Netflix to surpass cable is a big step in becoming the number one source of home entertainment. Interestingly, Netflix reached that goal mainly by growing its own subscriber base rather than by having people “cut the cord”. Major cable providers only lost 4 million subscribers since Q1 2012 – Netflix added 27 million.
 
Shit shows IMO, they took all the old shows I like to watch down to make room for their own.
 
Dave65 said:
Shit shows IMO, they took all the old shows I like to watch down to make room for their own.
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Then don't pay for it. Pay for something else. Fortunately unlike switching cable providers, that's easy.

I think the real interesting thing here is that they are surpassing cable in subscribers while probably more closely resembling HBO as a company than Comcast. That's got to say a lot about who's worth pissing off or not in the whole channel vs carrier relationship.
 
Dave65 said:
Shit shows IMO, they took all the old shows I like to watch down to make room for their own.
Click to expand...

They don't remove shows to make room for their own, if they could have all content all the time they would, to do other wise would be stupid. Most big name shows they have are in rotation, this is due to contracts and licenses, Netflix is limited on shows and time frames, so they rotate things in and out.
 
Personally, I think the "cable subscribers" number is actually inflated. Why? Because of bundling. For example, we've been on an internet-only "new customer" special with Comcast. When the 12-month period expired, I called to (threaten to) cancel, with the expectation that they'd allow me to stay on the same plan, as they've done in the past. Instead, they could/would only offer me the next package up--one that included basic cable with free HBO for a year. We don't even have a TV, so that inclusion is entirely moot from our perspective, but from Comcast's perspective, they "gained" a subscriber.
 
50+ million subscribers paying $8-10 a month or maybe a bit more depending = Netflix still loses money and I just can't figure that shit out. :confused:
 
Crimson said:
And taco bell sometimes gives me the shits, yet I am not forced to at eat taco bell. Don't like it then don't buy it. Stick to your lifetime channel and be happy.
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I quit Netflix for his very same complaint. Their content seemed reduced, and the most logical reasoning is they were redirecting that licensing money to their new shows.

Yes his comment wasn't very helpful, but their was yours.

I as a customer do not want a bunch of HBO's where I have to subscribe to each channel for $8-15 each. With different apps, UI, features, supported platforms etc. Netflix seems to be moving toward limited 3rd party content model like this. Though I shouldn't be surprised since everyone wants ala carte, and did not image services then would be fragmented like this. Seems pretty obvious now... since everyone wants the full pie instead of licensing fees.

I would rather pay Netflix, slingTV etc more even up to cable pricing for access to a lot of content on demand from a single source.
 
Will the incumbents adapt? Doubtful.

They'll hit us with data caps which of course exempt their content but not Netflix (or other streaming competition), whine about "fairness" and insist Netflix somehow helps pirates. Then, they'll use their bought-and-paid-for lawmakers and lobbyists to blame Netflix for their own failing business model.
 
Mohonri said:
Personally, I think the "cable subscribers" number is actually inflated. Why? Because of bundling. For example, we've been on an internet-only "new customer" special with Comcast. When the 12-month period expired, I called to (threaten to) cancel, with the expectation that they'd allow me to stay on the same plan, as they've done in the past. Instead, they could/would only offer me the next package up--one that included basic cable with free HBO for a year. We don't even have a TV, so that inclusion is entirely moot from our perspective, but from Comcast's perspective, they "gained" a subscriber.
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I'm in the same boat, sorta. I have had cable/internet for a long time now (over a decade) but I haven't even had my TV-cable hooked up in several years now. When I realized my costs were getting a bit high, I decided to get rid of cable altogether, only to find that it would cost me MORE to have an Internet-only subscription than to have cable+Internet. Bizarre, but true. Hence, I still have my cable subscription even though I never use it and don't really want it.
 
But if net neutrality gets gutted, Netlix will get throttled to the point that it becomes unusable or lower the caps to a ridiculous point. Users will be pissed, cancel their subscription and return to cable. Their ultimate goal is for such services to cease to exist
 
dandirk said:
I would rather pay Netflix, slingTV etc more even up to cable pricing for access to a lot of content on demand from a single source.
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So much this. And, we're headed there already. It's just a matter of time until the great battle plays itself out for which company will win. Because, I agree that we're all not going to shell out $10 to $15 bucks for multiple subscriptions, multiple ID's/passwords, and multiple formats.
 
NeghVar said:
But if net neutrality gets gutted, Netlix will get throttled to the point that it becomes unusable or lower the caps to a ridiculous point. Users will be pissed, cancel their subscription and return to cable. Their ultimate goal is for such services to cease to exist
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I don't think on-demand IP streaming is going anywhere, but this is a real possibility. Flip side is that if people actually went the other way, started dropping streaming subs due to data caps, my guess would be the big tech companies would band together quick like and get that shit fixed.
 
Like the movie and music industry cable tv just doesn't get it. They will hang on to their last breath and blame everyone else doing it.
 
Dave65 said:
Shit shows IMO, they took all the old shows I like to watch down to make room for their own.
Click to expand...

A lot of people think Netflix shifted money to their own programming but the reality of it is that once the copyright holders saw how popular Netflix was they got greedy and dramatically increased the licensing fees when the time came to renew the contracts. It was cheaper for Netflix to start producing their own shows than to keep paying outrageous licensing fees for discontinued TV shows and old movies.
 
Mohonri said:
Personally, I think the "cable subscribers" number is actually inflated. Why? Because of bundling. For example, we've been on an internet-only "new customer" special with Comcast. When the 12-month period expired, I called to (threaten to) cancel, with the expectation that they'd allow me to stay on the same plan, as they've done in the past. Instead, they could/would only offer me the next package up--one that included basic cable with free HBO for a year. We don't even have a TV, so that inclusion is entirely moot from our perspective, but from Comcast's perspective, they "gained" a subscriber.
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I believe you're correct. A lot of cable companies will offer their "introductory" packages for less than Internet only packages in hopes of luring unsuspecting customers into a better deal. Of course, they also hope that subscribers will forget about the "introductory" offer and continue paying the full price once the package goes up. I'm pretty sure they do this to keep their subscriptions numbers artificially inflated. Short term, I'm sure it looks good to investors. In actuality, more and more subscribers are cutting their cable each and every day. A friend of mine does "new" cable installs in the PDX area for a major company. He says that subscription levels are dropping like flies. More and more people are streaming only.
 
Dave65 said:
Shit shows IMO, they took all the old shows I like to watch down to make room for their own.
Click to expand...
If you think about netflix's history they've operated like a new cable channel. First fill your hours with cheap syndication of movies and tv shows, as they've become successful they've started producing their own original content and decreased their syndication. In part it's also due to company's wising up and instead of netflix paying them to stream online they just own the company that streams online instead of taking a middle man, ala hulu and cbs all access(cbs really failed on the hulu).
 
Shotglass01 said:
I don't think on-demand IP streaming is going anywhere, but this is a real possibility. Flip side is that if people actually went the other way, started dropping streaming subs due to data caps, my guess would be the big tech companies would band together quick like and get that shit fixed.
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What's going to happen is cable companies (which are also ISPs at this point) will exempt their own services, essentially offering their streaming platform for "free". Meanwhile, Netflix and co will suffer streaming hitches and count against your data caps.
 
Madoc said:
I'm in the same boat, sorta. I have had cable/internet for a long time now (over a decade) but I haven't even had my TV-cable hooked up in several years now. When I realized my costs were getting a bit high, I decided to get rid of cable altogether, only to find that it would cost me MORE to have an Internet-only subscription than to have cable+Internet. Bizarre, but true. Hence, I still have my cable subscription even though I never use it and don't really want it.
Click to expand...
The trick is that you don't simply ask for the discount. They'll refuse it. Instead, you must tell them that you'd like to cancel your service (and actually be ready to do so). They'll transfer you to their Retention department, and *that* is where you ask for the "new customer" discount on internet only.
 
Madoc said:
I'm in the same boat, sorta. I have had cable/internet for a long time now (over a decade) but I haven't even had my TV-cable hooked up in several years now. When I realized my costs were getting a bit high, I decided to get rid of cable altogether, only to find that it would cost me MORE to have an Internet-only subscription than to have cable+Internet. Bizarre, but true. Hence, I still have my cable subscription even though I never use it and don't really want it.
Click to expand...

This is why I am so glad ATT moved into the area I just moved into. My old place Comcast was the only option really and was very limited speeds, I had to get business class to get the fastest for the area, so I was paying out $165 for 50/10 internet, some packages for normal internet and cable were cheaper on special than just internet. My new internet only cost? $80 a month for 1Gbps/1Gbps, could not be more happy.
 
Bowman15 said:
Like the movie and music industry cable tv just doesn't get it. They will hang on to their last breath and blame everyone else doing it.
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They want to hang on to an old business model that doesn't work in today's market. People have wised up to their bullshit and now have a choice and can get their content elsewhere. I just cut the cord this month. Fuck cable companies.
 
gamerk2 said:
What's going to happen is cable companies (which are also ISPs at this point) will exempt their own services, essentially offering their streaming platform for "free". Meanwhile, Netflix and co will suffer streaming hitches and count against your data caps.
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Well, what I mean is Googs is already trying to invent 1GB wireless and if that doesn't pan out, they'll ban together for lobbying. Cause caps threaten their business model. So they'll roll out their own internet or brow beat lobbyists.
 
Mohonri said:
The trick is that you don't simply ask for the discount. They'll refuse it. Instead, you must tell them that you'd like to cancel your service (and actually be ready to do so). They'll transfer you to their Retention department, and *that* is where you ask for the "new customer" discount on internet only.
Click to expand...

They still won't give you the "new" customer discount, you might get half the discount if you are lucky.
At least that's better than the crazy high rates they feel they can charge long term customers.
 
I keep waiting for Netflix to get into the IP cable market... they kind of are anyway, they just need to expand their streaming content to live channels. I would totally pay another $10-15 a month to get the cable channels I want included in a service I'm already using/paying for. Just ditch the commercials please.
 
Madoc said:
I'm in the same boat, sorta. I have had cable/internet for a long time now (over a decade) but I haven't even had my TV-cable hooked up in several years now. When I realized my costs were getting a bit high, I decided to get rid of cable altogether, only to find that it would cost me MORE to have an Internet-only subscription than to have cable+Internet. Bizarre, but true. Hence, I still have my cable subscription even though I never use it and don't really want it.
Click to expand...


This is me!

I have a cable box, still shrink-wrapped in the closet, because it's cheaper to have that plus internet than just internet...

Fuck Comcast!
 
Ahhh there's the reason for the fresh attack on net neutrality.
 
Mohonri said:
Personally, I think the "cable subscribers" number is actually inflated. Why? Because of bundling. For example, we've been on an internet-only "new customer" special with Comcast. When the 12-month period expired, I called to (threaten to) cancel, with the expectation that they'd allow me to stay on the same plan, as they've done in the past. Instead, they could/would only offer me the next package up--one that included basic cable with free HBO for a year. We don't even have a TV, so that inclusion is entirely moot from our perspective, but from Comcast's perspective, they "gained" a subscriber.
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Sounds about right. I remember getting Fios back in 2010. It was cheaper to get a 100 meg line with cable, than it was to get a 100 meg line by itself.

Sovereign said:
This is me!

I have a cable box, still shrink-wrapped in the closet, because it's cheaper to have that plus internet than just internet...

Fuck Comcast!
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Pretty much just like this guy, except through Verizon.
 
Sovereign said:
This is me!

I have a cable box, still shrink-wrapped in the closet, because it's cheaper to have that plus internet than just internet...

Fuck Comcast!
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Lol. Our cable box came yesterday. I need to find a place to put it where it won't get destroyed and I won't forget where it is when it's time to return it.
 
I've never had a cable company that at some point didn't try to screw me over. Netflix, on the other hand, is very simple, and the company leaves me alone.
 
BlueFireIce said:
They don't remove shows to make room for their own, if they could have all content all the time they would, to do other wise would be stupid. Most big name shows they have are in rotation, this is due to contracts and licenses, Netflix is limited on shows and time frames, so they rotate things in and out.
Click to expand...

When I called them last year 2 weeks into my free trial they told me shows are rotated to make room for new shows..
 
Crimson said:
And taco bell sometimes gives me the shits, yet I am not forced to at eat taco bell. Don't like it then don't buy it. Stick to your lifetime channel and be happy.
Click to expand...
I don't buy it, never said I did.. Been there done that!
 
Semantics said:
If you think about netflix's history they've operated like a new cable channel. First fill your hours with cheap syndication of movies and tv shows, as they've become successful they've started producing their own original content and decreased their syndication. In part it's also due to company's wising up and instead of netflix paying them to stream online they just own the company that streams online instead of taking a middle man, ala hulu and cbs all access(cbs really failed on the hulu).
Click to expand...
Exactly!
 
I quit cable for the commercials. That's really the only reason. Having 5 minutes worth of commercials every 5 minutes made cable unwatchable. Didn't help that it was $110/month either.
 
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