Posted on 03/15/2010 8:16:02 AM PDT by TomGuy
Love grousing about cable TV? Then Ive got a list for you. It comes from industry analyst SNL Kagan, and I came across it via a research note Barclays Capitals Anthony DiClemente sent out last week.
DiClemente was arguing that the bundled approach to cable TVwhereby subscribers get dozens or even hundreds of channels for one big fee, no matter how many networks they actually watchwasnt going anywhere for quite some time. If ever
(Excerpt) Read more at mediamemo.allthingsd.com ...
I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t even watch cable very much. So many crapply reality shows, liberal foul-mouth comedians, and other unwatchable drivel. I would love an ala carte billing system. Just pay for what you want to watch sounds great to me.
So basically, if I just paid for the channels I watched on a regular basis, I’d save about 75 percent. Figures.
This is why I cancelled cable/Sat TV. MSNBC gets .16 cents to spew their hate. Cable/sat Tv has made libs more powerful. ABC Family Channel (disney) is hardly family oriented. Almost soft core porn for the younger set.
Note that many of these networks listed are owned by ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS Viacom or other pro-Islamic, anti American channels.
I wish every channel would just set up HD streaming for a fee on their website. Then, I’d cancel the television part of cable altogether and just have internet.
I’d subscribe to Fox News, Food Network, and some of the junky crap my wife watches and I’d be happy.
ping for later
My cable bill should be about $4.50
I don’t know why Food Network doesn’t go HD. We watched a series of Man vs. Food last night and enjoyed it immensely. But seeing it letterbox on our HD TV was a little annoying.
I have had some luck over the last 5 years renegotiating my bill with my cable company. I can usually get 15 to 20% off my bill, but it has to be on their terms, meaning they have things they can discount but it may not be the item I want discounted. The cable companies spend a lot of money attracting new customers. They do not want to lose existing ones, so they will give a bit.
I think if more people put pressure on the cable companies, then they will have to go back and get cheaper products. Only then will a la carte programming be seriously considered.
I’d love just for Nigella alone
When there are programs recommended to us by friends we get them through netflicks and watch the episodes one after the other. More than once my husband and I have been up to 2 a.m. in the morning with “24” saying, “Just one more episode!” :-)
The bill increases and so do the Spanish channels.
I have basic-basic cable. You’ll never see it on the cable companies websites or paperwork but it was there.
I pay $4.71 per month.(Comcast)
What he’s missing is that the cable companies buy their channels in bundles too. They don’t get just ESPN, they get the whole ESPN package (2, News, Deportes, Classic, U) plus Disney and ABC Family all at a “cut rate”. This is why they sell in bundles, it’s all wrapped up in the contracts they’re getting from the channel companies. Until the cable companies can buy ala carte (which the channels won’t do because it’s he best way to push their cheap channels that are all profit even with few viewers) they will be contractually unable to sell ala carte.
I pay my ISP fees (to my phone company for DSL service) and don’t have cable: I get my news on FreeRepublic, the BBC website, and a handful of overseas newspaper sites (three British, one each Russian, Aussie, Japanese, Korean and Singaporean) and watch NCIS and Burn Notice on the CBS site and Hulu respectively. If I want more televisual entertainment, my town has a phenomenal DVD rental store (huge selections of foreign films, both European and Asian, and of anime, plus all the usual stuff including television show boxed sets). Works great if you’re not into sports.
I get it in HD on Time Warner. I’ve had it for about a year and a half.
Most of them. When you get right down to there’s only a handful of real cable channel companies: Disney (ESPN, ABC, Disney), Universal (USA, SyFy, some others), Discovery (Discovery, TLC), Viacom (MTV, VH1), Turner (CNN, TBS) and Fox (FoxNews, FX), maybe a couple others. And yes they sell in packages, packages that force the cable companies to package to us.
if these channels actually had to come up with content that would cause a viewer to voluntarily purchase that channel, they would all be out of business.
When is the last time you’ve seen a good movie on HBO?
Why is Bill Maher on at least one of the eleven HBO channels seemingly at any time of any day? Is this the Bill maher channel?
When is the last time you have seen a good movie on Cinemax?
When is the last time you saw a good movie on STARZ? Seven Pounds is my answer on that one.
When is the last time you saw a good movie on Encore?
When is the last time you saw a good movie on Show Time? Dexter doesn’t count, that’s a weekly drama that’s only on in the fall.
Good movies on The Movie Channel? Nada! Moving on to The Sundance Channel...
Why does the Sundance Channel even exist? Who watches this? Has anything interesting ever come on this channel?
IFC- Every now and then shows a good movie.
I canceled my movie channels because of soft core porn. Everytime I want to see if a movie is on, this crap is on. Sex movies that show no sex. Awesome. I would never again consider having MAX, Showtime, TMC or any other channel that runs this garbage.
They are HD on DirecTV, at least. At least their newer stuff is. The older reruns weren't shot in HD.
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