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Economic bummer: 6.9 million homes ditch cable TV
The Washington Examiner ^ | 6/19/2012 | Paul Bedard

Posted on 06/19/2012 4:55:11 PM PDT by Beave Meister

It started with homes, then cars, and now penny-pinching Americans, especially minorities, are giving up cable TV because they just can't afford it in the lingering recession.

Instead, they are switching back to free TV, improved with the recent switch to digital broadcast which requires a special antenna but eliminates the $70-$100 monthly cable, satellite or broadband service fee.

Industry officials had worried that Americans would begin "cord-cutting" in a shift to internet TV, but the recession is more to blame, not internet bling.

"It's not so much cord-cutting as cost-cutting that's motivating this. There's possibly recessionary issues here," said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

An ownership survey conducted by GfK Media found that about 6.9 million homes abandoned pay TV last year, a shocking number that industry sources chalk up to the sagging economy. What's more, the survey found that the number of Americans watching only free-TV surged from 46 million to 54 million. GfK said that means about 18 percent of all homes with TVs, or 21 million, watch only free-TV, a jump from about 14 percent just five years ago.

"When asked why they cancelled TV service, the overwhelming majority, over 70%, cited cost-cutting; cord-cutting because of online options was cited by less than 20%," said Dave Tice senior vice president of GfK.

Younger Americans, minorities and low-income homes, socked by unemployment and the economy have jumped the cable ship in the highest numbers. The GfK poll found that minorities make up 44 percent of all broadcast-only homes.

But according to Wharton, the shift isn't all bad. He said that more and more cable-like shows are now on free digital broadcast, especially those for minorities. "There is sort of an explosion in free network programming," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 2012; bhoeconomy; cable; digitalbroadcast; dsl; dslnaked; economy; freetv; obama; obamatruthfile; obamaville; obamavoters; tvisfortools
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To: Beave Meister

$70/month for 300 channels of crap. With commercials.

What’s the value proposition?


41 posted on 06/19/2012 6:02:45 PM PDT by B Knotts (Just another Tenther)
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To: Battle Axe

Thanks, that’s about what we’re willing to pay. I listen for that ad.


42 posted on 06/19/2012 6:05:11 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Liberals, at their core, are aggressive & dangerous to everyone around them,)
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To: MikeSteelBe

Roku: I checked their offerings.

Doesn’t have any of the channels I use on cable:

ESPN ESPN2 SpeedTV, NBCSports, FoxBiz, and Big10.


43 posted on 06/19/2012 6:07:01 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: Beave Meister

I got direct TV because I am in an rural area where I can only get 3 fuzzy channels with only one clear one. And all my TVs are old and would needed to be upgraded to get HD

I am tempted to drop it as it is way to expensive but I dont know if I can live without watching my favorite shows like “Best Pillow Ever”, “How it is Made”, and all them Bigfoot shows.


44 posted on 06/19/2012 6:08:52 PM PDT by Uncle Lonny
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To: Beave Meister

We ditched DISH and just have Netflix streaming.
Between Top Gear and all the documentaries we haven’t missed a thing’ don’t watch movies anyway.


45 posted on 06/19/2012 6:12:09 PM PDT by RedStateRocker
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To: Beave Meister

Women and minorites hit worse ping


46 posted on 06/19/2012 6:17:30 PM PDT by Last Dakotan
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To: kevslisababy

I’m not understanding completely. Do you have landline phone? Or just DSL?


47 posted on 06/19/2012 6:20:15 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Liberals, at their core, are aggressive & dangerous to everyone around them,)
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To: Beave Meister

I just got tired of the abject, stomach-churning sleaze from both cable and the networks. Trying to find one single solitary decent show to view (and a few do exist) just became no longer worth the depressing effort of wading through the sewer that modern television has become.

So, I started buying dvd-sets of old shows and movies that genuinely entertain me and buoy my spirits. I now have a pretty huge library. Both cable-tv and the networks can take their sick dreck and go to hell!


48 posted on 06/19/2012 6:23:47 PM PDT by greene66
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To: Beave Meister

You can also get many movies that are coming onto general cable for free at the library and pay $1-2 per episode to watch a single beloved TV series. Then there is the classic “go to someone else’s house to watch it”.
Then there is the modern frustration of someone watching a TV show or movie in snippets on Youtube, taking up a library computer.


49 posted on 06/19/2012 6:24:45 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: Colorado Cowgirl
"Thanks Obama! And you expect all these 6.9 million with no cable(because of the high cost) to still vote for you??? Good luck with that. "

They will: he'll promise to regulate the 'evil cable companies' and/or 'subsidize' your cable bill.
And his followers are stupid enough to believe him: Remember this?


50 posted on 06/19/2012 6:27:10 PM PDT by ex91B10 (We've tried the Soap Box,the Ballot Box and the Jury Box; one box left.)
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To: Uncle Lonny

My husband and son like “how it’s made”, but “Mythbusters” we all watch.
My six year old said he was thinking of being a Mythbuster because they blow stuff up without dying. I agreed that it was a really cool job. His jaw dropped. “They get paid to do that! They get money, too! I am so doing that when I grow up!”


51 posted on 06/19/2012 6:31:17 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: Beave Meister

Keep your cable/satellite TV connections. Catch every game and reality show. Have some more bratwurst, beer and pot. We’ll want some of the mindless slaves of this debt regime, if any survive, to work cheap in the fields in a few years.


52 posted on 06/19/2012 6:46:15 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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To: Beave Meister

If the friggin cable companies weren’t raping their customers with outrageous fees, they might keep more of them also. They have raised rates several times in past 4 years all the while the depression has gone on. And then wonder why many have bailed.


53 posted on 06/19/2012 7:03:38 PM PDT by packrat35 (Admit it! We are almost ready to be called a police state!)
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To: Balding_Eagle

I had a land line and cancelled my phone service, since I just use my cell phone. The service comes thru the land line. They did provide a splitter, but since I don’t use it for a phone I just stashed it. it is DSL


54 posted on 06/19/2012 7:03:57 PM PDT by kevslisababy
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To: mrsmith

I’ve heard that over the air TV has less compression.


55 posted on 06/19/2012 7:04:26 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: nascarnation

I’d love ala carte for History, H2, BBCA, Me-TV, Military, TCM.

I have found a lot of classic shows and movies on Youtube, some whole and capture them as I go.


56 posted on 06/19/2012 7:10:34 PM PDT by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: Beave Meister
The reason people are cancelling their cable is because the product sucks.

Although generally true, the reality/supernatural/America's got/whatever losers seem to be driving programming.

By sheer coincidence, I discovered that a neighbor can receive most over the air programming with rabbit ears.

Good-bye Satellite TV.

I will miss Fox news and a few documentary channels which actually broadcast what their names suggest.

Not sure what the name is, but there is a service for only $10 a month that broadcasts (rebroadcasts?) all network series. Satellite and cable has yet to figure out that (mostly) crummy program is discretionary, when financial push comes to shove. Just like slice and dice cell phones.

57 posted on 06/19/2012 7:16:08 PM PDT by publius911 (Formerly Publius 6961, formerly jennsdad)
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To: Colorado Cowgirl

Don’t worry. The FCC will pick up the cost of their Internet access... at taxpayer expense.


58 posted on 06/19/2012 7:26:11 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Paladin2

That makes sense. Less and less available bandwidth over a cable “pipe” as they pile on more stuff.

They can throttle the bit rate but at the expense of quality. Most people may not notice a difference.

Noticed the video skipping recently. Wonder if they are intentionally dropping frames. Audio was fine but we would notice skipping audio. Maybe it was an artifact of a poor encoding? AV sync was okay.


59 posted on 06/19/2012 7:51:19 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: MikeSteelBe
A Roku is a good way to get channels “A la carte”

I found this site to be pretty neat for adding private channels: HERE.

60 posted on 06/19/2012 7:57:52 PM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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