Posted on 08/24/2010 6:18:17 AM PDT by Slyscribe
The number of subscribers to cable, satellite and telecom TV services in the U.S. fell for the first time ever in the second quarter, according to research firm SNL Kagan.
The U.S. multichannel TV market lost 216,000 customers last quarter, vs. a gain of 378,000 a year ago. The total number of subscribers to cable, satellite and telecom video fell to 100.1 million in the second quarter, SNL Kagan says.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.investors.com ...
If it were not tied to my broadband, I would drop cable TV.
When I watch TV, I’m mostly watching a DVD from Netflix or instantly through the computer. We’re about halfway through the first season (1966) of Dark Shadows.
Hard to believe it’s coming up on one year since I cancelled tv service.
Do it. You won’t miss it at all. It’s worthless.
I wonder how many of these are foreclosed homes? Banks aren’t going to be paying for cable.
You can get a pretty good indoor antenna from Walmart for $30, to watch free digital HD channels. The weather channel on DirecTV sucks, and whenever we have a storm DirecTV doesn’t even work, but the antenna doesn’t have that problem most of the time, and the local free weather station is great.
I keep calling DirecTV to cancel, but they keep giving me 3 more months for free. That has happened twice now.
You mean we’re not the only family on the planet that doesn’t have cable? I’ll have to let my kids know they are sadly misinformed when they tell me this.
They tried that on me too. I said no thanks. No television is free too, and it's better for you.
People are tired of paying to be lied to and corrupted.
Yeah, but for different reasons. LOL
Why exactly do the do that? That's my #2 pet peeve. Right behind drivers who drive through the parking stall rows in parking lots.
Lot cheaper than cable, and broadcast HDTV is better than cable.
Frantzie gets it.
I do a lot of work for a "BIG" media company. I know first hand that almost all of your monthly cable and satellite payments goes directly to your idealogical enemies.
Pay attention to Frantzie.
They're virtually all liberals, most of them voting, no doubt, for hope and change.
Now they have to be hoping the drop-off in business will leave at least some change in their pockets for the public corner laundromats looming in their wives' futures.
Leni
Fox News and HGTV are the only reasons I didn't drop it altogether.
I just did exactly the same thing and for exactly the same reason. I bought an LG Blu-ray player for $250 or so, signed up with Netflix for $8.99 a month and just stream movies. Goodby HBO, Showtime and all the rest. Hello Netflix. A $50/month reduction in my DirecTV bill will cover the Netflix cost, pay for the Blu-ray player in short order and leave me with a few more bucks in my pocket every month that the wifey can waste at Starbucks.
And just FYI - the quality of the Netflix stream over a fast Internet connection is every bit as good if not better than DirectTV. And if you have access to Vudu you can get 1080p streamed at 4.5 mb/s or so that is simply pristine. Great for watching trailers in HD. That's free on Vudu.
I think Netflix is going to continue to take major chunks out of the DirecTV and cable revenue streams. They have a great model for delivering movies that, at this point, nobody can match (although many will try including Google/YouTube.)
I dropped Cable over 6 years ago. I get a lot more done now.
My family owned a small local cable company and I can say that 2/3 of your bill is pretty much just ESPN/Sports (whether you watch it or not).
We considered dropping ESPN completely or making it a pay-to-see, but it meant that 45% of subscribers would be paying something like $100/month for just 1 channel and no one would go for it.
It’s about “sharing the burden” so they spread that ESPN cost to everyone. lol Suckas. :)
The technology is in place to allow people to pay for only those channels they want. But the cable companies won’t do this because they know much of what is on cable would not withstand a fair and free market.
We originally got satellite because my husband is an insomniac and it had all night programing, there are very few channels that don’t go to infomercials at 2:00 AM.
We have basic basic cable. It costs $12 a month and nets us a 20% discount on our broadband. Getting EWTN is worth the two bucks it ends up costing us.
I don’t have cable or satellite, but I do have a TV and vcr/dvd player. Last year I bought the first three seasons of Rawhide.
It’s been absolutely great to watch those again.
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