Posted on 04/11/2012 8:07:07 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Move over, $5 a gallon gas — America’s new household budget buster may soon be the $200 a month cable bill.
While wages for US workers have remained stagnant, cable bills have quietly climbed 6 percent a year and will pass $200 a month by 2020, according to an alarming industry forecast released yesterday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
There is absolutely NO need to worry here...
Government will come in and fix things. As a result, by 2020 cable bills will only be $400 per month.
If I live to be 130 I will not run out of good educational videos and entertainment on youtube. All free.
With a time delay of a few hours I also get the news free.
Unless you’re a hardcore sports junkie, paying for TV is insane.
Mine is already $254/month (cable, phone and fastest internet)
We love to laugh at the commercials that have some dude saying how much he loves Cox.
I would love to be able to omit all of the cable and network news channels - we tuned the liars out about a year ago and got rid of the pile of bullet riddled televisions in the back yard.
The only way its going to keep going up is if the cable TV providers are content with a shrinking market. If the average cable TV bill hits breaks the 200/month mark, the majority of people will eliminate TV from their wants and needs and will settle for internet only. Many will opt for a smart phone and tablet computer only and get their internet solely from free wifi and cell phone providers.
I know I already eliminated TV and land line phone service from my home years ago. I am down to a flip phone and a cable modem. at some point in the future, I may ditch the cable modem and upgrade to a smart phone with premium data plan and a cellular modem.
Cable TV sucks ass anyway. But internet streaming and down lading is the way to go. Netflix and I hear HBO has good streaming to.
Makes DVDs look better and better.
A large chunk of this is due to the media conglomerates that require the cable/satellite providers to carry entire blocks of their networks, even the unpopular ones- and then demand ever-higher fees for each one of them. Don’t want to carry “The All Crap Network”? Then you can’t have Discovery, SiFi, and whatever. Oh, and since we KNOW you want those others, you can pay us higher broadcast fees for all of them.
This is one of the biggest obstacles to ala-carte cable. Folks point fingers at cable and sat carriers, yet it the the mandated bundling that makes it impractical to offer only what consumers want.
I would say that DirecTV could remove over half of the channels in our package and I wouldn’t care- except they would come off in chunks- taking the desirable with the junk.
Who needs cable? Never had it, never will. On the other hand, we all need fuel. One is a necessity, the other, a waste of life.
My old bones won’t last until 2020!
So who needs it? No cable for 15 years, here.
I buy old movies at the library for 25 cents. I watch them and then pass them to my daughter for their camp which does not have great tv access. It’s good to be practical....and cheap.
NOT
I hardly watch TV as it is, I am only about two centuries behind in my reading and wouldn't miss TV at all! :)
I think we'd all be better off without it anyway!
Due to this, internet companies are starting to put monthly caps on bandwidth and charging overage fees.
I love my Netflix on Roku, but I'm not upgrading to the HD Roku because of this.
By 2020 a cheeseburger with real cattle beef meat and real cheese will cost US$20 to $30 on the East Coast.
I don’t think the cable companies are going to be able to keep up with inflation, their product has lost it’s appeal and consumer consumption patterns have been irreversibly altered by ‘New Media’.
I don’t speak Spanish. I HATE Rap-crap. Not in love with TV Preachers. Yet, I pay for all that stuff in a “package.” No ala-carte. Ain’t right!
About $8/month for unlimited streaming. Add a DVD for another $8, (Blu Ray for $9). This gets you a new movie as soon as you can mail back the old one, NOT one DVD a month.
I watch what I want, when I want, on TV, Cell, Notebook, when traveling. I can get movies and shows downloaded with Verizon 3G pretty quick, I got the unlimited data plan. I do have a cable modem with the highest speed available. Kids and hubby also watch on their tvs and computers ON THE SAME $8 plan.
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