Posted on 08/12/2013 6:47:57 PM PDT by upbeat5
With streaming television becoming more and more popular, and providers like Aereo making an end-run around cable and satellite providers, a lot of attention is being paid to the future of bundled cable. In a world of growing choices and a weak, jobless economy, how long can something last that charges customers a ton of money for dozens of channels they never watch? Bundled cable is, in my opinion, one of the greatest hustles ever perpetuated against the American people. The worst part is how it works as a kind of affirmative-action program for left-wing programming that likely wouldn’t survive in a world where we weren't forced to pay for channels we never watch. Chief among them, CNN, and MSNBC. As this discussion heats up, analysts and experts are fessing up that in a world without bundled cable, only 20 television networks would survive (that means that around 80 would not). Presumably, the survivors would be the twenty most-watched channels throughout the cable world. This would be terrible news for CNN, MSNBC, and HLN -- networks that usually rank in the thirties and forties. Fox News is usually in the top 5.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Usually, if you stop paying them they’re more than happy to cut it for you....
What is cable? Is that the TV thing that was big in the 80’s and 90’s and is now obsolete?
We have Roku, too. The only thing I miss is sports. I have MLB, but I’m going to miss a lot of college football this year. :-(
Al Jazeera is the only live streaming news we get on Roku, and we have been surprised at how good it is. It is much more honest than any of our networks, and covers world news so much better.
Today when reporting on the Palestinian prisoners about to be released, they told the side of those Israelis who had relatives killed by these men and their protest over the prisoner release. They have great coverage of what is going on in Syria and Eqypt, too.
So far the main bias we have spotted is their anti-fracking and anti-pipeline stories. Of course, the oil producers in the Middle East are scared that the US will no longer need them.
Agreed, I even find myself going to RT.com......yes there is the bias there, but they also report on things nobody here will report on.
I recall some attempts back in the 1990s. They sucked. Boring. The same crew of conservative pundits as talking heads.
The Blaze is on Roku and also, I think, on one of the sat nets. Their news group is not bad, but I unsubscribed because 1) my DSL cannot handle their HD broadcast and 2) I noticed that I just wasn’t watching regularly. After years of not being slaved to some programming schedule, I got out of the habit of living my life around show times. Never got a DVR. My schedule is erratic due to work requirements and I would likely be recording a ton of shows I never got around to watching. My Netflix queue alone is over 300+ long.
Not sure I would regularly watch anything anymore. I get news online and I obviously make time for FR.
My reading has similarly changed. I used to make a bookstore run every 4-6 weeks and I would spend a lot of time and money. Then, along came Amazon and I discovered the 4-for-3 paperbacks. Great if you are patient and can wait until a new book goes on sale. But those prices kept rising, too, and I am a fast reader. Now, I finally have a Kindle. I can wait until my Wish List picks are marked down and I can download free novels daily, if I want to. I am more of an addict than an elitist, so I like sampling indie writers, especially for free.
OTOH, I just spent $15 (w/shipping) for 2 DVDs for my dog! But, since I don’t have satellite TV and roughly 1/2 my recreational reading is free, I felt I could splurge!
Can you suggest any sites?
Call and cancel your service. They’ll offer you a $20 monthly rebate if you change your mind while on the phone with them and stay a subscriber.
Comcast is one big monopoly with every politician in their pocket.
Is this chart what Cable pays? Or what we would pay?
Oh, please God, let it be So!
I live in So Cal and am forced to pay for Asian-language, Spanish-language, Armenian-language channels that I will not now or ever watch.
I’d like to jettison BET, Univision and any other ethnic- or language-other-than-English based channels.
Menu only!!
this chart is how much channels got per subscriber per month in 2009
We get Al-Jazera for free (via air) in the DC area - go figure
“Private channel”... so if I was the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups we could all produce programs for a “private channel” and put it on ROKU? Would they be able to charge a few for monthly access to their “family”?
Bundling is, was and always will be a scam. Yes bundling makes it cheaper per channel, but given 90% of the channels you get are things you will never watch its a joke.
They say ala carte is too expensive, I say bull. I was just in jamaica where they have Ala Carte, I believe it was 10 or 20 channels and you get to pick them for like $20 a month or something like that. $20 to get a couple of handfuls of channels you’ll actually watch, or $100 a month for hundreds of channels you’ll never turn on.
All bundling does is subsidize channels, for example, nearly everywhere I have lived BET is on BASIC cable, yet well over 95% of all cable subscribers NEVER watch it. (Affirmative Action bundling)
Do you think any cable operator would carry ESPN 2, 3 or U? Nope, Disney forces them to take them if they want ESPN 1, well since they have to take them anyway, we’ll bundle them and pass off the cost of them to users who don’t want them either.
Its a scam, always has been always will be. There are a multitude of cable channels who could not exist if they had to stand on their own merits, but since they are packaged they stick around and make cable more expensive for everyone.
Not to mention, I have ZERO desire to subsidize Oprah for her network, or the LOGO network, or LIfetime, or MSNBC etc etc etc.. so why the hell are these channels getting money from me? Without bundling most of these channels would be defunct in under a year.
Sorry, Bunk.
If a Jamaican who on average has a household income of less than $1000 a month can pick 20 channels for $20 ala carte, don’t tell me that Americans have to take a bundle of crap and its cheaper.
NONSENSE.
I need a consulting service to help me figure out how to watch TV. I have all the proper equipment-— but configuring it to watch what I want, get rid of what I don’t, and pay the least amount necessary every month is virtually impossible.
Then I suggest you move to Jamaica. Comparing what you’d pay there to what you pay in the U.S. is what is bunk. Not relevant.
Spanish speaking tv would do fine. There are nights where a Spanish network beats us network programming.
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