‘A Soup of Misery’: Over Half of People Say They’d Abandon Their Cable Company, if Only They Could

Washington Post ^ | Brian Fung

[nickcarraway]

Frustrated with rising prices? Check. Keep getting hit with more fees and charges? Check. You're paying for more channels than you'd ever want to watch? Check.

These are just a handful of the most common complaints consumers have when it comes to grappling with cable companies. And it's not just anecdotal: A survey of subscribers on the nation's biggest cable providers has found that more than half of Americans would abandon their cable provider if they felt they could. Cable rage is real, and here's the data to prove it.

Fifty-three percent of respondents to a recent survey said they'd leave their current cable company — if they had a choice. But as many as 70 percent said their options are too limited, according to the study by consulting group cg42.

[GOPJ]

I resent being forced to pay for 400 liberal channels I don’t want... I would pay NOT to have them...

[reformedliberal]

I live in a similar area and there is no cable to the rural homes. We cut off DirecTV in 2008. We only watched DVDs from Netflix for about a year. Then we got a Roku. We only have DSL, but it is fine. If a lot of people are using bandwidth, we might have a reloading problem, but it isn’t all that often. We now pay under $17/month for 1 DVD at a time and unlimited streaming. We no longer go to movie theaters because I find them uncomfortable due to some slight vertigo and some slight hearing problems. So, we wait and watch at home.

We do have cell reception and we retain a non-mobile landline for power outages. Internet is DSL and I have no problems. I sometimes watch current shows on my monitor via Hulu Free. They have a streaming service, but it has commercials, so I won’t pay for it.

If we like a show, we do an entire season as a marathon. If it’s only on DVD, we watch the entire disc in 1-2 nights. I can have closed captions and the small screen doesn’t aggravate the vertigo, so I can watch the action and FX films I can’t watch on the big screen w/o becoming ill.

NO COMMERCIALS! EVER!!!! No ghostly little icons. No little puppet shows below the screen pitching the next show up. No FNC blaring ALERT! ALERT! over nothing at all. We have a weather phone for emergencies and dangerous weather. I won’t ever go back.

[Michigan Bowhunter]

I install directv. Dont watch tv often.

[Fast Moving Angel]

Sounds like a great arrangement. I've thought about DSL and it might work, but as to the TV, I pretty much use it to fall asleep (yup, the producers, I'm sure, would LOVE to hear that ;-) ), and my computer is in another room.

Maybe the thing to do is pressure the cable companies to do "ala carte" pricing. Most channels out there are garbage -- there's only 6 or 8 that I watch (before falling asleep), even though I have to pay for somewhere around 40. I'd much rather pay for a select few that I watch.

[RKBA Democrat]

I guess it’s something you hang your clothes on to dry?

Never seen much need for hundreds of channels of commercials and leftprop. Especially given that they don’t pay you to watch it.

[Blue Ink]

“Congress got into the act to regulate Cable Costs. Needless to say, Cable costs skyrocketed after that.”

Do you mean the FCC? They have no regulatory power over cable whatsoever.

The cable companies are happy for you to think it’s the fault of Congress.

Cable companies charge exactly the rates they negotiate with your city. If your city threatened to fire them and hand the franchise over to another provider, your rates would drop. You might even get pay-per-channel, although that’s a fight the cable companies need to have with the cable networks — they’re the ones who insist on “bundling.” Again, not Congress. They make more money with bundling.

But city managers are either timid or stupid, and sometimes both. They don’t have the wherewithal to negotiate deals favorable to their constituents with large entertainment companies. And they could get much better deals than they’ve got in most cities.

[Chode]

I guess it’s something you hang your clothes on to dry?

yup... in summer i hang them outside, in winter by the coal stove, i gave up TV in 1999 and never looked back

if i can't find it on the net for free, i don't watch it

[minnesota_bound]

Try http://www.watchseries.lt
That is Lt at the end. Many current shows in 720 hd along with all the old shows you can think of.

Or http://www.voozy.tv
Many video sites. Kinda like Roku but using your pc or tablet.

Just get the internet only. My sister just did for $30 for 1 year in Minnesota from comcast.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note tablet (holds 64gb sd card + 16gb internal) which has a IR blaster so it can be used as a remote control. Using The “Video Player” app they have, you start to watch your shows from the web browser and then press a button and it goes to your wifi enabled tv.

If you use Google Chromecast for yor tv ($35 to buy) it will use up 2 usb ports. For Chromecast you download their app on your pc and then go to any site using the google browser to watch a show then press their icon in the upper right corner to put it on your big tv. The app is not available yet for android tablets.

[Michigan Bowhunter]

I install directv. Dont watch tv often.

[BfloGuy]

Consumers always have choices. Cancel the damned thing and read a book -- or if you really can only focus long enough to watch TV, rent a DVD. Whiners.

I'm sick of 'em.

[reformedliberal]

If you get DSL, you can set up your Roku or other streaming device to a computer in another room. We use a cord from the modem that goes behind some bookcases along a wall and exits right at the back of the TV, then to the streaming device and the TV. I imagine a wireless connection could also be established.

My husband does the same as you. He will stream something and fall asleep while it is on.

BTW, through Roku (don’t know about the other streaming devices) there are add-on channels (some free, some pay) that range from clips of the local or national news to specialty programming of all sorts, some of which are short video clips on topics like cooking or DIY, as well as music, religious or foreign language channels.If you want current programs, you can subscribe to those through Amazon or Hulu. Hulu has commercials. I don’t know about Amazon. For us, since there was a financial component to going off the sat TV, we don’t pay-per-view plus pay a subscription fee, especially when there are also commercials. My experience with streaming Hulu is that it requires higher bandwidth than DSL provides.