Bears repeating: It doesn’t seem as though there’s really any way cable TV survives in its current condition.
Posted on 07/25/2018 11:39:09 AM PDT by Zakeet
It is not a pleasant time to be a cable company. Decades of regional monopolies are being swept away, leaving us with - the horror! - actual competition. Prices on streaming bundles are so low that companies are actually struggling to make money on the $40-a-month skinny services. Any time margins are so low that telecoms giants are complaining, you know that it’s good for consumers.
Unsurprisingly, people are keen to ditch cable. While traditional pay TV is still the biggest distribution method by far, a pair of new studies out this week suggest that cord-cutting is about to hit new highs. Record cord-cutting numbers are absolutely nothing new, but the interesting thing is that year after year, cord-cutting numbers are consistently outpacing analyst expectations.
Let’s start with data from New York-based eMarketer, which sources its data by aggregating third-party sources. For the pay TV forecast, numbers come from two dozen data sources, including big names like Nielsen, Deloitte, Kagan, GfK, Parks Associates, and MoffettNathanson. In short, it’s a comprehensive overview of what industry experts think.
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As for why people are leaving services, a new survey of over 3,000 Americans from cg42 provides some insights. The study’s author Stephen Beck spoke to Marketwatch, and the message seems clear:
[Snip]
The trend is moving firmly away from pay TV, as cord cutters find doing so means hefty savings. Cord cutters saved an average of $85 each month after leaving pay TV, according to survey responses, and of those who left , 79% said they were happy with their decision to cut the cord. Only 5% said they regretted their decision and would go back to pay TV.
At this point, it doesn’t seem as though there’s really any way cable TV survives in its current condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at bgr.com ...
Bears repeating: It doesn’t seem as though there’s really any way cable TV survives in its current condition.
TV used to be free over the air.
Then Cable TV showed up and you had to pay for it, but on the bright side, there were no commercials!!
Then they added commercials.
Then it got really expansive.
Then the shows mostly got bad.
I cut the cord a few years ago. No regrets.
I’m looking for a way to cut cable out, but it has to be in such a way that Two Kids’ Mom can still have access to her Investigation Discovery shows, like Joe Kenda.
I’m considering cutting cable and looking at Sony Vue. Monthly expense would drop 46% and I would save $94.50 per month.
“...It doesn’t seem as though there’s really any way cable TV survives in its current condition....”
They need to LOWER their rates and IMPROVE PROGRAMMING/MOVIE quality.
The ONLY reason we use the cable company is because they have the highest speed internet. That’s it. Once technology equals that out, the cable company rape will cease in my house!
If there was something worthwhile watching on TV, I might consider it. If there were decent movies being made, I might go. Current fare is waste of life and money
The cost keeps going up and the quality of the programming goes down. At some point, cable and satellite companies are going to have to offer pick your programs. Their gross revenue will go down but they may be surprised when their bottom line goes up.
Excuse me while I go find a hanky to wipe the tears.
Besides all of that, even if we never tuned in, we were paying every month for CNN and other fake news.
No more.
High speed Internet is the only reason I care about cable at all.
The spouse has to have the sports stuff. That means nothing to me.
We are both big on TCM. At some point, I may join backlot.
They continue to make money on providing internet.
What is teh braodband cable that doesn’t allow an individual’s channel selection bundle for payment?
Left Frontier 6 months ago. They had brought up my plan by about $25 from the original price. Went to Spectrum, who were not any better on price. So, I settled for just the internet portion at $44/month, and a TV streaming package for an additional $20. Both services stink, especially the streaming portion. Most of what’s on TV, from Frontier and Spectrum are channels that nobody would watch if given a choice, but we end up paying for them to stay in business.
Tried to get an OTA antenna, and I get most of the broadcast local channels, and FOX (not looking for CNN or MSNBC). MOst of the other broadcast channels cannot be received by the antenna, no matter how many different antennas I’ve tried.
Would be satisfied with just internet service and a good OTA that gets good reception, and where I could just give my middle finger to the TV providers. Don’t know of any such antenna. Dish and Direct TV are not options, since their TV packages are just or more expensive as the cable TV providers.
TV has always been free over the air. Still is. There's more there than ever.
Nobody was forced to pay for cable.
The shows (some of them) are better than ever. Some of the best TV shows ever made have been made for cable channels in the last couple of decades.
All that said, I cut the cord a few years ago, including telephone cords, saving about $150 a month.
We live in the middle of nowhere. Our internet is satellite and is serviceable for email and FR.
We have Free Government HD TV and it’s more than adequate. We watch PBS (Cooking and Nature shows) old re-runs (Seinfeld, WKRP) and Beau loves to binge on old Westerns like Gunsmoke and Ponderosa.
College football, when available, Baseball, Soccer, Golf. (Sometimes the Packers, but we’re so over the NFL.)
Between that and movie DVDs I buy second-hand, or borrow from the Library, we do just fine. We usually pick a DVD series to watch in the winter months when we’re inside in the evenings. Foyle’s War, Justified, 24, Dr. Blake, Father Brown, etc. Lots of good stuff through Acorn Media & the BBC.
There are a lot of old movies on cable TV but it’s still a rip-off.
Online streaming has made cable TV obsolete.
You can get a wider variety of higher quality content, tailored more specifically to your personal preferences, through any of hundreds of online services than cable TV could ever offer.
There’s a not-insignificant chance that TV won’t even exist in 10 years.
oh, and cheaper too
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