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Author Topic: Cord Cutting  (Read 6724 times)
Brian Fein
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« Reply #30 on: October 20, 2017, 04:22:46 am »

I think this conversation is interesting, because of what Dave said in his last post...

The biggest downside is that you can't easily switch between stuff to channel surf.  So, the idea of half-assed watching news while half-assed watching sports, while jumping to see what's on Discovery is dead.  That's taking some getting used to.  TV watching has to be more deliberate. 

For me, I think this is all I do - channel surfing.  I search the guide for a movie or something decent to view, but if I had to flag my own content from Netflix, I'd likely just turn the TV off and do something else.

I wonder if it takes a certain type of "watcher" to tolerate this...?
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Spider-Dan
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« Reply #31 on: October 20, 2017, 11:44:28 am »

You can still channel surf with an HD antenna.
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Phishfan
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« Reply #32 on: October 20, 2017, 02:20:31 pm »

I just had the worst service call from our carrier, Spectrum, that I think I have ever seen. We had one bedroom that did not have a cable jack in it and just moved someone into the room. Based on the roof, it is easiest to drop the cables on the exterior wall and then through the block and into the room rather than just doing a wall fish. The guy had a perplexed look on his face from the start and as he starts taking his equipment out he walks up and tells me he lost his drill somewhere and doesn't know where. I knew right then and there I was not getting cable installed into that room today. I'm almost halfway convinced that he just didn't want to do the job. Hopefully whoever they reschedule with tomorrow is a little better (which won't be hard) than this guy.
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MyGodWearsAHoodie
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« Reply #33 on: October 20, 2017, 05:00:03 pm »

I seriously don't understand why any cable channel other than the commercial free ones (e.g. HBO) should cost a single penny.  CBS and Fox are able to broadcast Sunday afternoon football profitablely by selling commercials there is no reason ESPN can't be profitable doing MNF with commercials being the sole source of revenue. 

If all channels were al a carte very good chance many would be free or very low cost because the more subscribers the more ad revenue and that is where the real money is.
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Phishfan
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« Reply #34 on: October 20, 2017, 05:11:23 pm »

^^^ That is counterintuitive if you ask me. Being ala carte would not be a good way for most channels to show more subscribers in order to drive up ad revenue. Let's use Lifetime as an example. How many of us single guys currently have Lifetime on our programming? I know I do and I never watch a single thing on it. If I were going ala carte it would not be on my plan so therefore they will lose me and anyone like me. They show more subscribers in number counts by being included in a package.
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pondwater
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« Reply #35 on: October 20, 2017, 06:09:16 pm »

^^^ That is counterintuitive if you ask me. Being ala carte would not be a good way for most channels to show more subscribers in order to drive up ad revenue. Let's use Lifetime as an example. How many of us single guys currently have Lifetime on our programming? I know I do and I never watch a single thing on it. If I were going ala carte it would not be on my plan so therefore they will lose me and anyone like me. They show more subscribers in number counts by being included in a package.
Well in Lifetime's case maybe show some shit that a more mainstream audience would actually watch. If you ask me, there are too many niche type channels that most normal people don't watch. They are subsidized by forcing the non watching people to subscribe and pay for them on their packages. An à la carte type system would fix that by forcing the channels to compete on price and content. If you have crap that no one watches your price is going have to reflect that. Likewise, if your prices are too high in relation to the competition you will have to lower prices or lose subs. Either way, some channels would cease to exist after a while.
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MyGodWearsAHoodie
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« Reply #36 on: October 20, 2017, 07:30:22 pm »

^^^ That is counterintuitive if you ask me. Being ala carte would not be a good way for most channels to show more subscribers in order to drive up ad revenue. Let's use Lifetime as an example. How many of us single guys currently have Lifetime on our programming? I know I do and I never watch a single thing on it. If I were going ala carte it would not be on my plan so therefore they will lose me and anyone like me. They show more subscribers in number counts by being included in a package.

Which is exactly why Lifetime would be free.  If it was free you would sign up, if it cost $3 per month you would not.
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pondwater
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« Reply #37 on: October 20, 2017, 08:22:18 pm »

If it was free you would sign up, if it cost $3 per month you would not.
Even if the Man Hate Lifetime channel was free I would not sign up. Too much bullshit in my guide already. They can also keep OWN, SoapNet, Oxygen, BET, and WE. A $3 bill credit for each sounds about right, lmao...
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Spider-Dan
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« Reply #38 on: October 21, 2017, 02:17:51 am »

The problem is that someone has to pay to get the product to your doorstep.  Broadcast channels achieve this all through advertising, but there are several things necessary to do so:

1) affiliate stations to broadcast the signal in many markets
2) broad-based programming that has something for everyone

Cable channels are on cable because even if they put in the work to develop the former, they would not have the latter, as nearly all cable channels' market strategy is that they have specialty audiences that are interested in something particular (with the rare exception of channels like TNT and USA).  This is why "good" viewership ratings on cable would be considered garbage for broadcast TV (see: Monday Night Football on ABC vs. ESPN).

So in a world without cable fees, even if a cable behemoths like ESPN, Fox News, or Discovery went through the work to build out a broadcast affiliate network like Fox did in the late '80s, they would struggle to stay afloat because their target audience isn't wide enough to generate sufficient advertising to stay afloat.  Smaller cable channels like NFLN or HGTV would have no hope to survive.

The entire reason the cable channel paradigm works is because of bundled stations.  Without channel bundling, you run into the same problem as broadcasting: the only people who pay for it are the people who want to watch it.  That means that channels either a) become much more expensive or b) cease to exist.

You are severely underestimating the price impact of having millions of people who do not watch your preferred channels chip in for your cost.  At the end of the day, with a la carte pricing, it would look like the Dish Flex plan: you would be paying the same amount for far less channels.  And to the extent that services like SlingTV exist at seemingly low prices, they only do so because 1) SlingTV doesn't have to transport the content to your doorstep, only to the internet, and 2) those content providers are currently being backstopped by cable income.  Replace all the TV channels with Netflix etc. and it's no mystery what Comcast/AT&T will do to the price of your internet service.

There is no workaround when the companies that provide television are the same ones that provide internet.  This is not a coincidence or happenstance.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2017, 02:20:35 am by Spider-Dan » Logged

DaLittle B
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« Reply #39 on: October 22, 2017, 06:47:27 am »

I do a lot of channels surfing,mostly because there is a shit ton of crap on that I have little to no interest in watching.

I think talking to most of my underlings,most of them get some free internet,and extremely basic cable package (locals+weather channel,and maybe 6 or 7 other channels) free in their apartments.Add their lifestyle,the streaming services (especially ones the can watch on the go) just makes more sense than buying a big cable package.

I started my free trial for Netflix so I can start cutting back,I had it years ago.
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Phishfan
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« Reply #40 on: October 23, 2017, 10:52:00 am »

If it was free you would sign up,

I'm afraid the answer would still be no.
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Tenshot13
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« Reply #41 on: November 03, 2017, 08:34:50 am »

Trying out Sling TV on my new Fire TV.  It's pretty awesome, I get all the channels I want and DVR for $55
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Dave Gray
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« Reply #42 on: November 03, 2017, 08:59:37 am »

Yesterday marked the first time I actually tried to watch something that I didn't have access to: Bills v. Jets. 

It was NFL Network only (sometimes, those Thursday games are also CBS or NBC).  And even though I have access to an Xfinity login to watch that channel, it's limited to watching over the home wi-fi, so I was locked out.

I probably could've gone online to look for a stream, but I didn't want to really watch the game anyway -- just check in on it.  ...Not worth the effort.
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DaLittle B
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« Reply #43 on: November 03, 2017, 10:43:10 am »

I probably could've gone online to look for a stream, but I didn't want to really watch the game anyway -- just check in on it.  ...Not worth the effort.

This where if I go full cord cutting worries me... Undecided  I'll have 15-20 minutes either when I'm waiting for something else,or just waiting,etc...I'll surf and watch different things for that time,check in on a game,some random show,documentary,etc..
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Dave Gray
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« Reply #44 on: November 03, 2017, 11:22:38 am »

I have access to FoxSportsGO, which covers FOX games, including FOX Sports 1.  I get Sunday football, local hockey, and local basketball.
I have Watch ESPN, which gets you Monday Night Football.
I have NBC Sports, which gives you Sunday Night Football.
I have CBS All-Access, which gives you Sunday Football.

Football-wise, I'm missing EVERY game that you'd get from Sunday Ticket, the Red-Zone experience (which I admittedly miss) and NFL Network, which is only an occasional (and usually not very interesting) game.
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