December 06, 2010
— Purple Avenger When you lose 300,000+ customers over 6 months, maybe its time to reconsider the price/value equation you're offering customers.
...Many pay TV customers are making the same decision. From April to September, cable and satellite companies had a net loss of about 330,000 customers. Craig Moffett, a longtime cable analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said the consensus of the industry executives he had talked to was that most of these so-called cord-cutters were turning to over-the-air TV. “It looks like they’re leaving for the antenna,” he said...I'd argue that this trend is part of the "new normal". The depression is causing a lot of people to reevaluate what is necessary and what is luxury in their lives. Whenever you can move some perceived necessity into the luxury column, that allows reallocation of funds to those luxuries that you really desire.
Blowing off a $90/month cable bill allows for more eating out, some movies, paint to repaint several rooms in a house, etc. Over the span of a year, you could buy enough tools and materials to re-trim a crib with mouldings you made yourself, or build a fancy wall unit, etc.
I find this this new consumer pragmatism encouraging. Cable exec's probably not so much.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at
10:53 PM
| Comments (78)
Post contains 220 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Ace's liver at December 06, 2010 11:19 PM (QgI7g)
Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 06, 2010 11:23 PM (fjoLg)
Posted by: rdbrewer at December 06, 2010 11:34 PM (ypvW4)
Cool. Perhaps you were near some downlink from the satellites, and were picking up some overspill. This was on the UHF dial, I assume.
Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 06, 2010 11:49 PM (fjoLg)
Posted by: fluffy sees the shiny!! at December 07, 2010 12:20 AM (SwkdU)
Posted by: swamp yankee at December 07, 2010 12:29 AM (3DIBw)
Living in CT I get about 2 dozen stations over the air, all four major networks and a bunch of smaller outfits.
All in all, about 23 channels more than I need.
I suspect people are watching on the internet though or simply doing without, most people are not aware the OTA broacasts even exsist.
Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 01:29 AM (A/JSg)
Posted by: naughty librarian at December 07, 2010 01:42 AM (4Kl5M)
Yep. That is why the government was giving away millions of digital TV receiver boxes...
The implication of course is that if the government is giving something away, there must be some need for it right?
In my discussions with dozens of people most of them had no clue there was still OTA broadcasting going on. Hell most of them were confused if there cable was still going to work after the digital switchover!
Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 01:55 AM (A/JSg)
Cool. Perhaps you were near some downlink from the satellites, and were picking up some overspill. This was on the UHF dial, I assume.
Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 07, 2010 03:49 AM (fjoLg)
Not really, satellites operate in the gigahz range. He was probably picking up cable bleed from surrounding cable feeds. Something the FCC finally cracked down on and made the local cable companies replace their feeder cables with a higher grade shielded cable.
As for a "trend" of people going to rabbit ears because of the new digital broadcast I have to throw the flag there.
With the conversion from analog to digital you are able to get fewer channels than before. The old analog signals would allow you to watch some channels with a snowy picture. Digital will not. You either get it good, or not at all. Sure its HD but its the same shit you had before with a clearer and sharper picture.
I suspect people are dropping cable for the same reasons they are dropping a lot of other shit; times are damn tough for a lot of people. When people get down to it, cable comes up as a good way to cut costs because (1) the damn bills have rose uncontrolled for years and are now sky high and (2) TV program has been shit for decades.
Right now I am paying $50/month for cable solely for internet. I am paying $60/month for HD satellite. I mistakenly thought when the government mandated HD came about ALL the channels would become HD and I could drop the $10/month extra charge for HD.
I was stupid. Should have known better.
I am seriously considering dropping back to basic. I would lose Fox news and the music channels. Right now the music channels are the thing I use most but the one I like gets pre-empted every holiday for crap. Currently they are playing "Hanukkah music". Hell I didn't know there was music dedicated to Hannukkah.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 01:55 AM (e4sSD)
And anyone know of any others besides Hulu?
Posted by: Sukie Tawdry at December 07, 2010 02:09 AM (jbCcb)
With the conversion from analog to digital you are able to get fewer channels than before.
Not true in my case- A lot of the station have subchannels now.
ABC uses 8.1 8.2 8.3, some stations have as much as 4 or 5 subchannels.
I have been on antenna for over 10 years now, I get more stations now since the digital switchover than before.
Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 02:09 AM (A/JSg)
If I have to choose between cable/satellite and internet service, cable loses in a flash. It's harder for my mother and sister because they've no or very little, respectively, ability to deal with anything beyond DVDs. I got my mother a DVD player plays DiVX/Xvid but just doesn't understand the idea of a file system and so gets confused. Worse, she'll enthusiastically tune in to the broadcast of a show that I've assembled a complete collection on discs piled next to her TV. Somehow, to her mind, watching the broadcast is participating in a group activity while watching the disc is isolated.
Currently, we're getting a pretty decent price on the cable company's triple play (TV/data/phone) package but I have to wonder if they've noted how many keep the data service while dropping the TV service.
Posted by: epobirs at December 07, 2010 02:11 AM (cSH12)
Posted by: CoolCzech at December 07, 2010 02:12 AM (tJjm/)
I don't consider those as extra channels. Here all they do with the "one" they usually have is broadcast the gov weather channel.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:14 AM (e4sSD)
Even if you're extremely honest and won't use torrents, box sets of TV series were going pretty damn cheap on Black Friday. You could line up hundreds of hours of viewing for a fraction of the cost for a year's cable/sat service.
Posted by: epobirs at December 07, 2010 02:15 AM (cSH12)
My MIL just signed up for that here. It is costing the same as what I am paying for both cable and satellite. The difference is she is getting phone service out of it and she doesn't get the high def.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:17 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: CoolCzech at December 07, 2010 02:20 AM (tJjm/)
I don't consider those as extra channels. Here all they do with the "one" they usually have is broadcast the gov weather channel.
Not here in CT! Usually 8 will have a weather subchannel (live no less) but 26 has a local station plus Qubo (26.2 excellent childrens programs) 26.3 ION network plus a religion based program run on 26.4
Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 02:21 AM (A/JSg)
Posted by: billygoat at December 07, 2010 02:25 AM (5qJM5)
Posted by: Sukie Tawdry at December 07, 2010 02:29 AM (jbCcb)
Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 02:32 AM (DXa7u)
My package w/o HD costs $20 per month more than his. Since there is NO cables to string they can't blame it on anything other than pure profit because the local cable company here is higher than the local cable company in GA. .
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:33 AM (e4sSD)
What I have been wishing for forever is for them to go to a "cafeteria" style service. Let you pay some low flat rate just for the cable/sat hookup, then add channels at a cost/channel.
Either that or a modified package where for a flat rate you got x number of channels but you got to choose the channels you wanted. They could still charge extra for HBO, skinmax, etc.
They will never do this though unless one of two things happen (1) gov forces them (2) people start dropping them like a bad debt.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:37 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: Scoop11 at December 07, 2010 02:43 AM (mqt6U)
"AT&T is set to offer competition to cable in our town, over the phone lines. Hopefully competition will drive down prices."
Don't count on it. Here in Central MD, FIOS is about to come to my town, and the local County authorities (along with Comcrap), have made the pricing comparable with what Comcrap extorts. No such thing as competition when the fix is alreay in.
Just wish some vendor would package Internet TV access with just the stations you want, instead of 25+ Bible Thumpers, 10+ selling channels (Shop NBC?!?!?!), and a whole lotta other channels we blast past.
If I could pick/choose our personal package (like the Choose 2/3 at Don Pablo's dinner menu), I'd be in heaven, and ditch Comcrap.
Posted by: fred zeppelin at December 07, 2010 02:49 AM (zL/eJ)
I would easily go for cafeteria style pricing, but I don't think it'll ever happen. To be honest, I think professional sports caused the problem. If you actually paid for only what you watch, sports channels would be very expensive. Broadcasters were willing to pay a lot for the right to transmit particular sports, and spread the cost out to all their customers.
My wife and I don't watch sports, and we don't want to pay so others can get it cheaper. So we dropped out. It took some getting used to, but at least the only commercials I see now are the 30 second ones on Hulu.
Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 02:51 AM (DXa7u)
I think what we're seeing here is that there are a lot of reasons to dump cable or the dish. You could go with U-Verse (or Verizon's slightly better but more expensive FIOS service), go with an antenna, or just use the inter-tubes for your content: which you pick depends on price and perceived value.
For instance, I can't do the Hulu thing: they don't have some of the shows Mrs. AllenG watches religously- and since they're "reality" shows (mostly Survivor, Amazing Race, and So You Think You Can Dance), waiting 'til they're available on NetFlix won't cut it.
Since I need internet access at home for work anyway, we went with U-Verse, and it works for us.
The big thing is that people are figuring out that Cable and Satellite aren't really very good value compared to what they could be getting.
Personally, I'd like to see a la carte programming selections: I don't get some channels I'd like to right now, and I do get others that I never watch. I'd love to be able to switch those.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at December 07, 2010 02:53 AM (AWX5Z)
On a related score:
Via Drudge to Breitbart TV he is at it again. Black FCC commissioner says internet (probably cable TV too) is a “right” for every Nappy-Headed child
First off, wasn’t this what Don Imus was fired for? Second where does this “right” come from, other than every Obama black appointee seems to be a commie I deserve it from all you crackas community agitator who is totally unqualified for the position they are in.
Keep in mind that the FCC was created in order to shut down political dissent from FDR. It hasnÂ’t changed much since then. This is another gov department that needs to be shutdown and zero-budgeted.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:58 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: Lizabth at December 07, 2010 03:09 AM (JZBti)
Posted by: billygoat at December 07, 2010 03:11 AM (5qJM5)
Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 03:20 AM (DXa7u)
My time is spent (lately) typing on here and reading. My wife is gone most of the day with various social groups in town (bridge club, Red hats etc).
TV gets looked at when I tune to Fox News for updates or when wife watches some schmaltzy Christmas show and Wheel of Fortune. I watch football when college football is going and GA is on TV.
The rest of the time the only time the TV itself is used is for watching movies on DVD or BluRay.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 03:20 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: Reality Man at December 07, 2010 03:44 AM (L2x1w)
Back in the days of CGA and monochrome monitors, I used one of those non-detent "smooth tuner" TV's (Zenith made one) as the basis of a prototype remote screen snooping apparatus. As I recall, the Hercules monochrome card broadcast pretty strongly between channel 5/6 or 6/7.
Just on its own, the Zenith TV was good enough to see the image the card was broadcasting, and do it at a distance of 30'+ (the most I tested). Of course there were no synch pulses in the received signal so the image would be flipping and rolling, but it was obviously what was on the test computer's screen. A little circuit to inject a synch pulse into the "blank spots" and you were in business with some pretty cutting edge (for the late 80's) spy gear.
Had I been less ethically inclined at the time, I'd probably be typing this from a beach in Tahiti and sitting on a bank account worth a few hundred mil.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at December 07, 2010 04:24 AM (g5cS5)
AT&T is doing this in south FL. Comcast is as intransigent as ever, and AT&T's prices are still quite high.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at December 07, 2010 04:29 AM (g5cS5)
With the way GA's been playing you must not be watching much television. LOL
How 'bout them Dawgs?!
Posted by: Praxeus at December 07, 2010 04:36 AM (rD7n3)
How 'bout them Dawgs?!
Posted by: Praxeus at December 07, 2010 08:36 AM (rD7n3)
I didn't watch much this year. The season started so bad because most of their first string was suspended or in jail.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 04:40 AM (e4sSD)
(I also like to stay employed and receive a paycheck too. Meh.)
Posted by: Andric at December 07, 2010 04:59 AM (YBnr0)
I use a Roku player for Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon Video on Demand, Break!(free), Vimeo(free), Pub-D-Hub Classic Film Channel(free), Ruku NewsCaster(free), and Pandora Radio(free)... for now, maily because I just got it and haven't checked out some of the other channels available. I'll add more when I get the chance.
I've been using my BlueRay player to stream Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube for almost 2 years now and don't miss cable one bit. I dropped cable for no other reason than I got no perceived value for the 7 channels I watched out of 200+ I pay $90.00\month for and I refuse to call every year and go through the Kabuki dance of threatening to drop them if they don't give me a better deal.
Posted by: theBman at December 07, 2010 05:02 AM (Wm6Ut)
I have been scared to sign up for that because I can barely watch u-tube videos w/o lockup even though I have high speed cable internet.
I am scared the movie viewing would either be severely degraded in definition or would constantly lockup.
This is not to mention the upcoming fight over bandwidth.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:11 AM (e4sSD)
It has it's disadvantages.. Like I know who Tavis Smiley is and why he's on late at night on PBS..
But the picture is far and away much better than anything cable had..
And DSL for those cable shows that I can't get anymore.. (SGU and The Walking Dead)
Posted by: Dave C at December 07, 2010 05:23 AM (yIAqe)
I'd have them come out and check your line Vic. If you aren't getting the speeds you are paying for, make them fix it.
That being said, sometimes youtube runs slow for me also, but 99% of the time I can watch HD streaming with no problems whatsoever.
FYI, the Roku player recommends a 5MB braodband connection for HD streaming. That is what I have. RoadRunner standard is 5MB IIRC. They have a Lite version and a Turbo version.
Also, if you've had the same modem for over a couple of years, take it back to them and ask for a new one because the one you have is "acting flakey". They will switch it out for free with no other questions. That could be the problem also.
Posted by: theBman at December 07, 2010 05:28 AM (Wm6Ut)
I just had them put in a new line last year just to get my signal strength up above -12 which is the minimum (long drop). I have -6 now in the early morning but it drops during the day.
What is funny is when I first got it and ran tests I was getting about 1M/sec from CA. I am now lucky if I can get 400K from anywhere.
Your speed is really dependent on the number of people they have crammed on the lines and they have crammed a lot of new people on the lines here and cramming more everyday.
And I am on Roadrunner BTW.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:41 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: Jim Treacher at December 07, 2010 05:42 AM (WuMZ3)
Posted by: PMike at December 07, 2010 05:46 AM (R9qZf)
Posted by: PoconoJoe at December 07, 2010 05:49 AM (q2DY5)
Because they can.
Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:55 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: Wascully Wabbit at December 07, 2010 06:21 AM (FweJ7)
Posted by: '99er at December 07, 2010 06:28 AM (BGJIZ)
I'm one of them. I no longer gat any frilly TV sations. Not even Fox news.
I refuse to pay the outrage.
Posted by: Lemon Kitten at December 07, 2010 06:32 AM (0fzsA)
I scroll through the channels 1-999 and find nothing worth wasting time sitting and watching, I turn to my dogs and say, "I do not know why I pay for this manure" then cut the TV off and watch the pine trees grow.
Posted by: HEP-T at December 07, 2010 06:43 AM (XKKWs)
Posted by: Skree at December 07, 2010 06:44 AM (HBmnd)
I recently switched from Comcast to ATT U-verse. It's a much better deal. As poster above mentioned, you get land line phone, cable (big package), internet all for about 40% less than Comcast.
I'm going for the Netflix streaming deal next. No more DVDs and it's ten bucks a month for all you can watch.
Posted by: Scott at December 07, 2010 06:50 AM (TUAju)
So, while I watched less t.v., I watched more BAD t.v. (I really missed TCM.) The switch to digital was no improvement.
Now I live without t.v....period. I'm reading more, and practising my instruments.
Posted by: Norton at December 07, 2010 07:00 AM (TINo7)
They keep changing the packages, so anytime you want to add a channel or make a change, your old, cheaper package must be "upgraded" to a new, more expensive package--with the same or less channels.
Yeah, I'm done.
It's not worth it. Next season, I'll do what I used to do, go to a bar. $25/week (sammich and a couple of beers) for 4 months is a lot cheaper.
Posted by: jimmuy at December 07, 2010 07:19 AM (rfVS5)
What I don't understand is why so many poor people have cable or satellite, at least as far as I can see. I've heard the complaint that it's the only form of entertainment, but if that's the case, then take your kids to the library and the used bookstore. Buy puzzles or other board games. It's what my father and stepmother did when my sister and I were growing up, and we had cable.
Posted by: Alex at December 07, 2010 07:38 AM (yY28H)
Posted by: navybrat at December 07, 2010 07:54 AM (92iYg)
Really? That's interesting considering Fox cut us (tvpc.com) off almost a year ago.
Posted by: TVPC at December 07, 2010 08:06 AM (sA76j)
Cable prices need to come down. Now. Compete or die.
Posted by: Chris R at December 07, 2010 08:27 AM (QiNmA)
Posted by: Rod Rescueman at December 07, 2010 08:38 AM (QxGmu)
Posted by: Gabriel Malor at December 07, 2010 09:34 AM (B2LxR)
Posted by: Gabriel Malor at December 07, 2010 09:34 AM (B2LxR)
Posted by: Paul Kroenke at December 07, 2010 10:26 AM (Ev98V)
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Posted by: LowlyVoter at December 06, 2010 11:05 PM (AaQ2F)