Cable TV has fewest subscribers since 1992, YouTube TV is the only riser
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"pay TV is now only in 58.5 percent of US households"
I suspect that percent is floated by people who just get a package for internet, and it has some channels bundled even if you never use the cable
I suspect that percent is floated by people who just get a package for internet, and it has some channels bundled even if you never use the cable
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I wonder how long this will all continue if prices keep going up
I guess people just have to have their sports?
That seems to be the only reason to have this type of service at all?
I guess people just have to have their sports?
That seems to be the only reason to have this type of service at all?
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If the home phone wasn't usefull for drudging off those who want a phone number and the SO didn't want to watch shows, I'd likely only have internet at home.
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Can confirm. I have "Internet Only" fiber, bundled with the ability to stream the basic channels, which then counts me as a subscriber for TV. No set top box required for them to count me as pay TV.
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As a YouTube TV subscriber, I can confirm that the pricing is a little steep, especially if you're looking for primarily ala carte channels. But as an unabashed sports-ball fan and with their multiscreen getting rolled out, it's the only game in town that has everything I'm looking for. Plus, as the article says, you're not tied down to a cable box which helps a lot.
I'm starting to sound like a Google ad exec. I'll show myself out.
I'm starting to sound like a Google ad exec. I'll show myself out.
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Cable fucking sucks these days, so much so I don't want to pay for it. MTV is Ridiculousness almost 24/7. Comedy Central is strips of old sitcoms, with occasional breaks for South Park or The Daily Show. Name a channel and odds are it'll be similar - content that's cheap, old or both to fill the day and not much else. The content isn't there to make it worth the cost.
About the only thing that makes cable at all appealing is live sports, but even that's losing appeal because the broadcasts for my local teams on Bally are stuffed to the gills with gambling content now.
About the only thing that makes cable at all appealing is live sports, but even that's losing appeal because the broadcasts for my local teams on Bally are stuffed to the gills with gambling content now.
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My local cable monopoly wants $120/month for internet access, or $100/month for internet, basic cable, and home phone. They have somehow managed to make internet access a loss leader for cable.
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This has to be deeply concerning to the cable consortium - one of the huge pain points with municipal ISPs has been the ability for the cable companies to bundle internet and TV while municipal systems can't easily deal with the cost and complexity of providing TV or TV-like service.
As cable TV becomes increasingly irrelevant and reliable, high-bandwidth, internet access becomes increasingly critical then the municipal fiber networks are increasingly attractive.
As cable TV becomes increasingly irrelevant and reliable, high-bandwidth, internet access becomes increasingly critical then the municipal fiber networks are increasingly attractive.
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1,000 channels and still nothing on, I'm struck by that reality whenever I go visit my parents. The state of linear TV has become dour and way to expensive for what you get anymore.
Streaming has also become flooded with uninspired content (try wading through all the "originals" to find something woth watching). These days most of what I watch is actually content on YouTube, with the gap covered by an antenna for locals, and if I want some drivel or reruns all the DTV subchannels fill that role pretty well. I do have a Sling subscription but don't use it all that much except for a few things here or there
Streaming has also become flooded with uninspired content (try wading through all the "originals" to find something woth watching). These days most of what I watch is actually content on YouTube, with the gap covered by an antenna for locals, and if I want some drivel or reruns all the DTV subchannels fill that role pretty well. I do have a Sling subscription but don't use it all that much except for a few things here or there
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Because they come out ahead when you add in the extra cable and phone recovery and channel fees.
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But then with all the bullshit fees that you don't have to pay if you're internet only, aren't you still coming out behind for that "cheaper" internet plan?
I've had a cable company just straight up lie to me to get me to subscribe to cable. I was moving and setting up internet only, but they quoted me the same price and waived the bullshit self install fee if I added cable. First bills comes around and it's not just the bullshit rebroadcast fees and sports fees and this and that fees, but also literally a cable package on my bill. They just hope they'll catch enough people not paying attention and putting shit on autopay. I wonder how many current cable subscribers don't even know they're paying for it. Probably a few.
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I'm a millennial. I moved out of my parent's home in 2004, and have never once subscribed for cable TV access, and I don't think I ever will, either. Thinking of my friends, I cannot name one who has cable TV. Maybe the ultra-rich in my friend circle does, but I still doubt it. I don't think any of us have any interest in it whatsoever.
Point is, it's a dying industry, competing with online distribution, content creators, and video games for time-with-your-eyeballs. Video games don't advertise at me (at least the ones I play), and ads can easily be avoided on the internet. Cable TV is practically a dinosaur IMO.
Point is, it's a dying industry, competing with online distribution, content creators, and video games for time-with-your-eyeballs. Video games don't advertise at me (at least the ones I play), and ads can easily be avoided on the internet. Cable TV is practically a dinosaur IMO.
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Torgo's Pizza
Seniorius Lurkius
This may be counter-intuitive, but I'm a believer in that the pendulum is about to swing the other way for cable services - it's just going to morph into something slightly different. I'm seeing YouTube TV as being little different from Comcast, Cox, Dish, DirectTV, etc. There are so many different streaming services and channels, there are plenty of people that wish that someone would just bundle them all up and have just one convenient package. That's just traditional cable with extra channel packages - something cable already does and some already have a streaming app (Dish comes to mind).
We want our a la carte, but we want to eat it all too.
We want our a la carte, but we want to eat it all too.
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I suspect that there are licensing issues that will prevent that from happening. The various networks say, "If you don't take all of our channels, you can't have any of them." On top of that, the cable industry will likely pay Congress to make that a crime.
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Weird that the article wants to lump YTv into the same cable category, yeah it looks like cable but my $64 plus my Disney bundle, Netflix and Paramount+ (football, the world one) is still something around half my old cable bill.
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Why does it seem that the universe is hell-bent on proving George Orwell right?
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If you were a REAL Google ad exec you would have cancelled your subscription two weeks after joining and left at least one unfinished sentence in this post.
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who subscribes to all of them? i keep netflix around, i get a special military deal for disney plus. the rest I watch and cancel.
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Maybe. Personally, I doubt it. I don't want everything at once. I can't watch 5 shows at once, so why? We just subscribe to one service at a time for 6 months or so. There's such an absurd flood of content at the moment that there's guaranteed to be a season or two of something I'm interested in when I eventually rotate back around to Pealu+ Max or whatever it's called next year.
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I'm among the oldest in the millennial generation, and I don't know a single person my age or younger who has cable or satellite TV, nor the overpriced cable-like streaming services like YouTube TV. I guess technically I had cable TV included with my rent a couple of apartments ago, but I never hooked it up. I've never voluntarily chosen cable TV. Every time I experience cable TV at a hotel or the like there's almost nothing worth watching.
Even among my older relatives only a few still have it. I'm shocked to hear that 58% of Americans still have it. I'm guessing a huge portion are for the abusive bundle deals that Comcast and the other big cable companies have.
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I cut the figurative cord a million years ago when Dish Network EOL'd my boxes and offered no comparable replacement that wouldn't substantially put me out of pocket. I then proceeded to find some supported boxes second hand, they refused to activate them and then out of the blue accused me of piracy... if I'm a pirate why am I even talking to you?
I get HBO Max for free through work but haven't logged in since The Last of Us finale. I have my own DVD rips of practically every classic Disney my family ever acquired and iTunes downloads that came with modern Blu-Ray versions. I don't care in the slightest about Marvell or Starwars so I have no interest in Disney Plus. I had Netflix but cancelled it years ago as the quality plunged.
There is so little modern media output that interests me that I can't justify subscribing to anything but I can watch YouTube videos about defunct Disneyland rides for hours.
I get HBO Max for free through work but haven't logged in since The Last of Us finale. I have my own DVD rips of practically every classic Disney my family ever acquired and iTunes downloads that came with modern Blu-Ray versions. I don't care in the slightest about Marvell or Starwars so I have no interest in Disney Plus. I had Netflix but cancelled it years ago as the quality plunged.
There is so little modern media output that interests me that I can't justify subscribing to anything but I can watch YouTube videos about defunct Disneyland rides for hours.
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YTTV is "cable" over the internet. These over the top services are literally exactly the same thing you get from cable and nothing like Disney+ or Netflix. You have the same fixed channels and set scheduling that you do with cable or satellite or traditional TVoIP services. The only difference is you're paying someone to send it over a separate internet connection instead of paying the cable company directly.
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After so many years of streaming services I just can't stand the volume of commercials on cable let alone the cost. I'm not much of a sports fan so I can't think of a single reason why I would sign up for a service that's bad, expensive, and has atrocious customer service.
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… and yet somehow Fox continues to raise their carriage fees.
Cable can’t die soon enough!
Cable can’t die soon enough!
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Making me appreciate my tax and fee-free 1000/1000mbit fiber internet connection that's been $70/mo for some 9 years now. No TV, but I'm fine with that.
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This is what I referred to in my comment above: Internet Only is as expensive and Internet + Cable TV from Comcast. The fees are a little better, but not enough to make paying for Internet Only from Comcast + YoutubeTV less expensive.
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Exactly - regional sports networks (at least in baseball) lock you out, and you are stuck - unless you do the whole vpn/MLB/geography avoidance thing. If the RSNs would just stop doing exclusive deals and offer a separate stream . . . then I cannot currently see a reason to have any cable TV, particualrly if you also have to have something Disney, or Netflix, which are getting pricy. The cable providers will still find a way to bill more, though
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I’m fine with paying for FioS, landline, mobile phone, and a few streaming services where I watch streaming
or can rent a movie for a few bucks. Plus music. Any other ‘entertainment consumption’ services are gone baby gone. And I’m definitely an old.
or can rent a movie for a few bucks. Plus music. Any other ‘entertainment consumption’ services are gone baby gone. And I’m definitely an old.
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The bonus with Hulu live tv and I imagine youtube tv as well is that they desperately don't want to talk to you on the phone so you can cancel through the we interface in less than a minute. I typically add tv this time of year to watch the NBA playoffs and then cancel in june. No turning down all the offers and trying to convince a call center employee to allow it.
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Paying to watch commercials sounds miserable. I don't expect to ever have cable TV again.
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Starting and stopping YTTV is indeed quick and painless. You can even pause it for up to a year at a time without actually cancelling it, though cancelling and resuming service is so simple it doesn't really make a difference. It's just a tap in your account settings.
Canceling with a cable company is at least an hour long process where they will spend most of that time trying to convince you you'll miss them when you're gone.
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The regional sports networks like Bally's are the only thing holding the cable industry together. And their financial situation drew enough attention from the MLB commissioner that we might see baseball try something new. At the very least, they finally realize that those exclusive contracts with the RSNs are actively contributing to their falling viewer totals (because only cable subscribers can watch).
I'd like to think that the disintegration of the cable model will shake out into a wide range of "re-packager" streaming plans, so consumers can pick and choose a range of content without paying a dozen different streaming hosts. But I'm not at all confident that the end result will be all that consumer-friendly.
I'd like to think that the disintegration of the cable model will shake out into a wide range of "re-packager" streaming plans, so consumers can pick and choose a range of content without paying a dozen different streaming hosts. But I'm not at all confident that the end result will be all that consumer-friendly.
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To be fair, YoutubeTV and other TVoIP services normally have a "DVR" that let you "record" a show for viewing later, and there's some on-demand viewing options, as well as maybe access to some channels' on-demand streaming apps. But most of those features are in line what a "regular" cable provider offers nowadays (DVR boxes, on-demand options from said box, access to a channel's streaming app), so it still makes them more like traditional cable than other streaming services. It's just not all "wait to watch it live."
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