The trickle of canceled cable TV subscribers last year has turned into a stream

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_CUTTING_CABLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

by selamattidur • 15 years ago

32 40 15 years ago

hosted.ap.org

Udo• 15 years ago

  The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set.

While the economy might be the trigger that drives people over the edge to unsubscribe, I actually believe that a large number of them was disenfranchised with TV programming before that. When it comes to entertainment, we have exactly three categories: reality TV, sports events, and series that are designed to be huge blockbusters.

Personally, my biggest beef with this is the series part (I don't watch reality TV or sports at all), because we're only ever seeing the most dumbed-down shit that is designed from the ground up for marketability. Only rarely does that procedure produce a great show, and when it does, it's by pure accident. As a result, we get fiction programming where Warehouse 13 is considered "edgy sci-fi TV", when it fact it is neither edgy nor scifi at all.

mw63214• 15 years ago

I know this is very subjective, but in my opinion, the best sci-fi shows are those that manage to blur the lines between fiction and reality (fringe, alphas, not-so-much-but-sort-of warehouse 13).

onemoreact• 15 years ago

I could not agree more. I have a FIOS and a huge HDTV, in the living room and I end up watching one TV show reguarlly and a few movies. The last time I spent a significant amount of time in front of the TV was the Olympics whose coverage was so bad I ended up fast forwarding though most of it. The only advantage of cable is they live HDTV programming is less compressed than most streaming options. Yet, for some reason even their Video on Demand option is more compressed than live tv even though they have a full fiber network.

As to programming, I used to watch a fair amount of edutainment like NOVA but even that has been dumbed down to meaningless drivel. I can still get into a good nature show in HDTV, but mostly they are just Steve Erwin style psudo reality TV designed to maximize the number of teeth shown per minute.

PS: If you have not seen it "How It’s Made" is still fairly interesting.

pasbesoin• 15 years ago

As for the Olympics, on my basic cable television service (held due to Comcast pricing issues), the one stream of broadcasting that was not utter crap was one of the secondaries that was on... CNBC or something like that. They showed particularly women's curling in pretty much complete broadcasts, except for commercials.

I'm neither a sports fan nor a curling aficionado (or, I wasn't), but I quite enjoyed watching those games and following the Canadian women's team on their way to victory.

People are bailing on cable television (and new television in general) because the programming is utter crap. And then the companies sit on the good, if older, stuff and move it ever further up in the premium levels. I'd actually watch "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but it's been moved to price levels I won't pay for. The channel perennially re-running "West Wing" was recently bumped from my service (despite Comcast's supposed agreement to hold the status quo until 2013).

Now, "The Next Generation" is on Netflix. So, screw you, cable TV.

(Just wish I had a better choice for my Internet connectivity.)

latj• 15 years ago

Agreed. This is a silly story "bla bla kids living at home". People are just deciding that cable isnt worth the cost anymore.

Triumvark• 15 years ago

Cable cutting numbers are so low as to be almost unmeasurable.

So why are Hulu and Netflix hamstrung by content creators as a threat to revenue again?

ams6110• 15 years ago

I cut my cable back to the "basic" TV level last year (which is local stations plus a handful of others). I only kept it at all because it is cheaper to get internet + basic TV than it is to have internet alone (Comcast).

I do miss having the ESPNs but nothing else really. We have Netflix and can get ESPN 360 on the Xbox so that's a bit of a consolation.

jerf• 15 years ago

Because everybody can clearly read the trendlines. Including the executives mentioned in the article, who won't say it in public, but they know what's going on.

ck2• 15 years ago

And my internet cost has skyrocketed because of it (mostly because there's no competition).

rglover2• 15 years ago

If cable networks and MSOs were smart, they'd start developing their own "Netflix" style operation. Build MSO-specific web apps that make it easy to do two things: 1.) Watch live network streams as if I had a box hooked up to my TV and 2.) Give users access to a VOD library (just like Netflix) for each network. There are PLENTY of downsides but unfortunately, these companies need to realize that the old model doesn't work and is only going to continue to die off. Want to keep your subscribers? Move to the web. Now. Worry about the details later.

iamdave2• 15 years ago

these companies need to realize that the old model doesn't work

You give them entirely too much credit, the cable tv industry is joined at the hip to news networks and inextricably to movie producers for broadcast rights.

And what do we know about the news industry and the movie industry? Both are in a state of flux because instead of chasing down a new method of distribution, they held on to increasingly irrelevant business models and now they're paying for it.

<CAVEAT EMPTOR>If Time Warner suddenly comes out with a portable VOD program, instead of locking me down to my living room - and produces one that actually compels me to keep using it, and doesn't expect me to have both home service and VOD as an extra premium, I will gladly eat my words. As it stands, I doubt that will happen, and I doubt it will happen in a cost effective way.

It's a beautiful idea, honestly. If they made a VOD service where you paid one flat fee that isn't a ridiculous cost for online video, I'd reckon the demand would easily make up the difference in costs leasing/selling boxes. </CAVEAT EMPTOR>

edit for clarity: With the news this is more talking to print news.

rglover2• 15 years ago

You make a good point about the interconnectivity of the news/film industries to broadcasting, but we've reached a point where people are going to need to let go and embrace what's next. The fear is that of uncertainty and the behavior of consumers but in all actuality, people love television and they'll still pay to watch it. If they have to lower costs, so be it. The upside? You'll probably reach and RETAIN more customers because of the lower costs.

technoslut2• 15 years ago

I don't think that cable companies view this as a problem. My cable company, Cablevision, has probably been the best of a bad lot with their iOS apps but none of them really wants any major disruption to the current system.

Those who are cutting the cord probably would've done it anyway because the prices have got incredibly expensive, especially with OTA networks demanding large fees.

I could see a Netflix, Apple, MS or Google managing to break the 'HBO window' but TV shows are going to take a much longer time.

shawnee_• 15 years ago

Television content distribution has historically been push model marketing.

One problem was that nobody ever really "knew" with any measurable degree of accuracy how many people were actually watching any given show. Nielsen ratings (and I actually received $5 and the survey in the mail 10 years ago, when I was a televisionless University student), as hyped as they are, were more or less guesstimates totally dependant upon people telling them exactly what they're watching and when. Even the demographics can get somewhat skewed -- educated people would be more likely to return the survey than non.

It makes more sense that this new emerging Internet-based distribution model would be more to the liking of those who are reliant upon an advertising-based revenue model for the simple fact that they can have more accurate numbers showing them how many viewers they have. But instead they whine and complain that they're losing money on a system that was never really optimized for their core purpose.

evilduck3• 15 years ago

My household just cancelled our basic satellite service last week because of AppleTV+iTunes+Netflix.

Our reasoning was this: Netflix lets us have the "background noise" programs that we don't really care about for $8/mo and it has a big enough catalog that it's worth it. We can purchase everything else from iTunes and at our rate of "new show consumption", the $60/mo is better spent being put towards iTunes purchases where it's ad-free, on demand, and able to be moved to devices. For TV shows, that's about 15-20 episodes a month purchased without affecting our previous budget. In practice, we don't watch half that many new shows so we'll be saving around $30/month and building a catalog of content that we semi-own where the value increases the longer we use it. Cable/Sat services don't build on themselves like that. Plus, the AppleTV runs at 6 watts where the satellite receiver ran at 10x that, we might even see a lower electric bill.

Households that live for watching TV aren't going to be swayed that easily, but they're easily spending twice as much too.

BigZaphod• 15 years ago

We did this over 2 years ago. Our 2.5yo son is (so far) growing up with very little exposure to television commercials (he almost never sees them unless we are watching something on Hulu), and we consider that a good thing. Not only that, since it's all on-demand, he can choose whatever fits his mood during the time he's allowed to watch stuff. And because the media is "always available", I think he's developing a kind of acceptance that it's okay to stop watching when he's bored because the content availability is not constrained to "now." In other words, it's far easier for him to leave a show midway when it's time for bed or something because he knows he can just pick it up later and continue some other day. This is a decidedly different experience than growing up with scheduled TV pre-DVR where every minute was precious and missing anything was a "big deal."

evilduck3• 15 years ago

Our 7 month old son also played a part in the decision. I'd rather him develop a habit of filling the majority of his idle time with less mentally and physically passive activities than television. Not that he can't ever watch TV, but I hope that we can find something else more entertaining together.

msluyter• 15 years ago

My girlfriend and I went AppleTV + Netflix about a year ago, and we haven't missed cable at all (I don't watch sports). The Netflix catalog is sub-optimal and lacking some important content (HBO shows like The Wire, for example) but it's also great if you have certain niche interests and like to watch an entire TV series (Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the X-Files, for example. And now Star Trek!).

We also tend to spend less overall time watching TV. There's something about the ease and pull of flipping cable channels that keeps you watching, whereas with Netflix, you have to actively commit to another episode/movie. That requires a certain cognitive effort and in most cases, we'll find that after one or two 30 minute (well, more like 22 minute) episodes, we're done for the evening.

evilduck3• 15 years ago

Our decision was pretty multifacted (see my other reply), but we also switched so we can also evaluate how we value what we watch, and force upon ourselves some changes of habit. It's a little bit of a lifestyle experiment.

When we blindly spent $60 a month and got unrestricted time access to channels, we ended up not thinking about how that money is spent entertaining us and how we valued what we watched. We weren't directly allocating money towards what we valued. The result was that the TV was always on, we'd be leaving on whatever came on next even if it was of little interest, turning on crap shows as background noise because "nothing else is on", turning it on in the bedroom and staying up later than necessary just because there was something to watch, putting off doing the dishes or housework until a commercial break, not watching it meant we were wasting the subscription cost, etc, etc. Not that I'm morally against what's on TV, I just think the passive nature of watching TV is a bad default way of life, overall it was just a toxic influence on our behavior.

By having to explicitly select and buy programming, we see where the time and money is spent and what we really value. The cost wasn't totally a primary factor; we're not hard up for the extra $30 a month saved or whatever but it's something we identified as wasteful spending for the derived entertainment value. We play a lot more background music in the house now to replace the TV noise, and I've also finished two additional books beyond my previous normal amount of reading since dropping satellite service (it was hard to focus and read in the other rooms when a TV was blaring).

Edit: just a note, we actually switched to this set of behaviors over a month ago and started down this path a few weeks before that, but finally cancelled the satellite subscription last week. It was a transition to change that many behaviors.

ww520• 15 years ago

www.topchan.tv is developed for people to seek alternative video content. Below are some examples of video not on the traditional TV.

The Game channel http://www.topchan.tv/show/public1/10 has game play recordings and streaming.

The VLOG channel http://www.topchan.tv/show/public1/12 has video blogs from people on Youtube.

The TED channel http://www.topchan.tv/show/public1/264 has the TED presentations.

adestefan3• 15 years ago

There's still one thing missing from the non-cable services: live sports.

jimbokun2• 15 years ago

But many of the sport web sites directly offer streaming over the internet.

I'm curious, actually, about the quality of soccer streaming channels available in the U.S.? I see there's the Fox soccer channel internet subscription, but is the quality any good? HD streaming? Other U.S. options?

corin_4• 15 years ago

I was actually looking just the other day to see what streaming options MLS had, and failed to find anything that would work purely online, without some sort of actual TV provider in America.

Are you wanting to know about MLS, or about foreign and international leagues/tournaments as well? (I don't have answers right now, but will look into the Fox subscription you mentioned and see how it is.)

krschultz• 15 years ago

If only I could just pay for football Sundays, March Madness, and the NBA playoffs. My TV sits idle the rest of the time.

rgraham• 15 years ago

Get an HDTV antenna. Fox and CBS broadcast most of the NFL games and they do so in HD, OTA for free. ABC buys you college football.

March Madness was streamed online this last go. Add CBS from above.

Get an internet provider that grants you ESPN 360 and you get most college football and half the NBA playoffs. I'm sure TNT will come around at some point for the other half. There is always a night out with friends.

migpwr• 15 years ago

I feel the same way and think I have something that might work. I don't know that it's legal but I think you can pay for access to Slingboxes with the different sports packages. It's what I'm considering so I can drop cable all together...

The only thing holding me back now is how attached my kiddo is to the DVR. We've tried a few things and it always proves too complicated or buggy...

smackfu2• 15 years ago

Apple TV has support for MLB and NBA, but the killer is lockouts. You still need the local channels on cable to actually watch it.

adestefan3• 15 years ago

I was confused at first, but I think you mean blackouts. This is especially true for the MLB where the local team retains the rights to the broadcast. Although the NBA lockout is going to be killer for this season too.

corin_4• 15 years ago

(I'm English and live in England).

Over here, the most important sports channels are all Sky Sports, and a few others (there's ESPN America which clones, well you can guess, and ESPN, which shows mostly games that Sky weren't as interested in). Those channels are available on either Sky (satellite) or Virgin Media (cable). Sky until recently had an online Sky Player that you could subscribe to for online watching, and had an iPhone/iPad app, and so on - but it was hardly cheaper than a normal satellite subscription. That has now been rebranded Sky Go or something, and will relaunch in a month or two.

But I'm a big fan of American sports (I guess in order my favourite sports are Baseball/Football(soccer)/Basketball/Cricket/American Football/etc), and some of the digital offerings from America are awesome. For example MLB TV, $120/season (that's roughly what I would pay for 2 months of Sky Sports), let's me watch any game live or on-demand (no blackouts thanks to living in England), I can watch on my PC, on my TV (through Boxee), on my iPad (seperate ~$15 cost to buy that)... it's awesome.

I think on this side of the pond we're going to take a while to get there, but for American sports, I think streaming services are going to explode in popularity really fast, in the next couple of years.

adestefan3• 15 years ago

It's the blackouts that kill you in the US. You can't watch your local team over the net because of that and most (all?) local games are broadcast on cable only networks. I fell really bad for the people in Iowa. They're blacked out from 5 markets.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/MLB_Black...

JoeAltmaier• 15 years ago

Is it too much to hope that Americans are getting outside more?

technoslut2• 15 years ago

No, we're getting fatter and lazier. If we're getting outside it's only to drive to our local fast food restaurant.

hippich• 15 years ago

Work in office during day, and work on personal projects during evenings.

Do not have TV for like.... a lot of years.

Found discount movie theater nearby and go there over weekends sometimes with my wife (she also totally busy during week).

You know what? When you go to movie theater just a few times per month - you really enjoy the show! And nice restaurant after is a great culmination =) Treat yourself, not bloat!

laconian• 15 years ago

What drove me to cut was this: the content is getting steadily worse, bandwidth is becoming exponentially cheaper for providers, and yet - the price just kept going up.

I would expect to pay less YOY instead!

My in-laws subscribe to a cable service in France called "Neuf", that gives them phone, television, and Internet for something like 30 euros a month. I turned green with envy when I discovered that. THAT is a price that I think is reasonable.

akeck• 15 years ago

We used to do cable service plus local video rental, because between spotty reception and the low resolution of broadcast TV, the experience wasn't that great. We would make the pilgrimage to the video store multiple times a week for everything else. We generally watch only the majors (ABC, etc.) and PBS affiliates, so the large channel selection of cable doesn't add much value. We made a decent antenna and now do over-the-air HDTV for our appointment viewing. It's gorgeous and free. We use Netflix DVD/streaming to get the rest of the content we watch. Netflix+Internet+OTA fulfills our needs at a much lower price point and much greater flexibility. The cable model needs improve to compete. It would be compelling for me with things like per-channel a la carte pricing and price parity between HD and SD service. The one thing I find compelling about the cable model today that's been hard for me to do personally is digital recording. For OTA HD recording, one either has to be able to afford TIVO or spend a significant amount of time and some money hand-building a DVR system.

The trickle of canceled cable TV subscribers last year has turned into a stream

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