Article: Traditional TV Providers No Longer Cutting Deals to Keep Customers

[Zookster]

Traditional TV providers no longer seem interested in offering deals to retain their lower-paying pay TV customers, according to a recent Bloomberg article. Unfortunately, you'll be stuck paying for ever-increasing internet prices. From the article:

“It used to be when customers would call and said, ‘I’m thinking of cutting the cord,’ they’d throw all sort of promotions to keep them from leaving,” said Craig Moffett, an industry analyst at MoffettNathanson LLC. “Now they’re saying, ‘Goodbye, it’s been fun, enjoy the broadband subscription.’”

...

But cable executives are now focused on what they call “profitable” or “high-quality” video subscribers and less interested in cutting deals. At another investor conference in May, Comcast Chief Financial Officer Mike Cavanagh said he wants a subscriber who “really values video and our bundle despite the increases in prices,” and has “the wallet for a fuller video experience.”

Culling Customers
At the same conference, AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson said his company, which owns the satellite provider DirecTV, is “cleaning up the customer base” by letting go of subscribers who insist on keeping promotional prices when their contracts expire.

Pay-TV providers are making up for the lost revenue by charging everyone more. When subscribers cancel cable TV, they no longer get a discount for bundling TV with internet. When Optimum customers around the New York area cancel TV service, they also typically upgrade to faster -- more expensive -- internet, Altice USA CEO Dexter Goei said last month.
​

The good news is, depending on your area, you might still be able to negotiate your internet price. Last week, I got a sweet deal from Cox because AT&T Fiber is now a big competitor in my neighborhood. Instead of $84/mo for my 100 Mbps service from Cox, I'll now be paying $60/mo for that same 100 Mbps by bundling it with a home monitoring service (equipment and installation were free). No contract and the price is good for 24 months.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Comcast Chief Financial Officer Mike Cavanagh said he wants a subscriber who “really values video and our bundle despite the increases in prices,” and has “the wallet for a fuller video experience.”

I can't believe he actually said that. Alienating a huge portion of your potential customer base by outright saying you only want people with fat wallets is absolutely ludicrous.

 

[Bobby]

Reminds me of something Charlie said during a Charlie Chat years ago. It did not go over well....

 

[navychop]

I’m sure that CFO is well aware that very few customers will ever be aware he said that.


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[comfortably_numb]

I’m sure that CFO is well aware that very few customers will ever be aware he said that.


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A lot of his customers (and potential customers) are members of this forum, which is also indexed on Google. I hope many people read what he said!

 

[harshness]

A lot of his customers (and potential customers) are members of this forum, which is also indexed on Google. I hope many people read what he said!

I'd guess that maybe a few hundred out of over 27 million will occasion to see the quote. Seeing it will probably not change their opinion.

It isn't a crime to want the best customers. These businesses aren't charities.

Shame on those who thought they had figured out a sure-fire way around feeding the cable pig.

 

[Zookster]

It doesn't matter what a cable company's CEO said as much as how that attitude (and policy) trickles down to the CSR's and retention department people. With that said, it's certainly the right of traditional pay TV services to shift their approach in catering to elite clientele with sizable disposable incomes while shafting longtime loyal customers. Good luck with that when there's finally more options and competition in the internet services space!

Shame on those who thought they had figured out a sure-fire way around feeding the cable pig.

No need to shame people who are doing the best they can financially and no longer see enough value in spending $100+ just for their TV service and who only want similar deals to the ones new customers get without switching services every other year.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Even some broadband companies are eliminating or significantly reducing retention efforts. I have DSL through Consolidated Communications and once my "new customer pricing" expires in October, it goes up almost $40. I've already asked them if they have any existing customer promotions to continue the reduced pricing and they said "Nope, you can cancel for 30 days then come back as a new customer, that's your only option." How stupid is that approach? Fire the good paying customers and treat them like crap?

 

[ncted]

I'd guess that maybe a few hundred out of over 27 million will occasion to see the quote. Seeing it will probably not change their opinion.

It isn't a crime to want the best customers. These businesses aren't charities.

Shame on those who thought they had figured out a sure-fire way around feeding the cable pig.

I agree it isn't a crime to want the best customers. However, I don't know whether it is a smart business move to prefer the elite customers over the volume customers. Maybe it is, if they've already decided that the volume customer is going to go elsewhere anyway. I don't know anyone IRL who has traditional cable/satellite that isn't on a skinny package other than my parents. They would switch to an OTT service, and would probably be perfectly happy, but the channel selection just isn't there. Sling needs an Over-65 package if you ask me, with whatever my parents watch.

As for those trying to avoid feeding the pig, as you put it, I just don't see that I would get enough value out of a full cable/satellite package to justify the cost. I don't watch enough TV. I probably spend more time on SatelliteGuys each day than I do actually watching TV, the majority of what I do watch is not on Dish, and that ratio continues to slant more towards streaming as every year passes. It is a fact of life that I am unlikely to leave Dish for anything other than OTA and/or OTT, and the latter is a lot like cable, and will probably end up costing as much in the end.

 

[Tampa8]

I'd guess that maybe a few hundred out of over 27 million will occasion to see the quote. Seeing it will probably not change their opinion.

It isn't a crime to want the best customers. These businesses aren't charities.

Shame on those who thought they had figured out a sure-fire way around feeding the cable pig.

And DISH (Charlie) said at the time they were not interested in keeping customers who do not pay. Not the same thing as only wanting people with fat wallets.
In the business classes I took (a long time ago) the idea was you can carry customers in the good times, hope they pay what is owed even give breaks to keep their business. But in the lean times you can't keep customers who do not pay.

 

[ncted]

Even some broadband companies are eliminating or significantly reducing retention efforts. I have DSL through Consolidated Communications and once my "new customer pricing" expires in October, it goes up almost $40. I've already asked them if they have any existing customer promotions to continue the reduced pricing and they said "Nope, you can cancel for 30 days then come back as a new customer, that's your only option." How stupid is that approach? Fire the good paying customers and treat them like crap?

If I lose my $50 100/100 deal from AT&T that was supposed to be "for life," I will likely cancel and then switch to toast.net.

 

[navychop]

I pay Dish $133.46/month.
I pay FIOS $113.46/month for Internet and land line.

With an offer thru my employer, I could get the FiOS triple play for much less. $99.99/month for gigabit, land line and Extreme. I THINK. And they’ll give me a $200 Chromebook or $200 toward a Samsung product.

Could this be true? Looks like I could get the FiOS bundle and just never hook up the TV part and still save money, and with a much faster connection. I think I have 50/50 now, a discontinued product.

Something to think about.

We are hooked into Dish with TBs of EHD recordings and Hopper GO, and use DA.

BUT- Money doesn’t talk, it swears.

Time to discuss with SWMBO.


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[comfortably_numb]

Time to discuss with SWMBO

SWMBO? Single White Male Bearded Octopus?

Sorry, in all seriousness I have no idea what SWMBO means...

 

[navychop]

She Who Must Be Obeyed!


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[TheKrell]

Reminds me of something Charlie said during a Charlie Chat years ago.

Just send in your paychecks? I was laughing so hard I cried! I thought it went over great. We (or at least most of us) knew what he meant to say.

 

[primestar31]

Even some broadband companies are eliminating or significantly reducing retention efforts. I have DSL through Consolidated Communications and once my "new customer pricing" expires in October, it goes up almost $40. I've already asked them if they have any existing customer promotions to continue the reduced pricing and they said "Nope, you can cancel for 30 days then come back as a new customer, that's your only option." How stupid is that approach? Fire the good paying customers and treat them like crap?

Didn't you say your daughter lives with you? Cancel under your name, sign up under her name as a new customer. By the time her promo runs out, you can sign up under your name again as a new customer.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Didn't you say your daughter lives with you?

Yes, but she's only 15.

 

[primestar31]

Yes, but she's only 15.

They don't know that, and I doubt they'd care.

 

[navychop]

Well, of course my reading of the offer was only the surface. By the time I add in the extra fees, the FiOS bill would be around $158. Even if I cut back my Dish programming, and watched the EHDs, I’d save maybe $50/month. Not worth it. No more EHDs on current FiOS DVRs around here, so I’d have only 200 hrs recorded, tops.

Why was I dumb enough to spend time considering this again? It would only make sense if Dish went under or cut access to programs on EHDs. If they did the latter, I’d be gone. I suspect they’d lose so many customers it would truly be the end. Would the content owners squeeze the golden goose that hard? Self defeating.


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[MikeD-C05]

NO more discounts than I will switch from DISH to Sling tv. Between Sling blue and Philo tv and my tablo 4 tuner for ota recording I will have everything covered for less than DISH charges with their FEES. I have already researched all the different options and Sling blue + news +dvr would only be $35.00. Add to that the Philo tv for $17.00 and I am only paying $52.00 for everything a month and I get everything I want. Philo has unlimited DVR for all my wife's decorating channels plus the ghost shows etc. The 50 hr dvr for Sling will cover the few cable shows we still record.

Come First of the year I am going to cut the cord and see if we can live with these two services plus the tablo . We are already using the Tablo for all our local recordings since I dropped satellite locals last summer. So I saved $144.00 in locals fees $12.00 x 12 months in July. That savings paid for my lifetime subscription to Tablo. So after July I am really saving money.

The one thing that has galled me about Satellite tv is the FEES for DVR and FEES for additonal receivers. I dropped the joeys off in two rooms and added the Amazon fire sticks so you can still watch tv if you want,but only one at a time. Going all streaming will be an adjustment but I look forward to never seeing the LOST SIGNAL message when it rains.