Cable getting rid of cable

[Juan]

Cable Provider Quits Pay-TV, Says They'll Coach You Through Cutting the Cord - Cord Cutters News

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[navychop]

They’re not the first.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys App. For now.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Never heard of them. They should have tried to get bought by Comcast, Spectrum, Consolidated, Cox, or any number of other bigger players.

 

[harshness]

There's likely to be some push-back from the gubmint if they cut off local channels (perhaps the primary reason that a cable provider would want out of the TV business).

I suppose a lot of the franchise agreements were based on video subscribers so where is that money (for cable access and other programs) going to come from?

 

[osu1991]

They aren’t dumping locals, they will be available as a streaming service according to the article.

 

[Bobby]

and even if they did dump them, is the government going to force them to stay in business just for the locals? I don't think so....

 

[harshness]

and even if they did dump them, is the government going to force them to stay in business just for the locals? I don't think so....

I think they might try it. There are areas in the US where there is practically no OTA signal to be had and many of them do have (or had) access to cable TV.

There are probably fewer dependencies with cable TV than there are with broadband.

My local Comcast is offering a 15Mbps plan for $52/month and I suspect that is their answer to "lifeline service" (even though it doesn't include TV channels). I think the basic OTT service they offer is around $30/month. Lifeline service at $82/month isn't going to fly.

 

[Bobby]

Unless the government wants to take over the failing cable system and run it they don’t stand a chance of forcing someone to operate it for little to no money.

 

[harshness]

Unless the government wants to take over the failing cable system and run it they don’t stand a chance of forcing someone to operate it for little to no money.

I think I recall hearing of at least two cable companies that were taken over by the gubmint jurisdiction in such an event.

 

[Ypsiguy]

They should just send their locals down the pipe via clear QAM. Most TV tuners will receive it.

 

[harshness]

They should just send their locals down the pipe via clear QAM. Most TV tuners will receive it.

That's something for Congress to decide. At this point, most cable operators have gone the opposite direction because they want to be paid for delivering programming that they have to pay a pretty penny for.