The Cord Cutting Conundrum

[sergei]

Found this on the Bridge web site and thought some members if they haven't seen it before might find it interesting.

The BRIDGE - December 2010 - 3Q10: The Cord Cutting Conundrum

 

[Desertnight]

Interesting, sergei. Though I did not explore the rest of the Bridge to see what else might be said about the 1.56 million subscribers lost in 2010, the loss of subscribers is obvious -- unemployment and a tough economy. Yeah, when people look for luxuries to cut back on, pay tv would be one of the first things to go. Such a waste of money to pay for "forced on us" programming that is not watched.

 

[Davage]

I believe that the transition from analog to digital, and the ability for people to get FREE Hi-Def signals over the air with no monthly bills, has played a part in people cutting the cord.

 

[Blindowl1234]

And to think at the beginning of the year most will raise their prices to the consumer too. There's more and more ways for people to watch the shows they want to see rather than DBS or cable than a few years ago. I imagine in another 10 years cable etc...may have to re-invent themselves to stay in business just like the phone companies are doing...Blind

 

[jh98]

The article cited internet-delivered video as another major reason. Despite the cable companies losing video subscribers, all of the providers listed in the article's chart showed big increases in high-speed internet subscribers.

 

[chum1976]

I cancelled dish network and earthlink dial-up for broadband this spring, and love it. I was paying $22.00 for dial-up and my phone company matched their price. I get 11 crystal clear channels OTA plus I stream movies and shows. Once I get my FTA system going then I am set. I bet the majority of dish subscribers are using the cheapest package.

 

[mikelib]

And to think at the beginning of the year most will raise their prices to the consumer too. There's more and more ways for people to watch the shows they want to see rather than DBS or cable than a few years ago. I imagine in another 10 years cable etc...may have to re-invent themselves to stay in business just like the phone companies are doing...Blind

Good insite Blind, spent 40 years in the phone business and the internet has become a disruptive technology for the phone business even with the phone companies carrying the bulk of the internet traffic.
mikelib

 

[comfrey]

I cut that cord 20 years ago when some accountant in the local cable station (which had a monopoly) thought charging extra per television/hi-fi connection was a good idea.
Greed! plain and simple.

 

[Mr Tony]

Tried that for maybe 6 months...hated it

Need more variety And with some of the sports feeds scrambling (I'll leave it at that) its worth it for a backup. Oh and the MLB Net rocks!

 

[eurosport]

My wife and kids like our Dish Network sub. DVR for the wife, and kid channels for the kids. Me? I'd cut the darn thing off today and not miss it! ...if it was just me.

 

[PopcornNMore]

My wife and kids like our Dish Network sub. DVR for the wife, and kid channels for the kids. Me? I'd cut the darn thing off today and not miss it! ...if it was just me.

Same thing here. The only reason I keep Dish Network is for the wife and daughter. I'm usually watching OTA or FTA satellite.

 

[Mr Tony]

Same thing here. The only reason I keep Dish Network is for the wife and daughter. I'm usually watching OTA or FTA satellite.

I dont know if you knew this but CMT right now has a Green Acres marathon all day today (until like midnight)
I watched the Dukes of Hazzard one on Friday

 

[PopcornNMore]

I dont know if you knew this but CMT right now has a Green Acres marathon all day today (until like midnight)
I watched the Dukes of Hazzard one on Friday

Thank you for letting me know. I just turned it on. Green Acres is one of my favorites.

 

[TimLones111]

I'd probably cut down some on the Cable if it werent for my wife..She loves "Charmed" Though its been off the air for several years now and she's seen every episode numerous times..Also likes Young and The Restless and Bold and the Beautiful on CBS, as well as HGTV..For all the TV I have, I dont watch that much..

 

[toucan-man]

For what it's worth, and I'm a sorry to be a bit vague on this since there was a problem with the podcast, but on this past weeks Sat Talk on Access America, a caller insisted that Charlie Ergen said recently that he believes a la carte is the future. It wasn't April Fools Day, could this statement be real?

There are some channels Charlie has I would gladly purchase if I didn't need a package to get them. Can anyone verify that Charlie is looking at a la carte? Sounds too good to be true.

 

[sergei]

For what it's worth, and I'm a sorry to be a bit vague on this since there was a problem with the podcast, but on this past weeks Sat Talk on Access America, a caller insisted that Charlie Ergen said recently that he believes a la carte is the future. It wasn't April Fools Day, could this statement be real?
There are some channels Charlie has I would gladly purchase if I didn't need a package to get them. Can anyone verify that Charlie is looking at a la carte? Sounds too good to be true.

A La Carte from Dish (Charlie Ergen) you must have had audio break up or maybe you were in "Never-Never Land".

 

[toucan-man]

A La Carte from Dish (Charlie Ergen) you must have had audio break up or maybe you were in "Never-Never Land".

Haha, take a listen to the show,

http://uddle.com/sattalk/sattalk%2012-29-10.mp3

There is terrible audio break up in the podcast. Maybe Charlie put on his Captain Midnight hat and hacked into Sat Talk with his a la carte fake Santa Claus message.

 

[Blindowl1234]

I doubt we'll see anything A la Carte...Wow we could all pick 20 worthwhile channels and ditch all the ones with the endless repeats and infommercials lol...I kept the $10 package that Dish had during the digital transition so the wife can watch HGTV, and WE...I personally wouldn't have that myself. If you listen to people complain how they have 200 channels and there's nothing to watch...I hope they realize what they are paying each month and wake up! I remember when I grew up in the 60's we had 3 channels..maybe 4 all in black and white and we thought we had it made....it was free too. I can't get suckered in at $60-70 a month for Tv...Blind

 

[freezy]

DcTV is jacking their rates in Feb. They didn't list what was going to happen to the basic 29.99 package on the email notification. It's still a garbage deal unless you have small kids and love home shopping, home renovation and God channels.

The only thing we miss is mythbusters. Where can we see the newer episodes?

Otherwise we could cut too

 

[Cadsulfide]

5+ years with no programming bill. 4 OTA ATSC, 4 OTA analog (Winnipeg, MB) and 50+ channels I like on FTA.

Total system cost ~ $700 (spread out over 5 yrs)
Cost of 5 yrs of pizza dish/ cable @ $39/mo = $2340....(read as your $$$ sent to Mr. Ergin, et al)
Savings to spend on other things like gasoline, dinner in town, etc = $1640