Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[easysurfer]

The cord cutting has been good for us, but I have it in my mind that all good things must come to an end. I don't think it will be too long before the individual channels (or groups owned by same entity) will go to a subscription service (like the CBS All Access) and will start charging a lot of money to the streaming services. So, we will be back to the old model of "pay the streamers a lot" or pay for true ala carte pricing of $4-5 per channel or group of channels.

Have the same thought. Don't want to cut the cord but end up paying more for streaming than just staying corded.

 

[explanade]

I can believe streaming costs will go up but all these standalone services won't work out too well.

ESPN Plus for $5 seem ridiculous to me unless you have access to all their content, NFL and NBA games as well.

I mean you can get ESPN on Direct TV Now or Due right, with a bunch of other channels, for like $40?

Only the really big content owners will be able to have their standalone service. Disney will be able to because of the sheer amount of content. Netflix has a lot of content and Amazon and Apple have deep pockets.

So there could be 4 or 5 big services and the rest fight for scraps.

 

[Midpack]

I mean you can get ESPN on Direct TV Now or Due right, with a bunch of other channels, for like $40?

ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPN3 are included in the $20 Sling TV package too.

 

[Chuckanut]

I have found a great alternative to TV - Audio books. Not only are many of the stories very interesting and entertaining, but one can other simple things while listening.

It's hard for me to imagine having a big cable bill in the future. There are to many other forms of recreation and entertainment to spend money on.

 

[jmp470]

We cut the cord from Direct TV in February 2017, our bill was $105.

Upon cutting the cord, we had our internet provider install a direct fiber cable to the house, I had the house hard wired with CAT 6 cable, and we went with Amazon Prime and Netflix.

In January 2018, we went back to Direct TV, with a bill of $61. What we noticed is what everyone here has said. Every station, show, etc. is starting to charge for the privilege of viewing it.

Oh well, we tried.

 

[timo2]

I just read this interesting (to me) article about types of cord cutters. I guess I'll have to make up my own classification of 'cord shrinker' since I opted for the minimalist dish package and make up the difference in streaming movies and on-line news.

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/min...ern-around-the-subscriber-fee-gap-guest-post/

From the article: We traditionally consider cord cutters to be the 8-9 million U.S. households who, since the end of 2015, have cut the cord or are new households without a cord (sometimes called cord-nevers). Of this group, a good chunk (around 4 million households) now have a “virtual cord” through online services like Sling TV and YouTube TV (vMVPDs). This groups is sometimes called “cord savers”. But what about the other 4-5 million U.S. households? They form a new group of households that do not subscribe to cable-channel-bundles or “subscriber fee gap households.”

"The subscriber fee gap is a significant issue for broadcast networks and station groups. What was once close to 10 million homes not contributing fees to broadcast stations is now 30 million homes headed to 40+ million homes; a growing subscriber fee gap."

 

[ncbill]

Recently ATSC 3.0 was finalized and next year there should be TVs with ATSC 3.0 tuners, meaning you can receive 4K broadcasts with HDR.

Actually, the trend among manufacturers (particularly Vizio) is to delete tuners altogether and sell their 4K HDTVs as "UHD displays."

I very much doubt you will see ATSC 3.0 tuners (in HDTVs or stand-alone) for at least a couple of years.

The ATSC 3.0 rollout has been much slower than originally anticipated, complicated by factors such as the recent FCC "reverse auction" where the feds were trying to get broadcast stations to sell the right to their assigned channels so that bandwidth could then be sold to cellular companies or other commercial users.

Currently my state only has one test station broadcasting a low-power ATSC 3.0 signal.

 

[explanade]

Yeah there are a couple of tests going on right now.

If the tuners don't cost that much to add, they will be added. I think in South Korea they have them.

But no station has jumped in yet.

The other part of it is that Sinclair, which is the largest owner of TV stations, played a key role in defining ATSC 3.0, probably holds a lot of patents in it.

So they could convert their stations over, though there isn't much 4K HDR content to broadcast. But they could broadcast at 1080p too.

(Yes it's that Sinclair, which recently became infamous for the political messages which they forced their stations to read on the air)

 

[CaptTom]

"The subscriber fee gap is a significant issue for broadcast networks and station groups. What was once close to 10 million homes not contributing fees to broadcast stations is now 30 million homes headed to 40+ million homes; a growing subscriber fee gap."

I'd be in that group if my DW wasn't such a movie buff. I find more than I'll ever have time to watch right on YouTube, or the open web sites of networks and stations.

Plus, with my ad blockers and auto-play disablers on, I watch virtually NO commercials.

Does that make me part of the problem? Yes. I was perfectly content to watch commercials when there were fewer of them, they were less offensive and distracting, and didn't repeat quite as often. The current situation on TV, radio and web sites is just unacceptable. Fix it and I'll be glad to watch.

(Yes it's that Sinclair, which recently became infamous for the political messages which they forced their stations to read on the air)

Another reason not to pay them fees or watch their ads!

 

[Midpack]

From the article: We traditionally consider cord cutters to be the 8-9 million U.S. households who, since the end of 2015, have cut the cord or are new households without a cord (sometimes called cord-nevers). Of this group, a good chunk (around 4 million households) now have a “virtual cord” through online services like Sling TV and YouTube TV (vMVPDs). This groups is sometimes called “cord savers”. But what about the other 4-5 million U.S. households? They form a new group of households that do not subscribe to cable-channel-bundles or “subscriber fee gap households.”

"The subscriber fee gap is a significant issue for broadcast networks and station groups. What was once close to 10 million homes not contributing fees to broadcast stations is now 30 million homes headed to 40+ million homes; a growing subscriber fee gap."

First time I've heard of "virtual cord" or "cord savers." If Sling TV subscribers are "cord savers" and not "cord cutters," what does he consider a cord cutter - strictly OTA?

No big deal, but I'd always thought cord cutters/nevers were anyone who does not use cable or satellite at all - that's what most writers seem to assume and I'm sticking with that definition, not "cord savers." YMMV

And "subscriber fee gap households?" Really?

Definition - What does Cord Cutting mean? Cord cutting refers to the process of cutting expensive cable connections in order to change to a low-cost TV channel subscription through over-the-air (OT) free broadcast through antenna, or over-the-top (OTT) broadcast over the Internet. Cord cutting is a growing trend that is adversely affecting the cable industry.
Netflix, Apple TV and Hulu are some of the popular broadcasting services that encourage cord cutting. The cord cutting concept received a considerable amount of recognition beginning in 2010 as more Internet solutions became available. These broadcasters have convinced millions of cable and satellite subscribers to cut their cords and change to video streaming.

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28547/cord-cutting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord-cutting

 

[timo2]

First time I've heard of "virtual cord" or "cord savers." If Sling TV subscribers are "cord savers" and not "cord cutters," what does he consider a cord cutter - strictly OTA?

No big deal, but I'd always thought cord cutters/nevers were anyone who does not use cable or satellite at all - that's what most writers seem to assume and I'm sticking with that definition, not "cord savers." YMMV

And "subscriber fee gap households?" Really?
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28547/cord-cutting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord-cutting

This is probably the creeping of 'consultant speak' that takes over any industry if a situation gets common enough. Every expert or consultant has to make their own lingo to differentiate themselves for marketing purposes.

 

[mpeirce]

Apparently local broadcast stations get a fee for each local cable subscriber from the cable companies and they have have become dependent on this income.

Kind of ironic if you ask me that local broadcast stations are negatively impacted when people actually watch them over the air. I guess they could live off ad revenue in the olden days (pre-cable), but not now.

 

[timo2]

The phrase in the article
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/mind...ap-guest-post/ from cord cutters news: "Perhaps trying to control distribution too much is the riskier tactic, particularly for live linear investments. " clearly applies to Major League Baseball. They have tightly controlled who can see the games and where they can be seen. Basically, it now costs a chunk of change to watch live MLB teams. Either one has to get the appropriately high priced cable or satellite package, or they have have to pay get on MLB. And the MLB blackout policies are ridiculous, even after the class action lawsuit a couple of years ago.

Besides being annoying to us fans, this short sighted policy will further erode the loss of younger fans. If a child's parents can't afford the price to watch MLB at home, that's one more child that may choose basketball or some other sport to follow instead of baseball.

 

[wmc1000]

"subscriber fee gap households" I guess that's us - since 2010!

 

[Cobra9777]

First time I've heard of "virtual cord" or "cord savers." If Sling TV subscribers are "cord savers" and not "cord cutters," what does he consider a cord cutter - strictly OTA?

No big deal, but I'd always thought cord cutters/nevers were anyone who does not use cable or satellite at all - that's what most writers seem to assume and I'm sticking with that definition, not "cord savers." YMMV...

If all a person did was drop a basic cable/satellite TV package and replace it with a similar Sling or PS Vue package, that doesn't really sound like "cord-cutting" to me. That sounds like someone tweaked their TV package (perhaps a leaner channel line-up for a better price) and changed to a different provider and distribution channel (streaming). They're still consuming the same basic product, dominated by "live" TV and commercials. Sure, there's typically cloud DVR and on-demand, but the old cable/satellite packages have that same basic functionality as well.

It's my understanding that the term "cord-cutters" originally referred to an entirely different way of watching TV... no live TV at all, no commercials, no skipping commercials with a DVR, no STBs, no schedules or electronic program guides, a rejection of most traditional network and cable programming, binge watching a season at a time, streaming providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime with their own highly-rated original programming, and lots of smaller niche providers like Curiosity Stream and BritBox that you can add for a month, catch up on new offerings, and then drop for a few months.

I suppose the word could have evolved over time, which is totally fine. I don't think it is particularly productive to debate whether that should or should not have changed, or if it even did. But I do think it's worth thinking about approaching TV in a completely new way. Not just "streaming" the same old product.

 

[Ally]

Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV)

I called our cable service today and asked how much my bill will be if we drop tv and just have internet. I told them we mostly watch streaming shows. They came back with an offer cutting our tv bill for a year by $36 a month, paying for Netflix for a year, and adding the sports channels free that we had cut off awhile back to back save money. So I guess that postpones our decision for awhile.

 

[UpAnchor]

I have found a great alternative to TV - Audio books. Not only are many of the stories very interesting and entertaining, but one can other simple things while listening.

It's hard for me to imagine having a big cable bill in the future. There are to many other forms of recreation and entertainment to spend money on.

I'm totally with you. DW not so much.

 

[audreyh1]

I just read this interesting (to me) article about types of cord cutters. I guess I'll have to make up my own classification of 'cord shrinker' since I opted for the minimalist dish package and make up the difference in streaming movies and on-line news.

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/min...ern-around-the-subscriber-fee-gap-guest-post/

From the article: We traditionally consider cord cutters to be the 8-9 million U.S. households who, since the end of 2015, have cut the cord or are new households without a cord (sometimes called cord-nevers). Of this group, a good chunk (around 4 million households) now have a “virtual cord” through online services like Sling TV and YouTube TV (vMVPDs). This groups is sometimes called “cord savers”. But what about the other 4-5 million U.S. households? They form a new group of households that do not subscribe to cable-channel-bundles or “subscriber fee gap households.”

"The subscriber fee gap is a significant issue for broadcast networks and station groups. What was once close to 10 million homes not contributing fees to broadcast stations is now 30 million homes headed to 40+ million homes; a growing subscriber fee gap."

So we’re a subscriber fee gap household?

I suppose the piling of individual streaming options may happen eventually, but we haven’t needed to bundle or expand. We’ve been watching the same three streams for years now Netflix, Amazon Prime and PBS.

 

[audreyh1]

If all a person did was drop a basic cable/satellite TV package and replace it with a similar Sling or PS Vue package, that doesn't really sound like "cord-cutting" to me. That sounds like someone tweaked their TV package (perhaps a leaner channel line-up for a better price) and changed to a different provider and distribution channel (streaming). They're still consuming the same basic product, dominated by "live" TV and commercials. Sure, there's typically cloud DVR and on-demand, but the old cable/satellite packages have that same basic functionality as well.

It's my understanding that the term "cord-cutters" originally referred to an entirely different way of watching TV... no live TV at all, no commercials, no skipping commercials with a DVR, no STBs, no schedules or electronic program guides, a rejection of most traditional network and cable programming, binge watching a season at a time, streaming providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime with their own highly-rated original programming, and lots of smaller niche providers like Curiosity Stream and BritBox that you can add for a month, catch up on new offerings, and then drop for a few months.

I suppose the word could have evolved over time, which is totally fine. I don't think it is particularly productive to debate whether that should or should not have changed, or if it even did. But I do think it's worth thinking about approaching TV in a completely new way. Not just "streaming" the same old product.

That makes sense to me. We watch no live TV, no commercials, no schedules, streaming on demand only. We watch a lot of original content and these days thru Netflix are watching a huge amount of non-English foreign produced content that we never had access to before. It’s like the world has opened up. It’s such a different experience from the old cable days (which increasingly bored us out of our minds).

 

[Scuba]

We cut our cable a few months ago. We only watched NFL football, two shows on HGTV, and Turner Classic Movies. Decided we could give up TCM & HGTV so we’re saving around $100/month now. When football season starts, we’ll have to see about how we can get live NFL. Does anyone know a way to get live NFL games without having cable?

 

[Dawg52]

We cut our cable a few months ago. We only watched NFL football, two shows on HGTV, and Turner Classic Movies. Decided we could give up TCM & HGTV so we’re saving around $100/month now. When football season starts, we’ll have to see about how we can get live NFL. Does anyone know a way to get live NFL games without having cable?

You can always pick up the major NW games via OTA. If you want whats on ESPN and the NFL Network you will have to subscribe to something like PS Vue or DTV Now for a few months. Plus you will get to see TCM and HGTV during that time too. If you don't need the NFL NW, Sling Orange is a good option. Only $20/mo. I used to do that when I cut the cord and wanted to see more college football.

 

[GTFan]

If all a person did was drop a basic cable/satellite TV package and replace it with a similar Sling or PS Vue package, that doesn't really sound like "cord-cutting" to me. That sounds like someone tweaked their TV package (perhaps a leaner channel line-up for a better price) and changed to a different provider and distribution channel (streaming). They're still consuming the same basic product, dominated by "live" TV and commercials. Sure, there's typically cloud DVR and on-demand, but the old cable/satellite packages have that same basic functionality as well.

Yup, they call that 'cord-shaving'. You're still going to have a cord for internet, at least until Musk's new satellite network gets up and running. If it ever does (see: Tesla model 3).

https://www.space.com/39785-spacex-internet-satellites-starlink-constellation.html

 

[mpeirce]

We watch a lot of original content and these days thru Netflix are watching a huge amount of non-English foreign produced content

We've noticed the increased availability of foreign content on Netflix too. Some of it's eh, but much of it is pretty good. A refreshing change of pace from the same retreads Hollywood puts out.

Worth a try if you haven't.

 

[zinger1457]

I called our cable service today and asked how much my bill will be if we drop tv and just have internet. I told them we mostly watch streaming shows. They came back with an offer cutting our tv bill for a year by $36 a month, paying for Netflix for a year, and adding the sports channels free that we had cut off awhile back to back save money. So I guess that postpones our decision for awhile.

If you're willing to change providers (satellite or cable) or do what Ally did and renegotiate you can keep your monthly rate at a reasonable rate. I've had satellite (Dish/DirecTV) for 20 years and doubt I've ever paid more than $70/month, currently paying $60/month for DirecTV. And that's for one of the higher price packages (must have Golf Channel) with a DVR. OTA isn't an option where I live and the streaming packages don't provide locals out here.

 

[Music Lover]

Another reason not to pay them fees or watch their ads!

The "mainstream" channels aren't forced to be political, but they don't have to be as they've all been doing it willingly for decades.