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anony1
@comcast.net | Re: It's all about the Benjamins "How many left cable for OTA television, I wonder?"
And now they are coming back due to DTV hassles, confusion.
TWC reported this in recent quarterly results. Comcast mentioned it without specific numbers. | |
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eric_n_dfw
join:2001-10-22
Euless, TX
 ·EarthLink
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: It's all about the Benjamins said by anony1 :
"How many left cable for OTA television, I wonder?"
And now they are coming back due to DTV hassles, confusion.
TWC reported this in recent quarterly results. Comcast mentioned it without specific numbers.
I'm not really sure what confusion there is and the only hassle would be for those living outside of DTV range.
The converter box, AFAIK, is no more complex than a cable box anyway. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by anony1 :
"How many left cable for OTA television, I wonder?"
And now they are coming back due to DTV hassles, confusion.
TWC reported this in recent quarterly results. Comcast mentioned it without specific numbers.
What hassels and confusion? Hell the HD signals form OTA are better than what cable or satellite provide. And the SD signals look just as good if not better than cable/satelite. And they're FREE. How hard it is to hook an antenna to your TV? | |
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S_engineer
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL | Re: It's all about the Benjamins Nice IM....its the cowards way out...but it was expected!
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BF69~~~Please stop suffocating gerbils! | |
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MalibuMaxx
join:2007-02-06
Chesterton, IN
 ·Comcast
| The digital dropoff rate is much higher that analog... for those people they have to add amps and extra equipement... i.e. rotors... omnidirectional ant... etc... So thanks to this transition there still is confusion and most definity issues.
As for me I always had an amp and a huge antenna with a rotor so nothing affected me but in this area id say im a very small portion of the population around here that is "ready" for OTA signal. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: It's all about the Benjamins said by MalibuMaxx  :The digital dropoff rate is much higher that analog... for those people they have to add amps and extra equipement... i.e. rotors... omnidirectional ant... etc... So thanks to this transition there still is confusion and most definity issues. As for me I always had an amp and a huge antenna with a rotor so nothing affected me but in this area id say im a very small portion of the population around here that is "ready" for OTA signal. MOST are ready. Think about it MOST people live within 25 miles of a big city. Those people need a simple indoor antenna to get channels in. People no longer getting channels in really weren't getting in those channels anyways. People think because they loss a very snowy picture they are losing something. These people SHOULD have had outdoor antenna and pre-amps and rotors in the first place.
Ok I live in a fringe area( 70 miles from Nashville ) so I need an outdoor antenna and an amp. Big deal. If you want a high quality DB 8 will run you $150-$200 and a high quality pre-amp is another $75-$100 max. What's that 2-3 months of cable service and that's basically a one time cost.
And actually you COULD build your own DB8. And for cheaper. hell right now I'm using a prototype DB2 I built and I'm watching Ch 2 out of Nashville right now( 4 PM ). A BD 2 is technically a 30 mile range antenna. Cost me $10 in parts to build plus $25 for the cheap wal-mart pre-amp. After June 12th the Ch 4 and Ch 5 signals will be stronger than Ch 2. At night I can get in Fox 17 and WB 58. Stations I supposedly can't get in according to antennaweb.org, DTv.gov and tvfool. This all of a DB2 I made with coat hangers and grill covers.
Anyone that thinks that people that watch TV OTA are LOSING out on anything is an idiot. No snow, a picture BETTER than cable. FREE HD if you have a HDTV and MORE channels. for example my local PBS stations now has 3 channels instead of one. Yeah MORE choices and a better picture sucks. | |
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True_But
@sbcglobal.net | I live 40 miles away from the actual TV stations and 30 miles from the antennae yet I can not use OTA. Why? Because there are some mountains in between me and the signal. It would be nice though... | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: It's all about the Benjamins I live 40 miles from the antenna (Mt. Wilson), and get ~53 channels including subs. Fine tuning of a directional antenna + preamp is needed. I've got +1 mountain between me and a Mt Wilson.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17 | Re: It's all about the Benjamins I'd like to have your story. | |
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tmh
@qwest.net
| said by Boomerang86 :I didn't leave cable, but I did downgrade to save money recently. Cable hasn't gotten worse for me in terms of performance, it's just too damned expensive for what you get. How many left cable for OTA television, I wonder? That's still free. I did. I built my own UHF antenna (»forums.snapstream.com/vb/home-th···now.html) and I got 30+ digital channels OTA, some from up to 26 miles away.
The video quality is excellent, with the occassional (rare) dropout. The analog equivalent, which I assume comes from the same location and distance, is pretty crappy in comparison.
Many stations have subchannels (x.1, x.2, etc.) that carry alternative programming like sports, movies, etc.
No more tied to stupid cable programming. | |
| | cornelius785
join:2006-10-26
Worcester, MA
| I'm one that dumped cable for OTA DTV, got a little fed up with another price hike (going up faster than inflation for something that isn't tied to something that isn't limited by how much there is, like milk, gas, food, etc.) to $80. i could have down graded, to just basic extened, but still fairly expensive, or further to just basic cable consisting of the OTA channels. At that point, why bother with cable at all, unless you can't get anything without spending lots of money on an expensive setup
with my home made DB-8 antennae, which I should tweak with individual rods to their proper lenghts as they vary an inch total overall, I get channels 30 to 40 miles out. Although my viewing habits have changed, I'm surprise it doesn't suck as much as I expected, especially with mythtv to record stuff at the weird hours for me to enjoy when convenient. I just hope OTA television stays free and easy to record, as in no forced compliance of the broadcast flag, but in that case I'd get something that doesn't observe that flag, which do exist. | |
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OPPs
@comcast.net | Losing Customers YEP, ever time they raise the rates, they think there making more money, but they are losing more customers, even though they account for that in the long run, they lose more....in 10 - 20 years there will be no more catv only dish.WAY TO GO..... | |
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tubbynet
reminds me of the danse russe
Premium
join:2008-01-16
Chandler, AZ
·Cox HSI
 ·Callcentric
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·FrontierNet Intern..
| Re: TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year said by TKJunkMail :Well it looks like, so far at least, online video viewing is not replacing, but is supplementing regular TV viewership. thats because online viewership is still relatively impractical. sure, there is ota and devices like the roku, but the majority of online streaming still needs to be done with a computer to access a website. while you *could* have a laptop/netbook with an hdmi out into an hdtv with a wireless keyboard and mouse, its not practical in all situations. add that to the fact that channels such as espn et al *won't* put content online or charge high fees for doing so. i was (and still am) a big sports guy. if i was going to be paying money for something like mlb.tv, why would i pay that much for just baseball when i could pay a comparable amount and get all sports?
the pricing to content ratio still just isn't low enough to make it a sweet deal. i dropped cable for ota/netflix/hulu and while it *does* save me about $70/month, there are still times when i wish i could just sit down and watch cable.
q.
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"...if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself..." | |
| | | dealing3000
join:2001-06-14
Chatham, NJ
·Verizon FIOS
| Re: TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year We are also increasingly seeing TV's and other TV appliances (Blue Ray devices, Tivo, etc) coming with built in support for internet video. Whether it is youtube, Amazon, Netflix, custom formats (Sony for instance) it is all pointing to video over the internet. The cable TV infrastructure will slowly become less relevant with each passing year as a greater percentage of people are able to view what they want on their TV devices independent of a cable/satellite/telco TV signal. Whether it is add supported or pay per channel it is definitely moving in that direction. The one stop shop of the cable TV industry is over, plain and simple. It is just not worth the money as the price of cable TV has gone up incredibly. Look at what channels like ESPN charge per subscriber and you can see where all the $$ goes. I will be damned if I am going to pay upwards of $100 a month just to view live college and NFL football. If it was not for that I would have dumped cable TV a long time ago. | |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17 | Re: TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year Except with content delivery competition, they'll have to earn your dollars by providing better content at lower prices... | |
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espaeth
Digital Plumber
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·voip.ms
·Vitelity VOIP
·Callcentric
·VoiceStick
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
·Embarq
| Re: TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year said by SLD :Except with content delivery competition, they'll have to earn your dollars by providing better content at lower prices... Nice idea, but there is already content delivery competition. Even with cable, DirecTV, Dish, U-Verse, and FiOS TV we are all paying about the same amount for content even though each company tries to negotiate better deals.
With the biggest expense being sports programming, ultimately the costs are determined by the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, etc. | |
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58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Re: TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year I'm still waiting for the non-sports tier. By industry logic it should cost about $15/mo. The big-business, for-profit NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, etc. can go pound sand. | |
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SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17
·Comcast
2 edits | That is why opening the delivery systems to real competition such as IP delivered content from *any* source (ie HULU) will provide the true benefits to consumers. But with the incumbents trying to squash that through caps, and because much current content isn't available through those distribution channels, you don't have competition. I can only purchase current Showtime content via my cable provider (who only "competes" with satelite), and I can't purchase any of the current shows directly from Showtime or on Hulu, etc.
Cable vs. satelite isn't really competition, nor is any duopoly. When Fios and satelite and cable compete, it is noticably better, but the value is still limited. The sporting networks you mentioned would have to drop the costs or break out of packages if you could purchase the non-sports content elsewhere. | |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| said by tubbynet : if i was going to be paying money for something like mlb.tv, why would i pay that much for just baseball when i could pay a comparable amount and get all sports? mlb.tv was $110 for this season or $18.33 a month. And I'm sorry espn only provides me with maybe a handful of Rays games MLB.tv has ALL of them. That's 69 cents a game. That's not really expensive in my book. By the way the cable/sat verison which is called Extra Innings is $180. So I save $70 a year by going with internet. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| I'll be leaving Cable TV next month I'm currently on the 'All the Best' package on TWC - $90 + fees = $101
By mid summer, the 'All The Best' package will be $119 + fees.
I've had issues every month (more than DirectTV in + 5 years of service), and they want to charge me ... MORE ?
I've got my OTA HD set up with currently 53 channels, I'm just waiting to see what else I can pull in after June cutover.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
| me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | Could HD be a part of it? Uverse has like 100 Hd FiOS has like one less than DTV, DTV has the most. If I could get cable I still would not not enough HD. I know not everyone has HD but still it is why we may be getting DTV this fall and leaving Dish. | |
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Chiyo
Save Me Konata-Chan
Premium
join:2003-02-20
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:
·Comcast
| Dropped maybe a year ago I started with Dish Network but my wife and I barely watched it I then switched to Comcast very veyr basic we have a super small digital box but all we get are the locals and a few other channels and thats fine for our needs.
Honestly if given the choice I think I'd get the basic line up like usa and all that but I don't need a bazillion channels I just watch Adult Swim, South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons and the local news thats about it.
so good riddiance to cable but I also wonder if people are getting fed up with yearly rate hikes thank you ESPN and other sports crap I don't watch I only watch Football when its on locally
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That was the wild boar.... Moo!
My podcast: The Banzai Beat »www.banzaibeat.com | |
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Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| I'm confused Didn't we just have a front-page story about how cable was increasing their number of subscribers?
Regardless, I'm canceling my cable TV service on September 10. Cablevision sucks donkey balls.
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. | |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
| Re: I'm confused said by Bobcat :Didn't we just have a front-page story about how cable was increasing their number of subscribers? Yes.
This is a half-article.
While it reports the losses, it doesn't say how many signed up.
Lose 50 but gain 80 = 30 more overall(adjust numbers accordingly).
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Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
| | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | This is video. David is trying to use overall numbers to hide the cable TV losses, which is their bread and butter product. | |
| bgraham
join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY
·Verizon FIOS
| I left Cable. I had FIOS internet and cable TV. I dumped cable internet years ago and took the VZ $15 DSL. Cable internet was too much money for the speed I was getting in the evenings.
Went to FIOS the week it became available and to save money I switched to VZ TV. VZ was cheaper than our local cable co and the cable co had pissed me off by removing analog channels trying to force customers to get digital boxes.
Sure cable has good prices but only for a year, then they wack it to you. I got a 1 year contract and a 2 year price freeze with VZ. | |
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NOZIREV
join:2008-07-10
New Bedford, MA | "customers fleeing to satellite" Really? I have heard some serious horror stories with satellite customer service, i dont think that it is any better than cable co
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"Citius, Altius, Fortius" [Faster, Higher, Stronger] | |
| | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: "customers fleeing to satellite" In my case it has been the other way around. Comcast couldn't find their ass with both their and five lobbyist's hands so we went with DirecTV in January. No order hassles, installation on time and done right, half the cost of cable and since we primarily watch via TiVo there was almost no disruption to our viewing habits. OTA HDTV on a Series 3 and SD satellite on a Seires 2 for those few cable-only channels we watch. Netflix streaming on the TiVo, as well as Amazon and other VoD rentals. Cable is old hat. | |
| | HiDesert
join:2008-08-17
| said by NOZIREV :Really? I have heard some serious horror stories with satellite customer service, i dont think that it is any better than cable co In my area Comcast still has a bunch of crap on analog. Mini outages were quite common with both HSI and CATV. Dish on the other hand is insanely reliable. About the only thing that can disturb satellite is extreme weather being there is nothing between you and the source of the signal. Comcrap on the other hand, has many areas that can fail.. from the optic nerve... miles of cable.. drops, moisture in the lines.. on and on. I never bought into the idea that CATV is somehow more stable then satellite.. no way. Also the scientific atlantic boxes that comcast used in my area were pathetic. Awful software with huge volume level differences between channels that made viewing annoying. Either the HD colors would look good and SD bad or the SD good without HD.. depending on the box.. No box meant much worse ingress interference on analog channels.. It was a joke compared to dish in Albuquerque. | |
| NeoandGeo
join:2003-05-10
Harrison, TN
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| Re: . said by NeoandGeo :I just dumped cable today due to a $190 cable bill ($40 of which was for internet) I switched to Dish Network and after the initial 6 month promotion I will still be paying roughly $25 less and that includes 2 DVR vs 1 and 110 HD channels compared to 22 with cable. Not to mention Charter kept cramming HD channels without upping the bandwidth. You LIE. Since when is Charter adding HD channels? | |
| 
Richard B
Fur It Up
join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR | It is about price Cable TV packages are to dam expensive. 57.00 a month is to much, I am already paying 51 for basic cable and Comcast Internet. The the thing is my home entertainment budget (DVD Itunes download, is far less than annually than the $684.00 for cable. | |
| Rob2647
join:2008-08-12
Rochester, MI
·Vonage
·AT&T U-Verse
·Comcast
3 edits | Bang for the buck Now a days it's important. We got a better value for the money switching from Comcast to Uverse.
Here is the break down:
Comcast $130 a month for:
About 200 channels w/locals and no DVR
6/1.5 internet still using Docsis1.1
2 TV's hooked up
Uverse $130 a month for
200 channels w/locals DVR service included
10/1.5 internet with a wireless router
3 TV's hooked up
Total Home DVR
Comcast just can't beat Uverse for the price. | |
| miball
join:2005-08-17
Seattle, WA
| Switched from Comcast to Fios! Lovin Fios TV! You know, about a year ago I switched from Comcast to Fios TV. I have never looked back, with Fios I get about 100 HD channels, with Comcast I only got about 30. Fios has so many more channels to choose from. Fios also has alot more sports channels! It is all about the same price as I was paying with Comcast. The picture looks alot better also. | |
| rob316
join:2005-10-17
Carteret, NJ
·Comcast
·Verizon Online DSL
| I kicked Comcast to the curb I went with Verizon Triple Play of DSL, phone and Direct TV in July of 08 and I could not be happier. DTV has an excellent HD lineup and the picture is great. I have 5mg DSL which is more than enough for my internet habits and the phone well it's copper so it's always up. I have the One bill option where I also put my Verizon Cell phone on and I save around 70 a month compared to Comcraps shitty service. I will never ever go back to cable, unless they were the only player on the block. | |
| Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| For me direct tv is better priced then cable for the same price as comcast digital classic you can get DIRECT TV HD DVR that also has alot of channels that comcast puts in there sports pack some of witch that are not even sports channels.
and it's only $5 /m to add ANY BOX vs about $6-7 per HD box and $15 - $20+ per DVR and the direct tv box as 3-4+ times the space of the cable box.
also you get less HD in Chicago land vs city of Chicago but you pay the same as well.
Most of the good channels also have been moved to digital and digital classic in the area as well. | |
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i1me2ao
Premium
join:2001-03-03
TEXAS | dont care about customer service. the dam service cost too much.. | |
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Spike
@cox.net | Re: dont care $85.00 a month for cable filled with commercials is ridiculous.DirectV. | |
| tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Floral Park, NY
| youtube dtv antenna many diy home projects have the right idea on home made antennas. get rid of the cable company once and for all with the possible exception of internet access if it isn't from an a-hole network such as comcast, at&t or qwest.
torrent and stream everything else $30-200+ for video is out of the question anymore.. and 1 million+ strong feel that way every year. customers fleeing coax for satellite don't count-- they're still buying the video service.
do onto others as they do onto you.. rate increases, poor service, a-clown installers, the whole works (satellite included).. buy and/or "pirate" from alternative sources (made easy, even with a $200 laptop). teach the cable companies a lesson for failing to evolve their business model.
by this time next year, I want to see 4 million+ per year dropping cable tv service from all providers... verizon included. | |
|
rjdriver
@cox.net
| Time for a change The cable companies, and the Telcos and Sat. companies all want you to think that when someone cancels their service, they are switching to one of the other rebroadcasters.
The last thing they want you to know is that, since the start of digital broadcastring, more people are quitting these services for free OTA broadcasts that you might think.
Sure, there are many who cannot take advatage of the crystal clear reception that digital offers, because of mountains or other topographical reasons, or antenna restrictions from condo associations. But the truth is that more than half of those currently getting their TV through cable or FIOS no longer need those services to get a clear picture. Sshhhh....don't say that too loud. They might hear you and raise your rates.
Whether you can live without your Lifetime movie or your sports fix or whatever else you consider "must see" on the cable only channels is another matter, but it's time to analyze your viewing habits and decide if there isn't something else you could be doing with the $50.-$100/month you are paying for TV.
The world is changing, and there's absolutely no reason that your local ABC affiliaite could not also be rebroadcasting ESPN, A&E, The Disney Channel, The History Channel, and Lifetime over the air on the 5 digital sub channels now available to it, except for the that they have gotten used to you paying to watch those commercials for the past 25 years, and are not going to give up that cash cow without a fight.
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| | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| Re: Time for a change said by rjdriver :
.
The world is changing, and there's absolutely no reason that your local ABC affiliaite could not also be rebroadcasting ESPN, A&E, The Disney Channel, The History Channel, and Lifetime over the air on the 5 digital sub channels now available to it
it will not be in HD and the bandwidth limits = poor PQ. | |
| | aldamon
join:2002-04-29
Durham, NC
| Subchannels are horrible for HD quality. It's bad enough that there's already one or two per station but you want five? Terrible idea.
said by rjdriver :
The world is changing, and there's absolutely no reason that your local ABC affiliaite could not also be rebroadcasting ESPN, A&E, The Disney Channel, The History Channel, and Lifetime over the air on the 5 digital sub channels now available to it, except for the that they have gotten used to you paying to watch those commercials for the past 25 years, and are not going to give up that cash cow without a fight. | |
| elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA
·SONIC.NET
·RoadRunner Cable
·Verizon Online DSL
| For the Nth time: Ala Carte The cable/satellite industry has enough legal and lobbying muscle to counter the broadcast/content industry's alleged bundling demands. Its just easier them to feign helplessness, so they can someone else to blame for their rate increases.
Give subscribers choice, and they'll stick around.
Force them to rent STB's with lousy latency and picture quality, and force them to subscribe to dozens, if not hundreds, of channels they don't want, in order to watch the one that they do, and more and more will make a hasty exit.
We cut the cord a while back, when our cable company wanted over $60 a month to watch one channel. We decided to allocate the savings to our "Travel [channel]" budget.
The cable/satellite industry needs to learn the same lesson that the music industry missed, and iTunes just barely revived: there is money in choice. But try to stomp on your customers and dictate their limited choices, and many will select "none of the above".
I still want cable TV service, not downloaded snippets or shows, or $2 iTunes purchases, or the terrible view-portals offered by Hulu, Vimeo, Boxee, etc. But I won't subscribe anew, unless I can get the channels I want, without being extorted. | |
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Cable TV Losing 1 Million Customers A Year
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TV viewership is growing by 1-2 million new per year