Everybody is cutting. How much longer does the traditional cable and satellite business have left?

[Anonymous]

I say less than 5 years. Prices are just too damn high.

Surely they will raise our internet prices to compensate for their cable and satellite business losses.

What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Just to clarify. Cable television and satellite television.

[Anonymous]

We cut the cord a few years ago and first used Sling and then Hulu. Hulu just raised their rates so I called the cable companies to see if it made sense to go back.

In addition to the cost of every one of their internet and TV packages was $17 a month in “regional broadcast fees.” That doesn’t include other monthly charges like taxes and modem/box rental fees. I thought, “Forget it,” and hung up.

[Anonymous]

I had a $10 tax on local channels. I cut cable and no longer have to pay that! I have a leaf antenna that gets the same local channels without the $10 tax added to my bill.

[Anonymous]

Nah, I'm 45 and I still prefer cable and my DVR. Sure I stream as well, but I consume more from my cable provider

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking about it. My husband likes TV for sports, but it's under consideration.

[Anonymous]

We cut the cord 3 years back, but as you mention the price of internet only is still very high to discourage customers from doing what we've done. So it's still a few more years down the road until Internet only prices drop a ton until many more people drop cable.

[Anonymous]

Not in this area. If you're a baseball fan from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, the only way to watch your team's games is via cable TV. MASN channel doesn't offer a streaming option.

[Anonymous]

Cut the cord a year ago. I only have internet for $40/mo. I have satellite for local channels and I also have Philo for $16. I use Pluto a lot for movies and some shows as well as apps on Kodi. It is free. Just last year around Christmas there was a special on Hulu - $0.99 a month for a year so I have that now.

Never going back.

[Anonymous]

If it were up to me I'd get rid of our cable/internet/phone package right now. I rarely watch tv, only check the home phone messages once a month so I keep that unplugged because it's 99% phone harassment ie scam selling crap, internet I could just use my phone but it's too small so I rarely use it. Only one person has my number, my husband and he only calls me maybe once in a while on his way home. Verizon sold phone my number and I'm getting a few unwanted calls now that I block. But add another $150 for that, well half because my husband gets an $80 stipend for his phone through his work, we could be saving much more. One bill instead of two.

My husband is addicted to tv. Always has been. I honestly believe it's because he wasn't allowed to watch tv when he grew up. Or should I say they weren't allowed to watch what normal kids watch so for him, I just let it go but damn, that's $200 a month I could put into a Christmas savings account and be done for gift buying. Combine that with the $400 I save monthly for my own savings fund, I could spread a lot of Christmas cheer. KWIM.

Maybe when he retires we can cut this expense. To get internet only they charge more than the entire package. It's disgusting. TV rots your brain literally. My husband needs a year round hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it were up to me I'd get rid of our cable/internet/phone package right now. I rarely watch tv, only check the home phone messages once a month so I keep that unplugged because it's 99% phone harassment ie scam selling crap, internet I could just use my phone but it's too small so I rarely use it. Only one person has my number, my husband and he only calls me maybe once in a while on his way home. Verizon sold phone my number and I'm getting a few unwanted calls now that I block. But add another $150 for that, well half because my husband gets an $80 stipend for his phone through his work, we could be saving much more. One bill instead of two.

My husband is addicted to tv. Always has been. I honestly believe it's because he wasn't allowed to watch tv when he grew up. Or should I say they weren't allowed to watch what normal kids watch so for him, I just let it go but damn, that's $200 a month I could put into a Christmas savings account and be done for gift buying. Combine that with the $400 I save monthly for my own savings fund, I could spread a lot of Christmas cheer. KWIM.

Maybe when he retires we can cut this expense. To get internet only they charge more than the entire package. It's disgusting. TV rots your brain literally. My husband needs a year round hobby.

This happened to me with Comcast. For just internet it was $90 a month and they would not go lower unless I purchased a package with cable. I had been a customer at this address for 3 years. Finally when Verizon fios came to my neighborhood, I switched.

[Anonymous]

I pay $90/month for Verizon FiOS internet only (100 MBps, but it usually clocks in at 65-75). Two year agreement about to expire. Am I getting hosed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in this area. If you're a baseball fan from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, the only way to watch your team's games is via cable TV. MASN channel doesn't offer a streaming option.

Yep - MLB’s deal with MASN gives exclusive territorial rights for showing Nats/Orioles games. The Peter Angelos family owns MASN & the Orioles. You can’t legitimately stream or antenna most Nats/Orioles games because of the blackout restrictions. MASN uses this to control its regional commercial ad revenue.
Apparently MLB hopes blackouts encourage fans to go to ballparks instead of watching games on tv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in this area. If you're a baseball fan from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, the only way to watch your team's games is via cable TV. MASN channel doesn't offer a streaming option.

Yep - MLB’s deal with MASN gives exclusive territorial rights for showing Nats/Orioles games. The Peter Angelos family owns MASN & the Orioles. You can’t legitimately stream or antenna most Nats/Orioles games because of the blackout restrictions. MASN uses this to control its regional commercial ad revenue.
Apparently MLB hopes blackouts encourage fans to go to ballparks instead of watching games on tv.

Ha! Well we go to the same number of games per year that we did before we get cable, so I guess it didn't work on us. We pay $20 to get all the games on radio broadcast now, so there's that.

I miss watching Nats games on TV but it was pretty much the only reason we were holding on to cable. Just couldn't justify the expense anymore.

Angelos is a jerk. In many other markets there are now options to get the local sports network through Sling (and Hulu maybe?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it were up to me I'd get rid of our cable/internet/phone package right now. I rarely watch tv, only check the home phone messages once a month so I keep that unplugged because it's 99% phone harassment ie scam selling crap, internet I could just use my phone but it's too small so I rarely use it. Only one person has my number, my husband and he only calls me maybe once in a while on his way home. Verizon sold phone my number and I'm getting a few unwanted calls now that I block. But add another $150 for that, well half because my husband gets an $80 stipend for his phone through his work, we could be saving much more. One bill instead of two.

My husband is addicted to tv. Always has been. I honestly believe it's because he wasn't allowed to watch tv when he grew up. Or should I say they weren't allowed to watch what normal kids watch so for him, I just let it go but damn, that's $200 a month I could put into a Christmas savings account and be done for gift buying. Combine that with the $400 I save monthly for my own savings fund, I could spread a lot of Christmas cheer. KWIM.

Maybe when he retires we can cut this expense. To get internet only they charge more than the entire package. It's disgusting. TV rots your brain literally. My husband needs a year round hobby.

This happened to me with Comcast. For just internet it was $90 a month and they would not go lower unless I purchased a package with cable. I had been a customer at this address for 3 years. Finally when Verizon fios came to my neighborhood, I switched.

I posted above about Sling and Hulu. I found the opposite. Cable would be competitive without the additional fees. Our internet with Verizon just went up to $55, so by the time we added Sling or Hulu, it was close to a cable package. The $17/month broadcasting fees just killed the competitiveness.