Streaming and Cord-Cutting Take a Toll On the Pay-TV Industry 261
First time accepted submitter ClarkSchultz writes "Harris Interactive confirms that consumers streaming video content prefer the practice of binge viewing.The news isn't a big shocker to streaming concerns such as Netflix, Amazon, and Redbox Instant which have been mining viewer habits data, but it has an important read-through for broadcasters like CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC. Though ad rates could fall if more viewers wait until series are available for streaming, the payoffs for quality content are proving lush: 1) CBS says it paid $700K per episode for streaming rights to Under the Dome 2) AMC Networks has pointed to Netflix as contributing to the success of Breaking Bad after initial ratings were soft. If streaming wins, who loses? Front and center is the Pay-TV industry. A wave of merger rumors (Charter/Cox/Time Warner Cable/Comcast/Dish Network) indicates the industry knows the trend of subscriber losses to the cord-cutting phenomenon will continue. An online TV initiative from a tech heavyweight like Sony, Apple, Google, or Intel could also disrupt the industry enough to put cable and satellite companies into an even bigger tailspin."
Re:costs (Score:5, Interesting)
With a good antenna, OTA is really nice these days. Unfortunately, most new tvs no longer include it, but ota also includes an episode guide.
Rather than spend money on a tivo, look into the homeworx or iview units. $40 for a digital tuner that acts as a pvr with your own USB drive.
I also use kat to catch other things. I'd pay for a similar service if it were available, but alas it is not, nor will it ever be.
This is going to be an epic fight (Score:5, Interesting)
There's billions at stake, created out of virtually nothing (replicating a digital signal). This supports thousands and thousands of rent-seeking monopolists. The holy grail of capitalism.
The RIAA/MPAA fights are just kindergarden name calling compared to the fight that's getting ready to be fought.
From society's perspective, we should be well into the fiber optic cabling of the entire planet. These people will fight that, because it obsoletes their model. Once you have fiber to your door - and I do, in small down Canada - it's over. It's just a matter of time and everyone knows it.
Google's fiber projects are just a small piece of what's to come. The dirty little secret is rolling these networks out isn't hard. It's all legislation and poltics stopping. The tech is ready.
Get some popcorn. It'll be fun. I haven't had a TV subscription in 7 or 8 years now.. saving me $100/mo or so. That's a lot of money, especially when it starts paying dividends.. but I sure don't own any broadcasters. :)
Re:The cablecos have monopolies on cable and inter (Score:4, Interesting)
That's the position I'm in. I can use Time Warner Cable for my ISP or Verizon DSL. Not only is DSL slower, but Verizon has all but said they want out of the DSL business. They've ignored their DSL lines and outright ditched them where possible. Verizon didn't run FIOS to my neighborhood so that's not an option. Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable and the other cable ISPs have financial interests in people not doing a lot of video streaming. That's why they've introduced caps and "per bit billing." They frame it as a "fair billing" or "protect our network from data hogs" practice but really it is a method of killing streaming so that people go back to their (uncapped) VOD solutions.
Re:costs (Score:5, Interesting)
Is your contract up?
Don't be so sure. If you made any changes to your service during the initial contract period, you automatically get re-upped for another 2 years.
Free installation? Autmomatic 2 year contract. Added ESPN? Another 2 years. Eliminate something else? 2 more years.
And the customer service people do not tell you. And when you try to cancel, oh, there will be a $300- $400 cancellation fee.
It's not just them - they all do it.
That's why cable and satellite TV providers can all go to Hell for all I care.
cocksuckers
Not sure how well it will work with your provider, but I've gotten out of a lot of those bullshit fees and unauthorized contract extensions by demanding to be provided with a physical copy of the alleged updated agreement bearing my physical signature. No physical signature, no legal grounds, so fix it or I'll see you in court.
YMMV as always, but I've been amazed at how often that actually works.
Re:Cut the cord years ago... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm just the opposite. I cut the cord for about two years and am now back to DirecTV. My wife and I were insanely bored with the Netflix/Amazon Prime offerings and I grew incredibly tired of them suddenly removing content we had on our lists. I was also sick of the sudden outages and after Netflix deleted my list for the 3rd time I had enough.
We can watch the new shows as they come on and can DVR them. I dont have to catch the shows I missed on TPB or Kickass.to and download them. I have access to everything I want AND I still have my Amazon Prime account should I actually want it (hint: we havent touched Prime since we got DirecTV back).
I'd love to cut the cord but the offerings out there are pathetic still.
Re:The cablecos have monopolies on cable and inter (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, it sucks, but there are other options. Here's one. Start your own ISP. No, I'm not crazy. Here's an excellent example. Here in Lincoln, Neb., a guy with an idea started a company called WideRange Broadband. (standard disclaimer, I have no connection to them other than as a very satisfied customer) They're a wireless ISP. They rent tower space on a few tall radio antenna towers around town, toss some Ubiquity antennas up there, and call it good. Yes, that's over simplifying it, but in the end, I have a little antenna on my roof about the size of my forearm, and I get a solid high speed connection for $30/month. And they're pissing off the local telco (Windstream) and cableCo (TimeWarner) because they can offer as good or better speeds for less money. Yes, there are some line-of-sight issues if you're in an older neighborhood with lots of tall trees, but it's a solid start. Shortly after I cut off TimeWarner, I had one of their people stop by the house trying to get me to resubscribe (at $49/month). I told him who I was using, and he got a nervous look on his face and said "Oh, they're not a real company, that's just someone's hobby" and left. I mentioned that to the WideRange installer a few months later when we bought a house and they were moving my antenna. He chucked and said "Yeah, we hear that a lot."
record concurrent shows (Score:4, Interesting)
I get 113 channels OTA here in Houston. With that many channels it's not uncommon to have 4 shows being recorded at the same time (especially older series that are broadcast just before/after midnight). I've been recording older shows like That '70s Show and watching them in order. Have seen a number of episodes I missed back in the day. Also recording cable series I'd missed in the past, like Burn Notice and Psych, that are now being broadcast OTA.
I purchase other cable series, like Dexter and The Walking Dead, à la cart from iTunes or on physical media. I've saved $1300 since dropping DirecTV in January (savings = old DirecTV bill - à la cart series).
I went a little overboard on the Mac mini setup (Drobo raid system, extra RAM, CPU upgrade, etc) so it'll probably be another year before the savings pay off the hardware investment.
If anybody's interested, I've been documenting my DVR Project in my blog [atariage.com].
Re:costs (Score:5, Interesting)
I've found that MythTV helps me watch less TV.
Because MythTV is on the job, you don't have to watch the show NOW, when it's scheduled. Because MythTV lets you put gobs of hard drive there for recordings, you don't even have to watch it this week. At some point, you realize that you don't really have to watch it at all.
As long as the computer is doing something useful besides MythTV, the only "wasted" cost is the tuner and the dedicated hard drive space.
Plus some time you might actually WANT to watch that TV show or movie - "Day of the Doctor", anyone?