Will cable ever make a comeback?

[UCFKnightfan08]

Non-political thread for once - kind of a “shower thought” here. I recently cut the cord and went with YouTube TV. $50 a month and has everything my family needs. I was paying 170 for spectrum cable and internet. With YouTube and century link I’m now paying ~$120.

Here’s my thought: Internet + streaming then add in the Netflix/Hulu/espn+/Disney+/HBO now etc etc etc it’s easy to end up paying just as much (more content available though). Can you see in the future a company saying we’re going to bundle ______ for this price, essentially creating a cable comeback?

 

[Ace of Knights]

Non-political thread for once - kind of a “shower thought” here. I recently cut the cord and went with YouTube TV. $50 a month and has everything my family needs. I was paying 170 for spectrum cable and internet. With YouTube and century link I’m now paying ~$120.

Here’s my thought: Internet + streaming then add in the Netflix/Hulu/espn+/Disney+/HBO now etc etc etc it’s easy to end up paying just as much (more content available though). Can you see in the future a company saying we’re going to bundle ______ for this price, essentially creating a cable comeback?

No. They’ll make their money through jacking up internet prices. But outside of the paid special channels like HBO, they can’t create content that can say or show anything like Netflix and the others can. Cable channels for the foreseeable future will still be governed, and aren’t as readily available whenever you want things and that will hold them back.

 

[JAFFX2]

Non-political thread for once - kind of a “shower thought” here. I recently cut the cord and went with YouTube TV. $50 a month and has everything my family needs. I was paying 170 for spectrum cable and internet. With YouTube and century link I’m now paying ~$120.

Here’s my thought: Internet + streaming then add in the Netflix/Hulu/espn+/Disney+/HBO now etc etc etc it’s easy to end up paying just as much (more content available though). Can you see in the future a company saying we’re going to bundle ______ for this price, essentially creating a cable comeback?

You are correct there will be a comeback......

Spectrum has a streaming service that’s basically its cable package for $15 a month

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18235319/spectrum-charter-streaming-service-tv-essentials-cable

 

[Husk in butt]

You are correct there will be a comeback......

Spectrum has a streaming service that’s basically its cable package for $15 a month

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18235319/spectrum-charter-streaming-service-tv-essentials-cable

No sports channels? Would getting ESPN+ cover the ESPN channels?

 

[JAFFX2]

No sports channels? Would getting ESPN+ cover the ESPN channels?

probably not

 

[UCFWayne]

i used to be big on cutting cable. for a time you could save a ton of money doing this. over the past year or so its becoming more and more fractured. sure you can still save money, but now you have to have so many different services and the prices keep going up to get what you once could get. the cost savings is eroding while you have to have a number of other services now. cable doesnt look as bad now

 

[DaShuckster]

Spectrum has a streaming service ...

I swear that Time Warner Cable had the absolute worst customer service record around. I switched years ago after countless examples of pathetic service. The final straw was when I couldn't get technical support with an issue after repeated attempts. I asked to speak to a manager and shared my poor customer service experience with him. He apologized and then suddenly said he had something come up but he would call me right back. He never did.

Time Warner's solution to their reputation as the worst customer service provider of all time? Fix their pathetic service record and slowly begin to rebuild customer trust? Of course not!

Simply change names to Spectrum.

 

[chemmie]

i used to be big on cutting cable. for a time you could save a ton of money doing this. over the past year or so its becoming more and more fractured. sure you can still save money, but now you have to have so many different services and the prices keep going up to get what you once could get. the cost savings is eroding while you have to have a number of other services now. cable doesnt look as bad now

ummmm...


Why do you hate Capitalism?

 

[UCFKnight85]

i used to be big on cutting cable. for a time you could save a ton of money doing this. over the past year or so its becoming more and more fractured. sure you can still save money, but now you have to have so many different services and the prices keep going up to get what you once could get. the cost savings is eroding while you have to have a number of other services now. cable doesnt look as bad now

This competition is great though. These streaming services will pump big money into their delivery system and their content, we'll get more and more options, then eventually someone will emerge as the clear winner in the space and start consolidating when the smaller platforms can't keep up.

If I had to bet, Disney will consolidate most of these into their offering in 3-4 years' time and we'll be down to just a few streaming suppliers.

 

[UCFWayne]

This competition is great though. These streaming services will pump big money into their delivery system and their content, we'll get more and more options, then eventually someone will emerge as the clear winner in the space and start consolidating when the smaller platforms can't keep up.

If I had to bet, Disney will consolidate most of these into their offering in 3-4 years' time and we'll be down to just a few streaming suppliers.

dont get me wrong, for the minimalist, i think its a good thing.

however for a number of people, you now need 3, 4, or even 5 different services to still get all the content you wanted. and over the course of time, all i have seen is the prices for those services is go up. the cost savings is basically eroded to the point that cable is a viable option again.

i hope to see it come back down as more competitors join in. i am still waiting to see what tmobile brings to the table.

 

[sk8knight]

I swear that Time Warner Cable had the absolute worst customer service record around. I switched years ago after countless examples of pathetic service. The final straw was when I couldn't get technical support with an issue after repeated attempts. I asked to speak to a manager and shared my poor customer service experience with him. He apologized and then suddenly said he had something come up but he would call me right back. He never did.

Time Warner's solution to their reputation as the worst customer service provider of all time? Fix their pathetic service record and slowly begin to rebuild customer trust? Of course not!

Simply change names to Spectrum.

If by simply change names you mean get acquired by Charter who then used their existing brand to rename the acquired TWC assets, then yeah. I don’t think this was necessarily a brand perception issue.

 

[UCFKnight85]

If by simply change names you mean get acquired by Charter who then used their existing brand to rename the acquired TWC assets, then yeah. I don’t think this was necessarily a brand perception issue.

The existing Brighthouse structure where I live was, and still is, a really good product with really good customer support. It's now Spectrum but our cable service is nearly flawless and I've rarely ever had any issues with it. Internet is great too.

 

[1ofTheseKnights]

My current internet/TV provider, Frontier (who bought VZ's FIOS biz), is starting to call my bluff when I say I'm going to switch to Comcast (I can I'm fortunate I've got a legitimate competitor) or explore Dish/DirecTV. I'm 0-2 in calling up angling for a discount and they've wasted enough of my time not caving. This after near 4 years of successful negotiated discounts. Total bill is near $150 w middle internet, normalish video (no premiums) & DVR. I think I can do internet only + YouTube TV for ~110 which I'd be content with.

 

[Crazyhole]

When the federal govt forced all tv broadcasters to switch over to digital there was talk about selling off the broadcast bands to cell companies so they had faster interaction with users. I don't know if that is something that would make a difference now, but the way they were talking at that time it sounded like it could lead to basically wireless communication with faster speeds than even fiber. Things have probably changed since then and I didn't keep up, but I know that was supposed to be the long term plan.

 

[KingDavid]

i used to be big on cutting cable. for a time you could save a ton of money doing this. over the past year or so its becoming more and more fractured. sure you can still save money, but now you have to have so many different services and the prices keep going up to get what you once could get. the cost savings is eroding while you have to have a number of other services now. cable doesnt look as bad now

For me, there is a savings for simplification of service. I just don't like having to jump through hoops to save $20 a month.

 

[Husk in butt]

For me, there is a savings for simplification of service. I just don't like having to jump through hoops to save $20 a month.

Really isn't jumping through hoops. These streaming services are simple apps. Many can DVR in the cloud which saves you in the electricity bill. Those cable boxes pull nearly the amount of energy as a fridge.

 

[ChrisKnight06]

My concern from the very beginning was it being so fractured with it only getting worse. To me it wasn't worth the damn hassle to save a dollar a day.

 

[KnighttimeJoe]

Playstation Vue, AT&T internet, Netflix, and Prime subscription are still wayyyyyyyy under my DirecTv bills of the past.

For me, it really boiled down to the fact that I don't need 400 effing channels. The wife and I took stock in the number of channels we watched in a month by writing it down when we had DTV and it was 12 total. That was in the middle of UCF/rest of college football, NFL, MLB pennant chases, HBO series, and Magic basketball. 12. That's it. I initially got it because of NFL Sunday Ticket, which is a great pay service. But hell, 12 of the 16 Dallas games last year were on my regular PSV service. Why would I pay that much for 4 games?

I have no idea what's next for the Sunday Ticket but I have to believe that the NFL might consider opting out after this season. I know that Google put in a serious bid in 2013 but the world wasn't quite ready for streaming at that point. Things have changed exponentially since then. And that would kill DTV...

 

[joshwl2003]

WE dropped direct tv and went with Spectrum for cable and internet. Our total bill is $142 a month and we get HBO and Showtime. We had direct tv to get Packers games but determined that we get almost all of them on tv right now. Streaming was considered but it was nearly the exact same price for the channels we wanted. We do have a 5 people in our home so that changes the watched channels stuff.