Future of Cable TV

Quote: reno

Wow, you can subscribe to ESPN without cable service?

At what point will Comcast, TimeWarner, DirecTV, AT&T etc take this cord-cutter phenomenon seriously? The smart response would be to lower their prices dramatically. But they won't. They're still in denial.

Not interested in ESPN but maybe FNC follows them? In any case, the majors will be in denial same as Detroit was as the Camry became the nations favorite car. The Big Three still thought that they would beat the Japs back into the ocean. Cable will kick, scream, and fight--they will do everything except bring out a less expensive product.

Last year having the first decline was just the start. This ESPN thing will be big as guys are way more likely to cord-cut than women, sports being the glue trap that keeps them.

If someone was smart they would offer the top-8 to 10 cables other than ESPN (IOW, FNC, A&E, Discovery, Food, etc) more per subscriber than cable but so they could still way undercut with a mini-package.

Quote: AZDuffman

If someone was smart they would offer the top-8 to 10 cables other than ESPN (IOW, FNC, A&E, Discovery, Food, etc) more per subscriber than cable but so they could still way undercut with a mini-package.

The new ESPN cable-less package is called Sling TV, and here are the channels it includes for $20/month:

ESPN
ESPN2
TNT
TBS
Food Network
HGTV
Travel Channel
Cartoon Network
Adult Swim
Disney Channel
ABC Family
CNN

For viewers who live in a metropolitan area with decent over-the-air broadcast reception, they could compliment Sling TV with old-fashioned rabbit ears and get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS. Not bad for $240/year.

Sling TV is actually owned by Dish Network. You could argue that Dish is cannibalizing their own business and foolishly shooting themselves in the foot. On the other hand, you could argue that Dish's business model is deeply deeply flawed, and the company had no other choice but to place a long-term bet on the future. At this point, Dish's goal is simply to survive.

Comcast will probably continue to pursue their pointless merger with TimeWarner, blissfully oblivious to the sinking ship they're stuck on. It's a dead end. Comcast ought to abandon their TimeWarner aspirations and purchase Dish instead. But they're too stubborn and short-sighted to see the writing on the wall.

Quote: reno

The new ESPN cable-less package is called Sling TV, and here are the channels it includes for $20/month:

ESPN
ESPN2
TNT
TBS
Food Network
HGTV
Travel Channel
Cartoon Network
Adult Swim
Disney Channel
ABC Family
CNN

For viewers who live in a metropolitan area with decent over-the-air broadcast reception, they could compliment Sling TV with old-fashioned rabbit ears and get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS. Not bad for $120/year.

$120 or $240? Either way I see just TNT and Food Network that I would care about. I realize it is about who owns what channel, I am not biting but this is a great step in the right direction. $240 is 3-4 poker tourneys.

Quote:

Sling TV is actually owned by Dish Network. You could argue that Dish is cannibalizing their own business and foolishly shooting themselves in the foot. On the other hand, you could argue that Dish's business model is deeply deeply flawed, and the company had no other choice but to place a long-term bet on the future. At this point, Dish's goal is simply to survive.

Comcast will probably continue to pursue their pointless merger with TimeWarner, blissfully oblivious to the sinking ship they're stuck on. It's a dead end. Comcast ought to abandon their TimeWarner aspirations and purchase Dish instead. But they're too stubborn and short-sighted to see the writing on the wall.

I always liked the saying that if your sales will be cannibalized it had better be you who is cannibalizing an not someone else. Comcast is trying the cash-cow strategy of getting an increasing share of a decreasing market. This means little to no investment needed so it can be milked for a few years but you need an endgame or you are toast in the long run.

Quote: reno

Wow, you can subscribe to ESPN without cable service?.

They are not going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Although inevitably a smalll number of people are going to switch from cable to Dish for this service, for the most part they are going to be careful about getting new customers, not giving a price break to old ones.

Quote: AZDuffman

$120 or $240?

Oops. Fixed it. ;)

Quote: reno

Oops. Fixed it. ;)

Hey, I have done far worse!

So I got a spam ad for Sling. At first, it looks good. $20 a month for ESPN, Disney, TNT, TBS, and Food Network. Those are live, then there is some library of shows. I actually thought about it for a few minutes. A few minutes only.

Then I figured I will never watch Disney, one channel gone. I will almost never watch ESPN, two gone. Then I thought of how rare it is that I want to watch on TBS/TNT. I like Food Network, but not for $240 a year. More and more Food Network is getting to Netflix and I feel it is a matter of time to when I can get their library for $5-9 a month.

And one more "then." Then I remembered I told the cable company no thanks just this week to a mini-package for about $30 a month more for five times as much as Sling because I just do not watch live stuff. I binge some things and put others on when I want to half-watch and more need background noise.

The point of all this? When a person cord-cuts, once adjusted they see how little they need or watch cable. Other entertainment or hobbies fill the gap fast. The death of cable will be bigger and faster than I previously thought.

I have 160 channels and watch 5 of them. Food,
FOXNEWS, TBS for reruns, Disc, History. I used
to watch Encore all the time, but now I have
Netflix. Xfinity On Demand is good for watching
TV shows you missed, but for all their good movies
you have to be a subscriber to Showtime, Starz,
HBO, or Cinemax. What's the point.

Netflix just cut Top Gear offerings from all 20 seasons to just the last four. To say that my displeasure is ample may be the biggest understatement in the history of humanity. =, (

Quote: Face

Netflix just cut Top Gear offerings from all 20 seasons to just the last four. To say that my displeasure is ample may be the biggest understatement in the history of humanity. =, (

They do that with everything. They have
to pay for movies and TV shows and if
a show doesn't draw a certain number of
hits a month, they drop it, or part of it.
Movies too.