Netflix consumers continue to trend away from conventional TV......

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sign of the times. Consumers are going to look more and more for good providers to give better streaming bandwidth and options.

Netflix Helps People Cut Cable Cord, Report Says - Yahoo! Finance

[cougarfreak]

If I could get my local mlb team on mlbtv, I'd cut the cord in a heartbeat.

[Matthean]

Sports is one of the few things that hasn't moved online in a way for people to ditch cable. Thankfully ESPN3 covers most of what I watch in sports. I haven't ever had cable when I lived on my own and I can't say I miss it from when I lived with my parents.

[CrimsonFox]

I am finding several full episodes of shows on the particular network's websites. HOw they do it is they stream the show and wedge in commercials. Unfortunately they are the same commercials over and over again. And after a time it jump to a special commercial that requires you to click CONTINUE to go on. But anyway I'm glad I'm finding the shows at least. The reality ones in particular as they were often not rerun ever so if I missed one before I was boned.

[RainMaker]

I'm also in the camp of only using my cable for sports these days. Have a friend who dropped his for Netflix a year ago and hasn't looked back.

[SackAttack]

I keep telling the cable company when they call and try to get me to sign up that I'd cheerfully go for some kind of à la carte package around $20, but I'm not interested in signing up for 500 channels for $45/month when I doubt if I'd watch more than 5 of them.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

If I could get my local mlb team on mlbtv, I'd cut the cord in a heartbeat.

OTA antenna won't handle that for you? That's how I watch the NFL, minus the ESPN Monday night and NFL Network Thursday night games. And those aren't worth the arm-and-a-leg the cableco wanted to charge for TV.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I keep telling the cable company when they call and try to get me to sign up that I'd cheerfully go for some kind of à la carte package around $20, but I'm not interested in signing up for 500 channels for $45/month when I doubt if I'd watch more than 5 of them.

Add in digital cable and a pair of DVRs and that's more like $70+/month.

[Antmeister]

Heh. Hulu, Vudu, Netflix (essentially using a Roku and the PS3) and an antenna to pick up digital TV are the reasons why we have completely moved away from cable.

We tried to go back to cable to watch the NFL a couple of years ago, but we found we barely watched it due to the fact that we hated having to be rooted to time slots to watch shows or wait until they were recorded on the DVR, and in either case we could no longer tolerate the slew of commercials.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

OTA antenna won't handle that for you? That's how I watch the NFL, minus the ESPN Monday night and NFL Network Thursday night games. And those aren't worth the arm-and-a-leg the cableco wanted to charge for TV.

Not many games on OTA broadcast here, I think with the exception of Sunday afternoon games and the occasional Fox national game all the games are on Fox Sports.

[Autumn]

We had hoped to get by with the antenna here, but we get lousy reception in this town. Occasionally we can get one or two channels to come in, but not consistently enough to be worth using. We just use Netflix and online stuff. If we could get a couple local stations we'd be perfect, really.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

OTA antenna won't handle that for you? That's how I watch the NFL, minus the ESPN Monday night and NFL Network Thursday night games. And those aren't worth the arm-and-a-leg the cableco wanted to charge for TV.

Originally Posted by mckerney

Not many games on OTA broadcast here, I think with the exception of Sunday afternoon games and the occasional Fox national game all the games are on Fox Sports.

Yep, here the games are on SOME Sunday afternoons on WB50 (for the Nationals) and the rest are on MASN or MASN2, which requires cable.

For the record, I have been using solely OTA for about six years now. With the exception of some sporting events, and GoT, I have never missed cable. For the sporting events if I really want to see it I can go to a bar, for GoT I have been able to go to a friend's house to watch it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

So lemme see here

-- The survey was limited to broadband users (about 2/3rds of the U.S.)
-- 1/3rd of those now say they're considering reducing/cutting their cable svc
-- 1/3rd of that 1/3rd cited online video as a motivating factor
-- 2/3rds of that 1/3rd of that 1/3rd mentioned Netflix

So 2/3rds of h'holds (the latest estimate for broadband penetration I find)
Then 1/3rd of those, .33 x .67 = .22
Then 1/3rd of those .33 x .22 =.073
Then 2/3rds of those .67 x .073 = .0488

So basically Netflix is a "primary perpetrator" for about 5% of those who currently have an internet connection in the home.

Wanna take any bets on how many of those actually do it?

[PilotMan]

Well let's look at it more like this.

Instead of thinking in terms of the whole of the US. Let's look at it as a factor of broadband customers. Doing the math we find that about 7.3% of broadband households are considering cutting cable service as a direct result of Netflix.

As the head of a cable company, the fact that any one item is responsible for this much company turnover should be rather alarming. Especially, when we are already dealing with 33% of our entire sales base that is considering cutting ties. Are profit margins and sales bases so strong that it can be ignored?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Well let's look at it more like this.

Instead of thinking in terms of the whole of the US. Let's look at it as a factor of broadband customers. Doing the math we find that about 7.3% of broadband households are considering cutting cable service as a direct result of Netflix.

As the head of a cable company, the fact that any one item is responsible for this much company turnover should be rather alarming. Especially, when we are already dealing with 33% of our entire sales base that is considering cutting ties. Are profit margins and sales bases so strong that it can be ignored?

As for "direct result", that's stretching the findings of the report. It was simply a "primary perpetrator" from the relatively small subset that mentioned online video as a factor initially.

Meanwhile, I've been "thinking about it" for years, as has most every cable customer I've ever known.

Extreme pricing + shitty programs (as perpetually perceived by the buying public, regardless of ratings) are exponentially bigger concerns for the cable industry.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Meanwhile, I've been "thinking about it" for years, as has most every cable customer I've ever known.

This.

As recently as last week I was looking into it. But, I'm SO far away from where the channels broadcast from and I need ESPN, etc that it just isn't going to happen.

[Logan]

Cable company has me by the balls because of sports. Wish it wasn't like that, but at least I admit it.

Right now it's not an issue with having roommates to split up our astronomical cable/internet bill, but a few months from now it'll be me and the girl so I'll finally make some cuts to save a few bucks.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

As for "direct result", that's stretching the findings of the report. It was simply a "primary perpetrator" from the relatively small subset that mentioned online video as a factor initially.

Alright, I'll buy that, but Netflix is still at the cusp of the entertainment change that we are seeing. I haven't had cable in almost 9 years. I only recently signed up for broadband and have been using Netflix, Hulu, MLB TV and ESPN 3 along with our free channels for viewing entertainment. I can't say I'm missing all that much.

I think that we are in the process of a major change, until the production companies start their own distribution systems and cut out Netflix altogether, which seems inevitable at some point. Netflix may not be the next big thing, but it is certainly going to be a stepping stone in the overall evolution of our entertainment choices.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I have Netflix now and only really use TV for sports. When Google TV comes through (supposed to be in our area next year), I'm out.

[tarcone]

Why dont cable and sat companies do an ala carte menu?
I would think they have the technology or capabilities. It may be somewhat of a cost to start, but If you charged a couple bucks to 5 bucks a month for a station or a maybe a small package of stations (3,4,5 stations), you could make a killing.

I would sign up for a package of sports stations so I could watch the Cards and college football.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Logan

Cable company has me by the balls because of sports. Wish it wasn't like that, but at least I admit it.

Right now it's not an issue with having roommates to split up our astronomical cable/internet bill, but a few months from now it'll be me and the girl so I'll finally make some cuts to save a few bucks.

At least you can get NHL Center Ice online.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Why dont cable and sat companies do an ala carte menu?
I would think they have the technology or capabilities. It may be somewhat of a cost to start, but If you charged a couple bucks to 5 bucks a month for a station or a maybe a small package of stations (3,4,5 stations), you could make a killing.

I would sign up for a package of sports stations so I could watch the Cards and college football.

Apparently, this will cost even more for the customer since the model for cable providers is packaged deals from the networks and other content providers. I don't know if this is just what the cable providers are shoveling or if there is actual data to back that up.

Personally, I'd be willing to pay a dollar for non local channels and a dollar fifty for a premium channel and only then if they are in HD. At most, I'd have maybe 25 to 30 channels that I'd watch on a regular basis.

The only reason why I haven't completely dropped cable (well DirecTV in my case) is because of sports and because channels like History, SciFy, Discovery, and other similar channels aren't available anywhere else or are extremely limited as to what is online. I don't watch network channels unless it's sports, so I'm not missing anything like American Idol or other crap shows like that.

[SirFozzie]

Cable companies force bundling on us because the networks force bundling on them.. "Sure you can have ESPN and ESPN2 on your cable network, as long as you pay us for ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN News and ESPN Deportes at the same time! Oh, and any other ESPN networks we might pull out of our ass going forward"

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Cable companies force bundling on us because the networks force bundling on them.. "Sure you can have ESPN and ESPN2 on your cable network, as long as you pay us for ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN News and ESPN Deportes at the same time! Oh, and any other ESPN networks we might pull out of our ass going forward"

What's even worse are the new sports channels. If you want that one or two games a year you might want to watch on our network, you'll have to bug the shit out of your cable company for not giving it to you.

[gstelmack]

Sports is one of the things I had to let go of when I cut the cord, because it just wasn't worth that much per month to me. I just finally told myself that if the sports want to be that restrictive about who can watch them, they must not want me as a viewer much. I think both sides are okay with that arrangement so far.

[spleen1015]

I can't get away from cable for some of the same reasons as you guys. I won't be able to watch Sports and most of the shows I like to watch are on cable stations. I don't think I can wait for them to hit Netflix.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Cable companies force bundling on us because the networks force bundling on them.. "Sure you can have ESPN and ESPN2 on your cable network, as long as you pay us for ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN News and ESPN Deportes at the same time! Oh, and any other ESPN networks we might pull out of our ass going forward"

Because bundling is the only way those networks can make it work. Using ESPN as a handy example here, without all the barely watched networks they can't offer 5 (or 100 or 200) extra commercials on those in order to make the often outrageous price of prime programming on the main network viable for advertisers. Lose ad revenue (and without all the "bonus" spots they surely would) then the cost per network to the cable systems goes up to make up the difference.

Ultimately the money needed for the ESPN family isn't that much different whether U, Classic, and News exist or not. They just provide an additional revenue opportunity, the vast bulk of their expenses are tied up in the main network & without bundling, that'd be the only one (along with E2 at this point) that would remain but at a higher price back to the systems.

[RainMaker]

I'm one of the few people who doesn't think cable is horribly priced. I mean for less than $100 a month, I can get hundreds of channels 24/7 with hundreds of new content all the while being able to record shows and watch them at any time.

Take your wife to the movies for 2 hours and you'll probably drop $30-$40. Go to a ballgame and you're likely talking well over $100.

[JediKooter]

On a side note, DirecTV is offering free NFL Sunday Ticket. Part of me thinks they are betting there will be no season.

[johnnyshaka]

My wife would love to get rid of digital cable, too...but my addiction to sports is a tough one to break. Funny thing is I don't have much time to watch all the games I want to watch and while I PVR a bunch of games I rarely end up watching even 25% of the games so I end up just deleting most of them without watching to make room for more games that I likely won't be able to watch.

Hi, my name is Johnnyshaka and I have sports addiction.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

At least you can get NHL Center Ice online.

Aren't local games still blacked out?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I'm one of the few people who doesn't think cable is horribly priced. I mean for less than $100 a month, I can get hundreds of channels 24/7 with hundreds of new content all the while being able to record shows and watch them at any time.

Take your wife to the movies for 2 hours and you'll probably drop $30-$40. Go to a ballgame and you're likely talking well over $100.

If you watch it all. And if you don't consider the ballgame and movies horribly overpriced as well

Keep in mind that a good chunk of what you mention above IS available. The shows my kids watched on Disney and Nickelodeon and PBS are nearly all available on Netflix instant streaming with no commercials. We buy seasons of Mythbusters from Amazon. We have lost the Food Network and cable-only sports, and gained about $70/month for other things.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

The only reason why I haven't completely dropped cable (well DirecTV in my case) is because of sports and because channels like History, SciFy, Discovery, and other similar channels aren't available anywhere else or are extremely limited as to what is online. I don't watch network channels unless it's sports, so I'm not missing anything like American Idol or other crap shows like that.

This is why I like directtv too. The dvr and all the great channels. I haven't found anything online. THen again the problem with that many channels and show is I end up watching repeats a lot anyway so maybe it's for the best that I don't have it anymore.

[Swaggs]

Good thread and discussion here.

I wonder if cable/sat TV (as we know it) will be one of the bigger casualties of this down economic cycle? It seems like a lot of folks have cut back due to finances and then realized that they don't really miss it all that much.

Right now, with a young child at home, we spend a lot more evening time at home than we did before we had him (don't go to spur of the moment movies or to see live bands play, go out with friends to bars/clubs, etc.), so we are probably getting more use out of cable than most since we are essentially home 99% of the time while he is sleeping (from 8:30 on-ish). I can see that changing in a few years, though.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

If you watch it all. And if you don't consider the ballgame and movies horribly overpriced as well

Keep in mind that a good chunk of what you mention above IS available. The shows my kids watched on Disney and Nickelodeon and PBS are nearly all available on Netflix instant streaming with no commercials. We buy seasons of Mythbusters from Amazon. We have lost the Food Network and cable-only sports, and gained about $70/month for other things.

I agree. It's definitely not a must in my life, but it's a nice luxury. I'd rather cut other areas of my life before cable. I got to watch NBA TV air old drafts all day yesterday as I cleaned my house.

I'd love to see major sports start offering up their league passes on XBox, Roku, and other streaming devices without blackout restrictions.

On a side note, I have to imagine that premium channels are getting hammered by Netflix. I like the shows they put on occassionally, but I can wait for the DVDs. The 24 hour movie channel is almost a waste nowadays.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I'd love to see major sports start offering up their league passes on XBox, Roku, and other streaming devices without blackout restrictions.

I believe MLB and the NBA now offer exactly that on the Apple TV. I was at my friends house this past saturday and he pulled up the MLB on what I'm pretty sure was his Apple TV. We watched any game that was on at the time. You could even choose between if you wanted to watch the home or visitor broadcast. There were no blackout restrictions at all. And the kicker? No commercials.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I believe MLB and the NBA now offer exactly that on the Apple TV. I was at my friends house this past saturday and he pulled up the MLB on what I'm pretty sure was his Apple TV. We watched any game that was on at the time. You could even choose between if you wanted to watch the home or visitor broadcast. There were no blackout restrictions at all. And the kicker? No commercials.

According to both mlb & apple tv, blackout restrictions do apply & the service is only available to mlb TV premium subscribers.

It's also only available on second-gen (I think they called it the "black Apple" or something like that) systems.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

According to both mlb & apple tv, blackout restrictions do apply & the service is only available to mlb TV premium subscribers.

It's also only available on second-gen (I think they called it the "black Apple" or something like that) systems.

Yeah, something tells me he was using a proxy server so he could get those games.

[RainMaker]

The blackout thing is what gets me.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

According to both mlb & apple tv, blackout restrictions do apply & the service is only available to mlb TV premium subscribers.

It's also only available on second-gen (I think they called it the "black Apple" or something like that) systems.

I didn't even ask him about his set up. Since we are both from San Diego, he was telling me that he's been watching the Padres a lot. So, maybe there's not much in the way of blackouts for watching Padres games in the Bay Area?

[tarcone]

I get the bundling and that makes sense. Would it be financially sound for ESPN to bundle their channels make them instant streaming available for, say$20, a month? Then allow companies to sponsor them or have commercials?

I would pay that to watch college football all Fall and Winter.

We got rid of Directv and we havent missed it. But college football is coming. And Im starting to get sweaty palms thinking I wont get my 20 games a week. Although, like others I would watch 10% of them. But just knowing I can sit down Thursday night and tune into a game is a nice feeling.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I agree. It's definitely not a must in my life, but it's a nice luxury. I'd rather cut other areas of my life before cable. I got to watch NBA TV air old drafts all day yesterday as I cleaned my house.

I'd love to see major sports start offering up their league passes on XBox, Roku, and other streaming devices without blackout restrictions.

I assume this would be a game changer. I'd have to workout all the numbers to see what I'm actually paying for my sports-addicted reason for sticking with cable. Top of my head though, I'm sure that even with adding in whatever streaming costs for all the free/basic services, I could pay $50/month on an annual basis for the MLB and NHL packages via streaming and still come out WAY ahead. Those packages looked like they cost about $400 combined this year, so that's an extra $200 going to the content provider.

[Suicane75]

I firmly believe that the day the major sports make their product available via streaming/online, the cable companies and dish networks will have their viability cut enormously. If I could watch Football online in the same capacity I can on Cable I'd be done with cable forever.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I get the bundling and that makes sense. Would it be financially sound for ESPN to bundle their channels make them instant streaming available for, say$20, a month? Then allow companies to sponsor them or have commercials?

Almost certainly not. Generally the value of web-based commercials is fractional vs TV so there's one huge mark against it.

[RainMaker]

Cable companies will just start throttling internet and lowering caps. They've slowly started to do this and it will get worse soon.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

On a side note, DirecTV is offering free NFL Sunday Ticket. Part of me thinks they are betting there will be no season.

For new customers or current? It has always been that way for new but as a current customer it looks like they are about to rake me over the coals for another $300+ this season. Why I don't just start following the Rams is beyond me. Would love to hear this is true but nothing on their website or elsewhere on the web confirms this.

As far as the main discussion goes I think we are missing that almost all of the internet providers are generally part of the cable tv game. I would expect the minute they do start offering a la carte is also the minute the internet prices go through the roof.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

OTA antenna won't handle that for you? That's how I watch the NFL, minus the ESPN Monday night and NFL Network Thursday night games. And those aren't worth the arm-and-a-leg the cableco wanted to charge for TV.

Nope, baseball for me. None of the Reds games are OTA. If they ever make MLBTV available in market, I'm gone from directv.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by panerd

For new customers or current? It has always been that way for new but as a current customer it looks like they are about to rake me over the coals for another $300+ this season. Why I don't just start following the Rams is beyond me. Would love to hear this is true but nothing on their website or elsewhere on the web confirms this.

New subscribers, 2 yr min. agreement for Choice Ultimate ($71/m) or Direct Premier ($115/m) only. And of course, “To the extent that there is a 2011 NFL season...

Free NFL Sunday Ticket | Satellite TV

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by panerd

For new customers or current? It has always been that way for new but as a current customer it looks like they are about to rake me over the coals for another $300+ this season. Why I don't just start following the Rams is beyond me. Would love to hear this is true but nothing on their website or elsewhere on the web confirms this.

As far as the main discussion goes I think we are missing that almost all of the internet providers are generally part of the cable tv game. I would expect the minute they do start offering a la carte is also the minute the internet prices go through the roof.

Great, now I can't find the email. I assumed it was for anyone that had one of the top tier packages or ordered one of the top tiered packages. But, since I now can't find the email, I have no idea.

Looks Jon found some info on it though.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

On a side note, I have to imagine that premium channels are getting hammered by Netflix. I like the shows they put on occassionally, but I can wait for the DVDs. The 24 hour movie channel is almost a waste nowadays.

HBO has addressed much of that issue with their online service and on-demand channels. I use those two options 90% of the time I'm watching HBO. I don't use the conventional channels much at all anymore.