Cable Customers Opting Out

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://gigaom.com/video/big-cable-is-bleeding-500k-subscribers-lost-last-quarter/' target='_blank'>http://gigaom.com/video/big-cable-i...t-last-quarter/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"There&rsquo;s now even more evidence that subscribers are cutting the cord and opting out of paying for cable: By adding up subscriber losses from four of the top five cable companies, we found that more than half a million users have ditched their cable companies."</em></p><p>The cord would be cut here too, but I can't quite get my spouse on board with the plan. &nbsp;But, I will be dialing back my service the next time the special I'm under with Comcast expires if they don't offer me another. &nbsp;Anyone else cut the cord? &nbsp;Share your story in the comments.</p><p><em></em></p>

[Reid Kistler]

Interesting article, with some equally interesting feedback.

From the article itself:
But a funny thing happened in the second quarter, when, for the first time ever, IPTV and satellite subscriber increases didn't make up for cable losses.... In other words, subscriber losses by "cable" tv providers have - until recently - been at least offset by subscriber gains by IPTV or Satellite providers.


And from the comments to the article, a couple of writers point out that a) the foreclosure storm in certain communities has reduced the number of available households, and b) there appears to be a growing number of "Subscribers" who are cutting back on the level of service they are willing to pay for - even while many other subscribers are INCREASING service levels (perhaps particularly for HD service and / or "Premium" HD channels - ??).

Cannot help but wonder whether this might have a snowball effect: Content Providers are attempting to gain more profit - by increasing Fees to the Distributors (cable, IPTV, satellite...) - which means the Distributors are seeking to increase the fees they are charging to their Subscribers - which, eventually, will drive at least some Subscribers away - which will lower the revenue earned by the Distributors....

Eventually, something will have to give:
Even higher rates, potentially driving even more Subscribers away?
Distributors dropping Content Providers, who - in the Distributor's opinion - are asking too much for their channels? (AT&T U-Verse is currently in a dispute with Scripps, & has dropped a number of channels as a result).
Content Providers reducing THEIR fees - and perhaps, in exchange, reducing the number of Channels, number of shows, and / or Quality of same?

And, of course, in many (most - ?) areas the "Cable TV" provider is ALSO the Internet Provider: as revenues decline in TV Distribution operations, it would be natural to expect a push to Increase the cost of Internet Distribution to make up for the lost TV Distribution revenue.... (In essence, the various initiatives to limit or otherwise control internet "bandwidth" are attempts to raise revenue.)

And so on, and so on, and so on..... :eek:

[uzziah0]

Several years ago Comcast moved SciFi to digital cable. So, I'd have to get a box. I did not like that, so I moved to Basic cable. I had Expanded Basic, but basic is really just local channels.
We lost a lot of channels, but still had a little more than just Basic.
This past summer the made another change. I think they moved all the non-Basic channels to digital, and have a free converter box for those customers (but not me).
My local channels are coming in a little more static-y than they did a year ago, and I'm thinking more and more about cutting the cable.

We have an analog TV, but are considering an HD TV. If we do that, I might get an antenna and get over the air HD TV. I set up my mom with that, she has an antenna in her building, so all I needed to get her was a converter box.

Another option in Netflicks streaming. But, I haven't checked to see what they have in their channel line up.

We do watch a lot of Hulu, and a little SyFy online!

[jacklf]

About a month or so ago, we finally cut the satellite link. We decided we could do with less TV and certainly wouldn't mind having an extra $50 in the budget each month.

I took some old PC parts, picked up an OEM Win7 DVD, an HDHomeRun dual tuner for watching OTA HDTV signals, and a few inexpensive upgrades to build a nice Media Center 7 box. I added a link to Hulu from within MC7 so we can easily watch most cable shows we "lost" in the transition. The only thing I really miss is NASCAR on ESPN. I'm hoping ESPN3.com will pick up that slack eventually since it's just not quite the same as listening on the radio.

Anyway.. we've been pretty happy so far. The savings from cancelling service should pay back the hardware investment in mere months. We did keep our Netflix subscription for now -- the lowest package that includes streaming -- so that adds some additional content (and a way to eventually see those cable shows not otherwise available online).