1.8 Million People Have Unsubscribed From Cable Television

[EChondo]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/another-1-8-million-people-141220688.html
 

Another quarter, another dismal set of numbers for the TV business. About 1.8 million people ended their cable TV subscriptions in Q2 2013, according to analysts at SNL Kagan:

1. There were 366,000 total net losses across all TV/broadband subs in Q2
2. Cable TV suppliers lost 1.8 millions subs.
3. But telco companies — internet providers who also supply cable TV, in other words — gained 400,000.
4. 911,000 U.S. homes have cut the cord in the past year, according to MoffettNathanson.
5. The rate of losses is increasing. In Q2 2012, only 325,000 subs were lost, according to Leichtman Research Group.

YES! Let them burn!!!

 

Everyone move over to Hulu, Netflix, Target Ticket and anything else digital!

 

Except the people with Verizon or Comcast, you'll get throttled.

[Bonsai99]

When I move out, I personally won't be getting cable, and probably not a land line either.

[Xorbot]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/another-1-8-million-people-141220688.html

 

YES! Let them burn!!!

 

Everyone move over to Hulu, Netflix, Target Ticket and anything else digital!

 

Except the people with Verizon or Comcast, you'll get throttled.

 

Canadians lost Stephen Colbert last night.  Whether you are a fan or not, that's not the focus.  By "lost", I mean that it is no longer being broadcast on CTV, which is usually accessible in some form over-the-air.  Instead, the only way to get this show in Canada (aside from downloading) is to subscribe to a higher-end cable package which contains the Comedy Network.

 

So somehow, somewhere, someone decided that they could increase cable subscriptions by slowly moving TV shows to higher tier cable stations.  I suppose they think this is going to get people subscribing to cable again.  To that, I say:

 

[CoolBeans]

I am one of them

[Bonsai99]

I am one of them

One of the ones being throttled?

[Emperor_Piehead]

The only way I could see my self keeping cable would be to watch sports, but most of them you can watch online anyways.

 

edit- Linus is stalking the thread 

[Langdon]

My family needs to do this as well. My mom still pays more for cable than television "just in case." The only one that watches television in this household is her boyfriend, who only watches sports once a month, which he could watch online. 

[LinusTech]

I've been telling my local cable provider every time they call me with some deal that I'll be a happy subscriber when they support cable card but until then I'm not giving them a penny. They didn't listen. I guess they though I'd cave. Who's going to be the one to cave now?

Tired of their anti-consumer bs. Good riddance.

[iruixos]

I've been telling my local cable provider every time they call me with some deal that I'll be a happy subscriber when they support cable card but until then I'm not giving them a penny. They didn't listen. I guess they though I'd cave. Who's going to be the one to cave now?

Tired of their anti-consumer bs. Good riddance.

 

Hear hear!

[Psykodoughboy]

Canadians lost Stephen Colbert last night.  Whether you are a fan or not, that's not the focus.  By "lost", I mean that it is no longer being broadcast on CTV, which is usually accessible in some form over-the-air.  Instead, the only way to get this show in Canada (aside from downloading) is to subscribe to a higher-end cable package which contains the Comedy Network.

 

So somehow, somewhere, someone decided that they could increase cable subscriptions by slowly moving TV shows to higher tier cable stations.  I suppose they think this is going to get people subscribing to cable again.  To that, I say:

 

You guys can't get access to Comedy Central.com or hulu.com?

[Ethnod]

Except the people with Verizon or Comcast, you'll get throttled.

 

Thats only anyone inside the US

 

Love it, but to be honest Cable companies should just put their content online in an internal website only for customers... PS: I want royalties on my idea Mr Cable Company

[TopWargamer]

[Fetzie]

More evidence that a dying business model is dying, whatever will we find out next? That water is wet? Ice is cold?

 

So somehow, somewhere, someone decided that they could increase cable subscriptions by slowly moving TV shows to higher tier cable stations.  I suppose they think this is going to get people subscribing to cable again.  To that, I say:

Anybody with an ounce of brain cells would know that you increase what you're offering to get new punters in, not take stuff away.

[Mentalguy]

anti-consumer bs

 

This trend needs to die. im surprised they lasted this long.

[Psykodoughboy]

i just pay for cable internet and use an antenna to get the local channels.

[HunterTheHusky]

Here in Australia there are some people are apparently trying to stop the NBN just for this reason. Apparently they are afraid that if Australian customers get internet speeds able to constantly stream free HD content that it will bring down the traditional media. They being all of the large newspapers and Subscription TV providers.

[pit5000]

cable pool!, a group of friends share the bill for single subscription, share credentials for online viewing  

[twod]

I don't watch much tv nowadays and I do watch some tv series I just watch it on the net. Most of the stuff on TV is crap anyways. If like some stations like the cbc had an online tv centre like entire lineup on the net with no commercials like the BBC I would pay for it. I rather pay for content that I want than content packages (unless its grouped into what I want ).

[Bonsai99]

You guys can't get access to Comedy Central.com or hulu.com?

Nope, unless we use a US VPN.

[totjup5]

I haven't watched tv in like 5 months

[Anult]

Let's face it, most TV nowadays is crap anyway.

 

And the few decent shows left you could always get on Netflix or buy a box-set instead.

 

I won't have Cable TV when I move out, nor a land-line. The only thing I care about is sweet, sweet broadband.

[Xorbot]

You guys can't get access to Comedy Central.com or hulu.com?

 

The direct answer is no.  Whenever a site posts a clip about the previous night's Colbert episode for whatever news article, the first thing that you see is "This content is not available in your region." or something to that effect.  In fact, an ad would show, and THEN they would show that lock-out message--clever bastards, right?

 

Canada also does not have access to hulu.com, in a standard fashion.  Yes via VPS/VPN's, however.

 

The longer answer is that we have access to the Comedy Network website, and the previous night's episode is typically listed on there.  So it works in a similar fashion.  The original post I wrote is that the only way to view Colbert (which is a current events show) on the same day it is supposed to air, Canadians must not only subscribe to a cable package, but a higher-tier one that includes cable stations like Comedy Network.

 

This is in sharp contrast to 2 weeks ago when Colbert was delivered on OTA signals for at least a decade (or however long that show was on the air).

Edited September 5, 2013 by Xorbot

[Bpsmooth]

So am I on the short list of people that have never owned cable TV? There are times I wished I had cable, but for the most part I have never seen a reason to have it. Any of the shows I watch, I watch on basic TV.

[unidentical]

In response to these losses, Shaw cable just upped the rates on their internet bundles.

 

Unfortunately, almost all other providers charge exactly the same fees for exactly the same services.

 

There are a few upstart companies charging less but they operate in very limited areas so not many people have access to them.

 

First chance I get I'm ditching shaw. They have been so completely unremarkable and unnecessarily expensive, I'm fed up.

[DeViLzzz]

I have basic cable and hate paying for so little but I have to keep it til my son leaves home one day as he likes the OHL part of the sports pack that I pay $30 per month for.  Yeah I get all the major sports but I don't get Toronto games which is ridiculous when you are paying a premium for more sports.  I also think there are way too many packages set up only to make the cable providers make more money.  I do remember seeing an article somewhere not long ago where people were pushing to have cable companies be made to remove all these packages they have.  Seriously they are ripping off consumers.  I really do wonder what my bill would be if I got every channel available on cable including the sports pack I have. The cost for all that must be ridiculous.