
Pay-TV Companies Are in Crisis Mode - anton69
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-12/pay-tv-s-salad-days-are-gone-in-painful-time-for-at-t-viacom
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trimtab
Cable companies keep tightening the screws on Cable TV customers who in many
cases will remain cable subscribers for broadband internet only..... But only
because there are no other options in their area.

Also Cable Companies continue to encrypt local channels that used to be on
unencrypted clear QAM channels. So that HDTV or DVR that has a digital tuner
that you purchased can't get a signal without adding yet another cable box (or
cablecard) to your monthly bill for each and every device.

Then customers decide to try an Over-The-Air (OTA) antenna and realize that
the Cable Co's have been degrading their local channels signal for years in
favor of pay channels and shopping channels.

Next, a customer may get a Roku or Chromecast and realize the choice greater
and quality better streaming from the Internet than via local cable and the
customer has much better control over the costs.

Also "cord cutters" are making a lot of noise on social networks about what
they are doing and how well it works. Couple that with how much "love" most
people have for their cable company and well decline should be inevitable as
long as the alternatives work and they do.

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Clubber
I got sick of Comcast charging for basic, then ++ for a box then ++ for HD
(over and above renting the HD box) then ++ for a DVR, then ++ for a little
box in the kid's room, then contracting out people who don't know what the
hell they are talking about to (not) fix things when the picture goes bad,
then charging me $85 for them to (not) fix it. I'm sick of the horrible
customer service too. It ended up being $130 bucks a month for garbage.

I cut them off with prejudice (to use a legal term), and replaced them with
Netflix, HBO, iTunes and Hulu for College Football games. I have an antenna
but don't use it much. I figured for $130 a month, I could buy 4 seasons a
month at $30 a season and still be under what Comcast charged.

Comcast can go pound sand. (except their business internet).

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pascalxus
I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner, much sooner. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon
prime have been around for many, many years now. Why all the sudden, people
realized they could leave their tv-subscriptions, now in 2017?

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trimtab
Roku has made all the difference for many. It has most every streaming option
including Amazon who refuses to work on Chromecast.

It's easy compared to most other Internet Video Stream Receivers by offering a
WiFi remote (not your phone) and a TV/Cable channel metaphor UI rather than a
web metaphor UI.

It works really well for the non-technical and older people.

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gumby
Comcast is the only choice here in Palo Alto (despite being less than 1 km
from the PAIX and the AT&T DSLAMs, my only other "choice" is 386K DSL from
AT&T).

They cut my bill by 20% if I subscribe to TV service. The cable box sits still
in its shipping box; its only function is to cut my bill.

It was a "one year, one time deal" but when I called to cancel TV service the
rep told me I can just sign up for it again every year.

Guess they are scamming the TV advertisers.

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pasbesoin
Reminds me, I need to replace the insulation around my ducts in the
crawlspace, that Comcast's tech tore out while looking for a punchthrough
while I was upstairs making noise to guide him to it (and it was nowhere near
where he ripped out the insulation, also why I didn't notice the damage while
he was there).

Should have done the work myself, but he was already there and seemed at first
to be ok.

When you dread any kind of service call you have to have with these people
(like ATT taking over a month and multiple, multiple calls, to change a
calling plan), you know they are doing something wrong.

If my municipality were to roll their own, I'd sign up in a second. Even at
higher price, although I'd expect exactly the opposite.

Google Fiber (which, I gather from stories I've heard from Austin, has its own
installation woes) almost made it here. But then Google was like, "Let's ride
bikes!"

Meh

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devhead
They ignored the customers needs and instead attacked / lashed out at services
who undercut their base. innovate or die, as it goes.

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trimtab
Actually, they know their customer needs and wants. Their advertising and "in
network" offers are brimming with all the appropriate wording and promises.
They just don't provide good support or deal honestly so customers are
rightfully are fed up, but most don't know there are any options.

If they were not local regional monopolies they'd be losing customers a lot
faster than they are now.

The faster we can make cable companies "dumb pipes" the better off we will all
be... except if you are a Cable company exec or shareholder.

BTW, if you are an HOA board member make sure you maximize your "door fees"
when they come up for re-negotiation. "Door fees" are what a cable company
pays the HOA for access to living units within the HOA. "Door fees" also
prevent the HOA from letting any other Cable company have the same access for
the term of the contract. Since you can't break the monopoly, you can at least
lower the regular assessments for your HOA members with Cable company cash.

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tabletiptop
> Investors in traditional TV providers are reeling as companies from AT&T
> Inc. to Viacom Inc. fail to stop the desertion of customers lured away by
> cheaper entertainment options such as Netflix and Snapchat.

What? Snapchat as an entertainment option? I thought it was a messaging app.

