Just cut the cable

O

Ozhawk

Well-Known Member
I'm one of those older guys. I had Dish for 21 years. Was a customer when they were called Echostar. I just divorced them today. It wasn't a pleasant experience for them as they were willing to give me my current service for 40 dollars this next year. I didn't budge. I have excellent internet and feel a bit liberated. Ive spent close to 30,000 over the last 20 year on Dish. 30K!!!! wow...anyways.
 
Haven't had cable in 10 years. Only thing I watch on T.V. is Iowa football and basketball. That's a 20 minute drive to my folks house, and even when we watch a game "live" it gets DVR'D for 30-40 minutes so we can skip commercials. Will end up catching up before the game ends so it can't be ruined by social media. Works out pretty good.
 
With more and more streaming cable service options (Hulu and Youtube now) along with PSVue, Directv Now and Sling it is only a matter of time until I cut satellite. I think my 2 year contract runs out in August, so that is perfect. I will get a streaming service for Sept, while I keep the Dish service for that month to make sure I get all the football that I need to get in a manner that I like. If for whatever reason I don't like the streaming services I can just cancel them and keep right on going with Dish.
 
There is a bigger picture to this. Our nation has become a nation of bubbles. Bubbles are basically things taken to excess. I do think we are in a serious financial crisis which hasn't fully been understood yet. When one looks at the demise of the middle class in the US (it has been silently staggering) things will change. ESPN is about the middle class. Cable is about the middle class. Yes there are alternatives but the alternatives aren't the whole picture. For instance, retail sales from stores has plummeted while online is rising. The online increase makes up about 1/2 of the loss. The TV alternatives don't make up the losses. Bottom line is that people can't afford it.

How does this relate to sports? The bubble is bursting. ADs cater to the "elite" yet the bread and butter is the middle class. The loss of cable revenue will collide with the elite life of athletic departments and coaches. I remember thinking that the Big Network was going to ultimately hurt college sports. Why? How many middle class and lower class kids are going to be watching the Big Network? Not as many as when you formerly could get local broadcasts.
The quality of play will go down.

In essence when you cut the ties, you will be hurting college athletics.

Here are a couple of interesting articles. Huff Post I know. I have no idea who the other guy is but he has some interesting comments. He's an Austrian theory economist for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/espn-lost-million-subscribers_us_583ef00be4b04fcaa4d5f2a8

https://mises.org/blog/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble
 
Has anyone tried the new Hulu TV yet? I've got Sling and PS Vue but am looking for something with more local options and I think Hulu is supposed to have these. Ideas?
 
HawkGold said:
There is a bigger picture to this. Our nation has become a nation of bubbles. Bubbles are basically things taken to excess. I do think we are in a serious financial crisis which hasn't fully been understood yet. When one looks at the demise of the middle class in the US (it has been silently staggering) things will change. ESPN is about the middle class. Cable is about the middle class. Yes there are alternatives but the alternatives aren't the whole picture. For instance, retail sales from stores has plummeted while online is rising. The online increase makes up about 1/2 of the loss. The TV alternatives don't make up the losses. Bottom line is that people can't afford it.

How does this relate to sports? The bubble is bursting. ADs cater to the "elite" yet the bread and butter is the middle class. The loss of cable revenue will collide with the elite life of athletic departments and coaches. I remember thinking that the Big Network was going to ultimately hurt college sports. Why? How many middle class and lower class kids are going to be watching the Big Network? Not as many as when you formerly could get local broadcasts.
The quality of play will go down.

In essence when you cut the ties, you will be hurting college athletics.

Here are a couple of interesting articles. Huff Post I know. I have no idea who the other guy is but he has some interesting comments. He's an Austrian theory economist for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/espn-lost-million-subscribers_us_583ef00be4b04fcaa4d5f2a8

https://mises.org/blog/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble
Click to expand...
You validated my decision. College athletics is way way down there on my list of important things.
HawkGold said:
There is a bigger picture to this. Our nation has become a nation of bubbles. Bubbles are basically things taken to excess. I do think we are in a serious financial crisis which hasn't fully been understood yet. When one looks at the demise of the middle class in the US (it has been silently staggering) things will change. ESPN is about the middle class. Cable is about the middle class. Yes there are alternatives but the alternatives aren't the whole picture. For instance, retail sales from stores has plummeted while online is rising. The online increase makes up about 1/2 of the loss. The TV alternatives don't make up the losses. Bottom line is that people can't afford it.

How does this relate to sports? The bubble is bursting. ADs cater to the "elite" yet the bread and butter is the middle class. The loss of cable revenue will collide with the elite life of athletic departments and coaches. I remember thinking that the Big Network was going to ultimately hurt college sports. Why? How many middle class and lower class kids are going to be watching the Big Network? Not as many as when you formerly could get local broadcasts.
The quality of play will go down.

In essence when you cut the ties, you will be hurting college athletics.

Here are a couple of interesting articles. Huff Post I know. I have no idea who the other guy is but he has some interesting comments. He's an Austrian theory economist for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/espn-lost-million-subscribers_us_583ef00be4b04fcaa4d5f2a8

https://mises.org/blog/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble
Click to expand...
I didn't realize Charlie Ergen (the CEO and founder of DISH) was a member of this forum. Welcome to Hawkeye Nation Charile!!
 
HawkGold said:
There is a bigger picture to this. Our nation has become a nation of bubbles. Bubbles are basically things taken to excess. I do think we are in a serious financial crisis which hasn't fully been understood yet. When one looks at the demise of the middle class in the US (it has been silently staggering) things will change. ESPN is about the middle class. Cable is about the middle class. Yes there are alternatives but the alternatives aren't the whole picture. For instance, retail sales from stores has plummeted while online is rising. The online increase makes up about 1/2 of the loss. The TV alternatives don't make up the losses. Bottom line is that people can't afford it.

How does this relate to sports? The bubble is bursting. ADs cater to the "elite" yet the bread and butter is the middle class. The loss of cable revenue will collide with the elite life of athletic departments and coaches. I remember thinking that the Big Network was going to ultimately hurt college sports. Why? How many middle class and lower class kids are going to be watching the Big Network? Not as many as when you formerly could get local broadcasts.
The quality of play will go down.

In essence when you cut the ties, you will be hurting college athletics.

Here are a couple of interesting articles. Huff Post I know. I have no idea who the other guy is but he has some interesting comments. He's an Austrian theory economist for sure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/espn-lost-million-subscribers_us_583ef00be4b04fcaa4d5f2a8

https://mises.org/blog/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble
Click to expand...

A lot of what you say in the first 2 paragraphs is true. Sports is mirroring US life and culture as certain leaders have bowed down to all corporate interests and tax cuts to the rich which makes the middle class wither and the poor unable to afford much.

I don't understand your sentence about cutting ties and hurting college athletics. TV has been throwing money at colleges for a long time. Since the 80's college fb and bb has been king and it is natural that the bubble will burst.

But that is not the problem of the fan, that is the problem of money grubbers. I will be cutting the Directv cord in a year when I retire. I wont worry about the hawks finances because if the bubble bursts then salaries will go down, ticket prices will go down, bowl game money will go down, TV and ad money will decline, there wont be the hype but football will still be good.
 
uihawk82 said:
A lot of what you say in the first 2 paragraphs is true. Sports is mirroring US life and culture as certain leaders have bowed down to all corporate interests and tax cuts to the rich which makes the middle class wither and the poor unable to afford much.

I don't understand your sentence about cutting ties and hurting college athletics. TV has been throwing money at colleges for a long time. Since the 80's college fb and bb has been king and it is natural that the bubble will burst.

But that is not the problem of the fan, that is the problem of money grubbers. I will be cutting the Directv cord in a year when I retire. I wont worry about the hawks finances because if the bubble bursts then salaries will go down, ticket prices will go down, bowl game money will go down, TV and ad money will decline, there wont be the hype but football will still be good.
Click to expand...

I agree
 
When I graduated college in 2004 and got my own place, my parents thought I was crazy for not having a landline telephone. I told them I didn't see the point when I had my cell phone with me all the time.

I see this new crop of kids to be the main cord cutters. They stream everything from Netflix to twitch to PlayStation Vue. They have no interest or need for cable TV.

I still have directv because I f'ing LOVE the NFL Sunday ticket. It murders 17 Sundays of my life every single year and I got my wife hooked too thanks to fantasy football.
 
mopkins said:
When I graduated college in 2004 and got my own place, my parents thought I was crazy for not having a landline telephone. I told them I didn't see the point when I had my cell phone with me all the time.

I see this new crop of kids to be the main cord cutters. They stream everything from Netflix to twitch to PlayStation Vue. They have no interest or need for cable TV.

I still have directv because I f'ing LOVE the NFL Sunday ticket. It murders 17 Sundays of my life every single year and I got my wife hooked too thanks to fantasy football.
Click to expand...

I agree that they stream everything but I disagree that they will be the main cord cutters. Were they ever connected and billed to begin with?

They may have been watching but I doubt they were paying.
 
OkstHawk said:
Has anyone tried the new Hulu TV yet? I've got Sling and PS Vue but am looking for something with more local options and I think Hulu is supposed to have these. Ideas?
Click to expand...

Hulu's "live TV" option is being "rolled", i.e., not every avenue has availability, yet. I know it isn't available on Roku (probably because the two are connected, want to avoid potential anti-trust, maybe). It should be complete by end of 2018.

In all reality, "bubbles" and "best options" is a problem of their own making. Had they (networks, cable/satellite/telephone providers, et. al.) gone "ala carte" 15 years ago, the bubble wouldn't BE a "bubble".

Look how archaic some of the crap is. To wit: cable company gives you a "bundle" for a specified price for a specified period. End of period arrives. Consumer decides what they got for "X" dollars each month isn't worth paying "X + Y" dollars. The consumer looks at options. Cable Giant Incorporated takes the call. Consumer says they'd like to get rid of the home phone. Cable Giant Incorporated's rep answers, "Oh, yo're on our bundle package! Dropping phone line will actually increase the price".

At this point, what normal person even fathoms this concept, outside of the geniuses at Cable Giant Incorporated? Do they really think it: 1) wise to "scare" a consumer trying to save money? and, 2) are they really going to go "all-in" on landline service to strengthen the bottom line?

Another scenario: you have streaming service. You load a bunch of channels/apps, including network apps for shows that Hulu/Netflix/Amazon don't carry. You go to watch a show and it says you need to be a cable/satellite subscriber to access it. WTF? If you have a cable/satellite subscriber, there is no need to stream shows off network TV.

CBS is at least honest enough to just charge an access fee, and put certain sporting events on their CBS Sports app. As well, much of the shows on CBS are not "owned" by them, just "original" broadcast rights. Hence the reason certain shows don't come up on Hulu/Netflix/Amazon EXCEPT on a per-fee basis.

Some of them are FINALLY starting to understand. Cable/satellite/telco providers are starting to offer app/on-demand/streaming-type services. Some are doing it on a reduced-fee basis so that you can "stream-only". They are slow, however, in getting anywhere close to matching up to the demand.

The networks seem willing to be held hostage. BTN REALLY could have done it "right" from the beginning, as the network was taking off at the same time as the introduction of smart phones and tablets. They could have sold to cable/satellite for reduced rates and introduced their own "alternative".
 
I find this discussion very interesting. I have very high speed wireless internet. I have DISH with no add on's at about $110 a month. Then, I have internet and a very cheap land line with Charter at about $80 a month. I have a cheap flip phone at $30 a month, unlimited long distance, minutes, and texting. Phone is nation wide plus canada. Because I travel alone, I won't use a smart phone since I have a really sophisticated gps in my vehicle and will not text or access internet when I am driving. I have a high powered lap top and an Apple I Pad I use at home and on the road. I travel thousands of miles a year, like 60,000, as a retired road trip warrior. Long story short, fit the prolific options to your life style and go for it! Streaming for me is a pain in the butt, since I watch live news, a couple of series, all of which I dvr, and sports. Movies? In the theatre where they belong.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
Hulu's "live TV" option is being "rolled", i.e., not every avenue has availability, yet. I know it isn't available on Roku (probably because the two are connected, want to avoid potential anti-trust, maybe). It should be complete by end of 2018.

In all reality, "bubbles" and "best options" is a problem of their own making. Had they (networks, cable/satellite/telephone providers, et. al.) gone "ala carte" 15 years ago, the bubble wouldn't BE a "bubble".

Look how archaic some of the crap is. To wit: cable company gives you a "bundle" for a specified price for a specified period. End of period arrives. Consumer decides what they got for "X" dollars each month isn't worth paying "X + Y" dollars. The consumer looks at options. Cable Giant Incorporated takes the call. Consumer says they'd like to get rid of the home phone. Cable Giant Incorporated's rep answers, "Oh, yo're on our bundle package! Dropping phone line will actually increase the price".

At this point, what normal person even fathoms this concept, outside of the geniuses at Cable Giant Incorporated? Do they really think it: 1) wise to "scare" a consumer trying to save money? and, 2) are they really going to go "all-in" on landline service to strengthen the bottom line?

Another scenario: you have streaming service. You load a bunch of channels/apps, including network apps for shows that Hulu/Netflix/Amazon don't carry. You go to watch a show and it says you need to be a cable/satellite subscriber to access it. WTF? If you have a cable/satellite subscriber, there is no need to stream shows off network TV.

CBS is at least honest enough to just charge an access fee, and put certain sporting events on their CBS Sports app. As well, much of the shows on CBS are not "owned" by them, just "original" broadcast rights. Hence the reason certain shows don't come up on Hulu/Netflix/Amazon EXCEPT on a per-fee basis.

Some of them are FINALLY starting to understand. Cable/satellite/telco providers are starting to offer app/on-demand/streaming-type services. Some are doing it on a reduced-fee basis so that you can "stream-only". They are slow, however, in getting anywhere close to matching up to the demand.

The networks seem willing to be held hostage. BTN REALLY could have done it "right" from the beginning, as the network was taking off at the same time as the introduction of smart phones and tablets. They could have sold to cable/satellite for reduced rates and introduced their own "alternative".
Click to expand...

Cable/satellite companies have huge overhead and infrastructure costs. They had to develop and supply cable boxes to decode the signals, and lay line (Cable), Put satellites in orbit, etc. All of these things don't have to be done with streaming services. The infrastructure is there (internet), someone else is developing the "cable boxes" (IE Roku, Apple TV, etc.) They are simply now supplying the stations and software to stream the programing.

Huge advantages here, and while cable/Satellite won't go away any time soon, they will always face those same costs that the streaming services won't. They can never be as inexpensive as a streaming provider because of this.
 
OkstHawk said:
Has anyone tried the new Hulu TV yet? I've got Sling and PS Vue but am looking for something with more local options and I think Hulu is supposed to have these. Ideas?
Click to expand...

I have not tried Hulu yet, but when my satellite agreement is up, I will be checking out all of the streaming options.

Here is something I will also getting to provide me with my local channels (since very few streaming services are providing them yet, and only in certain markets). It's called Tablo: https://www.tablotv.com/

Several benefits to this over just hooking up each TV to an antenna.
1) You only need one antenna, you can put it down by the router and out of sight, or you could mount it outside or in the attic easy enough as well and just run the line into the house.
2) You just stream it over AppleTV, Roku, etc. just like you are already doing with the streaming service. Open up Roku, click on the table app, and away you go.
3) You can hook up a USB harddrive and record away. That easy. Now you have all of your locals with a DVR.
4) Works with your phone devices, and tablets as well.
 
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