(05-03-2017 03:47 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  https://news.fastcompany.com/cord-cutting-spikes-fivefold-in-cable-tvs-worst-quarter-ever-4036578

That's 0.6% of TV homes giving up pay tv packages in January, February, and March of this year.

(05-03-2017 04:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The most intriguing item on that chart wasn't addressed in that article. With a massive spike in cord cutting---why was every single carrier hammered--except one. Why did Comcast actually register a gain of subscribers? If Im one of the cable carriers getting hammered---thats the first question Im addressing when I see that chart.

Cable has been under assault for a while---but they remind me of the US when we were being attacked from terrorist in the 1990's. We didn't really do much about it. It wasn't until 911 that we woke up and began to fight back. Once the cable actually alters their strategies and fights back with a la carte and skinny bundles---we wont really be able to tell where this will stabilize. My guess is there is a hard core floor for cable (mostly older and more affluent people) who refer cable and aren't leaving (maybe 50% of their subscribers). In my opinion, that means the battle will likely be fought for the other half of their current subscribers who are less loyal and very price sensitive.

(05-03-2017 05:51 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Depends on how you define cord cutting.

If you define it as "households that dropped pay TV products like Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, TWC Spectrum, Verizon FIOS, AT&T UVerse, DirecTV satellite, DISH Network satellite, etc.", then that's not really cord cutting. These people are still paying for scripted and live video content that they still desire to view. They're just willing to give up some quality/ease of use/convenience to switch platforms and save a cheap buck.


Real cord cutters are people who actually don't care about TV, and are fine with an antenna, dvd player, etc. There aren't actually a ton of these people around, but they do exist.

(05-03-2017 05:19 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Honestly, if you don't need CBS-Sports---then Sony VUE is the best deal going. You can get a pretty robust package of nearly 90+ networks (including most all of the sports networks other than CBS-Sports Network) for $64.99. You can get a decent plan for just $29.99.

(05-03-2017 05:51 PM)MplsBison Wrote:  Depends on how you define cord cutting.

If you define it as "households that dropped pay TV products like Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, TWC Spectrum, Verizon FIOS, AT&T UVerse, DirecTV satellite, DISH Network satellite, etc.", then that's not really cord cutting. These people are still paying for scripted and live video content that they still desire to view. They're just willing to give up some quality/ease of use/convenience to switch platforms and save a cheap buck.


Real cord cutters are people who actually don't care about TV, and are fine with an antenna, dvd player, etc. There aren't actually a ton of these people around, but they do exist.

(05-03-2017 04:44 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 04:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The most intriguing item on that chart wasn't addressed in that article. With a massive spike in cord cutting---why was every single carrier hammered--except one. Why did Comcast actually register a gain of subscribers? If Im one of the cable carriers getting hammered---thats the first question Im addressing when I see that chart.

Cable has been under assault for a while---but they remind me of the US when we were being attacked from terrorist in the 1990's. We didn't really do much about it. It wasn't until 911 that we woke up and began to fight back. Once the cable actually alters their strategies and fights back with a la carte and skinny bundles---we wont really be able to tell where this will stabilize. My guess is there is a hard core floor for cable (mostly older and more affluent people) who refer cable and aren't leaving (maybe 50% of their subscribers). In my opinion, that means the battle will likely be fought for the other half of their current subscribers who are less loyal and very price sensitive.

Because Comcast is 35% cheaper than ATT U-Verse (at least in Houston). My guess is that Comcast is fighting harder than ATT U-Verse but eventually they'll start losing too.

(05-03-2017 03:47 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  https://news.fastcompany.com/cord-cutting-spikes-fivefold-in-cable-tvs-worst-quarter-ever-4036578

That's 0.6% of TV homes giving up pay tv packages in January, February, and March of this year.

(05-03-2017 04:44 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 04:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The most intriguing item on that chart wasn't addressed in that article. With a massive spike in cord cutting---why was every single carrier hammered--except one. Why did Comcast actually register a gain of subscribers? If Im one of the cable carriers getting hammered---thats the first question Im addressing when I see that chart.

Cable has been under assault for a while---but they remind me of the US when we were being attacked from terrorist in the 1990's. We didn't really do much about it. It wasn't until 911 that we woke up and began to fight back. Once the cable actually alters their strategies and fights back with a la carte and skinny bundles---we wont really be able to tell where this will stabilize. My guess is there is a hard core floor for cable (mostly older and more affluent people) who refer cable and aren't leaving (maybe 50% of their subscribers). In my opinion, that means the battle will likely be fought for the other half of their current subscribers who are less loyal and very price sensitive.

Because Comcast is 35% cheaper than ATT U-Verse (at least in Houston). My guess is that Comcast is fighting harder than ATT U-Verse but eventually they'll start losing too.

(05-03-2017 08:37 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 04:44 PM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 04:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  The most intriguing item on that chart wasn't addressed in that article. With a massive spike in cord cutting---why was every single carrier hammered--except one. Why did Comcast actually register a gain of subscribers? If Im one of the cable carriers getting hammered---thats the first question Im addressing when I see that chart.

Cable has been under assault for a while---but they remind me of the US when we were being attacked from terrorist in the 1990's. We didn't really do much about it. It wasn't until 911 that we woke up and began to fight back. Once the cable actually alters their strategies and fights back with a la carte and skinny bundles---we wont really be able to tell where this will stabilize. My guess is there is a hard core floor for cable (mostly older and more affluent people) who refer cable and aren't leaving (maybe 50% of their subscribers). In my opinion, that means the battle will likely be fought for the other half of their current subscribers who are less loyal and very price sensitive.

Because Comcast is 35% cheaper than ATT U-Verse (at least in Houston). My guess is that Comcast is fighting harder than ATT U-Verse but eventually they'll start losing too.

I have U-Verse. It's pricey, especially when you take their max number of channels and their highest broadband internet speed. Probably it's the same price if someone has a max DirecTV package plus the same AT&T high-speed broadband. If Comcast or Cox or "Spectrum" (formerly Time Warner) offer similar service at a lower price, even with famously crappy cable customer service, then I'm not surprised if they are holding even or bleeding subscribers at a slower rate.

(05-03-2017 03:53 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 03:47 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  https://news.fastcompany.com/cord-cutting-spikes-fivefold-in-cable-tvs-worst-quarter-ever-4036578

That's 0.6% of TV homes giving up pay tv packages in January, February, and March of this year.

I am one of them. I dropped DirecTV in January.