http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/pf/disne...index.html

"we are getting back to the TV bundle."

YES. Rates/rights fees have been cheap to get people to use the services while the holder/broadcaster was getting paid via broadcast services... once it flips the other way.... so will the costs....

There is more competition than ever. I don't think so. Before the cable companies could add worthless channels and make you pay. Tougher these days.

No. But it will eventually cost more than it does now. Most content providers have looked at streamers as a place to pick up some incremental income. The streamers have been getting a good deal. As the cable companies become less awash with cash, the content providers will be looking to streamers to pay more in order to make up for the lost cable revenue.

Some content providers, like Disney has, will opt to cut out the middle man and stream the content themselves. That's basically why I've been saying for years that cord cutters are not the biggest threat to ESPN---the biggest threat to ESPN is content providers deciding they dont need ESPN in order to monetize their broadcast rights. As long as ESPN has that huge catalog of live sports rights---they can survive. If that goes away---ESPN is dead.

It's just another reason I believe cutting back on sports rights spending isn't in the cards at ESPN. Those rights literally are the only way ESPN will survive in the new broadcast environment.

I don't think so. Stealing is a problem. If a company raises prices too high, stealing will become a bigger problem.

May go up a little but not like old days of cable.

Things are good for consumers right now. I just threatened to drop Dish and they lowered my plan from $120/month to $70/month. I told them I was switching to Play Station Vue. I called them fully intending to cancel but after they gave me the new deal I stayed. They guaranteed me this new rate for six months lol. I figure go with it and in six months we will see if they extend. If not, I'm gone.

(08-13-2017 06:24 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  May go up a little but not like old days of cable.

Things are good for consumers right now. I just threatened to drop Dish and they lowered my plan from $120/month to $70/month. I told them I was switching to Play Station Vue. I called them fully intending to cancel but after they gave me the new deal I stayed. They guaranteed me this new rate for six months lol. I figure go with it and in six months we will see if they extend. If not, I'm gone.

I had AT&T universe and my cable bill went from $140 to $200 after 12 months. I called and said I was going to cancel my rate if I didn't get the $140 because the person going door to door said I could call after 12 months and get $140. I'm really glad AT&T acted like a jack@ss and not giving me another 12 months for $140. Now I get the Playstation Vue for $34.99 (with tax) + internet $60.00 + plus with my savings added Netflix ($10) = $104.99. So I'm literally saving almost $100 per month over AT&T's $200 (Cable and Internet) for the same crap + added Netflix. Then the extra power savings by not having those energy hogs for cable DVR boxes. They pull around the electricity of your fridge!

I might drop Netflix after Disney leaves. We will see.

AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

The problem with all these streaming services is that it doesn't always work as designed. Sometimes I like to watch Netflix and if I watch one hour show or one movie I'm fine but if I try to binge a few episodes I will eventually get the circling 99% or a message saying "we are having trouble streaming this content". That's ok if I'm watching an old TV show or movie, it's not ok if I'm watching a sporting event live. I've never had an issue with ESPN streaming but who knows what these other services will be like. Additionally each one that starts up is an additional cost. Start with your $50-$60 broadband connection then you start adding streaming services at $10-$20 each and it's not long before you need to get a second mortgage to pay for your sports addiction. Then for those of us that are non techies who still want to watch regular TV in our living rooms, we aren't giving up our satellite or cable. For those reasons I'm not on the streaming bandwagon.

Perhaps. But if it does, those cord shavers become pure cord cutters. The great thing about the OTT services, is that it allows competetion rather than a monopoly like cable.

What I see happening more will be having individual channels offering OTT services as a standalone like HBO, Showtime and Boomerang. Disney is following suit in a couple of years.

PS VUE just raised their rates from $35 to $40 in the year they just started up. I'm now looking at Sling again to save $15/month.

I could even live just on OTA and Pluto TV now that they have Home, Adventure and Food channels and adding more like Big Sky Conference. Not to mention other channels like Red Bull TV and soon the Stadium TV.

I have been paying about $60 for Directv for the past 3 years. Just have to threaten to leave every year.

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

I am paying the same with some exceptions. U-Verse is now AT&T Internet. AT&T moved me from their television package to DirecTV. I have a second telephone line because I work from home. If canceled, it would save me $36/month.

The issue I see in cable is homes with multiple TV require multiple cable boxes, each of which requires an added monthly fee. We have TV's in rooms all over the house and one on the patio. Those extra TV's alone adds about $70 a month to my bill. As nearly every one of those TV's already has a Roku or an AppleTv, going to a streaming service immediately eliminates that charge, making it a much cheaper alternative for me. The only reason I don't do it is sports. CBS-Sports is not on most of the services that offer all the other networks I want---and no streaming service offers the local Root RSN that carries the Rockets and Astros games. So, Im stuck for now.

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

And i'm sure that is only 12 months guaranteed. Unless you're downloading massive amounts of data while streaming from 5+ devices it doesn't matter over 25mbs. $140 is too much in today's world of streaming options.

(08-13-2017 02:05 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

And i'm sure that is only 12 months guaranteed. Unless you're downloading massive amounts of data while streaming from 5+ devices it doesn't matter over 25mbs. $140 is too much in today's world of streaming options.

Two years. Buddy who works for at&t said call in, speak to first person who won't give you want then ask to he transferred to their retention department

(08-13-2017 02:07 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:05 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

And i'm sure that is only 12 months guaranteed. Unless you're downloading massive amounts of data while streaming from 5+ devices it doesn't matter over 25mbs. $140 is too much in today's world of streaming options.

Two years. Buddy who works for at&t said call in, speak to first person who won't give you want then ask to he transferred to their retention department

I'm personally glad they didn't give me the $140 when we cancelled. The PS Vue is awesome. Cloud based DVR. Cable companies are so far behind. Is that $140 after tax? My sales person said the same thing...oh just call in after 12 months. 1) pain in the @SS. 2) that was a lie in my case.

The idea I have to stick a giant energy sucking cable box in every room is insane.

(08-13-2017 02:12 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:07 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:05 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

And i'm sure that is only 12 months guaranteed. Unless you're downloading massive amounts of data while streaming from 5+ devices it doesn't matter over 25mbs. $140 is too much in today's world of streaming options.

Two years. Buddy who works for at&t said call in, speak to first person who won't give you want then ask to he transferred to their retention department

I'm personally glad they didn't give me the $140 when we cancelled. The PS Vue is awesome. Cloud based DVR. Cable companies are so far behind. Is that $140 after tax? My sales person said the same thing...oh just call in after 12 months. 1) pain in the @SS. 2) that was a lie in my case.

The idea I have to stick a giant energy sucking cable box in every room is insane.

You got that right. Its my biggest gripe with cable. In the old days you could put a box in a couple of rooms and those rooms would be able to get all the upgraded/upper tier networks your paying for. The other TV's, you couod just hook the cable to a "cable ready" TV and get basic cable (all the scrambled channel would not come through--but you'd still have the basic cable in all the other rooms). Now you cant do that---you either have a box or you have no cable at all.

(08-13-2017 02:45 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:12 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:07 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 02:05 PM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 10:15 AM)Pony94 Wrote:  AT&T gave me U-verse 450 with the highest internet for $140

Let me call for you next time: do it every year and it works

And i'm sure that is only 12 months guaranteed. Unless you're downloading massive amounts of data while streaming from 5+ devices it doesn't matter over 25mbs. $140 is too much in today's world of streaming options.

Two years. Buddy who works for at&t said call in, speak to first person who won't give you want then ask to he transferred to their retention department

I'm personally glad they didn't give me the $140 when we cancelled. The PS Vue is awesome. Cloud based DVR. Cable companies are so far behind. Is that $140 after tax? My sales person said the same thing...oh just call in after 12 months. 1) pain in the @SS. 2) that was a lie in my case.

The idea I have to stick a giant energy sucking cable box in every room is insane.

You got that right. Its my biggest gripe with cable. In the old days you could put a box in a couple of rooms and those rooms would be able to get all the upgraded/upper tier networks your paying for. The other TV's, you couod just hook the cable to a "cable ready" TV and get basic cable (all the scrambled channel would not come through--but you'd still have the basic cable in all the other rooms). Now you cant do that---you either have a box or you have no cable at all.

That is my major complaint as well. I have four FIOS boxes throughout the house and lanai. That is nearly $50 of non value added expense. My contract runs out in two months so I am likely switching to a streaming service(s) myself.

The thing to consider is that as many of the streaming services continue to develop top notch original programming like Amazon and Netflix...this is going to negate some of the savings if you want to view this content. In addition, at some point internet providers are going to raise their prices to profit from increased demand and increase infrastructure and capacity.

Finally, there is still a need for innovation and improvement that would make juggling through all these different services easier.

(08-13-2017 09:25 AM)KNIGHTTIME Wrote:  

(08-13-2017 06:24 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  May go up a little but not like old days of cable.

Things are good for consumers right now. I just threatened to drop Dish and they lowered my plan from $120/month to $70/month. I told them I was switching to Play Station Vue. I called them fully intending to cancel but after they gave me the new deal I stayed. They guaranteed me this new rate for six months lol. I figure go with it and in six months we will see if they extend. If not, I'm gone.

I had AT&T universe and my cable bill went from $140 to $200 after 12 months. I called and said I was going to cancel my rate if I didn't get the $140 because the person going door to door said I could call after 12 months and get $140. I'm really glad AT&T acted like a jack@ss and not giving me another 12 months for $140. Now I get the Playstation Vue for $34.99 (with tax) + internet $60.00 + plus with my savings added Netflix ($10) = $104.99. So I'm literally saving almost $100 per month over AT&T's $200 (Cable and Internet) for the same crap + added Netflix. Then the extra power savings by not having those energy hogs for cable DVR boxes. They pull around the electricity of your fridge!

I might drop Netflix after Disney leaves. We will see.

We did almost the same thing. Except we use my wife's parents Neftflix so we don't have to pay for it lol

(08-12-2017 09:44 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/pf/disne...index.html

"we are getting back to the TV bundle."

Will never get back to that.

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