4 ms·
Cable is the worst. I shouldn't have to pay for channels I don't want. It should be à la carte. Streaming services are the worst. I shouldn't have to subscribe
by forrestthewoods 10y ago
Cable is the worst. I shouldn't have to pay for channels I don't want. It should be à la carte.
Streaming services are the worst. I shouldn't have to subscribe to a half dozen different services. Someone should sell a bundle that gives me access to all of them for a lower price.
- drgath 10y agoSling[1] is the closest we can get right now. Eventually, channel subscriptions will be available through something like an App Store and just as easy to manage as an recurring subscription app. [1] https://www.sling.com/ https://www.sling.com/
- drgath 10y agoSling[1] is the closest we can get right now. Eventually, channel subscriptions will be available through something like an App Store and just as easy to manage as an recurring subscription app. [1] https://www.sling.com/ https://www.sling.com/
- partiallypro 10y agoUnpopular, but without cable subsidizing costs of various networks through packages, we wouldn't have tons of cable channels that grew up to be great, like AMC and FX. The one exception to this is the ESPN subsidy, which is insane. If ESPN could actually be opted out of cable bills would be fairly cheap.
- rjvir 10y agoWhy is ESPN an exception? Their price is a reflection of how much people want it. ESPN (and sports as a whole) are a big driver of cable subscriptions, which helps all cable channels.
- forrestthewoods 10y agoUnpopular? That's simple fact! Here's a NYTimes article from 2012 titled "The 'Mad Men' Economic Miracle". http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/magazine/the-mad-men-economic-miracle.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/magazine/the-mad-men-econo... AMC was making $30 million per MONTH off 80 million subscribers despite Breaking Bad having less than 3 million viewers.
- khedoros 10y agoWe opted out of the sports tv package on DirecTv. Their page says that it's a $13.99/month set of channels.
- rconti 10y agoDisagree. The big players are leeching money that COULD go to small players if we got to choose where our money went. And then the cable companies throw you a few 'small' channels so you feel like the little guy wins occasionally. Instead we have all those channels in a perpetual race to the bottom to attract just enough eyeballs to be worth "keeping on the payroll" of the bundle. The racing footage I used to be able to get on Speedvision (on the rare occasion where my local provider HAD Speedvision!) was worth far more to me than the $0.20 they got from my subscription. I for one, welcome our a-la-carte overlords, where my dollars go to the content I want.
- maxerickson 10y agoI don't think it is so clear that putting your dollars where you want gets you more topical programming than putting up with opaque bundles. (Say there's $30 on average of revenue in the cable bundle with only $15 of it being desired spending on average. The channels get a lot more revenue with the opaque bundles, and they are still competing to some extent for the revenue.)
- Touche 10y agoYeah, I've always thought it was weird that people say they wanted "a la carte" but that's been available for years through iTunes and Amazon Video. You can buy individual episodes of practically any show. That's a la carte. Getting a channel isn't a la carte, unless you want every program that channel produces (unlikely). But a la carte hasn't taken off in streaming services, so now we're recreating channels. Next will be bundles where you can get Netflix and Hulu and Amazon together. Blah.
- celias 10y agoThe Secret History Of Your Cable Bill (2013) http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/09/27/226891181/episode-488-the-secret-history-of-your-cable-bill http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/09/27/226891181/episo...
- dionidium 10y agoYou don't pay for channels you don't want. You pay for the channels you do want. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/26/cable_unbundling_a_la_carte_is_not_the_miracle_it_seems.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/26/cable_unbundl...
- rhino369 10y agoHow is netflix any different. I don't care about Disney movies or all teh kids content they have. Should I get an a la carte netflix plan with only the content I want? Of course not. Now how is that any different from cable?
- forrestthewoods 10y agoSounds like you should buy just the shows you want off iTunes or Amazon.
- narrowrail 10y agoPiracy has never been easier or faster and a 2TB HHD that plugs into your router is $80.
- mrep 10y agoThis is why economics is my favorite subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling