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Cord cutting won't save money? I've seen this said multiple places, but it seems inane. A BASIC cable TV subscription costs over $100/mo. Streaming services

Cord cutting won't save money? I've seen this said multiple places, but it seems inane. A BASIC cable TV subscription costs over $100/mo. Streaming services are typically $10/mo or so. And they offer radically more content, at radically higher quality, with radically higher convenience, etc. Who out there is in need of 10 simultaneous streaming subscriptions? You are right, though, that Cox, Comcast, etc will likely bundle together Netflix, Hulu, Facebook Video, YouTube, etc and try to "sell" it, while aggressively throttling data usage. The fact that distribution of content is now worthless, and distribution is the primary value proposition of their business model won't stop them from making money so long as the government is on their side.

awinder 8y ago
Most of the big providers (comcast & verizon certainly) bundle tv & internet together at fairly low rates. For instance, FIOS gigabit is $80/month alone, $80/month for internet + 155 tv channels. Certainly not $100/month for a basic TV subscription.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> A BASIC cable TV subscription costs over $100/mo. No, it doesn't. > Streaming services are typically $10/mo or so. Streaming multichannel video distribution platform (MVDP) services that are most comparable to a cable subscription, with live TV channels (YouTubeTV, SlingTV, PlaystationTV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV) have some variation in pricing, but the bottom is way above $10/mo. ~$40/mo seems to be typical base fee, comparable with basic cable plans (U-Verse Basic is $19.99/mo + $10/mo for HD.) $10-15/mo. streaming services are typically more comparable in what they offer to a single premium cable channels, but without live programming and sometimes with little better on-demand catalog. Some of them are exactly equivalent to such a channel (e.g., HBO Now). In addition, streaming services count against your broadband services data cap, which may necessitate additional charges for uncapped service (and require sufficient broadband bandwidth, which may also force a higher tiers of service than you otherwise would use—cable/satellite mostly subsumes all of that.) > The fact that distribution of content is now worthless, and distribution is the primary value proposition of their business model Essentislly all the cable companies are both (owned by, or own) major content owners and major broadband (often both fixed and mobile) ISPs, they often also own or co-own one or more streaming services (sometimes both MVDP and “single channel” style services). They are making money no matter what route you choose to the content.

awinder 8y ago

Most of the big providers (comcast & verizon certainly) bundle tv & internet together at fairly low rates. For instance, FIOS gigabit is $80/month alone, $80/month for internet + 155 tv channels. Certainly not $100/month for a basic TV subscription.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> A BASIC cable TV subscription costs over $100/mo. No, it doesn't. > Streaming services are typically $10/mo or so. Streaming multichannel video distribution platform (MVDP) services that are most comparable to a cable subscription, with live TV channels (YouTubeTV, SlingTV, PlaystationTV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV) have some variation in pricing, but the bottom is way above $10/mo. ~$40/mo seems to be typical base fee, comparable with basic cable plans (U-Verse Basic is $19.99/mo + $10/mo for HD.) $10-15/mo. streaming services are typically more comparable in what they offer to a single premium cable channels, but without live programming and sometimes with little better on-demand catalog. Some of them are exactly equivalent to such a channel (e.g., HBO Now). In addition, streaming services count against your broadband services data cap, which may necessitate additional charges for uncapped service (and require sufficient broadband bandwidth, which may also force a higher tiers of service than you otherwise would use—cable/satellite mostly subsumes all of that.) > The fact that distribution of content is now worthless, and distribution is the primary value proposition of their business model Essentislly all the cable companies are both (owned by, or own) major content owners and major broadband (often both fixed and mobile) ISPs, they often also own or co-own one or more streaming services (sometimes both MVDP and “single channel” style services). They are making money no matter what route you choose to the content.