9 ms·

Do many young people watch TV anymore? It seems like netflix + youtube scratches that itch.

by sillysaurus3 13y ago

alaskamiller 13y ago
Yes. Except now the shows are timeshifted and streamed online.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
jds375 13y ago
I think it's really shifting away from TV. As a college student, my friends and I have been completely satisfied with Netflix and the like. I can confidently say that there is nearly a 0% chance I'll be getting cable/directv/whatever when I can just get Netflix/Hulu/etc instead.
- ams6110 13y ago
  Don't most ISPs make it economically infeasible to get internet services without also getting cable TV? Comcast here bundles servies such that internet only is more expensive than internet + cable.
  - drewr 13y ago
    This was the case for me historically as well, but I recently got an HD antenna to avoid paying the fee for digital and told them I didn't want the box. They somehow unbundled them and now I have a more expensive data plan for the same overall cost, and no TV listed anywhere on my bill. I have no idea if I'm practically any better off, but it's nice not feeling like I'm paying for something I'm not using.
  - dkulchenko 13y ago
    Yep, this is the case here as well. Paying Comcast for TV + internet because it's $15/month cheaper than internet alone. The cable box they sent me is sitting unpacked in the closet.
    - alttab 13y ago
      What I do is call them and outright refuse to pay more for just internet. I tell them to lower my bill to below that each year my "promotion" expires. They forward me to the "Loyalty" department and somehow find a new promotion for me each time. Fuckers.
      - rdtsc 13y ago
        > Fuckers. Interesting, do you have another provider in the area? I think a lot of the negotiating power comes from the ability to threaten to switch to <competitor>. If they know there is nobody else (and in many places in US there isn't), they can often say "yeah sorry to see you leave", knowing that you can't really go anywhere. I have for example been oscillating between two local providers. Both have equipment on "premises" installed and just have to switch it on and off. So as soon as one ends promotions, I switch to another and do so on. Sometimes they give me the promotion rates back without having to go the full switch around the circle. Promotions usually run 6 month to a year.
        alttab 13y ago
        Not really.cthere are competitors but they suck too. I use reason with them most of the time. Once You Are transfered to the loyalty department it doesn't even matter. In some cases, just ask yo be transfered to loyalty. Losing $30 a month per customer isn't worth losing the customer or the negative social media.
        johnward 12y ago
        I used to get the promotional rates re-applied every year. Now they just flat out refuse. So I cancelled my cable to call their bluff but I had to keep the internet because I have no other option. Never got a call from customer retention. So now I pay the same amount for comcast internet + directv but I refuse to switch back to comcast just because.
    - NoPiece 13y ago
      Can I ask where you live, and how much you pay? In the bay area internet only is marginally cheaper than any bundle. $99 for TV + 25mbps and between $66 for just the 25mbps. Teaser rates are $59 for the bundle, $29 for internet.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    The promotional rates work like that sometimes, but if you get the lowest, lowest grade of internet- at the normal non-promotional rate, it is a good deal cheaper than the bundles. Take my service for example. $40 standard rate (promo was $30). There ain't no bundle out there that runs $40 once the promo period is up.
  - joering2 13y ago
    Here in Central Florida Brightouse is very strict and internet alone is more expensive than bundled. However, after only a month on $130 bundle with ATT, I've "threatened" them to switch into Brightouse (bluff), because I needed cheaper plan and they gave me a $45/month/no contract internet-only plan for 12Mb download. Its possible that you would achieve the same with BH, but at least ATT hates when you mention competitors, and they make so much money that they would rather make less on you, than lose you big time, knowing once a customer is gone, his/her re-acquisition is very expensive. At least this is my experience. I had an impression that I could push it even harder and call again, complain and they would lower my bill even more before finally dropping me for good, but I am already satisfied with my plan. Edit: tl;dr - always bluff with your cable provider that you drop them b/c they are expensive and see how far you can get. Most likely your $150 bill can be cut 50% and they still will make money.
nickpresta 13y ago
Between YouTube, Twitch.TV (and related, like Azubu, Speedruns, etc), Crunchyroll, and occasional piracy (GoT), I never turn on my TV unless it's the Chromecast the aforementioned content.
- torbit 13y ago
  This is why they want a tiered internet. They would make a tier specifically for streaming sites, and a discount if you have cable with them.
- sb057 13y ago
  Well, your comment quickly became outdated.
chc 13y ago
Are you really questioning whether Game of Thrones is popular? Of course people still watch TV. A lot of them just pirate it.
krschultz 13y ago
Sports. ESPN + NFL Redzone + TNT + Local channels in HD have no good alternative on the internet. If they did I wouldn't pay for TV.
- jusben1369 13y ago
  Yes! Cable = Sports. If they somehow decouple those two then I'm all Internet.
  - dublinben 13y ago
    Do you get ESPN3 through your ISP? It covers most sports both live and recorded, and doesn't require a cable subscription.
    - brewdad 13y ago
      Most sports? Hardly. Sure you can, in theory, watch American Football, Rest of the World Football, basketball, and baseball on ESPN3, but if you want to see these sports played by teams that matter then you need regular ESPN or a cable subscription to view them. All the games that matter were removed from the ESPN3 lineup at least a couple of years ago.
      - skizm 13y ago
        ESPN3 access gives you access to all espn channels including regular espn. I use it every day for sports center and baseball.
        cc439 13y ago
        I'm unable to access ESPN's live feeds without a login provided by my cable company. That login flags what ESPN channels I pay for so, for example, I can't watch ESPN U without paying for an upgraded "sports" package filled with garbage channels. I do have access to some live and recorded events, but the selection is limited to filler content like college volleyball and minor league soccer. Another plus is the ability to use my neighbor's login without restrictions since our cable provider's flagging system is piss poor. As long as I know somebody paying for cable I can cheat the system.
onedev 13y ago
No. I have not paid for TV since I move out of my parents house 4 years ago. I have 0 plans to purchase TV ever in my life. Even for sports, there are numerous online streams (though illegal) that I will make use of to keep up with critical games like the NBA playoffs. Other than that the content on TV is garbage, and all the good content I can pirate easily or watch on Hulu/Netflix. Cable companies are fucked.
- acheron 12y ago
  I don't know why people pay for food when you can just shoplift it, am I right?
  - onedev 12y ago
    I would love to pay for online streams and content online. I just don't want to pay for cable. Content producers need to take note and provide their content in ways that are easily accessible and in ways that I can easily pay for. I WANT to pay for content.
tn13 13y ago
I dont watch TV at all. The Set top box is lying around without being switched on for last 1 year.
__david__ 13y ago
Do you mean live TV, or just having cable at all? I don't think I've watched live TV in 10 years. I'm looking to cut my cord, but the problem is that nothing legit is as convenient as the cable+DVR setup. With those 2 things I have access to practically every TV show on the air (minus Netflix exclusive stuff). To have access to that wide of a library without cable I need Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes (and Pirate Bay for the stuff that's just impossible to get). There is not a single (non-computer) device that can play those all on my TV. So it's a bit of a hassle, screwing around to find what service on what device has what show and then remembering when the new ones come out. Compare that to the stupid, but venerable, DVR where every show I want from whatever random channel just shows up when it comes out in one clean interface. I want to kill it so bad but from a UX perspective, it's just so much better. Really, the only thing that gets close to that experience at all is flexget[1] + a private torrent tracker. How sad is that? It really should be a huge kick in the nuts to all the legit streaming services, but I doubt that they even care... DRM just ruins everything. Sigh. [1] https://github.com/Flexget/Flexget https://github.com/Flexget/Flexget
netcan 12y ago
You mean Netflix + Youtube + (the thing we are not mentioning)
wil421 12y ago
You cant get the same content in the same quality from places like Netflix or Youtube. I like to watch new shows not reruns of shows/movies I have already seen, most of the time I have seen them multiple times. I am looking at you netflix.

Do many young people watch TV anymore? It seems like netflix + youtube scratches that itch.

alaskamiller 13y ago

Yes. Except now the shows are timeshifted and streamed online.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

jds375 13y ago

I think it's really shifting away from TV. As a college student, my friends and I have been completely satisfied with Netflix and the like. I can confidently say that there is nearly a 0% chance I'll be getting cable/directv/whatever when I can just get Netflix/Hulu/etc instead.

ams6110 13y ago
Don't most ISPs make it economically infeasible to get internet services without also getting cable TV? Comcast here bundles servies such that internet only is more expensive than internet + cable.
- drewr 13y ago
  This was the case for me historically as well, but I recently got an HD antenna to avoid paying the fee for digital and told them I didn't want the box. They somehow unbundled them and now I have a more expensive data plan for the same overall cost, and no TV listed anywhere on my bill. I have no idea if I'm practically any better off, but it's nice not feeling like I'm paying for something I'm not using.
- dkulchenko 13y ago
  Yep, this is the case here as well. Paying Comcast for TV + internet because it's $15/month cheaper than internet alone. The cable box they sent me is sitting unpacked in the closet.
  - alttab 13y ago
    What I do is call them and outright refuse to pay more for just internet. I tell them to lower my bill to below that each year my "promotion" expires. They forward me to the "Loyalty" department and somehow find a new promotion for me each time. Fuckers.
    - rdtsc 13y ago
      > Fuckers. Interesting, do you have another provider in the area? I think a lot of the negotiating power comes from the ability to threaten to switch to <competitor>. If they know there is nobody else (and in many places in US there isn't), they can often say "yeah sorry to see you leave", knowing that you can't really go anywhere. I have for example been oscillating between two local providers. Both have equipment on "premises" installed and just have to switch it on and off. So as soon as one ends promotions, I switch to another and do so on. Sometimes they give me the promotion rates back without having to go the full switch around the circle. Promotions usually run 6 month to a year.
      - alttab 13y ago
        Not really.cthere are competitors but they suck too. I use reason with them most of the time. Once You Are transfered to the loyalty department it doesn't even matter. In some cases, just ask yo be transfered to loyalty. Losing $30 a month per customer isn't worth losing the customer or the negative social media.
      - johnward 12y ago
        I used to get the promotional rates re-applied every year. Now they just flat out refuse. So I cancelled my cable to call their bluff but I had to keep the internet because I have no other option. Never got a call from customer retention. So now I pay the same amount for comcast internet + directv but I refuse to switch back to comcast just because.
  - NoPiece 13y ago
    Can I ask where you live, and how much you pay? In the bay area internet only is marginally cheaper than any bundle. $99 for TV + 25mbps and between $66 for just the 25mbps. Teaser rates are $59 for the bundle, $29 for internet.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  The promotional rates work like that sometimes, but if you get the lowest, lowest grade of internet- at the normal non-promotional rate, it is a good deal cheaper than the bundles. Take my service for example. $40 standard rate (promo was $30). There ain't no bundle out there that runs $40 once the promo period is up.
- joering2 13y ago
  Here in Central Florida Brightouse is very strict and internet alone is more expensive than bundled. However, after only a month on $130 bundle with ATT, I've "threatened" them to switch into Brightouse (bluff), because I needed cheaper plan and they gave me a $45/month/no contract internet-only plan for 12Mb download. Its possible that you would achieve the same with BH, but at least ATT hates when you mention competitors, and they make so much money that they would rather make less on you, than lose you big time, knowing once a customer is gone, his/her re-acquisition is very expensive. At least this is my experience. I had an impression that I could push it even harder and call again, complain and they would lower my bill even more before finally dropping me for good, but I am already satisfied with my plan. Edit: tl;dr - always bluff with your cable provider that you drop them b/c they are expensive and see how far you can get. Most likely your $150 bill can be cut 50% and they still will make money.

nickpresta 13y ago

Between YouTube, Twitch.TV (and related, like Azubu, Speedruns, etc), Crunchyroll, and occasional piracy (GoT), I never turn on my TV unless it's the Chromecast the aforementioned content.

torbit 13y ago
This is why they want a tiered internet. They would make a tier specifically for streaming sites, and a discount if you have cable with them.
sb057 13y ago
Well, your comment quickly became outdated.

chc 13y ago

Are you really questioning whether Game of Thrones is popular? Of course people still watch TV. A lot of them just pirate it.

krschultz 13y ago

Sports. ESPN + NFL Redzone + TNT + Local channels in HD have no good alternative on the internet. If they did I wouldn't pay for TV.

jusben1369 13y ago
Yes! Cable = Sports. If they somehow decouple those two then I'm all Internet.
- dublinben 13y ago
  Do you get ESPN3 through your ISP? It covers most sports both live and recorded, and doesn't require a cable subscription.
  - brewdad 13y ago
    Most sports? Hardly. Sure you can, in theory, watch American Football, Rest of the World Football, basketball, and baseball on ESPN3, but if you want to see these sports played by teams that matter then you need regular ESPN or a cable subscription to view them. All the games that matter were removed from the ESPN3 lineup at least a couple of years ago.
    - skizm 13y ago
      ESPN3 access gives you access to all espn channels including regular espn. I use it every day for sports center and baseball.
      - cc439 13y ago
        I'm unable to access ESPN's live feeds without a login provided by my cable company. That login flags what ESPN channels I pay for so, for example, I can't watch ESPN U without paying for an upgraded "sports" package filled with garbage channels. I do have access to some live and recorded events, but the selection is limited to filler content like college volleyball and minor league soccer. Another plus is the ability to use my neighbor's login without restrictions since our cable provider's flagging system is piss poor. As long as I know somebody paying for cable I can cheat the system.

onedev 13y ago

No. I have not paid for TV since I move out of my parents house 4 years ago. I have 0 plans to purchase TV ever in my life. Even for sports, there are numerous online streams (though illegal) that I will make use of to keep up with critical games like the NBA playoffs. Other than that the content on TV is garbage, and all the good content I can pirate easily or watch on Hulu/Netflix. Cable companies are fucked.

acheron 12y ago
I don't know why people pay for food when you can just shoplift it, am I right?
- onedev 12y ago
  I would love to pay for online streams and content online. I just don't want to pay for cable. Content producers need to take note and provide their content in ways that are easily accessible and in ways that I can easily pay for. I WANT to pay for content.

tn13 13y ago

I dont watch TV at all. The Set top box is lying around without being switched on for last 1 year.

__david__ 13y ago

Do you mean live TV, or just having cable at all? I don't think I've watched live TV in 10 years. I'm looking to cut my cord, but the problem is that nothing legit is as convenient as the cable+DVR setup. With those 2 things I have access to practically every TV show on the air (minus Netflix exclusive stuff). To have access to that wide of a library without cable I need Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes (and Pirate Bay for the stuff that's just impossible to get). There is not a single (non-computer) device that can play those all on my TV. So it's a bit of a hassle, screwing around to find what service on what device has what show and then remembering when the new ones come out. Compare that to the stupid, but venerable, DVR where every show I want from whatever random channel just shows up when it comes out in one clean interface. I want to kill it so bad but from a UX perspective, it's just so much better. Really, the only thing that gets close to that experience at all is flexget[1] + a private torrent tracker. How sad is that? It really should be a huge kick in the nuts to all the legit streaming services, but I doubt that they even care... DRM just ruins everything. Sigh. [1] https://github.com/Flexget/Flexget https://github.com/Flexget/Flexget

netcan 12y ago

You mean Netflix + Youtube + (the thing we are not mentioning)

wil421 12y ago

You cant get the same content in the same quality from places like Netflix or Youtube. I like to watch new shows not reruns of shows/movies I have already seen, most of the time I have seen them multiple times. I am looking at you netflix.