Average cable TV bill hits an all-time high


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As the debate over just how much the cable industry has to fear from cord cutting rages on, there’s one common misunderstanding that seems never to disappear.

 

“Cord-Cutting Isn't a Bargain Anymore,” read one recent headline, claiming consumers who dropped a cable TV subscription wouldn’t save much money. Similar analysis can be found in “Cord-Cutting Is Gonna Suck in 2016,” or “The Myth of TV Cord-Cutting.”

 

What these recent stories--and many more--get wrong is the economics of cutting the cable.

 

Too often, the comparisons quote a low, promotional, or entry-level price for the cost of a cable TV package instead of looking at the real prices people actually pay. Left out of the superficial analysis all too often are set-top box fees, regional sports network fees, fees dressed up as faux taxes, and actual taxes.

 

Once a year, Leichtman Research Group releases the results of its survey of TV households, including what people actually pay. Every year is a new record. Bills rose 39% from 2011 to 2015, almost eight times the rate of inflation.

 

Last year, the total for cable TV rose above $99 a month on average, and it’s up another 4% to $103.10 this year, the firm reported on Friday. That’s about double the advertised price for cable TV promotional packages, like Comcast’s digital starter offering.

 

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Cut the cable in 2012 and never looked back, We still watch HBO and Showtime and have plenty of other content options via streaming (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc), and its a ton cheaper. 35+ local channels & subchannels via antenna.

 

“Cord-Cutting Isn't a Bargain Anymore,” 

 

LOL!!

Edited by DocM
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And what's the inflation adjusted numbers look like ? 

43 minutes ago, DocM said:

Cut the cable in 2012 and never looked back, We still watch HBO and Showtime and have plenty of other content options via streaming (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc), and its a ton cheaper. 35+ local channels & subchannels via antenna.

 

“Cord-Cutting Isn't a Bargain Anymore,” 

 

LOL!!

With the amount of services you need to stream to get all the content, plus the stuff you can't get it'll cost you more for streaming services. 

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1 hour ago, DocM said:

Cut the cable in 2012 and never looked back, We still watch HBO and Showtime and have plenty of other content options via streaming (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc), and its a ton cheaper. 35+ local channels & subchannels via antenna.

 

“Cord-Cutting Isn't a Bargain Anymore,” 

 

LOL!!

Did the same in 2014.  A few family members and friends went in together on Netflix and Shomi and also allowed us to use their login info for TSN Go and Sportsnet Now (Canadian sports apps.) and some other "Go" apps.

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9 hours ago, HawkMan said:

And what's the inflation adjusted numbers look like ? 

With the amount of services you need to stream to get all the content, plus the stuff you can't get it'll cost you more for streaming services. 

1) don't want or need all the cable/satellite content; (un)reality, shopping/infomercial channels, biased news-tainment, pseudo-science (have you seen Discovery Channel lately? :s ) etc. made up most of them and frankly - they suck.

 

2) about $115 in 2012, closer to $150 now after the promo. Our streaming services are about $60 when all are live, $45 when some are suspended. 

 

We suspend items like CBS All Access when programs we watch are on hiatus. We started it for Supergirl and a couple others, and Supergirl moved to CW so it's off now. We'll restart it for Star Trek: Discovery.

 

We do the same for some other services, but Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are always on. We really don't look at Amazon's cost as an extra expense because we have Prime mainly for the 2 day shipping. Video is sauce for the goose. Music is for the youngest,. 

 

It's all about cost and control.

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The main thing I miss is live sports coverage. Good shows tend to pop up online (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube - a lot of independent content on YouTube that won't come up elsewhere), and the ones that don't pop up a season behind. Even the studios are starting to stream their previous seasons online. Feel like all I'm missing from cable is History Channel's Hunting Hitler's Bigfoot's Ghost shows.

 

Twitter streaming NFL Thursday nights is pretty great though. Hope that test goes well.

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If you have a high gain tower/roof antenna & rotor west of Detroit you can easily get 50+ channels and subchannels, ranging from Jackson & Ann Arbor in the west to Windsor Ontario in the east, and from Mount Clemens in the north to Toledo Ohio in the south. Plus the Detroit channels and subchannels.  The subchannels are rich in kids and older show networks your otherwise see populating the cable guide.

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1 hour ago, Zagadka said:

The main thing I miss is live sports coverage. Good shows tend to pop up online (Netflix, Amazon, YouTube - a lot of independent content on YouTube that won't come up elsewhere), and the ones that don't pop up a season behind. Even the studios are starting to stream their previous seasons online. Feel like all I'm missing from cable is History Channel's Hunting Hitler's Bigfoot's Ghost shows.

 

Twitter streaming NFL Thursday nights is pretty great though. Hope that test goes well.

Many places to get live sports.  The good ones are a little tougher to find sometimes.  Reddit has several threads.  I really only use /r/nflstreams, but there is /r/mlbstreams and others.

 

If I can't post those, please delete, mods.  I guess I should say that I also have a computer hooked to TV, so full browsers and such.  I have seen ways to add channels to Roku for sports, but too much work for me.

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I tried the digital antenna, didn't get good reception and really not motivated to spend time and effort. Go web.

 

Now that I think of it, I haven't had cable for myself since I went to uni in 1998, though I did live in a place that had cable via FiOS.

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We had a legacy antenna mount & rotor on the roof, and in good shape. Bought a good HDTV antenna with a distribution amp, then gave the last kid at home $20, the antenna kit, tools and a ladder. Go git 'em kiddo.

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My gpa ditched Comcast.  Cost him like 80+ per month and prices kept going up.  Get got an HD antenna and works great.  Had to help him a little , he is 92, and get an analog to digital converter for his old CRT TV...but he is enjoying it.

 

Cable/Dish is a major rip off.  Been wanting to look in to /try sling TV but have not had free time to do so.

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On 9/24/2016 at 3:28 PM, Hum said:

“Cord-Cutting Isn't a Bargain Anymore,” read one recent headline, claiming consumers who dropped a cable TV subscription wouldn’t save much money. Similar analysis can be found in “Cord-Cutting Is Gonna Suck in 2016,” or “The Myth of TV Cord-Cutting.”

 

I wonder what it feels like being a completely transparent  shill for the cable companies. Lying to people about the advantage of cord-cutting isn't going to convince anyone not to do it.

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I cut the cord for awhile and only ended up saving 20 or so bucks a month, for a much less seamless service(s). After cable company was able to provide a bundle with a good price, I went back. 

 

Cord cutting works if all you like to do is watch reruns and torrent stuff, otherwise after adding all relevant steaming services into the mix, it's not that amazing of a savings.

 

once PlayStation vue provides locals for my area, will definitely review again.

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On 9/24/2016 at 11:43 AM, HawkMan said:

And what's the inflation adjusted numbers look like ? 

With the amount of services you need to stream to get all the content, plus the stuff you can't get it'll cost you more for streaming services. 

Well, sports channels notwithstanding (I don't care since I don't watch sports), it doesn't cost more.  My Internet (150 Mb/s), Local phone and Local Cable channels cost me $97 a month.  With Hulu and Netflix, I pay an additional $24.  The cable package I dropped from my provider (Cox Cable) cost me a total of $160.  So I'm saving about $40 a month  - $480 a year - by not having all those cable channels that I never watched anyway.  All the shows I watch are on either Netflix or Hulu.

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got satellite cable for 390php/month (Philippines peso 47+ : 1$ u.s.), no hd channel...planning to get higher plan (some hd channels)...

i already applied for a faster internet plan with free netflix for 6 months (becomes paid subscription on 7th month if not unsubscribed)...

i only want house of cards from netflix and since next season is too far away, i might not opt-in for the netflix add-on....

(current LTE internet = 1mbps, actual download  = 128KBps; if approved, LTE internet = 10mbps; no other source of internet in our rural town)

 

streaming movies/tv show is not really consumer friendly since only a selected areas have access to fiber internet or higher tier DSL internet...

 

a philippine tv station already offers digital tv transmission but only in selected areas (major cities, etc); digibox costs around 30$ with no monthly subscription fee.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There are tons of free streaming websites for shows that tv is useless. I have unlimited internet and I download all my shows. I have a small list so I know what shows are on what days and I download them. No commercials.

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1 hour ago, starman3344 said:

It's easier and cheaper just to use torrents lol

I dont use torrents I just use amazon prime or netflix. If I want weather or news i'll look at the websites. If I want sports i'll go to the free streaming sites. 

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I know what will happen...

 

Since people are getting sick of paying for Internet + TV... they're dropping TV and just keeping Internet.

 

So the cable companies will raise the price of Internet!

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1 minute ago, Michael Scrip said:

I know what will happen...

 

Since people are getting sick of paying for Internet + TV... they're dropping TV and just paying for Internet.

 

So the cable companies will just raise the price of Internet!

Comcast internet is already expensive. Luckily I live in an area where I don't have to choose Comcast.

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30 minutes ago, KingCracker said:

Comcast internet is already expensive. Luckily I live in an area where I don't have to choose Comcast.

Get rid of cable plus internet and go back to discs and more take away

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