Marc Radle
Hero
I still have cable and honestly don’t see dropping it anytime in the near future …
Chaos at Disney (Battle of the Bobs)
- Thread starter Henadic Theologian
- Start date
GreyLord
Legend
I have no cable anymore.
I am streaming only (if that's what you call it).
I have deliberated about cutting Disney+ as they just don't seem to have stuff I am interested in, but my spouse loves it so we keep it.
I do like the old stuff, but it seems to be getting buried under all the new stuff (which is where they attract everyone to stay I suppose, I'd be just content to watch the old stuff though, but it can be hard to find and not all of it is there...for example...where is my "Last Flight of Noah's Ark"?)
Only reason I keep Amazon Prime is for the free shipping. I don't care about the shows they are making really or releasing (No, I have not watched the Rings of Power or whatever, it just didn't seem all that interesting to me, and yes...I have the extended versions of LotR and The Hobbit trilogies...RoP just seemed like glorified fan fiction to me though so...no real interest in it).
So I suppose I'm one that is also considering cutting the cord. If they move to have advertising in there for those who pay subscriptions though, it would become a no brainer. One reason to cut Netflix.
I am streaming only (if that's what you call it).
I have deliberated about cutting Disney+ as they just don't seem to have stuff I am interested in, but my spouse loves it so we keep it.
I do like the old stuff, but it seems to be getting buried under all the new stuff (which is where they attract everyone to stay I suppose, I'd be just content to watch the old stuff though, but it can be hard to find and not all of it is there...for example...where is my "Last Flight of Noah's Ark"?)
Only reason I keep Amazon Prime is for the free shipping. I don't care about the shows they are making really or releasing (No, I have not watched the Rings of Power or whatever, it just didn't seem all that interesting to me, and yes...I have the extended versions of LotR and The Hobbit trilogies...RoP just seemed like glorified fan fiction to me though so...no real interest in it).
So I suppose I'm one that is also considering cutting the cord. If they move to have advertising in there for those who pay subscriptions though, it would become a no brainer. One reason to cut Netflix.
Rabulias
the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
Hulu and other services have some shows that are exclusive to the streaming side of things, so they would not be available to cable-only customers.
payn
Legend
Yes, also true.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
We debate deleting Disney+ every month. They've doled out decent Marvel content just often enough to keep us subscribed most of the year. (The Star Wars content, if anything, has worked to actively drive us away, other than Mandalorian and Andor.)
They have a good amount of quality content, but they make it really hard to discover it. It's astonishing how bad their apps are, even after the recent revamp.
Most of the streamers are going to have an ad-supported tier before the end of 2023.
If you want one cheap streaming service, I recommend Apple TV+. It's only about $5/month, and while it has easily the smallest catalog of any of the streamers, I don't think I've seen anything worse than a C+ on their service, and they have a whole lot of stuff that ranges between an A- and an A+. Easily the most top-heavy service, in terms of quality.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
Oh, a lot of the stuff Chapek is getting dinged for are the results of strategies that precede him. But if you get paid $11 bajillion a year, it's your job to make changes when necessary and get thrown overboard when things go wrong. No one needs to weep for him.
Xamnam
Loves Your Favorite Game
At this point, I don't directly pay for a single video streaming service, nor cable. I get Hulu through Spotify, and HBO through my internet provider. Everything else is a shared log-in. If I were to lose access to any of them, I wouldn't replace it. I simply don't watch enough of any one service to justify it, especially given the fracturing of what is available where.
This is more or less the attitude I see of other folks my age in my circle. We all used to have multiple services, Netflix almost as a given, and people are now generally whittling down their costs, not adding to them. That said, folks with children, that's understandably a very different calculus.
This is more or less the attitude I see of other folks my age in my circle. We all used to have multiple services, Netflix almost as a given, and people are now generally whittling down their costs, not adding to them. That said, folks with children, that's understandably a very different calculus.
RealAlHazred
Frumious Flumph
I had cable for decades, but when I got married I was happy to dump it -- most of the stuff I liked kept getting canned, and why am I paying for 12 ESPNs when I don't even watch one of them? Plus, it cut my cable bill in half, and the streaming costs were far lower.
We have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime (we have Disney+ through a Hulu dealy). We got a year free of Paramount+ through T-Mobile, but I don't think we'll be keeping it, as it's not got enough stuff we want to see to justify the price.
I miss early on in the Streaming Age when everything was on two or three streaming services. I think the property owners are taking big risks thinking they own enough content to go it their own way.
We have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime (we have Disney+ through a Hulu dealy). We got a year free of Paramount+ through T-Mobile, but I don't think we'll be keeping it, as it's not got enough stuff we want to see to justify the price.
I miss early on in the Streaming Age when everything was on two or three streaming services. I think the property owners are taking big risks thinking they own enough content to go it their own way.
payn
Legend
Yeap, I cant imagine too many people get excited for deep catalogs that include Quantum Leap and Rockford Files. I mean, nostalgia is fun, but it wears thing quickly.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
Apparently the biggest costs in most cable bills are ESPN and Fox News, both of which have must-carry clauses in their contracts with cable providers. (And it's why people wanting to boycott Fox News advertisers don't have much of an impact: Ad revenue is a tiny portion of their revenue.)
If you don't watch either of those, cable is wildly overpriced.
If cable companies switched those to channels users had to pay for a la carte, there'd be mass layoffs at both companies.
The irony is that HBO and Disney, which have the strongest catalogs, are so busy shooting themselves in the foot that they might help the Peacocks and Paramount+ survive longer than they logically should. (Hulu is likely to be part of Disney+ by the end of 2024, so it'll both survive and die, complicating things.)
RealAlHazred
Frumious Flumph
I'm not surprised that's one of the biggest cost-sources. I no longer remember all the specifics, but there was ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line... When I saw Dodgeball, I missed that "ESPN8, el Ocho" was a joke -- it seemed perfectly plausible that there was such a channel that I just missed paging through what seemed like an endless sea of sports channels.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
All of those extra channels really don't matter .... I don't mean to be dismissive ... I'm sure they matter at the margins if you are a fan of something specific that is carried on them ...
But the reason that ESPN can still demand the high carriage fees (what they charge cable companies per subscriber per month) because they carry live sports. Live sports are one of the few areas that people still watch on "broadcast," and still demands high rights fees.
Two things- first, that joke spawned an actual "ESPN The Ocho" programming event on ESPN. It shows Corgi races and the like.
How to watch ESPN 8: The Ocho, 2022 edition
ESPN8: The Ocho is taking over ESPN2 on Aug. 5, featuring 24 hours of seldom-seen sports. Here are the details.
Second ....
payn
Legend
RealAlHazred
Frumious Flumph
I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS PAYING FOR THIS CRAP! FOR YEARS!!!I was floored when Cornhole tourneys were on ESPN...
No disrespect meant to those who are ardent cornhole fanatics, but you can see how me, someone completely without a sportsball fandom, would object to being required to pay for all the sportsball.
payn
Legend
I get what you are saying, but I also really like the fact that other things can get their shining moments instead of the big 4.
Whizbang Dustyboots
100% that gnome
I'm still floored that "cornhole" somehow got popular over the sound of all the snickering.I was floored when Cornhole tourneys were on ESPN...
RealAlHazred
Frumious Flumph
Meanwhile, I, a sci-fi fan, received exactly one sci-fi channel, and it was barely that...
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
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