Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are the latest service providers to lose subscriber numbers as consumers continue cord cutting for economic and practical purposes. Providers and analysts are looking to better evaluate the market to try and understand why customers want to end their subscriptions — and what it will take to bring them back.
Time Warner said it lost 155,000 subscribers during Q3, while Cablevision lost almost 25,000 subscribers. Both companies, which suffered more losses than previously expected, blamed the sluggish economy and poor job market for their problems.
As consumers look to reduce spending, many are looking more carefully at their TV bill. Comcast also saw a significant decrease in subscribers — losing up to 275,000 subscriptions — with the number doubling during Q3.
Some companies admit cord cutting (for whatever reason it’s happening) is a threat, while other executives deny its significance. Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs said most subscribers canceling services stems from people that don’t have high-speed Internet — they are switching to satellite, or leaving behind TV subscriptions.
Cable operators have been wary of the Internet since 2009, as industry executives saw cautious subscribers look at their bills more closely. Although some people are dropping their service, these companies are able to make adjustments by upgrading current subscribers to more expensive plans.
Furthermore, companies can help recruit new phone and broadband Internet subscribers while losing paid TV subscribers. There is a lot of uncertainty and confusion in the home entertainment market today, because manufacturers, content providers, and consumers are still learning about the changing market.
More people are streaming content into the living room, but the majority of these people have shown little interesting in leaving behind their paid subscription services. Netflix, Amazon VOD, Blockbuster, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and other services bring copyrighted material directly into the living room like never before.
It’s possible Web-connected HDTVs could sink set-top boxes in the future, however, set-top boxes are still expected to have a strong showing in the short term.
Viewers will settle in and adjust to the wider selection of services available while providers look to attract new subscribers. Do you think the plethora of internet TV options available now are hurting cable & satellite TV service operators?
28 Comments on More people cut off cable TV, but what’s to blame?
Do you think the arrogance of the Cable co's might have something to do with cable cutting? Perhaps the 200 channels of "Junk, Garbage, Crap and Something Far Worse" might also be a factor?
Sadly in Canada we have but 2 Monopolies, Shaw in the West and Rodgers in the East. They charge what they want when they want customer opinion be damned.
Sadly in Canada we have but 2 Monopolies, Shaw in the West and Rodgers in the East. They charge what they want when they want customer opinion be damned.
The massively expensive Cable & Satellite TV service bills are what's to blame. People are sick of paying a huge bill without having the ability to choose only the channels they're interested in. If I could pay per channel, I might just subscribe to the cable TV channels that I want.
They over charge for everything and recently many of them encrypted almost all of the formerly included channels with expanded basic cable. That means that now you have to use their box to get channels you used to be able to tune with ANY tuner that had clear QAM built in. They claimed it was a "upgrade" and the government forced them to do it
It was and is a cash grab by forcing the cheap users to now have to use their boxes, which means many will now be forced to rent a box, then they hope you'll buy pay per view or get mad at the crappy non HD you get with the "free" boxes and upgrade to HD which makes them even more money, or go with their DVR service, even more money.
I used to be able to record and watch EVERYTHING that my extended basic cable provided, the locals even in HD, now I have to use their box to do what I used to do for no extra cost and without any of their gear.
I finally did upgrade to full HD becuase even with their extra fees they don't tell you about my cost would go down quite a bit to get HD TV, phone, and the net compared to having some of it from other providers.
I doubt that ala cart will actually end up costing consumers less becuase then they will just make sure all the popular channels are in a upgrade tier, and only the locals and shopping channels will be on the basic service.
It was and is a cash grab by forcing the cheap users to now have to use their boxes, which means many will now be forced to rent a box, then they hope you'll buy pay per view or get mad at the crappy non HD you get with the "free" boxes and upgrade to HD which makes them even more money, or go with their DVR service, even more money.
I used to be able to record and watch EVERYTHING that my extended basic cable provided, the locals even in HD, now I have to use their box to do what I used to do for no extra cost and without any of their gear.
I finally did upgrade to full HD becuase even with their extra fees they don't tell you about my cost would go down quite a bit to get HD TV, phone, and the net compared to having some of it from other providers.
I doubt that ala cart will actually end up costing consumers less becuase then they will just make sure all the popular channels are in a upgrade tier, and only the locals and shopping channels will be on the basic service.
Very basic cable (nestled in the toes of the Puget Sound too much multipath for OTA) and NetFlix here. Hulu, CBS, Boxee, Zinc TV, Vimeo, YouTube...Thousands of channels, most 'on demand'....
Price is main cause if I didn't have the package deal-that's tv,phone and internet i would consider not having it, basicly the cable doesn't offer a hole lot.Now pay per channel would be the way to go.pay for what you use because how many channels do you ready watch or need.
I'm getting ready to return my Time Warner cable box. I recently got Netflix and am quite happy with it.
Tired of paying $200/month for crappy channels.
Tired of paying $200/month for crappy channels.
If I want a tv program in HD I download it off the internet and then watch it on my PS3. No need for cable here.
Only thing I really miss is the sports channels in HD. If I could get just that, and not everything else I'd go back to cable or whatever.
Only thing I really miss is the sports channels in HD. If I could get just that, and not everything else I'd go back to cable or whatever.
I remember when we had some friends visit from the US last year, they were shocked that we could pick up over 100 free to air channels on satellite (besides shopping, foreign & religious), including several (BBC 1, 2, etc.) no commercials, the rest with fewer ads than on US channels and also a few HD channels. They were even fascinated that I could record something to USB and play it back on my PC using VLC without running into copy protection issues. On the other hand, I'd imagine that this would never have happened had the BBC not gone free to air on satellite several years ago.
Unfortunately, we do lack some of the other services, e.g. there is no Netflix or Hulu in Ireland, so while we do have some free stuff here and less tight DRM measures, we do lack some of the premium and on-demand services available in the US.
I do agree that on-demand TV is going to be the way to go, with the only broadcast TV channels left over being news bulletins and live sport, as well as other items that are better watched live than on-demand. Even still, this stuff could even be streamed live over the Internet.
Unfortunately, we do lack some of the other services, e.g. there is no Netflix or Hulu in Ireland, so while we do have some free stuff here and less tight DRM measures, we do lack some of the premium and on-demand services available in the US.
I do agree that on-demand TV is going to be the way to go, with the only broadcast TV channels left over being news bulletins and live sport, as well as other items that are better watched live than on-demand. Even still, this stuff could even be streamed live over the Internet.
The only thing I use Cable TV for is to watch my sports team.
Why blame Netflix? Give me a cable subscription where I'm not forced to take Univision, BET, a crap load of religios channels, home shopping networks, local school tv and Paid Programing 8-10 hours a day on the majority of channels and there might actually be something left worth paying for. Don't blame Netflix, blame the cable industry that has spent years sliding down the crapper in terms of bang for your buck in video entertainment.
If I could get my live Habs games without cable I would ditch my cable in a heartbeat.
price and so much commercials.......thats what why
I blame the Irish. Wait... I'm Irish.
I cut mine off years ago and only temporarily re-instated it for guests. The problem? Crappy programming at ridiculous prices. I had to pay an extra $20 for the only channel that I wanted and then the program I regularly watched kept being pushed later and later. Give me something worth watching and I'll pay for it. As it is, most content is garbage meant to numb the mind into utter oblivion. These days, I read stories instead of watching movies or television shows. Has it ever occurred to these people that their product simply sucks? Same goes with the music industry. Their putting out mostly garbage.
Yes, there is the economy as well. The people fortunate enough to retain jobs are doing the work of several workers without the added increase in pay. The lack of expertise in the other areas is causing poor product and poor customer service, which is also contributing to the disillusionment of the public with all the pretty new toys. All those people who were pushed out of their jobs don't have the money to buy the pretty new toys either.
Aside from economics, this is my issue:
I was preparing to make two purchases...until I found out that the music artists or production company had issues with their music being used on youtube amv's (which is how I found the artists as I do many others), and the book author forbid fan fiction. If that isn't a bitchslap to consumers, I don't know what is. I have since boycotted the entertainment industry in its entirety. Those people who put together those amv's did us a service by introducing music and video that we may not have otherwise encountered. No, when a fan puts hours into free advertising because they love the art and artists, only to get bitchslapped, you won't see me out buying the products.
Yes, there is the economy as well. The people fortunate enough to retain jobs are doing the work of several workers without the added increase in pay. The lack of expertise in the other areas is causing poor product and poor customer service, which is also contributing to the disillusionment of the public with all the pretty new toys. All those people who were pushed out of their jobs don't have the money to buy the pretty new toys either.
Aside from economics, this is my issue:
I was preparing to make two purchases...until I found out that the music artists or production company had issues with their music being used on youtube amv's (which is how I found the artists as I do many others), and the book author forbid fan fiction. If that isn't a bitchslap to consumers, I don't know what is. I have since boycotted the entertainment industry in its entirety. Those people who put together those amv's did us a service by introducing music and video that we may not have otherwise encountered. No, when a fan puts hours into free advertising because they love the art and artists, only to get bitchslapped, you won't see me out buying the products.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blu-rayFreak
The massively expensive Cable & Satellite TV service bills are what's to blame. People are sick of paying a huge bill without having the ability to choose only the channels they're interested in. If I could pay per channel, I might just subscribe to the cable TV channels that I want.
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I wonder have the cable/satellite providers actually given any decent thought about why people often download the shows or watch programming online.
If you pay to watch it online, you get exactly what you pay for, usually without ads.
If you go the free legitimate route to watch it online (where available), you get fewer ads than watching it live on cable/satellite TV.
Finally, there is plenty of other cool stuff to watch online. I probably watch more home-made video content on YouTube than what I watch on TV. All you need to do is find several good regular posters. Also, don't forget about the online media players such as the Roku box. One of my US friends says he watches more stuff streamed on his Roku than on Satellite and cable, again shows that are freely released, such as HD Nation.
If you pay to watch it online, you get exactly what you pay for, usually without ads.
If you go the free legitimate route to watch it online (where available), you get fewer ads than watching it live on cable/satellite TV.
Finally, there is plenty of other cool stuff to watch online. I probably watch more home-made video content on YouTube than what I watch on TV. All you need to do is find several good regular posters. Also, don't forget about the online media players such as the Roku box. One of my US friends says he watches more stuff streamed on his Roku than on Satellite and cable, again shows that are freely released, such as HD Nation.
Let's see, crappy shows I don't want to watch, a monthly bill that is almost as much as a car payment. Pay for a certain speed that never, ever comes close to advertised speeds, horrible 3rd world country customer service, should I continue? I kicked Concrap to the streets, the 10 Mbps speed I was supposed to get never ever got over 6Mbps. Between Netflix, Hulu and others, set top cable boxes are so Betamax. I am in belief that the CEO for concrap must have been an RIAA and MPAA b!tch, who has no touch with reality dealing with normal Americans.
/me would love to get rid of the normal television, but it seems the missus still kinda likes it. I still think our lives would be a lot better if you had to take effort in order to see the shows you like, not just zap around channels.
I agree with most of the replies.While CABLE COMPANIES,such as XFINITY [COMCAST] do have great perks.
After the deals , they over charge to much. Thats the problem. They need
to stop the greed,and care more about keeping their customers.
ZAP
I could be satisfied with a dozen HD channels of my choice. The rest are just filler that I never use. I download most of the weekly TV shows we watch and actually prefer this over having to catch the shows when aired by the networks. The cost of cable/satellite TV is ridiculous and is the reason people are dropping it, IMO.
UTR
It's just a trick. COMCAST or XFINITY as they call themselves now
offer you anything you want for $ 29.00 dollars a month or something
like that. It's just that after the promotons over that they start burning
your wallett on your program pacckage. Boy the people who
subscribe to this company are giving their ceo a lot of trips to
LAS VEGAS,and to the BAHAMMAS.
ZAP
It's just a trick. COMCAST or XFINITY as they call themselves now
offer you anything you want for $ 29.00 dollars a month or something
like that. It's just that after the promotons over that they start burning
your wallett on your program pacckage. Boy the people who
subscribe to this company are giving their ceo a lot of trips to
LAS VEGAS,and to the BAHAMMAS.
ZAP
Also, the younger kids are the ones I see really shunning the cable TV service. They don't watch much TV and what they do watch they get from Internet sites like Hulu, Netflix etc. They certainly aren't going to pay $125/month (or even $50/month) to watch TV.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blu-rayFreak
The massively expensive Cable & Satellite TV service bills are what's to blame. People are sick of paying a huge bill without having the ability to choose only the channels they're interested in. If I could pay per channel, I might just subscribe to the cable TV channels that I want.
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There are only 2-3 channels I watch regularly, and guess what? They're only available on one of the most expensive packages. I've said time and time again that I wish we could just subscribe on a per-channel basis.
The rest, as mentioned in another post, is mainly crap and/or re-runs of stuff that's been on the free-to-air channels already.
I've been mulling over whether to reduce my service for months. It's only those few channels that stops me.
Whinge over. LOL.
EDIT: My other gripe about one of the "benefits" of my particular cable package: Any of the "on-demand" stuff is sodding copy protected - even simply catching up on stuff aired earlier!
...yet when it's actually being aired, there's no copy-protection? There's probably logic somewhere, but it's one more annoyance 
As soon as ala cart becomes available I'm sure they will either try to package the ones everyone wants together and claim that's the only way you'll get them, for a increased cost, or just make sure the most popular choices carry the highest price tag.
I'm not sold on that idea actually saving anyone money, just another way to drive up prices for popular channels.
At least with Comcast if you call up and complain or threaten to cancel because of the high prices they usually offer a 6 month discount on your packages. I've done it before and saved over 50 a month, then when I was about to do it again they offered me the phone/HD/net package cheaper then I was paying for all the goodies without any HD at all.
Even when all my discounts expire it should still be a bit cheaper then everything was before and I have much better TV service now, and unlimited long distance in North America.
Eventually I'll call again when it gets expensive and probably get some other discount applied.
Obviously they hope everyone pays full price and gets all the extras but with all the competition with mini dish they don't have a choice if they want to keep customer base.
If there was another offering with fast internet and TV with a lot of HD content for way cheaper I'd switch but right now where I'm at eventually you end up spending about the same amount with slower net so staying put for now.
Free TV just doesn't have all the things I like and I'd still need the net from somebody to make up the difference.
I'm not sold on that idea actually saving anyone money, just another way to drive up prices for popular channels.
At least with Comcast if you call up and complain or threaten to cancel because of the high prices they usually offer a 6 month discount on your packages. I've done it before and saved over 50 a month, then when I was about to do it again they offered me the phone/HD/net package cheaper then I was paying for all the goodies without any HD at all.
Even when all my discounts expire it should still be a bit cheaper then everything was before and I have much better TV service now, and unlimited long distance in North America.
Eventually I'll call again when it gets expensive and probably get some other discount applied.
Obviously they hope everyone pays full price and gets all the extras but with all the competition with mini dish they don't have a choice if they want to keep customer base.
If there was another offering with fast internet and TV with a lot of HD content for way cheaper I'd switch but right now where I'm at eventually you end up spending about the same amount with slower net so staying put for now.
Free TV just doesn't have all the things I like and I'd still need the net from somebody to make up the difference.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dartman
At least with Comcast if you call up and complain or threaten to cancel because of the high prices they usually offer a 6 month discount on your packages. I've done it before and saved over 50 a month, then when I was about to do it again they offered me the phone/HD/net package cheaper then I was paying for all the goodies without any HD at all.
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- my own cable co. here in the UK (Virgin Media) are great like that as well. Call them and say that you're wanting to stop your service and they'll offer you the moon to stay. Another forum I lurk at, has a whole "Virgin Media Retentions Thread", with the deals that forum members have gotten. 
Oh, I need to add to my rant. The other thing I love about any telecommunications provider is their insatiable need to "save you money" by doing lame bundles. They don't seem to get that unless YOU ACTUALLY WANT those services, it doesn't save you any money at all. My ISP is okay, but every time they want to talk to me about bundling a house phone, etc. to save me money, I want to reach through the phone and strangle them. I have explained to them on several occasions that outside of the fact that I get by just fine with a cell phone, that the whole reason I was driven to cell phone use was because I was sick of being harassed by solicitors. Yup, that's right, I didn't get it for mobile communication or anything, I got it because I was sick of being called all the time by some moron who could barely speak English trying to sell me Dish Network or some sob story from a volunteer asking for donations. Working the late hours that I do you can imagine how much I loved being woken up in the morning to talk to these people. It got so bad that I just shut the ringer off and told friends and family to leave me a message and I would call them back. Add to this that it never failed that any time I moved I would end up getting some deadbeat's old number and ended up fighting with bill collectors for months until I was able to get it through their thick skulls that I was not said person that they were trying to collect money from. After going cellular all of this has almost completely vanished and that is worth it enough in and of itself, to say nothing of having free long distance, roaming, etc.
Anyways, as for Cable or Satellite until they offer a deal where you can pick X number of channels for X amount of money (ie 20 channels of your choice for $20), then I won't touch either with a 10 foot pole. They would never do it though as a number of networks (ie home shopping, CSPAN, Pay to Pray TV) would fail, to say nothing of the huge profit margins for making someone pay hundreds of dollars a month to have all of the packages that include the few channels they actually watch . IMHO though, good riddance to them. I still think that system could work for the non premium channels though (ie would not include HBO, Skinamax, Showtime).
Anyways, as for Cable or Satellite until they offer a deal where you can pick X number of channels for X amount of money (ie 20 channels of your choice for $20), then I won't touch either with a 10 foot pole. They would never do it though as a number of networks (ie home shopping, CSPAN, Pay to Pray TV) would fail, to say nothing of the huge profit margins for making someone pay hundreds of dollars a month to have all of the packages that include the few channels they actually watch . IMHO though, good riddance to them. I still think that system could work for the non premium channels though (ie would not include HBO, Skinamax, Showtime).
I bought a Magic Jack device over two years ago and never looked back regarding telephone service. When the cable company offers phone service for less than $20/year they can have my attention. I think many cable channels will start streaming their content over the web in the not too distant future. Then cable TV service will be all but gone. Satellite might hang on and survive off the rural areas. When cable channels get the opportunity to bypass paying the cable companies they will jump at it. The trick is to keep the internet providers from charging consumers based on download/upload quantity. Then the consumer will be the big winner.
The best service I've subscribed to for my TV viewing isn't actually a TV provider at all. 
I purchased a year subscription to an anonymous VPN service that operates in a wide range of countries. In layman's terms, it's a region-free tool for the Internet, so I can watch US, UK, etc. restricted programming where the websites would otherwise display "This service is not available in your region." OK, it doesn't give me access to premium content such as the Discovery channel, but it's nice being able to access to a lot of on-demand programming that I would otherwise need to subscribe to a provider, such as BBC's documentaries, Hulu's programming, live music and so on. But at about €60 for the year, it's no more than 2 months of a basic TV package.
I do agree that the fixed phone line services are heavily over priced, especially here in Ireland. I'm in an area without mobile phone coverage, never mind 3G and there is no other form of broadband here or cable, so I'm stuck paying €50 / month for the phone and 3Mb DSL bundle. At least the sales people here don't seem to be as bad, as we get far more sales people knocking on the door than sales phone calls and even then it's just one or two a week.
With the large number of channels now streaming on the web, I'm sure cable TV is going to history in a few years. However, I can't wait for the time when eventually all phone lines will be replaced with fibre optic cables, as I can't see myself getting anything faster than 3Mb on my current line. 3Mb is all my line supports due to my distance from the cabinet.
I purchased a year subscription to an anonymous VPN service that operates in a wide range of countries. In layman's terms, it's a region-free tool for the Internet, so I can watch US, UK, etc. restricted programming where the websites would otherwise display "This service is not available in your region." OK, it doesn't give me access to premium content such as the Discovery channel, but it's nice being able to access to a lot of on-demand programming that I would otherwise need to subscribe to a provider, such as BBC's documentaries, Hulu's programming, live music and so on. But at about €60 for the year, it's no more than 2 months of a basic TV package.
I do agree that the fixed phone line services are heavily over priced, especially here in Ireland. I'm in an area without mobile phone coverage, never mind 3G and there is no other form of broadband here or cable, so I'm stuck paying €50 / month for the phone and 3Mb DSL bundle.
At least the sales people here don't seem to be as bad, as we get far more sales people knocking on the door than sales phone calls and even then it's just one or two a week.With the large number of channels now streaming on the web, I'm sure cable TV is going to history in a few years. However, I can't wait for the time when eventually all phone lines will be replaced with fibre optic cables, as I can't see myself getting anything faster than 3Mb on my current line. 3Mb is all my line supports due to my distance from the cabinet.
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