Disney's warning about TV viewers cutting the cord sends industry into tailspin

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Los Angeles Times

by MEG JAMES
August 7, 2015, 3:30 a.m.

It's been two days of harsh reckoning for the entertainment industry as long-simmering concerns about declining pay-TV subscriptions boiled up in quarterly earnings reports, leading investors to dump shares of media stocks amid worries that a key Hollywood money pot is threatened.

The massive sell-off — one analyst called it "the media meltdown" — came after Walt Disney Co. warned investors late Tuesday that profit from ESPN and other cable channels would not be as robust as initially thought because fewer consumers are subscribing to full pay-TV packages.

The sell-off continued Thursday as Viacom disappointed Wall Street with weak sales. Over the last two days, Time Warner slid 10%, Disney shares dropped 11%, Fox fell nearly 13% and Viacom plunged 21%.

"One sentence from Disney and nearly $60 billion in market value gets wiped out," Doug Creutz, media analyst with Cowen & Co., said Thursday. "Can you say panic?"

Read more: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-84161117/

[bigworld]

1. Cable companies and broadcasters got too greedy

They only have themselves to blame.

[Warpy]

12. They got greedy and went for quantity over quality

Every new station I've seen has started off with great programming and has then deteriorated, often running old TV programs or a stock of maybe two dozen movies, over and over and over again. There is very little new programming on the regular cable channels, probably because so many outfits peddle multiple channels to gain a bigger market share without considering what they're going to show on them.

That's why A&E, once the vehicle for a lot of the best the UK had to offer is now showing repeats of "Duck Dynasty" and why Bravo, once home to a lot of the best foreign films, is now the "Rich Housewife Channel."

The one thing that kept me paying the whack for satellite was TCM, but they've gotten a new programmer and he really, really sucks.

I might be cutting the cord soon.

[Le Taz Hot]

24. Between Netflix at about $10.00

a month and Amazon Prime at $99.00 a year, I can watch pretty much anything I want to see. A couple times a month a buy a movie from Amazon and add it to my library which has all those movies you've already watched 100 times and will probably watch 100 more times. But it's also VERY nice not to have to deal with commercials and to have access to quality viewing 24/7. For a WHOLE lot cheaper than satellite or cable. Apparently, the cable companies are going to be the last entity to figure out why they've become obsolete.

[GoneFishin]

76. When my satellite TV "basic" package was jacked to $100 I cut the cord.

We went through a little withdrawal but not too bad.

[gvstn]

78. I only missed the little teevee on the kitchen table.

I don't like to eat alone. Now I just keep a book there and it works great. They just got way too greedy for less and less good programming.

[GoneFishin]

79. My big complaint is them not offering any basic, economy package. I would have been

happy with 6 or 8 channels with moderately decent programming. The bean counters can't help themselves from getting greedy, and pushing it more, and more, until people revolt.

[gvstn]

109. Yup.

I think I only watched USA once in a while and BBCAmerica and had one of the news channels on the rest of the time. Just not worth $90+ a month. Go back to offering a few channels with clear reception for $20- 30 a month or get out of the game is my opinion. Maybe they will wise up as more and more people cut the cord. Or they will just raise our internet rates!

[GoneFishin]

138. I think they will be forced to raise rates due to lost customers, causing a death spiral.

Good riddance to them.

[eggplant]

112. If you have wi-fi, you could get a basic Roku.

Then stream whatever you like. I love my two Rokus.

[penndragon69]

114. Nice idea...

IF you have cable or Fiber optic
internet service. With only DSL available,
ANY streaming option is almost
a joke.

[eggplant]

136. I've got DSL here as well.

6Mb/s down, 1Mb/s up. Our Roku plays fine, even while also supporting various kids watching YouTube at the same time, and also providing our cell traffic via a microcell. We are in a complete dead zone, so a microcell was our only real option. Five bars of 3G service within ~50 feet of the house.

Plus, I am a telecommuting software developer, so all of my work traffic (including my VoIP phone) also flows over the same tiny pipe.

I would give anything for better internet service. But I will say that streaming via Roku works just fine.

[independentpiney]

134. I love our roku too

The only thing I ever miss having is access to the local news and weather channel .

[eggplant]

135. Actually, at least one of our local channels has a Roku channel. n/t

[independentpiney]

137. Ours doesn't yet

The Tampa Fox channel is listed, but it's not a live stream I also have an hd antennae, but the way my apartment is situated it can only picks up a Sarasota-Bradenton nbc channel to the south.

[eggplant]

144. Ours isn't a live stream either.

It is clips of current news stories. And, come to think of it, I never really watch it anyway. So there's that.

I went through a channel adding binge when I first got it. But I basically only watch Netflix, amazon (sometimes), and Hulu (rarely). I added Comedy Central to watch the end of The Daily Show. But the big three (Netflix, amazon, hulu) have enough content that there will always be something to watch.

[davidpdx]

80. Love that last line

I am overseas and we can hardly get anything over here. They have a quota on the number of foreign movies in the theaters and only show things that will fit the narrow interest of Koreans (which is any superhero movie, any animation movie, or something like Mission Impossible that is a big box office draw). Documentaries, nope. Television, some on limited channels with English programming.

One of my Facebook friends has been saying the same thing over and over again about this and he is correct. The problem is how the content is made available. People don't want the old model where they have to pay for a ton of cable stations and watch the very few they like (plus commercials).

There is only one way I can get content and I think my lucky stars for the internet.

[Heather MC]

123. Also Try www.TVPC.com

no download required, tons of tv stations

That's how I watch "The Walking Dead"

[Le Taz Hot]

124. I think I tried them during the Olympics

if it's the same one I'm thinking of and my computer got all kinds of nasties from it. Spent hours scrubbing it. Ever since then I'm wary of going to any of those kinds of sites. Not a big fan of anything on TV anyways except for the occasional Sons of Anarchy or something like that but those are pretty few and far between. I don't even watch Hulu. But if it works for you, go for it!

[Heather MC]

126. I loaded Ghostery on my computer that blocks all the annoying Ads and spybots

It even shows how many it's blocking

www.Ghostery.com

it's free

[Bubzer]

148. I recommened Couch Tuner

I've had few issues with the site, and there's a considerable library

http://www.couchtuner.la/

[47of74]

133. My sister and brother in law have downgraded to the basic cable package

With a good broadband connection and Netflix they found they don't really need much more than that.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

93. That's right

I have virtually every movie channel available with my Dish Network, from the Encore channels, to the TMC channels, to the Starz channels, to the Showtime channels and several others. So many movie channels but so little variety. They keep running the same old chestnuts hour after hour, week after week. The Encore Westerns channel for example plays the crappiest westerns over and over and never plays the great ones. It's a complete gyp.

[bvar22]

110. That is why we cut back to Basic Dish.

We would like to just ditch the whole thing, but we are so far from the stations that we can't receive commercial TV (local news). At the east end of Tornado Alley, it is a good idea to have a TV tuned to a Weather Channel,
especially this time of the year.

We have the scanners for Fire, Police, and Emergency, but it can be difficult deciphering reports from the field as they occur.

[TexasBushwhacker]

127. Get an antenna. There are plenty of classic movie

channels. Of course, they won't be the ones that Turner owns, but I've seen plenty of stuff I never saw on AMC or TCM. Here are some links to check out what they're showing:

http://moviestvnetwork.com/schedule/

http://thistv.com

http://get.tv

http://www.escapetv.com/tv-schedule/ - this channel shows crime related programming, so there's a lot of American Justice and Unsolved Mysteries, but they also show thrillers on the weekends.

[yeoman6987]

28. They aren't done

They will cap the amount of data we use like cell phones and they will up the streaming prices. We won't win. We never do.

[TexasProgresive]

39. That's the way it is now for my neighbors and me.

We only have satellite service and it is capped.

[yeoman6987]

47. Damn. Sorry to hear that.....bastards!

[totodeinhere]

83. Capping satellite Internet is legitimate because satellites can only handle

so much bandwidth. But when DSL and cable enforce caps it it is pure greed. The FCC needs to step in and ban caps except for sat providers.

[brett_jv]

104. So ... you're under the impression that the internet infrastructure supports infinite ...

... bandwidth to every house in America as long as they're connected to dsl or cable?

Don't get me wrong, I hate caps, both on bandwidth and monthly usage, but they're not really 'illegitimate' even on dsl and cable. There really is 'only so much' even via those transmission mediums.

Now, whether there's 'pure greed' involved is another matter ... in that case it depends on realities on the ground ... prices, actual infrastructure, how much 'abuse' in actually happening and in need of curbing in the area, etc

[totodeinhere]

119. Source: FCC Will Get Serious About Data Caps if Comcast Moves to Impose Them Nationwide

To date, the Federal Communications Commission has left the issue of data caps and usage-based billing on the back burner, despite a Government Accounting Office report that found little justification for usage limits or compulsory usage allowances on broadband.

http://stopthecap.com/2015/05/12/source-fcc-will-get-serious-about-data-caps-if-comcast-moves-to-impose-them-nationwide/

[DisgustipatedinCA]

146. I've been a network engineer for a long time now, and I know with certainty there's lots of spare

...capacity. I won't fall into your last mile statement--lots of upgrades are still needed there. But with fiber and DWDM technologies and WAN switches that cost more than a house, there's a huge amount of unused capacity available now, and even more ready to be lit when the need arises.

[Bubzer]

149. This might be an interesting read for you

Cable Industry Finally Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion

For years, the key rationale given by broadband providers for implementing data caps was that it was the only way they could deal with "congestion." Of course, for years, independent researchers showed that this was bogus, and there was no data crunch coming. If you actually caught a technologist from a broadband provider, rather than a business person or lobbyist, they'd quietly admit that there was no congestion problem, and that basic upgrades and network maintenance could easily deal with the growth in usage. But, of course, that took away the broadband providers' chief reason for crying about how they "need" data caps. The reality, of course, is that data caps are all about increasing revenue for broadband providers -- in a market that is already quite profitable. But if they can hide behind the claims that they need to do this to deal with congestion, they can justify it to regulators and (they hope) the public.

Hope this is helpful

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130118/17425221736/cable-industry-finally-admits-that-data-caps-have-nothing-to-do-with-congestion.shtml

[TexasProgresive]

120. I have no problem with that, what I have a problem with

is there is no other option for many rural people. This is not the case in many other countries.

[totodeinhere]

125. Agreed. The lack of coverage in rural areas is a real scandal.

And the technology is there to rectify it if only we would do it. Of course getting funding through the GOP congress right now would be impossible.

It is a problem in some other countries as well however. My friend in rural France only has access to 1.5 Mbps DSL. I'm not sure if he can get satellite internet or not.

[AtheistCrusader]

52. Business class Comcast has no caps. Cheaper too.

[SusanCalvin]

55. No doubt they will change that if they can.

In the meantime, how do you use it?

[AtheistCrusader]

64. All digital.

Netflix, hulu, Amazon prime all through Fire TV's, which includes additional content.

You can use a Hd HomeRun to get some over the air HD locals, which can be DVR'd through XBMC. you can also use newsgroup readers to pull down some content on the fly.

[wordpix]

108. basic cable should give you a choice

e.g. my fave stations are CPTV, MSNBC, History Channel, Discovery Channel and CNN. If I could get just these for $20/mo I'd be happy. Instead, I get lots of shopping networks and other trash, not to mention the flood of ads. With my internet and wireless it costs over $110/mo.

[Heather MC]

122. So true, when comcast started forcing people to sign a two year contract we quit them

Honestly, thanks to Netflix and www.tvpc.com We no longer needed cable.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Jeepers! I need a young person to show me the way!

[RKP5637]

5. Try ROKU

https://www.roku.com/ You'll never want Cable TV again. Also, there's also free over the air digital better than many cable TV feeds for local channels.

[Lochloosa]

19. Roku and a good HD antenna. I spang for SlingTV @ 20 a month

[RKP5637]

20. That's an excellent setup. I need to try HD again since I moved. I think I'm on the fringe

area for HD, but I plan to give it a try. Not sure what SlingTV is, I'll go investigate. Roku is absolutely amazing.

[mwooldri]

41. For broadcast TV, nothing beats a good outdoor antenna.

Some people can't have an outdoor antenna for various reasons... but outside is best. Especially if you're in a fringe area. With the right antenna in the right direction, that fringe station can be received as reliably as a more local station - provided the terrain is satisfactory and the atmospheric conditions aren't a hindrance. Keep in mind that the channels you want to watch can often be broadcast from different locations that aren't close to each other, so pick your antenna carefully and position it in the best place. Some people still use electric rotors with their outdoor antennas but in many places the signal is good enough for the popular channels to not warrant the need for an electric rotor.

[RKP5637]

73. Thanks! n/t

[momrois]

25. Big problem

Roku and SlingTV require internet (we have both). In my area, the ONLY internet is Comcast/Xfinity. When downgraded from a full package (it crept up from $129/month to $300), we really only wanted internet, but come to find out, that alone would cost us $120 whereas bundled with basic cable it was $140. We kept the cable so we can get local news, but if Google ever turns up in my neighborhood, Comcast can kiss my ass.

[totodeinhere]

87. Yes, Roku and an antenna. But there is no such thing as an "HD" antenna.

An antenna is an antenna and any antenna is equally effective with either HD or non HD programming. "HD" is merely a marketing term.

[AndreaCG]

22. Does it give you sports?

I am currently listening to my Mets on the radio like my grandpas did, but would like to see them during the pennant race. Then ESPN for college basketball in November.

[RKP5637]

23. Here's something on ESPN and Roku

https://blog.roku.com/blog/2015/02/24/watchespn-debuts-on-roku-tv-watch-disney-channel-and-other-networks-coming-soon/

Roku is extremely dynamic and futuristic. Try some searches for Roku and what you want to see. I think you'll be surprised.

[AndreaCG]

101. It says you need an affiliated provider. That sounds like a cable company.

[RKP5637]

102. Yes, I think that is probably true. All of Roku is not free, of course. I bet there is a charge.

Probably a cable company. Some companies, like Verizon, have a link into Roku so one can watch some content streaming when wanted rather than waiting for the time slot. HBO does similar.

[Ed Suspicious]

49. Sling has ESPNs

[jeff47]

62. You might try looking directly at who you want to watch.

For example, NFL has a package where you can stream every game.

Downside is it costs something like $25/year, and you can only start streaming the game after it ends. Which isn't a problem for me, since I was watching them after they ended on a Tivo anyway.

There may be something similar from the Mets/MLB, or the NCAA.

[totodeinhere]

88. Yea, in the good old days that's how you followed your team, on the radio.

You might get to see them occasionally on OTA TV on the weekends but that's it. But now of course we expect to see every game on TV. I'm not criticizing. I'm the same way.

[AllyCat]

54. So is this the same idea as our streaming Blu-Ray player?

We don't use cable and have been perfectly happy with Netflix and HD broadcast. Trying to figure out if this would add anything else to our experience.

[RKP5637]

74. Take a look at their website which

Last edited Sat Aug 8, 2015, 11:27 AM - Edit history (1)

covers all that Roku does. It can be endless depending on what you want. We basically just use Netflix and Hulu, so if you like what you have it's probably not going to add much.

Roku currently has over 2,000 channels in the US, so there is a lot to choose from. See >>> https://www.roku.com/whats-on

[totodeinhere]

90. If you already get all of the streaming channels you want on your BluRay then you

don't really need anything else. But dedicated streaming appliances such as Roku or Apple TV usually have a better selection of streaming channels plus the ability to manually add more to your lineup. Whereas with many BluRays and smart TV's, your streaming channels are hard wired and you cannot add more. But you might want to go to your player manufacturer's website and see if there might be some updated firmware available for your player. If so the updated firmware may include additional streaming channels.

[sendero]

107. I'm seconding..

.... the Roku. Best $80 I ever spent!

[SharonAnn]

111. Me too! I love it!

I just installed a slingbox for a neighbor whose son is living in Chile and wanted to watch US channels. We set it up on her TV in the downstairs family room, which is only used when the son and daughter are there at Christmas with the grandkids.

Anyway, the son can watch anything on her cable channels and can even record shows on her cable recorder unit for later watching. The Slingbox "reads" the incoming signal/recording and "slings" it across the Internet to the receiving end. At first he watched the shows on his laptop but then he got a connection from his laptop to his big-screen TV. And now he can watch all the sports he wants! Pretty slick!

Only downside is that you have to have a cable connection at her end, to "sling" the show to Chile, and a recorder at her end if you want to record something.

[a kennedy]

27. Ditto truthisfreedom.......

[jwirr]

30. That is what I was thinking.

[LynneSin]

57. I'm in my 40s and figured it out myself 3 years ago

i prefer my AppleTV because I have a massive iTunes library and I can stream my music thru my TV sound system now. I finally have the awesome jukebox I've always wanted!!!

[totodeinhere]

85. LOL. In your 40s? That almost makes you a spring chicken.

n/t

[totodeinhere]

84. You can figure it out yourself. There is plenty of cordcutting information

available online. An older person is just as capable of doing this as anyone else.

[BigDemVoter]

100. Same Here!

Half the time, I don't even know what they are talking about, as I am even unfamiliar with the terminology!

[Skittles]

3. they just could not stop ripping off people

eventually everyone will bail, and that is when streaming prices will increase

[haikugal]

4. Well, as said they did it to themselves...

Anyone needing help just ask, there are a lot of savvy people here.

[RKP5637]

7. They remind me of the American Auto Industry, for decades, just couldn't seem to get what was

going on.

[haikugal]

10. Even when we told them, over and over.....their loss.

[christx30]

6. This is so stupid.

We've been hearing these dire end-of-the-world warnings from the TV industry for years, and nothing really has come of it.
And they are never going to be willing to adapt their business to the market. Not everyone wants ESPN. So shoving 9 of them in our faces, and making them pay for it makes us not want to have their products any more.

[City Lights]

8. That's what happens when you charge too much for your services, and

wages of your customers are pretty much stagnant.

[haikugal]

11. Bingo!

[Alkene]

34. +1

And if you want the economy to grow, pay me enough to be able to afford your crap.

[XemaSab]

38. It's also what happens when your customers work irregular schedules

Really, does ANYONE sit down at the regularly scheduled time and watch shows anymore?

[DebJ]

46. Of course not. DVR then skip thru all the commercials...........n/t

[demigoddess]

58. exactly. And you have the problem of there being commercials that

They insert into the show by running it along the bottom of the screen. The other day I saw they had even upped it to a moving commercial at the bottom of the screen.

[DebJ]

60. Good grief! I haven't been subjected to that yet.

But certain shows that we could choose to see as On Demand force you, with the On Demand option, to watch commercials, though USUALLY a bit less of them. So we try to DVR whatever we want to watch instead.

[shanti]

95. me too

the only shows i watch live are on pbs, which runs its commercials only at the beginning.

[Kablooie]

117. It's capitalism. If there are competitors you have to compete.

up until the last few years there were no viable competitors to cable TV so they could get away with overcharging.

It's stupid that they haven't started trying to cpmpete up to now. If they don't rethink their business ideal soon they will die.

They love capitalism until they have to play by the rules, then they cry foul.

[strategery blunder]

9. They price fixed cable for years and years and years

by forcing consumers to bundle in channels (and pay for them through their cable bills) that they had no intention of watching, ever.

Your basic cable package of 20 channels or so ballooned into 200, and then started heading for the four digits.

The vast majority of consumers will never watch that many channels, and yet Disney and other big media companies conspired with cable companies to shove it all down customer's throats, all the while deploying armies of lawyers to squelch alternative methods of content delivery whenever possible (Aereo for example). Meanwhile, cable prices soared, and aforesaid anticompetitive behavior left customers with no options to pare down their cable packages to meet economic reality. Faced with the all of 1000 channels for hundreds of dollars a month or nothing (and even the most basic of basic cable pays around $100/year for ESPN alone, regardless of whether the consumer will ever touch sports programming), consumers eventually reached the conclusion that nothing was preferable to the gouging.

Time for Big Media to figure out there is only so much anti-competitive, price-fixing behavior that the market can bear.

[haikugal]

13. Well said!

[SCVDem]

29. 29 Channels

That's all I watch. Sunday Ticket for football aside.

No foreign language, no shopping or religion. No Fox or CNN or CNBC.

I have HULU but there is often a delay of 30 days on some shows. YouTube is limited to clips.

Highly overpriced for what I use, I would say.

[Hoppy]

42. WhatdahelzamatterU? You don't watch the religion channels? Not even the Catholic channel?

[SCVDem]

53. Nope!

I don't watch Faux.

Bye Jon!

[totodeinhere]

91. We can put this at the feet of Ronnie Reagan who pushed through deregulation

of that industry. It's one of the many ways that Saint Ronnie fucked us up.

[Fred Sanders]

14. Not to worry, Citizens United and unlimited election ad spending is about to dump a huge load of cash on the mass media cabal.

If they can keep the always two horse American Presidental marathon close enough to attract viewers...circuses and clowns complete with feces throwing animals are also good.

[global1]

15. Sirius Radio - I Just Got My 1 Yr Renewal Letter...

They raised the cost of my 1 Yr subscription fee $78.18. It is now $273 and change. They are pricing themselves out of the market and I'm not going to renew. Like cable - they are getting greedy.

[Atman]

32. Let it expire, go without for a couple weeks...

They'll beg you to come back, offer you six months for about $15...then you let it expire again. I haven't paid a regular rate for Sirius in a couple of years. They need the subscriber numbers to maintain ad revenue.

[SusanCalvin]

56. I went through that

Over a decade ago, I think. They offered me a deal, but I was in cut off nose mode due to the most abysmal customer service I have ever experienced before or since.

[SusanCalvin]

59. I think your post

Is the key to the Merkan system. Such as it is.

[Atman]

141. No. They screwed me. I'm not screwing them.

We started with Sirius Satellite Radio. They offered a big discount for multiple radios. We bought a new car. It had XM satellite radio. Sirius bought XM. Both services had offered multi-radio discounts. Now this new company, SiriusXM, controlled both our radios, and while they still offered multi-radio discounts, they would not combine our two subscriptions. Two distinct full-price accounts. One car had Sirius. One had XM. Even though it was now SiriusXM, no discount because they considered them separate radios.

My only choice was to trade the cars. They wouldn't let me trade the radios. They've lost zero dollars by me.

[SusanCalvin]

143. Oh, no, what you perceived is backward of what I meant.

I meant what you did is what you have to do. I remember going through very similar stuff, until I just dropped them altogether.

[dixiegrrrrl]

145. Same to be said for telephone, DSL, etc.

4 years after dumping DISH we are STILL getting cheap cheap offers to sign back up.

I still barter with the phone company every year, keeping them is worth it cause no data caps on their dsl.

[marlakay]

33. When they were new they had short offer

Pay $500 and free for life. At that time it was about $75 or less a year but i took a chance. Great now!

[Hoppy]

43. I have lifetime Sirius and Lifetime XM.

That was when there were several channels of public radio. Now, down to two. I wouldn't do it again.

[marlakay]

65. I wouldn't either, nothing lasts! Nt

[KeepItReal]

97. Google Play for $10 a month + TuneIn Radio App for free

I get all the music I want...can make playlists and download the songs to my device for offline listening...

TuneIn for my talk (any any other kind of ) radio needs.

I've got Sirius hounding me to renew my vehicle's subscription, but I've moved on to a solution that gives me more control.

[moonscape]

132. When my year was up, I just

called and asked if they had a deal to offer because the renewal was too much. They quickly connected me to the Save This Customer dept, offered me new subscriber promotional rate, something like 100+/yr (don't remember exactly because it was several months ago.) Had they not done that, I would've not renewed and called back in a couple of weeks to get another agent.

[msongs]

16. nothing is actually lost unless one sells the stocks nt

[Igel]

18. That's only mostly true.

If the company goes out of business the stocks are worthless.

[End Of The Road]

17. End the Bundling (or, It's Dexter's Fault)

Hubby and I were pretty happy with DirecTV's basic package until, I don't recall why, we wanted to watch all the seasons of Dexter. We upgraded to the premium package to get Showtime.

We didn't think about what we were paying for, thus supporting, until after we finished all the episodes of Dex: religion channels (actually religion/politics), shopping channels, right-wing news and opinion, other stuff we found too stupid to tolerate. $100/mo for shit.

Goodbye DirecTV, hello Roku! It took a little getting used, but we've never looked back.

[bucolic_frolic]

37. Yup

$12,000 a decade to watch bundled noise and commercials.

It's a personal bankruptcy scheme.

Who needs it.

[retrowire]

21. Some would say,

"Well, they're going to have to adapt so they can get their money another way!"

I say,

"Well, they're going to have to adapt and accept the fact that they'll just have to make less money. Still millions, but not as much millions."

[a kennedy]

26. Oh My Gawd........this could be Bernie's hash tag, ID, ANYTHING personal.....battle cry....."SCREW

THE BIG 5 OWNERS OF ALL TV, RADIO, PODS,WORKS, ANYTHING DIGITAL........THAT OWN THE WHOLE DAMN THING. I am going to do whatever it takes to get Bernie Sanders INTO THE WHITE HOUSE. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Autumn Colors]

106. But remember Howard Dean ...

Howard Dean went on Hardball and said the first thing he'd do as President would be to break up the big media conglomerates.

Then, in the blink of an eye, that now infamous video with the altered audio surfaced of the "Dean Scream" along with media hammering their message that Dean was some over-the-top, angry lunatic ... and his candidacy tanked right after that.

Bernie should go after them, but I think a lot of people better be prepared to watch his back ... physically ... in the "avoid small planes" sense. I already think he needs to avoid small planes, etc.

[alp227]

129. In China, the government arrests dissidents.

In America, the corporate media retaliates.

What's the damn difference?

[bucolic_frolic]

31. Media Saturation

It ain't just Pay-TV

There are millions of movies, music, etc.

Americans will go for freedom when they figure it out

This is such a time.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

35. I'm sure they have the ability

to allow customers to go the 'ala carte' route. There is too much crap included in their packages that I'd never watch. Plus you figure we are asleep for 7-8 hours and in my case at work for 8-9 hours and with other things going on, I watch maybe 2 hours at the most at one time. I'm considering chucking the whole thing and going full on Netflix or something..........

[appalachiablue]

36. K & R. Poor Disney. CEO Eisner paid $1.4 Bill for 10 years. Recently they've laid off Orlando

tech employees, 350 of them who had to train their cheaper H1-B visa replacements from Asia. No offense to the foreign visa workers, this is the greed of Disney like so may other US corps., and who wouldn't want to leave India if you're poor.

These cable cos. have brought this on themselves.

[Historic NY]

40. Were made to pay for crap we don't want..

and they bundle packages with more extra crap so you have to buy them to get the channel you want. I'm trying to cut the cord soon.

[BadGimp]

44. Have not had a Cable TV sub for 2 years now

[Liberal_in_LA]

140. me either

[NYCButterfinger]

45. I like cable, but it gets too expensive. I like to see people reporting the news to me on TV

instead of watching someone on the Internet channels giving me the news. Cable needs to change. Watching Election Night on the Internet doesn't have the historic zeal that it does on TV. Also, there is a lot of good TV shows like Jackpot (probably one of the best shows on TV in my honest opinion), the show with the 50-something woman cougar who flirts with a 20-something year old guy that you can't get access to on the Internet at all.

[alp227]

130. "Internet channels"? Like The Young Turks on YouTube?

I think the reason these online channels were established was to *counter* the CNN obsession with trivial celebrity news instead of what really matters.

Democracy Now! has a great presence online in addition to non-commercial TV & radio stations.

[tabasco]

48. Reality TV, too many commercials and

having to pay for religious and shopping channels caused me to cancel satellite TV about 7 years ago.

Best move I ever made.

[Ed Suspicious]

50. Probably never miss it, do you?

I don't. I wish i could get rid of my broadband but I'm not quite "hermit" enough yet.

[AtheistCrusader]

51. I didn't cut the cord. I ripped it right out of the wall.

Best thing I ever did.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

61. I cut the cord years ago because the new HD boxes were so expensive

I suspected I would have to subscribe to something when my parents moved in with me, but since my girlfriend added a wireless keyboard to the Apple TV they have been doing just fine with Netflix and the channels on the Apple TV (Bloomberg, PBS etc)

[eppur_se_muova]

63. That's "$60 billion in fantasy market value" ...

How much of Wall Street's "value" is just consensual hallucination ? A lot of it disappeared when a consensus was broken.

[Strelnikov_]

150. Ha

My thought also. When Facebook is worth more than Exxon-Mobil . . . .

[TheBlackAdder]

66. I guess that's less money Disney can park in Luxembourg, while evading US Taxes. nt

.

Oh, but they'll probably want a TAX AMNESTY to repatriot it.

.

[SoCalNative]

70. Nah, Luxembourg is out now

Amsterdam is the better deal. Many companies have moved their European operations base from Luxembourg to A'dam in recent years.

[TheBlackAdder]

77. Yeah, but there are recent articles about Koch Industries & Disney using E&Y to route to Lux.

.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/10/us-luxembourg-tax-disney-idUSKBN0JN2DX20141210

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/09/-sp-luxembourg-tax-files-how-junckers-duchy-accommodated-skype-and-the-koch-empire

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/10/1350707/-BREAKING-Koch-Brothers-Project-Snow-SECRET-Tax-Scam-Dodges-Taxes-Hides-Money-In-Luxembourg
.

[SoCalNative]

152. True, some companies are still there

Amazon, for example. But even Netflix moved their financial operations to Amsterdam recently.

[UpInArms]

67. 4 letter word ... roku ... eom

[Nye Bevan]

68. Just got a smart TV for my college age son,

it has Netflix, Hulu, Amazon etc. built in. I asked him if he wanted me to get him a cable box. He looked at me like I offered to get him a landline phone hookup. This is a real thing.

[Uncle Joe]

69. The cable industry has been too busy for too long strangling the geese that lay the golden eggs.

Ridiculous prices, increased numbers of commercials and rigor mortis in their restrictive bundles of useless channels have done nothing to win the hearts, minds and pocket books of the people.

So the American People are saying adios.

Thanks for the thread, proverbialwisdom.

[Frank Cannon]

71. Haven't had cable in 23 years.

I vaguely remember wondering if I could live without it.

I have never, ever missed it. I can't believe that people still pay through the nose for that garbage.

[JawJaw]

72. KODI beats all!

Forget Apple TV, forget Roku

KODI will give you hundreds of live channels from all over the world - premium as well as free-to-air.

Or you can watch stuff on-demand. Box sets, latest episodes - the lot.

You can "download" with Kodi if you want, but what's the point if you can stream everything?

At the moment I'm watching the first match of the Premiere League season (Man Utd vs Spurs) in 1080p with no buffering.

Make no mistake, the content producers and providers ARE in deep shit.

The only way out for them is to force through "dual speed" internet. Fast speed for "official" content ONLY, and slower/capped internet for everything else.

In the meantime, make hay while the sun shines. Install Kodi on a cheap Amazon firestick for 40 bucks and away you go.

[RKP5637]

94. Interesting! Thanks!!! n/t

[SnakeEyes]

75. I prefer to get my content legally

Despite my thoughts on big media corporations, i do recognize the rights of content creators/holders.

[XemaSab]

89. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Roku, etc. are legal

[Sunlei]

81. Love to see more Disney shows and movies on FREE tv, with Disney ads is fine. Local networks

and public FREE tv like PPS would love it too. bring out the old movies and shows instead of trying to wring out every dime from every wonderful classic Disney.

[no_hypocrisy]

82. Wrong assumptions were made.

A few years back, when it was federally mandated that regular broadcast TV be "upgraded" to digital TV, it was supposed to mark the end of "free television" but better reception would be the trade-off. And it was assumed that consumers would be compelled to subscribe to cable at any price in order to continue to watch TV.

But it didn't work out that way. First, rabbit-ear antennas with converters were available for a one-time purchase price. OK, you didn't get the cable channels like the Food Channel and MSNBC, but you could continue to get most of your local channels and some UHF channels, but it was free again. Second, it was assumed that once more consumers subscribed to cable, they would continue paying no matter how much it cost because they would be "hooked" on the variety of channels. But a lot of subscriptions went from $75 to more than $100 a month and no promise of capping the monthly subscription fee. Cable TV is one of the first things that are cut from a budget during economic hardship, esp. when you have an alternative. Finally, Netflix and Hulu became game-changers where you didn't need cable to watch programs.

Disney may be the media Cassandra, but it's correct in its warnings.

[asiliveandbreathe]

86. We purchased a smart tv -

cut directtv and pick the apps we want..also - for about $20 you can hook up a small antenna for local broadcast - we really do not care for local news here in AZ - so hulu - okay - along with Netflix..in fact - hubby loves the old mash and such..Netflix has plenty to choose from - I love BBC series...

At $92 a month - the tv has paid for itself...too bad directtv didn't see this coming..if they had offered pick and choose at a reasonable cost - but then - oh well, LOVE NO COMMERCIALS...and next year - NO POLITICAL ADS...

With what we have saved and are saving we can go out and have a good time (and I don't have to worry about clean up)- watching our favorite NFL TEAM -

Hubby is still munching on the changes..but is coming around..he has a choice..save - or pay..who am I to try and bring him into the 21st century....he loves his sports...he has Sirius on his car radio...hahahahahahah

[davidpdx]

92. They are getting screwed

It's about time.

[freebrew]

96. The original excuse for charging..

for cable in the first place, was no commercials. So, 'obviously' the providers had to charge a subscription fee.

When people figured they could easily hack the codes, that's when DirecTV and Dish started selling their hardware and 'special' deals. Then, I guess they figured they could make more$$$ by just renting the equipment month after month. It goes on and on. Seems like these companies spend more trying to find new ways to rip us off than they do improving non-existent service.

[BigDemVoter]

98. I just moved and refused to subscribe to cable at my new place.

It is a complete rip off to pay for all that shit. I generally watch one to two channels, and I categorically refuse to submit to highway robbery every month. I completely cut off my television with the exception of Netflix which I can access through my Blue Ray for approximately $8 per month. My luxury I cannot give up is my subscription to the New York Times (hard copy) that is delivered to my door every morning, and that suffices. Otherwise, I still have internet and can use that as well. So farewell, AT&T and Comcast and FUCK YOU!

[L0oniX]

99. The mutha fuckas deserve this. Digital antenna and Netflix is kill'n them. Die!

[Enthusiast]

103. These corporations might entertain the concept of treating the consumer with consideration.

Ever called AT&T to address an internet problem? I bet you enjoy the music while you wait for someone to assist you that does not actually speak English but they're trying hard to learn.

I've been so pissed off with Time Warner over my cable that I could have chewed nails.

What happened to, "The customer is always right."? That is now reserved for advertisements only.

These corporations need the TPP so it won't matter if they provide miserable service.

[brett_jv]

105. One problem is, if enough people 'cut the cord'?

Then the quality and amount of content available from the 'cut cord' services like Hulu and Netflix ... are going to go WAY down. They might HAVE to start including commercials in their programming.

Either that or every single show is going to be inundated with product placement. Think close ups of the main characters swilling slo-mo from a can of Coke in an obvious fashion reminiscent of a traditional ad ... over and over in every show. It already happens on many shows & movies ... enough people cut the cord, there's gonna be way more of that. AND commercials showing on the bottom of the screen DURING your favorite shows.

TV cannot be made for free, folks. Right now, people using Hulu & Netflix & Amazon Prime instead of paying for cable/sat are essentially being 'subsidized' ... by those who do. Not saying it's not 'smart' ... but ... there's going to be 'price' for it, eventually.

[Egnever]

142. That ignores the absolute quality programming netflix is producing all on its own

Shows like bloodline,orange is the new black,house of cards etc

Netflix is producing some of the best content out there right now. Without commercials!

I don't think your theory holds water. There will always be people interested in producing content the idea it requires a megacorp bleeding everyone dry to do it has been proven false many many times.

[Dopers_Greed]

113. Good riddance

Pay cable services have only survived as long as they have because of monopolies and price gouging.

Meanwhile, the market for VOD platforms is so competitive that they are destroying cable in cost and quality of programming.

[callous taoboy]

115. Question about cutting the cable:

I have a blue-ray player that has access to Amazon Prime and Hulu, and I've never messed with Hulu, but I want to turn in my cable box without sacrificing access to live broadcasting from my local PBS channel. Is there a way to get this access with what I have now, or would I need to go Roku? I called Roku and they said that I would only be able to listen to PBS broadcasts.

[whatthehey]

147. sure.

First check here to make sure you'd get a signal.

http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx


Then buy one of these for under $30.

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIO8E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1439224178&sr=8-3&keywords=digital+tv+antenna

Done.

[mrdmk]

116. The article mentions Cop Shows and Sitcoms, forgot to mention Reality Programming

Which in my opinion, 'sucks.' Cannot watch supposed educational programming (i.e. History, Discovery, Animal Planet, etc...) because it is pure crap.

That is the problem, TV has turned into pure crap. Too bad the LA Times cannot tell you that and never will. The LA LA Times will tell us people are cutting the cord and being bad customers, thus hurting Wall Street. Well golly gee...

[Bonhomme Richard]

118. Maybe the ala carte option will be offered by the.....

cable companies now that the major players are weakened.

[Heather MC]

121. I HAVE AN IDEA. Make Quaility Programming, and/or stop charging so much for crap TV

[alp227]

131. I think the whole issue of "good vs bad" TV hinges on the free-rider problem.

Quality entertainment ain't free. With the changing media landscape, TV networks are left to fill time with cheaply written, non-union junk (reality TV cuts costs by not hiring writers!) that nonetheless attracts casual channel surfing viewers willing to put up with garbage, for a higher return on investment.

In contrast, those who watch the more sophisticated shows, like House of Cards or Community, aren't as easily manipulated by advertisers and stand up for their money. So those types of shows are riskier for the media companies than a mass-appeal Kardashian show.

Overall, it ends up being that the plethora of crap TV is the reason why media companies can afford to take risks on shows with niche yet devoted followings. Take away the revenue stream of dumb money-wasting Kardashian viewers, and as another poster here pointed out, the race to the bottom spreads to Netflix and Hulu (via product placement and such).

[alp227]

128. Regular link

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-media-stocks-20150807-story.html

[roamer65]

139. Roku is a real problem for them.

I know of a few people who have ditched cable TV for it.

[liberal N proud]

151. Monopolies are what is wrong with Cable TV

That and the original concept of Cable TV was a lie.

When you want to get TV in your home, you can't choose your Cable Company, you have to take what company has bought the rights to your community.

The Cable Company knows this and they treat their customers accordingly, jacking the rates up, taking channels away or moving them and customer service that borders on sadistic. Unless you like to be abused, you are tired of spending hard earned cash for the experience.

If you are willing to wait a day or two for fresh content and don't feed on sports, you can easily dump the cable company subscribe to 3 or 4 streaming services and still cut your cable bill by 2/3.

We have discussed it, already paying for 2 streaming services, we get a lot of what we want, just need to make that jump to get the rest.

[proverbialwisdom]

153. Related.

http://www.businessinsider.com/i-cut-my-tv-bill-in-half-2015-8

I just dumped TV, and now I have some thoughts on the state of TV industry
JAY YAROW

Aug. 20, 2015, 10:25 PM
44 Comments

Tips, tips, and more tips, lol.