Cancelling Cable

ALASKA · Post by **ALASKA** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:41 pm

Gregg Popabitch wrote:cablevision IS horrid with these contract disputes.

They did this with YES earlier this decade and then Food Network, ABC, and now FOX.

Dolan already ruined the knicks. Now he's trying to ruin my tv watching experience as well.

shit is fucked. I would love to blame fox because I think they are partially guilty, but sadly this shit happens too much with cablevision.

LilLeftBrain · Post by **LilLeftBrain** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 3:56 pm

when in the midst of cable I just stare at vh1/e!/mtv endlessly so am somewhat thankful I haven't paid for cable in roughly five years. Throw around the idea of getting cable every year for marchmadness/college football but never succumb and just stream that shit. Have one of those digital antenna cable boxes now so I get abc/nbc/threespanishchannels for free but haven't even turned that shit on since LOST ended. on a why am i even posting heres an unrelated note note i just learned the challenge: cuthroat started a few weeks ago. gotta catch up. CYYYYYYYYYYYYSED

Jayou Ayen · Post by **Jayou Ayen** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:43 pm

LilLeftBrain wrote:on a why am i even posting heres an unrelated note note i just learned the challenge: cuthroat started a few weeks ago. gotta catch up. CYYYYYYYYYYYYSED

39

ackbar · Post by **ackbar** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:18 pm

the HD downloads you get from torrents.. are they actually exactly as good as the feed you get through cable?? as in no difference when you watch them on a widescreen tv?
do you guys hook your cpus to your tv with hdmi or what?

Gregg Popabitch · Post by **Gregg Popabitch** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:24 pm

Jayou Ayen wrote:
LilLeftBrain wrote:on a why am i even posting heres an unrelated note note i just learned the challenge: cuthroat started a few weeks ago. gotta catch up. CYYYYYYYYYYYYSED

39

good to know i'm not the only person that likes these road rules/real world challenges.

fuck actually watching the real world or road rules. imo, these shows are just talent pools and if the person is retarded enough, they graduate to the challenge.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:35 am

Bought a new house, really thinking about doing the no cable thing when I move in January.

Still don't know what I'd do about sports though, I really can't live without Phillies/Eagles. MLBtv isn't an option because I'm in the blackout area. Fuckers. Anyone have a good solution to this?

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:08 am

People should be able to create their own channel line-ups every QT. A'la carte could actually increase sales nationwide if prices were reasonable.

Imagine picking AMC during Mad Men, then removing it for HBO? Do people really watch more than 5 stations? I've been loyal to the same stations for at least 5 years now.

Zeed Stun · Post by **Zeed Stun** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:50 am

room mate just bought a 52' sony 3D. Hooked up to the computer last night and watched half of season 4 of mad men (hd torrents). quality did not seem to suffer at all. cool story bro.

PopeyeJones · Post by **PopeyeJones** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:22 pm

Philaflava wrote:People should be able to create their own channel line-ups every QT. A'la carte could actually increase sales nationwide if prices were reasonable.

Imagine picking AMC during Mad Men, then removing it for HBO? Do people really watch more than 5 stations? I've been loyal to the same stations for at least 5 years now.

Doesn't work. Won't happen

The TV "renaissance" hasn't happened because there are more channels, it has happened because cable has fundamentally changed the way that networks get paid.

Cable channels receive some of their money from advertising, but a huge portion of their income comes from subscription fees from cable providers. Essentially, part of what you pay your cable company each month gets filtered out to the cable networks included in your package. It's one of the reasons (the other below) why AMC can spend major network level $$ on Mad Men without ever getting major network-level ratings.

In essence, AMC or FX or TNT can create several "prestige" shows with high production value in order to negotiate their subscription prices with cable providers. If they can hit on a show like Mad Men they can demand higher rates in the next contract, as viewers won't accept a cable provider that doesn't include AMC in its lineup. They get them by the balls.

Of course, all of the shows you're listing are the "good ones", they're loss leaders for their networks. AMC negotiates a higher subscription rate because of its several prestige shows on the one hand, but also subsidizes the cost of these "prestige" shows by airing essentially free content from the "vault" and reruns the other 22 hours a day. It's okay if these things get middling ratings, the advertising $$ for them just has to be higher than the cost of sending the signal out (all the content is essentially free), because all this stuff is still subsidizing the "prestige" shows that bring in a higher subscription fee from your cable provider (where the money is coming from). This is why the TV "rennaisance" hasn't happened on the major networks. They're still only selling to viewers (advertisers), so they go with cheap bullshit that grabs the widest audience possible (Survivor, America's Got Talent) and why the shows we like can be sustained with low ratings on cable but disappear on the majors (Friday Night Lights, Freaks and Geeks, and Southland for example would have all been fine on a cable network because they'd raise subscription fees and not be entirely dependent just on ratings -- which DirectTV used to get it's own subscriptions a la HBO in the case of the first two).

Long story short, if you're only watching the prestige shows you're actually getting more for less right now than you would if you subscribed to them individually.

Also, remember, you only have all these great "prestige" shows to watch in the first place because of how the system is currently arranged.

Think about it, HBO/Showtime/Starz still play the "prestige" game with a user (not cable provider) subscription model, stuffing the other 22 hours a day with cheap drek that nobody is interested in, which is used to subsidize the first-TV run movies and original content.

What you're asking for is essentially to not only pay a subscription fee for HBO, but to also pay a $15-20 a month subscription fee for AMC, and for ESPN (no more subsidized NFL or MLB contract), and for any other channel you might want to watch in a month. In fact, it's worse than that, because you also don't want the content that's subsidizing Mad Men for you. You want to pay $30 a month for Mad Men, which would really suck. This also makes illegal downloading an even bigger problem (that you as a buyer would more directly subsidize), and even more important, it would take us back to a time of less prestige shows in the first place (where we were before, why even make Mad Men when you can make America's Got Talent and get twice the viewers for half the cost?).

Sorry for the long post.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:51 pm

Finally just told Comcast to go fuck themselves today. Felt good man.
No more Eagles and four months until Phillies opening day, figured I'll save a few bills and catch up on my dvd backlog.
Really doubt I'll miss it at all.
If anyone knows a way that I can stream Phillies games even though I'm in the blackout area I will be your best friend for life and/or buy you a hooker.

bbatson1 · Post by **bbatson1** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:22 pm

Tommy Bunz wrote:Finally just told Comcast to go fuck themselves today.

This makes me feel good inside. Like an angel just got their wings. I can't bring myself to do it but

to you.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:23 pm

Why don't you just buy the MLB package for PS3? It may cost you $99 but you get to stream every MLB game and it has some really cool features too.

You pay an extra $10 and get to have the "home" game option so you can still hear GM and his absurdity.

Employee · Post by **Employee** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:35 pm

I can't live without cable, man. Fuck that.

Streaming movies and shows is cool and shit, but I also like to be able to rent a movie without downloading some torrent from South Korea. All my NBA games are in one place. All my boxing programming is in one place. All my news is in one place.

Maybe I'm behind the curve, but cancelling cable is some third world shit.

I see the financial sense, though.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:39 pm

Philaflava wrote:Why don't you just buy the MLB package for PS3? It may cost you $99 but you get to stream every MLB game and it has some really cool features too.

You pay an extra $10 and get to have the "home" game option so you can still hear GM and his absurdity.

Pretty sure that anyone in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas are blacked out of using any other means other than Comcast to watch the Phillies.
Comcast has exclusive rights to this territory as far as I know.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:51 pm

Tommy Bunz wrote:
Philaflava wrote:Why don't you just buy the MLB package for PS3? It may cost you $99 but you get to stream every MLB game and it has some really cool features too.

You pay an extra $10 and get to have the "home" game option so you can still hear GM and his absurdity.
Pretty sure that anyone in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas are blacked out of using any other means other than Comcast to watch the Phillies.
Comcast has exclusive rights to this territory as far as I know.

Then if you do it you'll have to watch the game once its over on replay. I'm sure there is some site like http://www.firstrow.tv/ that could help you. I pay Comcast $110 a month and that includes DVR, every channel they offer, HD and high speed internet. The DVR and On Demand are worth every penny. You may have doubts in a few weeks.

Employee · Post by **Employee** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:58 pm

Philaflava wrote:The DVR and On Demand are worth every penny.

Yeah, man, I have more movies in my DVR than Netflix and Hulu combined. And On Demand shits on all other cable/internet offerings.

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:07 pm

I know I'll make it until the Phillies come back in April. What I'll do then I have no idea. I won't watch games on replay because I'll already know the outcome of every game because of texts and facebook (all my friends are Phillies fans).
I wonder if there is a workaround for MLBTV, to trick it with a fake ip address to make it think I am in a non-blackout area? I'm not good with that shit. I did just check though and where I live i'm actually blacked out of Phillies, Pirates, Nationals and Orioles games. Fucking ridiculous.

As far as missing DVR & On-Demand, well no. I have a dvd/bluray backlog of unwatched movies thats over 200 at this point plus another dozen shows that I bought and need to watch.
This is a dead time for my favorite shows and new shows, the only one I need to DL is probably Luck, and its really easy to get them through filestube.

Does anyone here have a blackbox? Maybe I should look into that.

Jayou Ayen · Post by **Jayou Ayen** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:27 pm

Philaflava wrote: Then if you do it you'll have to watch the game once its over on replay. I'm sure there is some site like http://www.firstrow.tv/ that could help you. I pay Comcast $110 a month and that includes DVR, every channel they offer, HD and high speed internet. The DVR and On Demand are worth every penny. You may have doubts in a few weeks.

How many TVs, bro?

39

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:52 pm

Jayou Ayen wrote:
Philaflava wrote: Then if you do it you'll have to watch the game once its over on replay. I'm sure there is some site like http://www.firstrow.tv/ that could help you. I pay Comcast $110 a month and that includes DVR, every channel they offer, HD and high speed internet. The DVR and On Demand are worth every penny. You may have doubts in a few weeks.
How many TVs, bro?

39

3.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:26 am

man I really need to tell Comcast to go fuck themselves. The ONLY thing I watch on TV is live sports. That's really the only thing it's good for anymore, but even now, I could just stream most sports games. Everything else gets downloaded or netflixed. Most (good/popular) TV shows are ripped and put online less than an hour after they air

going to do this very soon I think. INSPIRING THREAD

Vlad Analogue · Post by **Vlad Analogue** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:47 am

live sports = www.rojadirecta.me

killed my directv a year ago, I was only watching footy. feels good, man

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:17 am

If you have a really good TV and surround sound system, by not having a real connection to HD events, whether its sports or reg. shows isn't it defeating the purpose?

I mean why have all those nice things just to stream some shit on the internet that you know will have some lag, won't look/sound nearly as good and more than likely will be choppy throughout the broadcast?

If you say to watch your movies sure, but I don't know how anyone can appreciate a sporting event if it is not in true HD and the quality/stream is flawless.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:17 pm

haven't had cable or even a basic channel hookup since 2008, rarely ever miss it

Guun · Post by **Guun** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:09 pm

if you don't feel like paying for cable, work for cable. I work for Comcast and get every channel and premium speed internet. My bill? like $16 bucks cause there's some accounting thing where they can't let us have DVRs for free. All cause they "want us to know the product".

naturalborn103 · Post by **naturalborn103** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:20 pm

Philaflava wrote:If you have a really good TV and surround sound system, by not having a real connection to HD events, whether its sports or reg. shows isn't it defeating the purpose?

I mean why have all those nice things just to stream some shit on the internet that you know will have some lag, won't look/sound nearly as good and more than likely will be choppy throughout the broadcast?

If you say to watch your movies sure, but I don't know how anyone can appreciate a sporting event if it is not in true HD and the quality/stream is flawless.

Reason · Post by **Reason** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:36 pm

reading the prices of these triple plays makes me visibly umad that i live in new york

citizen · Post by **citizen** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:48 pm

if you don't feel like paying for cable, work for cable.

obviously

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:49 pm

drizzle wrote:haven't had cable or even a basic channel hookup since 2008, rarely ever miss it

That is because you are a film nerd and don't like sports.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:50 pm

Guun wrote:if you don't feel like paying for cable, work for cable. I work for Comcast and get every channel and premium speed internet. My bill? like $16 bucks cause there's some accounting thing where they can't let us have DVRs for free. All cause they "want us to know the product".

Credit my account foo.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:53 pm

Philaflava wrote:
drizzle wrote:haven't had cable or even a basic channel hookup since 2008, rarely ever miss it
That is because you are a film nerd and don't like sports.