FARK.com: (7042464) Cable TV costs rising at an average of 6% a year for the few people who don't call and threaten to cancel every six months

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		Cable TV costs rising at an average of 6% a year for the few people who don't call and threaten to cancel every six months (bottomline.msnbc.msn.com)		290
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Grand_Moff_Joseph		2012-04-10 01:22:01 PM

Or, you know, you could get 2-3x the channels and DVR for less money with DTV.

Or, pay nothing and use Hulu.

Hobodeluxe		2012-04-10 01:36:24 PM

I always call and biatch at my cableco every time I see them offer a deal better than the one I currently have. last time I got my internet speed doubled and HBO/CInemax added for 10 bucks a month less than what I was paying previously.

cameroncrazy1984		2012-04-10 01:40:49 PM

One of the perks of working for a cable company. I don't pay for TV or Internet, just $8 for the DVR. Saves me at least $100 a month.

Hobodeluxe		2012-04-10 02:08:53 PM

cameroncrazy1984: One of the perks of working for a cable company. I don't pay for TV or Internet, just $8 for the DVR. Saves me at least $100 a month.

I need a job like that. where I can fark all day ,get paid and save on cable.

dittybopper		2012-04-10 02:15:17 PM

Cable TV costs rising at an average of 6% a year for the few people who don't call and threaten to cancel every six months

Cable TV costs have remained steadily at $0 a year for me for the last 7 years. I thought about getting it prior to the switch-over to OTA DTV, but now any real incentive for me to get cable is essentially gone: I get a bunch of great channels with a perfect picture, including local weather channels, movies channels, classic TV shows, educational stuff, etc., and stuff that I can't get over the air I can almost always watch online anyway.

Walker		2012-04-10 02:20:19 PM

I might have to do that soon. Mine rose from $183 to $188 in just the last month. That includes internet though. Still too high.

AdolfOliverPanties		2012-04-10 02:28:45 PM

Mine started at $99 for cable, internet and phone. It is now at $169 about two years later.

Farking ridiculous.

I'm moving in August. Maybe I make the switch to DTV then.

EvilEgg		2012-04-10 02:41:15 PM

What you guys need is two cable companies in town that helps keep the prices low

gopher321		2012-04-10 02:45:01 PM

EvilEgg: What you guys need is two cable companies in town that helps keep the prices low

Crapspackle. They'd just do some price fixing.

cameroncrazy1984		2012-04-10 02:53:36 PM

Hobodeluxe: cameroncrazy1984: One of the perks of working for a cable company. I don't pay for TV or Internet, just $8 for the DVR. Saves me at least $100 a month.

I need a job like that. where I can fark all day ,get paid and save on cable.

Most IT jobs are like that. Don't go into phone support, you can't Fark all day at most of those jobs.

Lando Lincoln		2012-04-10 03:39:40 PM

I cancelled my cable service months ago. I got tired of paying large amounts of money for craploads of channels I never watch.

If they ever come up with the tech to provide channels and prices for only channels people want to watch, then I'd come back.

hubiestubert		2012-04-10 03:44:12 PM

I pay Verizon for my Interwebs pipe, and I have my phone. I pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus, and pretty much all the TV I want to watch comes in the day after it airs.

I don't think I'll be hooking up the cable anytime again. Not worth it. Not for DVR even. To be fair, I think that more and more companies are going to realize that it's easier to get folks the programming that they want to watch, when they want to watch it, is going to be the norm in another five years. Live streams for sporting events, like the Superbowl and other games, and 86 the cable box entirely.

Is the future.

dletter		2012-04-10 03:48:56 PM

Lando Lincoln: I cancelled my cable service months ago. I got tired of paying large amounts of money for craploads of channels I never watch.

If they ever come up with the tech to provide channels and prices for only channels people want to watch, then I'd come back.

It's not the tech, it is the "power" of volume.

Yes, they could only give you the 12 channels you care about, but, if they did that across the board, instead of Channel X getting 12 million subscribers @ 15 cents a head from their XYZ cable company rights, they might now only have 500k that decide they "really" want to pay for it ala carte.... so, this channel isn't going to decide to lose money, so, now that channel costs you ala carte people $3.60 a month.

So, lets say that is the average "new" price for a channel ala carte... $3.60. Lets say the average person really wants only 20 channels. $3.60 x 20 = $72.... and that is just for the programming, not for what the cable company needs to charge to run the cable system. So, with taxes and everything else... boom, you are back at $80-100/month..... except now instead of getting 200 channels that, yes, a bunch you might never watch, but, occasionally there might be something on a channel you decide you do want to watch (ie, TruTV has mostly crappy reality shows, but, then they show the NCAA basketball tournament games and I want to watch those on my big TV), or you might have guests who want to watch something..... vs. limiting yourself to 20 channels, and "thinking" you'll only pay $20 for that, but, you'd be wrong.

dletter		2012-04-10 03:55:02 PM

hubiestubert: I don't think I'll be hooking up the cable anytime again. Not worth it. Not for DVR even. To be fair, I think that more and more companies are going to realize that it's easier to get folks the programming that they want to watch, when they want to watch it, is going to be the norm in another five years. Live streams for sporting events, like the Superbowl and other games, and 86 the cable box entirely.

Basically this.... I think it is going to take nearly another "generation" (10-20 years), since older people still have a "channel at 8pm" mentality... but, between DVRs and on demand on your cable/internet and DVD season sets.... it is going to be more about the "show" than the "channel", which the TV industry still hasn't quite gotten its head wrapped around. They still want to promote "Watch Mad Men on AMC", instead of just "Watch Mad Men... Watch Now/Download for Later".

As stated, "live" events ("Breaking" News, Award shows, sports, other "live" concerts/events) will need to be handle on an immediate basis, but, everything else is basically just streamed/downloaded as you want the program, and you pay a certain amount to get just that show.

Lando Lincoln		2012-04-10 04:04:35 PM

dletter: Lando Lincoln: I cancelled my cable service months ago. I got tired of paying large amounts of money for craploads of channels I never watch.

If they ever come up with the tech to provide channels and prices for only channels people want to watch, then I'd come back.

It's not the tech, it is the "power" of volume.

Yes, they could only give you the 12 channels you care about, but, if they did that across the board, instead of Channel X getting 12 million subscribers @ 15 cents a head from their XYZ cable company rights, they might now only have 500k that decide they "really" want to pay for it ala carte.... so, this channel isn't going to decide to lose money, so, now that channel costs you ala carte people $3.60 a month.

So, lets say that is the average "new" price for a channel ala carte... $3.60. Lets say the average person really wants only 20 channels. $3.60 x 20 = $72.... and that is just for the programming, not for what the cable company needs to charge to run the cable system. So, with taxes and everything else... boom, you are back at $80-100/month..... except now instead of getting 200 channels that, yes, a bunch you might never watch, but, occasionally there might be something on a channel you decide you do want to watch (ie, TruTV has mostly crappy reality shows, but, then they show the NCAA basketball tournament games and I want to watch those on my big TV), or you might have guests who want to watch something..... vs. limiting yourself to 20 channels, and "thinking" you'll only pay $20 for that, but, you'd be wrong.

Yeah yeah yeah. The bottom line is, if my cable company can offer me the channels I want for the money I'm willing to spend, then they'll get my business. If they can't, then they will not.

GAT_00		2012-04-10 04:11:55 PM

cameroncrazy1984: One of the perks of working for a cable company. I don't pay for TV or Internet, just $8 for the DVR. Saves me at least $100 a month.

Your soul is only worth $1200/year?

TravisBickle62		2012-04-10 05:40:37 PM

I not only don't have cable, I don't have a TV. I have seen them in stores but I have never actually watched one.

Kar98		2012-04-10 05:42:52 PM

Oh, people still pay for cable tv? Is that still a thing? Or are they doing it ironically?

TV, a device to display things on one got off the net.

Madbassist1		2012-04-10 05:43:40 PM

tarhammer		2012-04-10 05:43:40 PM

gopher321: EvilEgg: What you guys need is two cable companies in town that helps keep the prices low

Crapspackle. They'd just do some price fixing.

You're right, we tried that in a bunch of places many, many years ago. Both companies would collude to fark the customer.

lennavan		2012-04-10 05:45:10 PM

Grand_Moff_Joseph: Or, you know, you could get 2-3x the channels and DVR for less money with DTV.

Or, pay nothing and use ~~Hulu~~an antenna.

Hulu requires internet.

Tsar_Bomba1		2012-04-10 05:45:19 PM

hubiestubert: I pay Verizon for my Interwebs pipe, and I have my phone. I pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus, and pretty much all the TV I want to watch comes in the day after it airs.

I don't think I'll be hooking up the cable anytime again. Not worth it. Not for DVR even. To be fair, I think that more and more companies are going to realize that it's easier to get folks the programming that they want to watch, when they want to watch it, is going to be the norm in another five years. Live streams for sporting events, like the Superbowl and other games, and 86 the cable box entirely.

Is the future.

Not yet. There's too much money tied up for them to offer a la carte programming.

Just cut the cord a month ago. $153 a month.

You see what the cable companies do is they take their more popular channels and run them up into the higher channels. That way you have to buy either the "HD" package to get them. Miss it a bit, but right now I would rather have the money.

Smelly Pirate Hooker		2012-04-10 05:45:42 PM

My cable company (Time Warner) explained to me very nicely the last time they jacked up my bill (by $5, I think, so not as bad as it could have been) that the increased fees are for "enhanced" services. Services that I don't use (my bill is $70+ a month, for basic cable).

Strangely, that did not make me feel any better about it.

The other major cable company in the area (AT&T) is no better.

rebelyell2006		2012-04-10 05:46:24 PM

Luckily cable and internet is covered by rent so I don't pay a dime for it. And since I live in a slum, rent is pretty low too.

astouffer		2012-04-10 05:46:31 PM

You know why its so high? A single reason, ESPN. The single most expensive channel there is. Why can't they make it a pay channel like HBO? I'll never have a reason for ever watching it yet its sucking dollars out of my pocket.

moops		2012-04-10 05:46:55 PM

My cable never goes up.

When I moved into my house, I plugged the TV into the coaxial - low and behold, free cable.

I expected it to be shut off within a few days.

That was nine months ago.

Kar98		2012-04-10 05:46:58 PM

You see what the cable companies do is they take their more popular channels and run them up into the higher channels. That way you have to buy either the "HD" package to get them.

The hell you say!?

jagec		2012-04-10 05:47:43 PM

Grand_Moff_Joseph: Or, you know, you could get 2-3x the channels and DVR for less money with DTV.

Or, pay nothing and use Hulu.

The only reason that I have a cable subscription is because of broadband, and satellite internet blows.

tarhammer		2012-04-10 05:48:46 PM

dletter: hubiestubert: I don't think I'll be hooking up the cable anytime again. Not worth it. Not for DVR even. To be fair, I think that more and more companies are going to realize that it's easier to get folks the programming that they want to watch, when they want to watch it, is going to be the norm in another five years. Live streams for sporting events, like the Superbowl and other games, and 86 the cable box entirely.

Basically this.... I think it is going to take nearly another "generation" (10-20 years), since older people still have a "channel at 8pm" mentality... but, between DVRs and on demand on your cable/internet and DVD season sets.... it is going to be more about the "show" than the "channel", which the TV industry still hasn't quite gotten its head wrapped around. They still want to promote "Watch Mad Men on AMC", instead of just "Watch Mad Men... Watch Now/Download for Later".

As stated, "live" events ("Breaking" News, Award shows, sports, other "live" concerts/events) will need to be handle on an immediate basis, but, everything else is basically just streamed/downloaded as you want the program, and you pay a certain amount to get just that show.

This sort of anti-socialist supply and demand thing sounds good on paper but I'm not sure it'll work out very well for most people. The system as it stands runs on advertising money being fed to a variety of creative outlets and forced packaging creates a lot of variety that simply wouldnt be funded. Then when you suck all the money out of the system, the shows disappear. Except the really popular ones, only you'll have a limited choice of those and they'll be $5 per episode, so you'll still be spending $100 a month on tv.

Or they'll go the other way and take the bandwidth used on tv and use it for internet, privatize portions of it like comcast is doing now and then tier the crap out of it and charge you $100 a month for the lowest internet tier that supports streaming HD video.

Trust me, one way or the other you'll pay as much or more for probably inferior choice and content.

Yuri Futanari		2012-04-10 05:48:52 PM

Dropped cable when I moved two years ago. So far I haven't felt I've missed out on anything (news channels are a joke, big events are streamed, and everything else can be found online) and now if I'm at a friends watching TV, the commercials really annoy me.

star_topology		2012-04-10 05:49:21 PM

Be polite. They'll shave off $20-30 just by merely mentioning "competitive deals" or "financial hardship."

Got mine down from 119 to 89/mo (cable + net)

Lando Lincoln		2012-04-10 05:50:01 PM

Cable companies keep adding channels and raising the rates. This is the opposite of what people seem to want. And yet, the cable companies keep doing the same thing, year after year.

Uncivil Engineer		2012-04-10 05:50:20 PM

I cut the cord over 2 years ago. $80 per month for DTV was just not worth it.

MBooda		2012-04-10 05:50:40 PM

And for those who do call and threaten to cancel every six months, they send this guy around:
www.soccermombook.com

JesseL		2012-04-10 05:51:18 PM

I had the cable shut off after I got a Sony/Google internet tv box for Christmas, and use it with Netflix - that is to say I very rarely watch anything on it and my son uses it as a Spongebob viewer.

RoxtarRyan		2012-04-10 05:51:23 PM

CSB:

I had cable killed for over a year. But, the girlie sometimes complains about not being able to see some shows, so reluctantly, I called Comcast back up. Right now, I have the 15MPS down internet, which is just fine, for ~$65/month. On Comcast's website, they advertised basic cable plus 30MPS down for $70/month, but I couldn't get it for some reason, so I was transferred to a salesperson. That person offered me HD Extended cable, 30MPS down internet, upgraded cable modem, box rental and all for $60/month for the first 6 months, then $80/month after.

You can get a lot for little, you just have to be persistent as shiat.

lennavan		2012-04-10 05:51:24 PM

Lando Lincoln: Cable companies keep adding channels and raising the rates. This is the opposite of what people seem to want. And yet, the cable companies keep doing the same thing, year after year.

Almost like the theory and realities of capitalism don't match up.

brandent		2012-04-10 05:51:37 PM

dittybopper: Cable TV costs rising at an average of 6% a year for the few people who don't call and threaten to cancel every six months

Cable TV costs have remained steadily at $0 a year for me for the last 7 years. I thought about getting it prior to the switch-over to OTA DTV, but now any real incentive for me to get cable is essentially gone: I get a bunch of great channels with a perfect picture, including local weather channels, movies channels, classic TV shows, educational stuff, etc., and stuff that I can't get over the air I can almost always watch online anyway.

5 years for us. Broadcast HDTV is amazing. The big loss without cable is live sports. When they start streaming all live sports over the internet, cable will die.

Primum		2012-04-10 05:52:07 PM

What the hell is a "cable"? You mean that pokey-cable thingy I plug into my Motorola DOCSIS3 modem?

I don't pay no cableco like a bunch of sucka-ducks to have a bunch of crap I would never ever watch on television (sports, religious crap, anything mainstream like "Friends" or "DWTS" or "Mr. Show with Bob and David").

/Notice I did not say TV. TV is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and television is no friend of mine-uh!

www.digital-digest.com

Unoriginal_Username		2012-04-10 05:52:33 PM

cameroncrazy1984: One of the perks of working for a cable company. I don't pay for TV or Internet, just $8 for the DVR. Saves me at least $100 a month.

That was what I enjoyed when I worked for the local company. Then they decided that they were doing so great, they'd merge a few states into all one center and laid off everyone that wasn't a field tech, network guy or retail slave. So when I everything except HSI and did the netflix thing for a year and a half.

/working now, and the wife talked me into getting DTV

AbortionsForAll		2012-04-10 05:52:52 PM

Hey Comcast! This is why I cancelled your shiatty TV service and now pay $8 per month to watch netflix. Keep jacking up your prices and watch your business disappear. $200 per month for deluxe cable? Hahahahahahaha. Yeah right.

Gotfire		2012-04-10 05:53:04 PM

This is shocking because AT&T and Verizon don't have a history of raping consumers.

pute kisses like a man		2012-04-10 05:53:43 PM

moops: My cable never goes up.

When I moved into my house, I plugged the TV into the coaxial - low and behold, free cable.

I expected it to be shut off within a few days.

That was nine months ago.

I was enjoying this for a while.

But, I was paying for internet. one day, the internet stopped working, called to get it fixed, and the cable guy disconnected our TV cable.

oh well. the internet works.

hailin		2012-04-10 05:54:36 PM

We pay $44 a month for Internet, watch Hulu for free and have a Roku player (no annual fee). Any shows we can't watch we just wait until they come out on DVD (Showtime and HBO shows).

JohnBigBootay		2012-04-10 05:54:48 PM

I'm down to $15/month for basic hd network channels, and for some reson, BBC america which I think they left on there by mistake. Feels sort of worth it for a change.

YouPeopleAreCrazy		2012-04-10 05:55:14 PM

I'd cut the cable umbilical, but the options are not spouse friendly. And we've tried. If it was just me, no prob. TV would be gone.

Bu I'm locked in with a (relatively) cheap FiOS price for another 18 months, so I can't complain too much. Phone/TV/25-25 net speed w/ no data cap for $123/month.

farky fark		2012-04-10 05:55:55 PM

Is "cable tv" that service where you pay to have your shows interrupted every 15 minutes with advertisements? Sign me up!

TyrantII		2012-04-10 05:56:12 PM

It's also nice that reality TV programing is up about 1200%.

Even the interesting channels like scifi, tlc, natgeo, history, dic are now 50%+ reality TV.

a la cart would be nice, and producers turning only into content providers, but it's not going to happen without a lot of kicking and screaming and bloody murder.

LouDobbsAwaaaay		2012-04-10 05:57:05 PM

Haven't had cable for over five years and I don't plan on ever going back. I occasionally catch bits of cable TV when I reluctantly go to the gym, and it's gone from terrible to somehow-even-more-terrible since I gave up on it.

/Netflix
//RiffTrax
///Buy-the-occasional-DVD-box-set-of-a-show-I-used-to-like
////What am I missing on cable? The 13th season of Deadliest Catch?