AdolfOliverPanties: 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.

I switched from Dish network to DTV, and haven't regretted it for a second.

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.

I hope so. I could probably convince the wife to ditch the cable and go OTA if it weren't for Canucks games that aren't on CBC. There's dodgy streams available, but they're a pain in the ass and not reliable. If I could hookup a box that streams just the crap we want that's not OTA, I would go for that in a heartbeat. For timeshifting, there's always torrents and DLNA.

/Shutup and take my money.

Primum: 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 image 640x359]

This post fully embodies the velveteen touch of a dandy fop.

Oh yeah, forgot this parody: please show this to your garbage-television-watching friends and family. It's smug in all the right places:

2 Broke Girls Because Fark You That's Why (new window) NSFW language

When I first got my internet 5 years ago, I was paying 33.00 a month for 8 mbps speed internet. Now I pay over 62.00 a month. The provider I use is the only cable provider in town, so it's either their price or I get nuthin'.

My theory on their pricing hike is that so many people were canceling cable TV (because the cost for both cable and internet rose so much, and people need internet more than they need cable) that the company started charging double for the internet service (since most people are watching cable TV for free on it, anyway.) You can't tell me they raised their internet and cable prices because the programming was actually costing them more. (It seems there are more ads than actual programming on most cable TV these days.)

star_topology: 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)

I tried that with my old company, Cox. They came down from $180 to $170. I said 'screw you'.

Every show I care about is available online the day it airs, in one form or another in HD and commercial free. HTPC was pretty cheap to throw together, xbmc makes it easy enough to use for the wife.

Fark and internet is good enough for news, plus c-span and npr while driving and a couple of daily shows a week means I know more about what is going on than most of the yahoos out there.

Screw cable, it has NOTHING to offer.

Mrs. Phoenix and I have talked about getting cable, but neither of us can stand commercials, so we're sticking with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

I may get NHL Center Ice next year for the PS3, though.

/Cable companies suck
//Cable costs too much for what it offers

This sound like a case for the Great Obama to stick his nose into so that he can save us all money, just like with his MessiahCare.

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.

This. And the fat discount for pay-per-view.

I canceled cable and I'm still waiting for them to come turn it off.

I don't watch the crap anyways. It must be nice to be making so much money because you charge enormous amounts of money for your product and don't hire anyone to work for you.

david_gaithersburg: This sound like a case for the Great Obama to stick his nose into so that he can save us all money, just like with his MessiahCare.


Them's some funny jokes!

Nexzus: 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.

I hope so. I could probably convince the wife to ditch the cable and go OTA if it weren't for Canucks games that aren't on CBC. There's dodgy streams available, but they're a pain in the ass and not reliable. If I could hookup a box that streams just the crap we want that's not OTA, I would go for that in a heartbeat. For timeshifting, there's always torrents and DLNA.

/Shutup and take my money.

https://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/secure/gclsignup

NHL Gamecenter Live not an option for you?

I'm doing MLB.TV Premium, let me tell you I'd much rather pay $125/year than $125/month.

Yes, I feel kinda like a sucker for continuing to pay for mostly cruddy TV. When it gets up near $80, I'll investigate Netflix, maybe. Right now, the broadcast and basic cable channels are showing stuff I like (not sports, I don't give a shiat about any sport) and DVDs fill in the rest of the viewing.

Until then, I'll watch enough TV to make it seem somewhat reasonable (it works out to a little over $2 a day, that still doesn't seem terrible).

Yeah, I know ... whatever.

I cancelled cable years ago. I cancelled netflix last month because all of the movies I want to watch are DVD only. When they start streaming the movies in a reasonable time I'll consider reactivating my account.

I still have Hulu+. If the networks stop making them available to Hulu, I'll cancel that account, too. A note to the Hollywood morons: Bitstream is always an option, biatches. I'm perfectly willing to pay a reasonable monthly fee for hassle free content, but I have no problem with cutting your ass out of the picture, entirely.

david_gaithersburg: This sound like a case for the Great Obama to stick his nose into so that he can save us all money, just like with his MessiahCare.

it's kinda pitiful when those ODS meds don't kick in in time isn't it?

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.

Reminded me of this bit from Oatmeal with NSFW language.

david_gaithersburg: Messiah

*chug*

david_gaithersburg: This sound like a case for the Great Obama to stick his nose into so that he can save us all money, just like with his MessiahCare.

Seriously? You're so butthurt you're bringing that to a TV thread? WTF?

lennavan: AbortionsForAll: 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.

I did the exact same thing. Cancelled Comcast since I mostly watch Netflix stuff when I'm watching TV. You do of course realize, Netflix's time is limited. They only have a small window left, since pretty much everyone else (Cable/Satellite/Internet) is also now streaming movies and television and whatnot.

Netflix knows this too, their long term business model is to provide unique content like HBO, which I'm gonna make a guess will suck ass, given it's Netflix. I'm gonna switch to RedBox soon I'm sure.

Well, the only way the cable providers are getting my slice back is if they offer better programming for less than $8. Hypothetically speaking, even if Netflix was no longer an option, I'd simply be content to torrent anything I wanted to watch (hi-ho Game of Thrones torrents, away!!!!!).

OTA + Netflix + uTorrent = All I need.

God Is My Co-Pirate: Oblig (new window)

Beat me to it. :(

OgreMagi: I cancelled cable years ago. I cancelled netflix last month because all of the movies I want to watch are DVD only. When they start streaming the movies in a reasonable time I'll consider reactivating my account.

I still have Hulu+. If the networks stop making them available to Hulu, I'll cancel that account, too. A note to the Hollywood morons: Bitstream is always an option, biatches. I'm perfectly willing to pay a reasonable monthly fee for hassle free content, but I have no problem with cutting your ass out of the picture, entirely.

I just watched Rango on Netfilx. Amen.

I know it's not an outright replacement, but does anyone have thoughts on Apple TV?

algrant33: Nexzus: 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.

I hope so. I could probably convince the wife to ditch the cable and go OTA if it weren't for Canucks games that aren't on CBC. There's dodgy streams available, but they're a pain in the ass and not reliable. If I could hookup a box that streams just the crap we want that's not OTA, I would go for that in a heartbeat. For timeshifting, there's always torrents and DLNA.

/Shutup and take my money.

https://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/secure/gclsignup

NHL Gamecenter Live not an option for you?

I'm doing MLB.TV Premium, let me tell you I'd much rather pay $125/year than $125/month.

Stupid blackout restrictions - probably the most evil thing about sports broadcasting. I think they verify your address against your credit card. If your service address doesn't match your address on file with the CC company, no GameCentre for you.

Cut cable a year and a half ago when I got my Roku (very easy, no-additional-fee way to watch a lot of streaming content on your TV). I miss a few shows like Mythbusters, but I can get those a la cart on Amazon on Demand if I really want them. I don't miss paying around $100/month.

Sports are pretty much the only reason I'd go back - in the LA area, Angels baseball games are only on cable networks (except for the occasional Fox Saturday game). That said, I rarely watch games live, so MLB.tv is working great for me (even though there are blackouts, you can watch the game 90 minutes after it's over).

Madbassist1: 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.

Oh they have it now, they just don't use it cause they'd lose farktons of money allowing people to only pay for what they actually use.

And there would be certain channels that literally NO ONE would ever pay for unless part of a farking "Bundle"

lennavan: AbortionsForAll: lennavan: AbortionsForAll: 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.

I did the exact same thing. Cancelled Comcast since I mostly watch Netflix stuff when I'm watching TV. You do of course realize, Netflix's time is limited. They only have a small window left, since pretty much everyone else (Cable/Satellite/Internet) is also now streaming movies and television and whatnot.

Netflix knows this too, their long term business model is to provide unique content like HBO, which I'm gonna make a guess will suck ass, given it's Netflix. I'm gonna switch to RedBox soon I'm sure.

Well, the only way the cable providers are getting my slice back is if they offer better programming for less than $8. Hypothetically speaking, even if Netflix was no longer an option, I'd simply be content to torrent anything I wanted to watch (hi-ho Game of Thrones torrents, away!!!!!).

Ah well I dropped internet too when I dropped Comcast. I'm not gonna torrent from work.

Hahaha. Well my work internet connection is 1gbps bi-directional. So yeah, there's that. ;)

U-Verse is the cheapest price for the kind of setup I require (3 HD tvs) with whole house DVR & 20MBs internet... However, once that 6month (or however long) introductory offer expires: It shoots UP quite a bit. I went from about $130 a month to $180. I called and threatened to cancel only to have the tier-1 guy offer 10 bucks off. Many minutes later being put on hold I finally asked him "IF I were to cancel RIGHT NOW, do I speak to YOU or a different department?" (diff department) "Ok, transfer me there"...

I told the next guy I can get exactly the same setup from Bright House or Dish for about $120 a month and unless you can compete I am taking my business elsewhere. Well he got it down to $118 (after taxes) and locked me in on that for 12 months with out a contract.

As far as U-Verse HD picture quality, well yeah: that is a whole other thread.

I can actually pay to see basically nothing but re-runs?
/i do love watching old L&O CI
//love me some bobby goren

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.

Thank you. I've been touting this for years, ala carte will screw us even more. And really, how many people have a family where everyone watches the same channels? I have a nephew that wants Nick jr and Disney, I want sports, others want Lifetime or the Food network.

The only reason I pay for cable is it's cheaper than running around to every room trying to show them how to use a streaming device. My sanity is worth the $114 a month

algrant33: Nexzus: 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.

I hope so. I could probably convince the wife to ditch the cable and go OTA if it weren't for Canucks games that aren't on CBC. There's dodgy streams available, but they're a pain in the ass and not reliable. If I could hookup a box that streams just the crap we want that's not OTA, I would go for that in a heartbeat. For timeshifting, there's always torrents and DLNA.

/Shutup and take my money.

https://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/secure/gclsignup

NHL Gamecenter Live not an option for you?

I'm doing MLB.TV Premium, let me tell you I'd much rather pay $125/year than $125/month.

I would get the MLB tv except it is pointless since it blackouts the local team. Dammit I want to watch the Rangers not the Royals or Pirates. I don't understand what purpose there is to blacking out the local games 80% aren't even on tv.

I opt for internet only. Hulu and netflix for my TV/movie fix.

I pay about 100 a month for basic cable and HBO. I don't have sw access to get dtv unfortunately.

Then I pay 50 a month for Comcast internet and 80 a month to Fairpoint for their version of FIOS. I work out of my home and keep two as a backup, but I am starting to wonder if there is a cheaper way of doing it. I lose Fairpoint service and need to switch to Comcast only a couple of times a year.

mikebdoss:

Sports are pretty much the only reason I'd go back - in the LA area, Angels baseball games are only on cable networks (except for the occasional Fox Saturday game). That said, I rarely watch games live, so MLB.tv is working great for me (even though there are blackouts, you can watch the game 90 minutes after it's over).

This is what pisses me off the most about cable price increases--the effects of tiering, packaging, pay-per-view and other options that inflate prices aren't figured into the 6% increase.

Suns home games used to be broadcast. This year they are available on FoxAZ. Except the real good games. You have to pay for FoxAZ Plus. But to get FoxAZ Plus you have to pay for digital cable which includes cable boxes for every room which adds on rental fees.

When I signed up for cable Turner Classic Movies was part of non-digital cable. To get that channel again, I would have to upgrade to digital cable, rent two or three boxes, upgrade to the tier that includes TCM.

I'm pretty sure the increase in price would amount to 200 or 300% just to get what I used to get. Of course, I'm ignoring the fact that the Hitler Channel has become the Picker Channel, Discovery is now swamped with drunken idiots and in other ways cable content has become so putrid I should be paid to watch it.

lennavan: Netflix knows this too, their long term business model is to provide unique content like HBO, which I'm gonna make a guess will suck ass, given it's Netflix. I'm gonna switch to RedBox soon I'm sure.

They've shown some good judgement so far. I mean, House of Cards was amazing, and Kevin Spacey is amazing, so unless they bastardize it too much, a House of Cards with Kevin Spacey is an idea I'm all over. Not to mention picking up Arrested Development.

I cancelled a year ago and I'm doing fine. I can afford rent now.

The Southern Dandy: OTA + Netflix + uTorrent = All I need.

torrent is ghetto. usenet is where it's at.

usenet +nzbs.org + sabnzbd +couch potato + sickbeard + htpc with XBMC or Plex hooked to an HDTV

Kar98: 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.

I have a flat screen I bought 2 - 3 years ago, and I've probably turned it on less than two dozen times.

BUT, if I had a button on my browser that said "send this over to the TV" and then the TV would magically turn on and display the stuff, that would be very nice.

Until HBO starts sharing their shows on the internet, I'm stuck with paying who ever it is I'm already stuck with. Damn you, HBO!

Sigh...we just moved back to the sticks with family. It's beautiful here...but we have Dish for tv (which is ok..but still $79 a month) and this post is coming to you from a dial up connection. No cable available so no broadband, no streaming, etc. Yes, we could get satellite internet, but it is cost prohibitive and has data limits, from what I have researched.

Sigh...

/35 miles from town.
//There is a Dollar General 5 miles away though! ;)

Bought a HD Roku for 60 bucks to go with my 80 annual Amazon Prime membership. I was paying over 85 a month for DirecTV with just the HD package...no movie or sports packages at all.

The way I look at it, I went from paying DirecTV $1,020 annually to paying Amazon $80 annually, giving my family I a budget of $940 a year to rent or buy whatever the fark we want and still come out even. Thus far we've spent about $10 bucks on a few rentals, and I spent $15 last night for the MLB audio package for my MLB app.

That was about two months ago. The single thing I miss is watching MLB or NHL whenever I want without Fox Sports, but not nearly enough to justify the expense.