Cancelled my cable a year ago. Netflix is way cheaper, on demand, and no commercials.

That's where TV needs to go. Of course it will never happen. Too many people whose only job is to sell you crap you don't need would watch their jobs get flushed away... The lawsuits are already incubating to make sure it never happens. They did it with the cable cards a few years ago to make sure you couldn't make your own DVR without giving them "their" cut.

Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

People still watch TV?

Going to end up costing more, and more people are going to miss surfing than they think. I don't miss actual TV at all, but I do miss random channel surfing when I'm sick,hungover or can't sleep.

Then all of you will be pissed once you get this then wind up paying $75 for just the few channels you want, I hate the shop at home stations too but they do subsidize a lot of your cable bill. Sure you may not ever watch them but there are tons who do and buy all kinds of crap.

Of my 300 or so channels I probably watch 30 of them and of that probably 80% of what I watch is on about 12 channels.

I welcome this.

The next time we hear about this, it'll be during the bribe-driven show trial portion of the massive multi-corporation lawsuit to stop it.

President Merkin Muffley: People still watch TV?

I came here to say this. I've haven't watched any TV for maybe 20 years. When I occasionally see it, my god, it's way way overwhelming.

7th Son of a 7th Son: Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

THIS THIS THIS SO MUCH THIS.

shouldn't the more popular it is, the better bargaining can be reached, thus the CHEAPER it becomes. These are basic principles of economics.

/of course you're right.

serial_crusher: Let me subscribe to a show, and get the episodes instantly when they're released, instead of waiting until the next day.  That's where TV needs to head.

This ridiculous. Controlling when content can be viewed is an excellent way of maintaining control over a population. For example, in Canada, traditionally traffic on city streets decreases significantly when Hockey Night in Canada is on. So does crime, hospital visits, etc.. it also means that a huge proportion of Canadians are available for targeted messages, like advertising, that runs the economy. Other messages, like political messages, can be run during HNiC as well.

Then let's look at social engineering experiments like reality tv shows where viewers vote. The CBC ran the first show like that, because private industries wanted to make the financial risks public. Canada tested it's infrastructure for cell phones, instant text messaging, and how business and government could coordinate hundreds of thousands of Canadians to obey a message all at once. It was also a cash cow, ensuring that the cellular companies at the time would get a guaranteed income on certain nights of the week, from customers who watched the show sending messages.

Your silly idea would not coordinate all of these things and would seriously fark up city planning, business, and government control mechanisms. It would bugger the economy in advertising alone. it is irresponsible.

Won't the threat of more people switching to streaming tv just result in stricter bandwith limits? Or are American cable companies and ISPs run totally separately?

Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

No see... now you get to directly fund things you want. Now scifi gets a bigger chunk of the pie if you like scifi, so maybe they can afford to make cool new shows instead of airing ghost hunters 800 times.

/At least, thats what im telling myself

I'm predicting that within 10 years, professionally created video entertainment specifically for home consumption will disappear. Yes, even Law & Order.
People will still go to new movies for the communal experience.
People will still go to local theater for the novelty of watching live people perform.

But "television" will be replaced by whatever six people with a couple of cameras want to put on the Internet. They'll have day jobs. Their "reward" will be Internet viewings. If they're really good enough, they'll make their entertainment some sort of pay-per-view.

serial_crusher: Let me subscribe to a show, and get the episodes instantly when they're released, instead of waiting until the next day. That's where TV needs to head.

Thisity thisity this.

Also, global synchronized releases, dubbing and captions on day one, low subscription price, multiple non-credit card payment options (paypal and all its local copycats). You will see global distribution for serialized shows go through the roof.

If you can convince a Chinese university student to pay 50 RMB to buy a pirated dvd box-set of Lost, you can sure as hell convince them to pay 10 RMB a month for a new show. It's all a matter of accessibility and pricing. There's a huge market out there the producers are leaving untapped.

SquiggsIN: shouldn't the more popular it is, the better bargaining can be reached, thus the CHEAPER it becomes. These are basic principles of economics.

No... there's a limited supply. So the more popular something becomes the more expensive it becomes. Diamonds are very popular but there's only so many of them.

serial_crusher: You're salivating over a la carte channels?  Really grampa?  I hear they're getting ready to make these newfangled things called compact discs next year.  They're going to be like cassette tapes, except they'll have lasers!

"Channels" are already obsolete.  You people sit here and biatch that there are 200 channels you don't watch, but you're perfectly comfortable paying for 24 hours a day of programming, even though you only watch like 4 hours of it on average?  It's the same thing in a smaller chunk.

Let me subscribe to a show, and get the episodes instantly when they're released, instead of waiting until the next day.  That's where TV needs to head.

Hi gramps. We have these things nowadays. Look up netflix and amazon and others. enjoy your new-fangled on demand services. :-)

I'd be happy to pay for a channel that would deliver the content I want without me having to seek it out and identify it first. I mean, seriously, just give me the shiat I don't even know I want yet, already. And don't fark it up like with Caprica.

Alonjar: Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

No see... now you get to directly fund things you want. Now scifi gets a bigger chunk of the pie if you like scifi, so maybe they can afford to make cool new shows instead of airing ghost hunters 800 times.

/At least, thats what im telling myself

You mean they could offer up to C grade movies instead of D?

roncofooddehydrator: Diamonds are very popular but there's only so many of them.

you can create all the diamonds you want these days

Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

If that happens it'll give you even more incentive to ditch cable entirely and go to netflix/hulu/etc., like so many people have already.

Nobody's going to pay that kind of money for 3 channels (those 3 channels anyway). Networks can set prices like that if they want, but even a first-year business major can see how badly that will go. Instead of maybe attracting a base of people who wouldn't otherwise buy cable, you wind up alienating them and quite a few other people to boot.

Regardless, HOWEVER this a la carte pricing idea is received by the networks, it will "blow up" cable as we know it. It's whether or not there will be anything left afterward that's in question.

TommyymmoT: NewportBarGuy: Who do I have to f*ck to make this happen?

Honey Boo Boo's mom, and don't forget to leave a bag of Cheetos on the night stand.

I'd go ass to mouth. I'd do it for you farkers and all the future generations.

/and when you speak of me...

Alonjar: Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

No see... now you get to directly fund things you want. Now scifi gets a bigger chunk of the pie if you like scifi, so maybe they can afford to make cool new shows instead of airing ghost hunters 800 times.

/At least, thats what im telling myself

Then they could finally land a director to film my sci fi script!

/Ghost Hunters vs. Mansquito III: Son of Ghosquito

I was already planning to fire Directv tomorrow, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

It's too expensive, and I need to spend less time planted in front of the TV anyway. Kids can get cartoons from Netflix etc anyway.

I just hope NHL Gamecenter will be satisfying to view should the league and NHLPA get their shiat figured out.

Are you farkers under the impression that these channels are individual companies, or that their customers are you?

Bwaaa haaaa haaaaaa. Disney, Viacom, and other firms hold bundles of channels. Their customers are the cable and SatTV firms. The latter provide marketing, billing, customer service.

Now imagine you're a business who sells all of your output as one package, to only a handful of customers. Would you piss off your five or six customers, and break apart your core product to sell the high value parts separately, suddenly have to own a lot of the marketing yourself, to do business with a small niche player?

Intel's only hope - and it's slim - is to cut an agreement to sell bundles of channels in overseas markets. Even that is dicey as geo-IP is not hard to get around.

Know why its expensive if not impossible to get all of your sports, live, over the internet? Yeah, same reason this won't happen. Its a cozy arrangement for content and distribution providers. You are just the field they graze on.

7th Son of a 7th Son: Zombie DJ: Oh good. I can see it now.

TNT $20 a month
MTV $3 a month
Comedy Central $40 a month
SyFy $10 a month
and so on...

I get the feeling I'd be paying MORE because I like popular channels like CC, USA and TNT.
People who like dreck like MTV will probably end up paying less.

THIS THIS THIS SO MUCH THIS.

And you both would be completely wrong.

What is never mentioned in these a la carte vs all inclusive comparisons is that competition would fundamentally change. For the first time EVER the channels would be selling directly to the consumer. The costs aren't laundered through BigCableCo - they are directly charged to the customer. If your price is too high, your customers will look elsewhere. See, content providers can make a lot more money selling advertising than they get patting-down cable and satellite companies. They will actually want to keep access fees as low as possible or their ratings will drop. Low ratings means advertisers will seek greener pastures.

The key benefit of this is that a lot of the crap channels will start folding. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of content copying each other, it is more likely to shift toward high-quality / high-loyalty programming. Essentially following the HBO model. The me-too hacks will fall because consumers will stop buying the expensive buffet and instead ordering exactly what they want off of the menu. You will also expect to see more advertisements for programming outside of the channel playing it.