More Cable Channels are about to end due to cord cutting

[Bruce]

I believe that more as the reason ESPN has lost viewers than because of an "agenda" or boycott because of a supposed agenda. Thanks for sharing that.

Yeah, makes no sense, if people left ESPN because of ideology, they would have to leave all of paid Live TV since ESPN is part of almost every bundle ( expect bare bones like locals only or Flex for some).

They are leaving, but because of price and same/more content in better quality via streaming.

Same for ratings, down, but down for all Live TV channels, cable and broadcast, has been going down for years, because people have left and less and less new content on paid Live TV.

 

[SamCdbs]

Reality.

- ESPN politics. That ESPN is highly political is not debatable. But it is correct that this has not cost them more than a handful of subscribers. Cord switchers who switched out of ESPN bundles to be a part of the estrogen soaked streaming-only minority did so for one major reason. They don't like sports.

- ESPN ratings. Look at them. ESPN's daytime screamers get a miniscule number of people. It is filler. 98.5% of the value in ESPN is what goes on from 6-midnight ET M-F, and noon-midnight ET S-S, except for NFL Sundays. They used to lease out their day slot to Bloomburg to show his politics/business news shows. It doesn't matter. Disney's only mistake is paying these idiots seven figures. Any local radio station has some guy who does the same act in between selling ads to car lots. Heck, YouTube has a hundred of these guys who give it away.

- ESPNews and ESPNU, and SECN and ACCN, are going nowhere, until the inevitable ESPN bankruptcy.

- Dig the mindset. The different media companies take their material, remix it and at any one time, have 100s of things available to you. The best they could do with the technology of the time. But, somehow, this was cheating you. The fact that, if you missed a certain show it would show up on a subsidiary channel many more times for your enjoyment was somehow bad. Far better that there only be a handful of channels. Really? Meanwhile the cord switching streaming only fan boys don't seem to complain that, one, streaming is, well, 99% the same thing. Why is a show available for months if not years? Why am I being "ripped off" by Stranger Things being available more than for a day? Why am I being cheated? And, two, what about all this material I never watch? Why do I have to pay for it?

Of course, it is the same thing. Of course there are channels on linear TV you don't watch, ever. And of course there are reruns of things you have already seen. Just like shows on streaming are available for months and months, and streaming contains 10000s of hours of material you are not interested in.

Neither is a "rip off". Neither are you being "cheated". Neither are you being "milked". They are both the same thing. Using technology to entertain you. The real difference is some want to be entertained, and some what to hoard money, and tell others, endlessly, about how much they "saved".

And, of course, since no one thing, save the NFL, is really popular enough to cover its production costs, more and more will go away. Enjoy Hogan's Heroes.

 

[Bruce]

Enjoy Hogan's Heroes.

Weeknights 10-11pm on DirecTV Channel 77.

 

[Bobby]

Weeknights 10-11pm on DirecTV Channel 77.

Also Amazon Freevee...

 

[Bruce]

Also Amazon Freevee...

Well at least it is free vs having to pay that high DirecTV monthly bill for it and more reruns.

 

[Bobby]

Well at least it is free vs having to pay that high DirecTV monthly bill for it and more reruns.

And you can watch all of the episodes any time you wish.

 

[evenout]

You have to remember that streaming didn't exist in the 1990s or really even in the 2000s. Broadband Internet was not as prevalent. Most households accessed the Internet with dialup modems lucky to get 53kbps.

Back then cable/satellite TV was necessary to fill out TV during the day, probably mostly during the evening. You didn't get to pick and choose what you wanted to watch at any obscure time. You had a schedule of what was showing on what channel at what time.

This is why you had so many channels. If you didn't like what was showing on TNT at 8 o'clock, then maybe you liked what was on TBS at 8 o'clock (or 8:05 - for those that remember the quirkiness), or TCM, or CNN.

A lot of this content was probably reruns and not original content, but it filled in the gaps between timeslots where new content was on that you wanted to watch.

Broadband and streaming has changed all of that. There's less of a need for filler TV shows. You can stream what you want to see, when you want to see it. If I want to watch NCIS and my free time starts at 7:37 - I can start the episode at 7:37. The older cable/satellite model did not allow for that.

With broadband becoming more plentiful, the ability to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it has increased. There's less of a need for filler TV. If you need filler TV there's plenty of FAST channels available for that.

The only two events that need to happen on a schedule are sports and news. Everything else can be put into the library and watched whenever the viewer wants to watch it. That doesn't preclude sports and news from being streamable, just that they more than likely need to happen at a particular time (whenever that time might be).

The old TV model is still hanging on to the older generation that's so ingrained with the 90's TV model. Not to be morbid... but that generation is going to die off and that's when the old TV model will really go away.

The future model will be all DTC. We already see Paramount+ giving you your local CBS station, Peacock gives you your local NBC station. I suspect Hulu and ABC will follow suit. And FOX and Tubi might offer something.

If ESPN offers a DTC offering (which will be expensive as hell, thanks to the prices they paid for the sports content that most people don't want). Then you can pretty much be set for a la carte TV.

Paramount+ will give you CBS and Paramount content. Peacock will give you NBC and Universal content. Hulu will give you ABC and Disney content. Tubi will give you FOX and FOX content. Max will give you Turner content. ESPN+ will give you ESPN content. What else am I missing?

Another thing to note... you won't have contract disputes. ESPN+ won't pull their ESPN content because ESPN is not paying ESPN enough money to carry it. This is why, if you want ESPN (the linear channels) and want to be insured that you'll always have the content... subscribe to Hulu Plus Live TV. Both are owned by Disney, they'll never get into a contract dispute. They may raise the price of Hulu Plus Live TV to an absurd amount... but you'll always have ESPN. None of the other cable/satellite/streaming Live TV services really have that kind of relationship with a studio.

 

[Bruce]

You have to remember that streaming didn't exist in the 1990s or really even in the 2000s. Broadband Internet was not as prevalent. Most households accessed the Internet with dialup modems lucky to get 53kbps.

Back then cable/satellite TV was necessary to fill out TV during the day, probably mostly during the evening. You didn't get to pick and choose what you wanted to watch at any obscure time. You had a schedule of what was showing on what channel at what time.

This is why you had so many channels. If you didn't like what was showing on TNT at 8 o'clock, then maybe you liked what was on TBS at 8 o'clock (or 8:05 - for those that remember the quirkiness), or TCM, or CNN.

A lot of this content was probably reruns and not original content, but it filled in the gaps between timeslots where new content was on that you wanted to watch.

Broadband and streaming has changed all of that. There's less of a need for filler TV shows. You can stream what you want to see, when you want to see it. If I want to watch NCIS and my free time starts at 7:37 - I can start the episode at 7:37. The older cable/satellite model did not allow for that.

With broadband becoming more plentiful, the ability to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it has increased. There's less of a need for filler TV. If you need filler TV there's plenty of FAST channels available for that.

The only two events that need to happen on a schedule are sports and news. Everything else can be put into the library and watched whenever the viewer wants to watch it. That doesn't preclude sports and news from being streamable, just that they more than likely need to happen at a particular time (whenever that time might be).

The old TV model is still hanging on to the older generation that's so ingrained with the 90's TV model. Not to be morbid... but that generation is going to die off and that's when the old TV model will really go away.

The future model will be all DTC. We already see Paramount+ giving you your local CBS station, Peacock gives you your local NBC station. I suspect Hulu and ABC will follow suit. And FOX and Tubi might offer something.

If ESPN offers a DTC offering (which will be expensive as hell, thanks to the prices they paid for the sports content that most people don't want). Then you can pretty much be set for a la carte TV.

Paramount+ will give you CBS and Paramount content. Peacock will give you NBC and Universal content. Hulu will give you ABC and Disney content. Tubi will give you FOX and FOX content. Max will give you Turner content. ESPN+ will give you ESPN content. What else am I missing?

Another thing to note... you won't have contract disputes. ESPN+ won't pull their ESPN content because ESPN is not paying ESPN enough money to carry it. This is why, if you want ESPN (the linear channels) and want to be insured that you'll always have the content... subscribe to Hulu Plus Live TV. Both are owned by Disney, they'll never get into a contract dispute. They may raise the price of Hulu Plus Live TV to an absurd amount... but you'll always have ESPN. None of the other cable/satellite/streaming Live TV services really have that kind of relationship with a studio.

I believe we just had a AI post on Cord Cutting.

 

[Bruce]

And you can watch all of the episodes any time you wish.

Not in 16x9 ( just looked).

I remember when it was on HDNET when I had DirecTV, they re-formatted it for Widescreen HD, they did a great job on it.

 

[lordodogg]

I believe we just had a AI post on Cord Cutting.

I doubt AI knows about things like FAST, and it's "Hulu+Live TV" not "Hulu Plus Live TV" like how it was written.

 

[Bruce]

I doubt AI knows about things like FAST, and it's "Hulu+Live TV" not "Hulu Plus Live TV" like how it was written.

If it is on the internet, it knows.

 

[evenout]

I believe we just had a AI post on Cord Cutting.

I guess this is a compliment on my writing skills?

 

[lordodogg]

If it is on the internet, it knows.

I see, I'm a South Park fan and they had an episode about that type of stuff recently:

Deep Learning

"Deep Learning" is the fourth episode of Season Twenty-Six, and the 319th overall episode of South Park. It aired on March 8, 2023. Stan is reeling when a cheating scandal hits the school. On the playground at South Park Elementary, the girls are playing hopskotch when Bebe Stevens rushes over...

southpark.fandom.com

 

[meStevo]

Using technology to entertain you.

It's comical that you have to zoom this far out to make your point.

some what to hoard money, and tell others, endlessly, about how much they "saved".

...except that nobody's really doing this, and when it does happen it's often only to rebut nonsense like this while you try and minimize the money you yourself are wasting.

You like paying all the extra fees, we get it.

 

[ncted]

The real difference is some want to be entertained, and some what to hoard money, and tell others, endlessly, about how much they "saved".

So, who is hoarding money exactly? Is it regular folk, who can't afford cable any more, or is it the big media companies, including the overpaid executives, overpaid athletes, overpaid coaches, team owners, telecom companies who get revenue from customers AND public funding, and/or the investors that somehow expect a 20%+ increase in revenue and profits year over year based on nothing more than the ability jack up prices on the end user?

 

[Jimbo]

Weeknights 10-11pm on DirecTV Channel 77.

Also OTA .... where it actually comes from at the moment ... ME TV ... where it is FREE.

 

[Jimbo]

Quick question,
I see that Peacock and Paramount Plus was mentioned above ...
I have both ... is that right that I can go on the Live portion and thats the current shows and it doesn't Cost me More for that Live feed ???

Just want to confirm.

 

[meStevo]

It varies depending on the tier you subscribe to

Peacock plans:

Paramount Plus:

 

[Jimbo]

It varies depending on the tier you subscribe to

Peacock plans:

View attachment 165836

Paramount Plus:

View attachment 165837

Ok,, Thanks for the info ...

I got Both of these on a Deal of some sort ...
Paramount Plus did include Showtime ... Also Ad Free.

I notice the post you posted says Local Live CBS Not Included (was that for either package, really doesn't show an option either way for Live CBS ???)

I also have the Disney Bundle, Disney, Hulu and ESPN ... Does that happen to include ABC ?

 

[Bobby]

Paramount+ with Showtime includes your local CBS Live. Essential does not.