Satellite TV Bills to increase

[PortlandChris]

it's getting time to move on.

It may be - we're getting hammered by everyone: 1 - Local channels want ridiculous price increases, 2 - we are required to have all sorts of channels we do not want, 3 - we're constantly getting screwed by provders like Fox, who renege on earlier agreements or change content to other channels and try to charge us again, 4 - NFL network already gave us Thursday night games - and now they are cross selling them to CBS and they are being forced to add those fees to retransmission rates - we now pay twice for the same game. 5 - in order to carry ESPN or Fox providers are being forced to carry a whole slate of channels, 6- I am forced to subscribe to stupid Viacom channels I will never ever watch. I can go on and on.

This industry is on the brink. The constant nickel and diming of us is breaking us. Something needs to give. We need more control over our channels and to be able to pick and choose or this will all falter in the end.

 

[ChadT41]

22,500 miles-23,000 miles depending on the satellite.

 

[bigjohnok]

It may be - we're getting hammered by everyone: 1 - Local channels want ridiculous price increases, 2 - we are required to have all sorts of channels we do not want, 3 - we're constantly getting screwed by provders like Fox, who renege on earlier agreements or change content to other channels and try to charge us again, 4 - NFL network already gave us Thursday night games - and now they are cross selling them to CBS and they are being forced to add those fees to retransmission rates - we now pay twice for the same game. 5 - in order to carry ESPN or Fox providers are being forced to carry a whole slate of channels, 6- I am forced to subscribe to stupid Viacom channels I will never ever watch. I can go on and on.

This industry is on the brink. The constant nickel and diming of us is breaking us. Something needs to give. We need more control over our channels and to be able to pick and choose or this will all falter in the end.

forget about any type of regulatory enforcement of price controls for paid tv or any tv service(outside of a few informational type channels/broadcasts) because it is considered a "luxury" product/service.
internet in its short life span has more of a chance to be justified as a an utility type service than paid tv service will ever have or hope to have.
so it boils down to consumers who are willing to walk and cancel subscriptions in mass numbers.

 

[ChadT41]

Which leads me to the idea of cord cutters growing in mass numbers with the right advertisement. Serious question, net neutrality confuses me. First off did that pass, is it still being heard, and what exactly is it? I want to be on the side that doesn't want to slow internet for certain websites hat decide not to pay, but I am confused by the whole topic of it.

 

[bigjohnok]

Which leads me to the idea of cord cutters growing in mass numbers with the right advertisement. Serious question, net neutrality confuses me. First off did that pass, is it still being heard, and what exactly is it? I want to be on the side that doesn't want to slow internet for certain websites hat decide not to pay, but I am confused by the whole topic of it.

basically an isp can say that a company is pushing a competing service across our networks so pay up.
dish already does something similar to this when customers want to sign up for dishnet they ask are you going to use it to stream video/ net flix or online game. if a customer says yes they refer them to somebody else. now dish has no issues streaming in blockbuster at home to dishnet customers, which is the same as net flix.

 

[PortlandChris]

forget about any type of regulatory enforcement of price controls for paid tv or any tv service(outside of a few informational type channels/broadcasts) because it is considered a "luxury" product/service.
internet in its short life span has more of a chance to be justified as a an utility type service than paid tv service will ever have or hope to have.
so it boils down to consumers who are willing to walk and cancel subscriptions in mass numbers.

Not advocating for price controls or anything of the sort. I am arguing for more CHOICE by the consumer over the content. Being forced to take a Disney channel just to get ESPN is way off base. Being forced to take Fox News to get Fox Sports is off base and so forth.

Back when I was in high school and MTV was just starting, they actually showed videos. Today all they show is crap, total crap. What is the point of MTV anymore. Stupid reality shows? I don't want any of that crap as it serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever.

 

[TheKrell]

Today all they show is crap, total crap. What is the point of MTV anymore. Stupid reality shows?

Agree, but what really boggles the mind is that somebody must be watching that crap or they wouldn't show it at all.

 

[mdavej]

But you would have to give up Hundreds of dollars, closer to $1000 in some more complex installs, that are provided to subs for FREE nor a pretty cheap $99 to change out a system from ViP to the Hopper. The Cable Card for 3rd parties means you get to pay for all the equipment up front, like the TiVo model and that is why TiVo is on the long road OUT, with its hints of "exit strategy" by 2018 when the patents expire. Sure, Cable Card is fine for the really affluent and the rich, but not for the masses nor me.

This is the exact opposite of my experience. I've saved thousands with cable card in just a few years since I pay $2/month for 5 DVRs instead of $50. All my equipment paid for itself in the first year or so, and the rest is gravy. I went with cable card because Dish was bleeding me dry with all the endless fees. Tivo is the most expensive cable card solution, one which I stay far away from. If/when they exit the business is of no consequence to me. I would gladly pay $1,000 or more up front to save $10,000 in the long run, even if I had to take out a loan to do it.

 

[bigjohnok]

But you would have to give up Hundreds of dollars, closer to $1000 in some more complex installs, that are provided to subs for FREE nor a pretty cheap $99 to change out a system from ViP to the Hopper. The Cable Card for 3rd parties means you get to pay for all the equipment up front, like the TiVo model and that is why TiVo is on the long road OUT, with its hints of "exit strategy" by 2018 when the patents expire. Sure, Cable Card is fine for the really affluent and the rich, but not for the masses nor me.

those free installs arent free that is why they come with a 2 year contract with early termination fee's. the company has to guarantee it recoups the cost of installing which includes all the parts used payroll/benefit expenses and other overhead.

 

[empiretc]

This industry is on the brink. The constant nickel and diming of us is breaking us. Something needs to give. We need more control over our channels and to be able to pick and choose or this will all falter in the end.

agreed.

it would be nice to see someone come in and shake up the tv industry the way t-mobile has done to cellular.

we are starting to buy tivos with lifetime, and when we have all the ones we need, we will switch to cable. we pay ~$80/month for internet and ~$80/month for dish now. twc has offered us a bundle for internet and tv (more channels than we currently get), for $89/month. it will be less than $100. sure we have to buy our own equipment to keep the price in check, but we did the same with dish- and it does us no good now.

 

[PortlandChris]

Agree, but what really boggles the mind is that somebody must be watching that crap or they wouldn't show it at all.

Does someone watch? I don't know. Only low life trailer trash I presume. All I know is we're paying for it.

 

[PortlandChris]

agreed.

it would be nice to see someone come in and shake up the tv industry the way t-mobile has done to cellular.

we are starting to buy tivos with lifetime, and when we have all the ones we need, we will switch to cable. we pay ~$80/month for internet and ~$80/month for dish now. twc has offered us a bundle for internet and tv (more channels than we currently get), for $89/month. it will be less than $100. sure we have to buy our own equipment to keep the price in check, but we did the same with dish- and it does us no good now.

Doubtful, broadcasters hold the power. ONLY way that changes is with consolidation downstream in the providers.....but even if ATT & Directv consolidate any savings will go them and their shareholders and not us. Shift power

The ONLY real way it changes is to prohibit bundling period - let each channel stand on its own. ESPN will still command large dollars, but some of the other tie ins will be forced to sell on their own merits. We don't need ala carte per se, just stopping the conglomerates from shoving everything at us as part of a package deal.

 

[Tampa8]

Which leads me to the idea of cord cutters growing in mass numbers with the right advertisement. Serious question, net neutrality confuses me. First off did that pass, is it still being heard, and what exactly is it? I want to be on the side that doesn't want to slow internet for certain websites hat decide not to pay, but I am confused by the whole topic of it.

A condensed answer;
Court says at least as presented implementing Net Neutrality is illegal. What it was intended to do was give every business equal footing when being carried on the internet. So if Comcast Cable also has a competing company to Netflix, they couldn't charge Netflix more to be accessed if someone is using Comcast Cable, or couldn't slow down their stream to the consumer. As it stands Cable companies can do just that. And as a result Netflix has agreed to pay more so that they are received by consumer at full speed. In the end you know who will pay more.
(Just to be fair - the Cable companies say they built and paid for the infrastructure, and are providing the service, and have every right to charge as they want to be carried on their system.) If they are made a public utility, as I believe a bill being worked on would make them, then they could be regulated as phone service or electricity is. There is nothing to me to indicate they will be made a public utility, but who knows.

 

[acostapimps]

Speaking of net neutrality I keep seeing the pop up screen on this page with the loading spin, To defend net neutrality take action message, It's really annoying.

 

[bigjohnok]

Speaking of net neutrality I keep seeing the pop up screen on this page with the loading spin, To defend net neutrality take action message, It's really annoying.

ad-blocker is your friend

 

[acostapimps]

I did, that one got over the blocker apparently, but it's gone now.

 

[Yespage]

Sports, sports, sports. And worst yet, a new NBA contract is coming up, so expect record deals by Disney and/or Universal so that they can bless us with the opportunity to pay more money to watch it.

those free installs arent free that is why they come with a 2 year contract with early termination fee's. the company has to guarantee it recoups the cost of installing which includes all the parts used payroll/benefit expenses and other overhead.

No cost up front. Not ten years ago, you needed to buy a receiver and dish and then get it installed. Thirty years ago, you had to pay for the whole set up up front.

 

[Yespage]

Which leads me to the idea of cord cutters growing in mass numbers with the right advertisement. Serious question, net neutrality confuses me. First off did that pass, is it still being heard, and what exactly is it?

It is an attempt to keep the status quo from the beginning to last year. IE, Local internet providers who offer the last twenty miles of the 1000 miles of cable the Internet crosses, can't charge sites fees to allow for non-throttling their connections. The system worked pretty well up to last year. So trying to change the system would seem quite stupid.

 

[DishSubLA]

those free installs arent free that is why they come with a 2 year contract with early termination fee's. the company has to guarantee it recoups the cost of installing which includes all the parts used payroll/benefit expenses and other overhead.

So you prefer to pay $800 or more upfront before any programming and other fees to have whole home DVR (or 2 DVR) solution just so you can use a Cable Card? The only reason satellite became truly competitive and FORCED cable to start improving was because of the no up-front cost pay over time model that most people can afford. In the days of satellite everyone pays all up front, DBS was not even close to being a competitor to cable cos., and consumers are better off today for it. Glad to see you have thousands of $$$ under the cushions of your sofa. The rest of us do not.

 

[Jim S.]

Sports, sports, sports. And worst yet, a new NBA contract is coming up, so expect record deals by Disney and/or Universal so that they can bless us with the opportunity to pay more money to watch it.

I keep asking why sports are even copyrightable. If they're a fair contest rather than scripted entertainment (i.e. "wrestling"), why can't anyone cover them for free as a news event?

But nobody ever answers me. I can only assume that they assume that I'm trolling. I am not. It seems like a rational question to me.