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On "Cutting the Cord"

Seems to be the new rage to "cut the cord" and move to streaming of only the channels you want to watch. The complaint is that there's a lot of chaff in our desired wheat. To get your preferred channel you have to scroll through a lot of stuff you don't want. 

Underlying premise is that if you cut out those channels and only pay for what you want then the overall service will be less.

I don't see it. Problem is, that chaff kinda covers the cost of the wheat. If/when we start streaming only the channels we want then I predict we'll start to see overall aggregate costs increase. We're seeing it now with Amazon Prime and NetFlix, and more and more companies are spinning off their channels to streaming. If each one of those costs $9.99 each, how many $9.99 channels will we buy before we're above the monthly cost of, say, Comcast or DirecTV that (used to) have it all?

And the production companies are loving it: they are getting more fees per household than they did when it was all in one place. Sure, we'll take your $9.99/mo instead of the $3.79/mo licensing fee they were getting from DirecTV!

My prediction: this trend will continue, with more continuing spinoffs. It will become cumbersome to ave to remember which streaming provides which service and users will become frustrated. Eventually someone will create a service/app that combines it all back into one interface and we're effectively back to where we were before, but at individual monthly charges and higher overall monthly cost.

How is that better?

For my part, I installed an OTA antenna on the roof (we get something like 50 channels here in central CT) and installed a Plex server for DVR'ing OTA (works nice). I've ripped all my DVDs and music to that Plex server as well so it's now the focus of the home theater system.

We've retained DirecTV but reduced the program level to near minimum (have to retain Choice for Thea to watch Mets baseball). With that I can get most of what I'd like to watch (though I do miss Smithsonian).

We have Amazon Prime and NetFlix. The only other streaming I pay for is MotorTrend (well worth the $45 annually). I use a Firestick for apps access.

I also purchased a CAAVO center to bring all the physical devices into a single interface (versus relying on my 15-yr-old Samsung's interface. CAAVO works better).

But mark my words: not too long in the future the frustration will boil over and people will start demanding that "same interface" experience that cable and DirecTV offers. Someone will do it but it'll just be more expensive now...

"Cut the cord?" We are our own worst enemies.

10/5/22 edit: Ah, what's old is new again...

Streaming bundles are forming, but don’t expect a cable TV-like package any time soon

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/dont-expect-cable-tv-like-package-for-streaming-bundles.html

"Offering a large bundle would also likely lead to better options for helping viewers discover new shows and movies. Figuring out which streaming service has which movie or TV show is still a forehand-slapping nightmare for most users..."


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