The End of Cable? (ESPN's streaming plan)
- Thread starter roundball
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Presently, my provider, Time Warner, has unlimited data for all of their different Internet tiers. In fact, they use it as a selling point to appeal to streamers and on-line game players. I'm a cable cutter. The only thing I really want is ESPN, the only thing my wife really wants is HGTV. With this Dish Sling thing, we can get both. Pretty much everything else we watch not on OTA we can get through Amazon Prime. Watching on multiple devices isn't a concern. This Sling approach is great for folks like me.
As I posted above, we will have to see how the service providers react. If they raise prices, then the Sling model may not be financially attractive. If they raise prices too high, they risk opening themselves up to competition from other service providers like Google Fiber. Also, the content providers like Disney could also react negatively if the service providers start to raise prices too high. We'll see how it goes. It will be interesting for sure.
While not Google, I am thankful that Cedar Falls Utilities put fiber in here. Internet is fast and doesn't seem to have any issues with busy times.
I didn't know that cities outside of Chattanooga had set up their own. That is awesome. I wish more could/would.
My city put in fiber to the house recently. I am so glad i dont have to worry about slow interent data caps and crappy pricing anymore. Dang I hate Comcast and centurylink.
I actually have fiber to the home through a different provider today. Google installs in my neighborhood will be later this year.
In light of this Sling development, another crappy consequence of the TWC/Comcast merger would be that Comcast has data limits, while TWC doesn't. I really hope whatever government agencies are reviewing this merger does not allow it.
This! They are just distracting you while they actually find ways to make you spend more money. People only focus on the "cord cutting" aspect of it. You may be paying less than your cable bill but you end up getting ripped off by only getting a handful of channels and are being FORCED to pay internet fees. The cost of this should be listed as 20 + ISP fees. The cost per channel of this ESPN plan would equal to a $400-$500 cost for what you currently get from cable providers. Don't get me wrong, cable is a huge ripoff but things like this and hbogo are just as bad. The fine print on this ESPN plan makes it completely awful.
A) 99.9999% of people who will subscribe to Sling will already be paying ISP fees, so you can't count that as an additional cost. If you find a cable customer who currently doesn't have the internet but plans to once Sling becomes available, put them on display so the entire world can see what a freak they are.
B) The "only getting a handful of channels" thing is actually one of the selling points. Most people, especially millennials, couldn't give two ***** about crap like the Spike E! Garden Network and other such drivel.
True, but don't most cable companies offer "cheaper" internet if you have a TV sub with them as well? I know mediacom does. So you have to factor the increased price of internet as reducing the savings of "cutting the cord."
Which is fine. But then this is a niche product for a very targeted audience, and not "the end of cable" as the first post asked.
Its a small channel offering, which can't claim to be the key to live sports for cord cutters without all the major live sports channels.
And at only one device per household at a time, it has very little shot at a mainstream takeover. Think about how long people complained about how you had to have a satellite box for each TV if you wanted to watch independently of other TVs.
It has some very promising elements of the future in it, but it is a step backward in a few areas as well.
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It really isn't much different than a cable install. There is a fiber modem installed outside and then they run Ethernet from that to a media gateway box by my living room tv. It is about the size of my Xbox One. I have my personal Wi-Fi router hooked up to the gateway, but it also has integrated Wi-Fi if I wanted to use it.
The boxes on the tvs are connected back to that gateway via the coax that was already in the house.
I'm not sure you understand who this is being marketed to (millennials). Most of us watch less TV to begin with, get married and have kids much later in life than older generations (if at all), don't buy homes until our late 20s at the earliest, and aren't buying McMansions with 5+ bedrooms that would necessitate a small armada of TVs when we do. Hence the "BFD" reaction about only being able to use one device per subscription.
Ok. But I'm also a millennial. Most of my friends are millennials. These are potential issues I see arising for myself and my friends who would have major issues with this, even though they're "millennials." Keeping up with ISU sports for example, isn't going to work smoothly here.
All I'm saying is, this isn't as much of a game-changer as your OP/title implied. Maybe your opinion changed and we're arguing the same thing about more of a niche market, which won't be enough to "kill cable." I guess it's those two arguments threw me off a little.
That's very possible. To clarify my OP, no, I don't think anything will ever "kill" cable...there'll probably always be some demand for it, like there's still some demand for landlines, compact discs, and even fax machines. But when the largest cable content provider in history does something like this, it's a pretty clear signal that things will change/are changing.
Nice! What speeds do you get down/up? Also curious on the cost (if you are okay with saying)
They have just rolled out gigabit service in anticipation of Google coming in. The current promo offer is about $135 for cable, whole home dvr, and gigabit internet. Speeds are one gig up and down. Additional tv's are around $10, then the usual taxes and fee crap.
The $20 dollar figure is just the hook. After the marketing campaign has a chance to massage the message, we will all be convinced we have to have it, and the fee will go up and up. Pretty soon, we'll all think it's OK to pay over $100/month for a cell phone package!
