I just had a curious thought: what if our iPhones are the Internet gateway of the future? What if ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc., keep raising their data limits, increasing their speeds and moderating their costs? Then our mobile devices can become our ISPs through tethering.
The dream of AT&T, Verizon, etc accountants everywhere. Have they ever raised their data limits for the same pricing and/or "moderated their costs"? IMO, "increasing speeds" is much more about getting users to tier limits than anything else. While I can definitely imagine them wanting to be able to bite into wired broadband revenues, I have zero faith they want to do that while delivering a cheaper broadband pricing option. Aren't all but T-mobile in the CableTV business too?
and what, pay more? With the 35/40 dollar Apple service come with HBO or is that a 15/20 dollar cost of more? At this rate i will pay more for not having cable.
That's the plan. To drive unforced business model changes, the sellers need to see how they are going to make MORE money, not less in the new way. Pricing for the hypothetical al-a-carte + commercial-free "new model" will have to be such that the average consumer will pay more than they pay now. Else, why change?
In my mind, Comcast will be the one that loses since consumers will simply say "meh, I'll go without" and their programming will lose viewers. Won't take long for them to change their tune.
Does Comcast provide your broadband connection? If you were Comcast and the masses "meh'ed" by trying to replace a source of your revenue with a "new model" that depends on the broadband pipes you provide, would you just roll over and let an Apple or similar take those revenues? Or would you make up for those losses with higher broadband rates for "heavier bandwidth users"?
And if you do have Comcast broadband, odds are high that either you have no competitor or, if you do, they are also in the cable TV business and would also feel the pains of some "new model" and probably act to make up for their revenue losses by also raising their broadband rates.
Sling is only 20 dollars a month.
And thoroughly different from cableTV as people know it. For example, how many TVs in your home can play different programming from that same source at the same time? Sling looks like an interesting option for singles, living alone and mostly wanting to watch on small-screen tablets & phones.
This is a step in the right direction but they need to figure out a better pricing model. With all of these separate subscriptions the bill adds up real fast. Currently I'm paying $8/mo for Netflix and $8/mo for Hulu. Add $15/mo for HBO Now, $40/mo for this new service, and I'm at $71/mo. Suddenly it isn't much cheaper than cable and I'm getting less channels.
That's exactly how it's supposed to be. Nobody else in the chain- including Apple- has a goal of significantly cutting our costs while still delivering "everything we want to watch". This change to some "new model" will be driven by the sellers making MORE money, not less. They can't make more if the source of the money pays a whole lot less each month AND the big subsidy paid for by other people buying commercials (most of which we never see because they run on 1XX channels "I never watch") is also eliminated.
Might as well gripe about Apple hardware pricing and whine for 75%-95% discounts there. The chances of that happening are about as good.
The beginning of the death of cable Tv as we know it. Great news!
The beginning of hard data caps and much more expensive broadband rates than we know them. Not-so-great news!
Heard of Sling? $20, all devices
Limited to one screen at a time. Some limitations of what can be pushed to screens bigger than hand-held devices. Not a duplicate experience of cableTV as we know it. May work for some people willing to endure the compromises but seems to be best suited for singles, living alone who can tolerate the compromises vs. how tv watching can be... especially for families or roommates with multiple TVs or screens in the same household.
