I misread the post. Thought it meant "don't include ESPN". I'd be fine with an omit option.
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Disney, Apple Arguing Over Channels to Be Included in New Streaming Television Service
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I misread the post. Thought it meant "don't include ESPN". I'd be fine with an omit option.
So basically it sounds like we may end up with what amounts to a cable subscription (paying for a lot of channels you won't watch), but with lower quality (more compression), no local sports, and that also counts against your monthly data cap. Awesome.
My guess is if we ever get 100% ala carte IP based cable you'll end up paying just as much as we are now for cable but with a lot less channels.
I am lucky in that basic cable and HBO is paid through my apartment so adding in 200/20 internet w/ modem, a cable box with HD package, 2 extra channel packages, and HBO is only $69 a month.
If I ditched the cable part I'd only be saving the cost of the HD box, and the 2 add on packages...so about 25 a month. I doubt any ala carte or streaming package would come close to giving me the amount of channels I have now for the same cost.
I am lucky in that basic cable and HBO is paid through my apartment so adding in 200/20 internet w/ modem, a cable box with HD package, 2 extra channel packages, and HBO is only $69 a month.
If I ditched the cable part I'd only be saving the cost of the HD box, and the 2 add on packages...so about 25 a month. I doubt any ala carte or streaming package would come close to giving me the amount of channels I have now for the same cost.
But are you willing to pay for it? I mean really pay for it - not the subsidized cost you get through the cable/satellite/advertising model, but the actual 'cost of freight' for first run programming?
Everybody wants the programs they enjoy for a small amount of money and delivered at their convenience. But making that financially work, while Apple gets their cut just doesn't add up.
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Way too much logic in your post....especially the bolded part.
As a user above pointed out, my choices are popcorntime or what you said we're not going to get. As has been shown time and time again, you can't litigate away piracy, and you can't legislate away piracy. Spotify has shown that the only option is to appeal to people's better judgement and to their wallets, and to compete with piracy. Yes it also means the content owners have to swallow the bitter pill that the gravy train is over. They can take less money or they can take no money - the choice is simple.
People will pay a reasonable price for good service. Reasonable price in my mind is economic - it's a question of preference: Would I rather have X TV Show or $Y? People will continue to leave the old business model which charges an unreasonable price for bad service. Where they go to consume the media is entirely up to the media companies - but it seems they're willing to cut off the nose to spite their own face.
Hey, come on now!! No ESPN Classic? You don't spend hours sitting around a TV watching Baseball from the 60's and 70's?
About a year ago I was in hospital and I watched jim Abbott pitch his no hitter on espn Classic.
I can't really stand to watch baseball much anymore because it is so slow and its uneven pacing doesn't make it a good fit for my dvr ff ninja skills like football and basketball.
Being in the hospital taught me how little I watch basic cable as I watched stuff I never ever ever watched before or since.
i'll be very interested to see apple's offering, because it will reflect not only on Apple, but on the industry we all want to blow to smithereens with cheap a la carte disruption. with this story, i'm thinking we're gonna see something half-baked, despite apple's best efforts. bankers are King. lawyers are Queen.
I really hope the increased storage is for dvr functionality and not just for apps. At LEAST let me attach an external hard drive for dvr storage like a Tablo. I'm looking at cord cutting and bought an antenna for OTA local channels but looking for a dvr solution because I really miss the ability to rewind live tv and skip commercials when I'm in a hotel. My pipe dream would be to be able to buy a package of, say, 10 channels at a package price but I can choose the channels from all the ones Apple has made deals with. Kind of a hybrid of package pricing and a la carte. Don't expect it though. Like others, I at least want to be able to choose a package without all the sports channels and kid stuff because I have no need for those. I like how Slingtv broke out sports and kids programming into add ons.
Give me access to anything that is older than 3 months ad free and you can have $100 a month from me. If they made "super netflix" i would join in a heartbeat.
It's all economies of scale.
Nobody would have thought Netflix could deliver their massive library of content for $9/month a decade ago. Conventional wisdom was that the value was always going to be in cable channels for offering movies and TV shows. Online streaming with any sort of decent library would cost more than the entire cost of your cable package, so was a pipe dream. Yet look what happened.
Between Netflix, HBO Now, and FOX Soccer 2Go, I can probably put together a package that is a whole lot better for my needs than anything cable has to offer. But why should I have to go select content from a bunch of separate services? We need someone to bring together the "a la carte" TV content marketplace, and create economies of scale with a unified service that licenses content from various different providers.
Let's hope that's Apple's long-term plan, and they're not just going to be offering the same old boring "channel" packages in a day and age where nobody watches live TV anymore.
i agree! what i really want is all the content that i can find on the best cable/satellite packages to be available on itunes for purchase. if a show/movie exists, i want to be able to purchase it on itunes. i don't want to have wait until after the show has aired on tv/cable. if a show can be watched, it should be available for purchase. there is NO REASON torrent sites should be doing a better job at making content available than the companies that produce/own the content.
Actually, Disney can keep all of them, as far as I'm concerned.
Unfortunately, cord cutting is not really an option for me until they either get the regional Root sports channels, or MLB.tv starts letting me watch in market games.
Unfortunately, cord cutting is not really an option for me until they either get the regional Root sports channels, or MLB.tv starts letting me watch in market games.
I was actually just picking a generic Apple TV image, but I see now that it might imply The Lego Movie is a Disney movie. I'll swap it out.
Ala carte is never going to be the nirvana we once thought.
The reality will be much worse. You might pay 7.95 a month for the food network and 5.95 a month for the cooking channel. Or just as likely one will just disappear while the other is priced at a crazy rate.
All channels are subsidized by non viewers. Sure that makes no sense on the face of it, someone must be receiving less but the economics of each individually channel change dramatically without non viewer revenue.
That lost revenue has to be offset somewhere. Sure some might try to go the other way and go super cheap hoping to broaden their audience and make money off commercials but that is more likely something large cable staples would do not niche channels.
The problem becomes compounded when access is completely denied to a channel. You lose all passive viewers. There are quite a few channels I occassionally watch something on but would never pay for in an ala carte system. That makes viewer acquisition even more difficult and costly.
The reality is the average persons ten favorites would cost more ala carte then much larger bundles and some channels would cease to exist.
Broadcasters have leverage as a few groups control a substantial portion of the content. Even if ala carte existed someone like ABC would bundle all their channels for $29.95 a month. But you can get just espn for $19.95 a month or Espn bundle for $27.95
This is the way I think too. The current business model is not helping what we really want. However, I think of Netflix, Amazon and Yahoo Screen. These guys are providing original content (series) for a really low monthly cost. Especially when compared to HBO Now. And above all, these are cheaper than buying the whole season on iTunes. So there is a way... but we have some time to get to it. Not in June though.
Recent cable cutter, the only thing I miss is HGTV, DIY and FOX News
Now use amazon prime and Netflix, Have high def antenna to for local, love it!
Now use amazon prime and Netflix, Have high def antenna to for local, love it!
BINGO! You and me both. Parking your butt in front of the TV on the same night at the same time every week is so yesterday.
Great point too on the sports. Take the NFL. Regional coverage forces you to often watch crap games and they won't even leave a blowout game to switch to another better game due to contractual obligations. Yeah, well, whatever. Football has become more lame than ever anyways. It's a diluted product with too many breaks, ads, stoppages and bad overall play. The recent super bowl winners couldn't touch even division winners from past eras where you had TRUE super teams. I miss those days. BLEH.
In my perfect TV world, everything would be pay per view or to allow me to somehow cherry pick what I want to watch when I want to watch it. We cut the cord about ten years ago.... I may have started the movement, LOL.
. Between a roof antenna, Hulu, Netflix and my blu Ray library, we have WAY more to watch than we ever had with cable and have saved thousands and thousands of dollars. Sure, I miss my Sabres Hockey but they suck anyways and apparently will suck forever.Honestly, it's the sports that keep cable and sattelite alive. That's IT. Once those can break off on their own.... That's the end of cable TV and satellite. Until then, it's the crackhead sports addicts that cause these high prices.
I looked into these the last time someone posted about them, a few weeks ago (may have even been you). I was a little bummed that the guide service is a recurring fee, but it looks like you miss out on some nice features if you don't use it.
I assuming you're using yours with their guide? If not, how's the experience without it?