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I would rather get the $100k plus the hefty bonus I charge cable companies for offering my network to their customers.

If I started undercutting the cable company offering, I will lose in the end.

Just so you know.... Networks get paid per customer by the cable company to offer their channel(s) to said cable company. They get this even if you never sign up or watch their content.

We are not talking about cable companies here. We are talking about direct streaming to customers.
 
Yeah..

I have Amazon Prime most because I order a lot and it pays for itself after a few items purchased with 1 or 2 day shipping instead of the 1-2 week long wait time. I don't really care much about their movie collection.

I don't have any of the other services you mentioned. Why? Because the value to me isn't there. The amount of money you would spend with all those combined is probably near $100/mo. With that, I only watch 2-3 movies per month. To me, its cheaper to pay the $7.99 or $9.99 iTunes Movie deals to watch those 2-3 movies.

I don't do TV shows. If I do, its whatever happens to be broadcast OTA.

Anyone who said it was cheaper was lying to you. Companies actually want you to do this piece by piece because they make MORE MONEY. People are starting to figure this out.

1) Cut ties with cable (-$100/mo)
2) Increase broadband speed (+$80/mo)
3) Netflix ($10/mo)
4) Amazon ($8~/mo)
5) Hulu ($8/mo)
6) Showtime ($11/mo)
7) HBO ($15/mo)

Savings my...

Been saying this for years but the cord cutter believers just wouldn't listen. They swore network, studios and pay TV companies would take a lost so they could save money. Lol
 
My prediction...

First Apple Music...

Then...

Apple Cinema:

$39.99/mo - includes live streaming TV package.

$99.99/mo - includes live streaming TV package plus full, ad-free access to all movies and TV shows on the iTunes Store.

I don't see why this couldn't/wouldn't happen in the future given what's happened with the music industry.

This is a brilliant idea and I would love to see this happen. One thing I'd like to see in addition to this is completely cut off movies and TV shows from iTunes and branch into a completely new branded video only store. Just like how Apple moved audio books off of the iTunes Store in to the iBooks store, I think they need to do the same with movies and TV shows.
 
By the time you add all these separate services up that cost 10+ bucks a month, (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Showtime, etc) to equal that same programming you had with cable or satellite, it's going to cost virtually the same as what you was paying before, but instead of all your programming being from one provider, you now have to use all these different apps to watch what you want, different fees. Tell me again how this is better than cord cutting again?

I pay monthly:

$30 for 300mbps Internet

$8 Netflix
$8 Amazon
$11 Showtime (shared w friend, I pay full rate)
$0 HBO (shared w friend, he pays full rate)

$27 for content + $30 for Internet = $57.

If there's anything else I want to see, I just wait a year for it to be put on Netflix. Not a big deal. I don't need every single content channel or provider. Cutting the cord is exactly that reducing your services to the ones you want most. Instead of receiving 200 channels I'll never watch, I have 5 content providers that I consistently watch and pay a lot less for. THIS is how the model works. If you want everything, stick to cable.
 
Keep in mind as well that some of us have cable and satellite providers who have not reached a deal with Showtime to gain access to Showtime Anytime and are forced to go for the skimpier on-demand titles with a horrible user interface.
 
It's only $8.99 if you get it through Hulu.

(And hulu is available on way more devices than SHO)
 
They are already offering it cheaper (or same price) than through cable.

But not so cheap ($5.99 as the person I quoted suggested) it would undercut their pay TV model. Hulu gets it cheaper because Showtime is owned by CBS and already has a deal with Hulu. this offering is just a way for CBS to get people who do not have a pay TV subscription. This does not threaten cable TV.
 
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My prediction...

First Apple Music...

Then...

Apple Cinema:

$39.99/mo - includes live streaming TV package.

$99.99/mo - includes live streaming TV package plus full, ad-free access to all movies and TV shows on the iTunes Store.

I don't see why this couldn't/wouldn't happen in the future given what's happened with the music industry.

That would be such a poor deal unless you watch TV nonstop. I would rather buy 100 dollars in itunes content a month which you keep forever.
 
Would you rather have 100,000 customers paying $9.99 or 200,000 customers paying $5.99?

Let's see a source to back up your claim that they would make more with a lower price.. I'm sure you're better at knowing the market than people who do it for a living.
 
Positives of a la carte TV despite not the cheapest prices per channel, are:

Flexible subscriptions*
Choose what you want to pay for at the time you're watching*

these two might not seem big, but actually they are still very good for people who want to save money.

someone like me for example, may only want HBO NOW for GoT and True Detective - thats about 5 months of subscription for the year - 75$ish for the year?

cancel after, switch to showtime (or any other channel) for whatever is airing at that time.

it won't always work out this smoothly, but following the strategy of subscribing for whats on at the time works out cheaper i think than paying a fixed price all year round and not watching every channel.

its the beginning too, prices could easily go down with more competition. thats what should happen.
 
HBO and Showtime are just being greedy. They both cost $9.99 to add as a cable package. Meaning, that $9.99 also includes cable's cut. I think $5.99 would have been an awesome price for these. They would get many more customers.
LOL they're not being greedy. They're compensating for Apple's greed. Take a look at the percentage of each subscription that Apple demands they be paid. THAT'S the greed.
 
Has anybody signed up for this? From the screenshot, it looks like there is a "Live TV" menu that allows you to actually stream what is currently on Showtime....is that correct? Can you just stream the main Showtime channel, or can you pick from different ones and different time zone feeds (Showtime East and Showtime West, etc)?

That seems to be a nice feature. One of my beefs with the HBO Now app is that you can't actually watch what is on HBO right now! For pre-recorded shows, they do allow it to be streamed at the same time as it comes on the air, but for shows like RealTime that are live, you can't actually watch them in "real time"....you have to wait until they release them a day or so later.
 
But not so cheap ($5.99 as the person I quoted suggested) it would undercut their pay TV model. Hulu gets it cheaper because Showtime is owned by CBS and already has a deal with Hulu. this offering is just a way for CBS to get people who do not have a pay TV subscription. This does not threaten cable TV.
CBS does not show their own shows through Hulu. They are the only 1 out of Big 4 National Networks to opt out of Hulu.
 
For me, the calculation worked out as follows

1) Cable + Sports Pkg(Soccer/Cricket) + HBO + DVR + Broadband 35 mbps with Brighthouse = $175
2) Removed Cable subscription and retained lesser Broadband(15mbps) = $58 (-$117)
3) Netflix (+$8) - Already have it
4) Amazon Prime (+$9) - Already have it
5) Thinking of adding HBO and Showtime(15 + 11 = +$26)
6) Use antenna for local channels

That still saves me $75 or so. Not bad. Could be used towards Pay Per View for Sports.
Everybody's Use case is different. This works for me

Our services work out about the same way (in terms of what we use and cost), though our internet connection wasn't a factor, it is/was the same, before and after CTC'ing. Same with Amazon Prime, always had it, always will, it wasn't necessary to add it to our monthly TV costs.

Our DirecTV was ~$130/month, the boxes were slow/janky, HBO was ~$17/month, and you were locked into contracts (that they constantly tried to extend by providing "free" equipment upgrades). Our OTA for locals is beautiful (though we could never pick up NBC, so bought a season pass for Hannibal for $25).



Has anybody signed up for this? From the screenshot, it looks like there is a "Live TV" menu that allows you to actually stream what is currently on Showtime....is that correct? Can you just stream the main Showtime channel, or can you pick from different ones and different time zone feeds (Showtime East and Showtime West, etc)?

That seems to be a nice feature. One of my beefs with the HBO Now app is that you can't actually watch what is on HBO right now! For pre-recorded shows, they do allow it to be streamed at the same time as it comes on the air, but for shows like RealTime that are live, you can't actually watch them in "real time"....you have to wait until they release them a day or so later.

Assuming it's like the SHOWTIME ANYWHERE app (that you authorize through your TV provider), you're correct. It's basically live streams of the current broadcast content (I believe there's 4, like East, West, Extreme, etc.)
 
Let's see a source to back up your claim that they would make more with a lower price.. I'm sure you're better at knowing the market than people who do it for a living.

There is no source. It's just common sense. Lower price = more customers willing to get the service. HBO won't do it because they want more customers at higher price and higher price makes their service "premium".
 
By the time you add all these separate services up that cost 10+ bucks a month, (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Showtime, etc) to equal that same programming you had with cable or satellite, it's going to cost virtually the same as what you was paying before, but instead of all your programming being from one provider, you now have to use all these different apps to watch what you want, different fees. Tell me again how this is better than cord cutting again?

For starters:
1) Reduced commercials
2) No need for DVR
3) Ability to play shows on the go, on many devices

The only concern I have are ISP's with capped data limits. Cox is capped. Comcast is wide open, but they are experimenting with data caps. A few household members watching a few shows a night will eat through hundreds of gigs of data.
 
Positives of a la carte TV despite not the cheapest prices per channel, are:

Flexible subscriptions*

This. Most satellite TV and cable companies charge you fees for programming changes. With streaming, you can cancel and add it back as many times as you want without incurring any fees.
 
LOL they're not being greedy. They're compensating for Apple's greed. Take a look at the percentage of each subscription that Apple demands they be paid. THAT'S the greed.

Greed? ROFL......How much money do these companies give to Apple to assist them in the costs to develop, maintain, and provide customer service for Apple's hardware, software, and ecosystem? They are freeloading off Apple's work and Apple charges them accordingly. They need Apple much more than Apple needs them.
 
Been saying this for years but the cord cutter believers just wouldn't listen. They swore network, studios and pay TV companies would take a lost so they could save money. Lol

Yup, now its going to bite them harder in the ass. And even worse, you now have 11 services to pay monthly vs 1.
 
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