Cut the cord several ears back. Comcast told me "You will never be able to get that package back". Went to Tablo for OTA. Discovered I never watched anything over the air except maybe PBS. PBS streams. Disconnected Tablo. Got a ROKU. So I am completely disconnected now from OTA and expect never to go back. Especially now that OTA is pushing ATSC 3.0 requiring a new converter box or a new TV.
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How much longer does cable have?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
The only thing holding me to cable honestly is the Yankees. I’m not paying $30 a month for that alone. OTA is useless to me, way too far to pull clean. And id rather stream on demand anyways.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Now there I agree with you, but not because of the team itself.
I was one of the countless number of fans of the late Vin Scully, and I had moved from Time Warner Cable to DirecTV, and used to watch every game of the Dodgers that he called. Then the team made a deal with TWC for exclusive televising of their games and TWC overpaid to a degree that the only way to recover the cost was to charge an exorbitant amount to DirecTV, Dish, and the other cable systems to carry the Dodgers channel. DirecTV drew a line in the sand and said "no" ... and everyone else decided to stand on DirecTV's side of the line.
Stupidly, TWC refused to back down and before it could be resolved, Vin retired. A few years later, TWC traded its Southern California systems to Charter/Spectrum for systems in other parts of the country and it was only under Spectrum that I came back as a subscriber (and then, only for broadband).
My DirecTV dish is still on the roof, even though I haven't subscribed in well over a decade.
I would switch to YouTube TV in a heartbeat but they don’t really have local sports.
Same here. Just old favorites, and no sports -- except MLB post-season games, and occasional Dodgers home broadcasts where actually available.
In general, I've noticed a slow trend through the years of the diginets tossing out their older and better-written programming in favor of more cheaply made paste. Many of the smarter and substantive shows like WKRP and Northern Exposure have vanished over time, replaced with crap like Mama's Family and Three's Company ... or as I call them, Metromedia Square's cruelest mistakes. Case in point, I've just now seen from TitanTV that COZI has canned Little House on the Prairie in favor of yet more Munsters runs.
This one might not be such a bad thing to some, if you are disillusioned with some of the streaming fare, and want to enjoy just what you think is worthwhile (like DVDs of the classics you remember from your youth, and even those before that).
My parents in their 70s and my aunts and uncles of a similar age all have cable. Most would have no knowledge of how to stream. I'm 52, and we still have cable. Myself, I could get by with an Antenna and the streaming services that give me the cable sports channels. But my wife watches completely different things like TLC/A&E and other channels that it feels like it's easier to keep cable right now. My sister in her 40s got rid of cable at least 15 years ago, they use an Antenna and streaming. They couldn't justify the cost for cable. My one daughter and her husband got cable when they first moved in together, but when they moved to a different state they decided to just stream. My other daughter and her husband never considered cable. I do think the tipping point will be when my parent's generation is gone, as my generation will have no problem streaming if that is all that is offered.
My mom is 80. She was sufficiently fed up enough with her cable bill a couple of years ago that she was happy to switch to YouTube TV.
Her technical skills are average at best for an octogenarian, but it didn't take long at all to show her how to find what she wanted on YTTV and she has never looked back.
Her technical skills are average at best for an octogenarian, but it didn't take long at all to show her how to find what she wanted on YTTV and she has never looked back.
I’ve told this story before, but my 90 year old grandpa got started streaming about 10 years ago and taught his friends at the senior living home how to use the different streaming services, too.
I asked him once how he had the time to watch stuff on Netflix, Prime, etc. because he was so busy doing stuff in the community, and he said my grandma helped him! 😂
I asked him once how he had the time to watch stuff on Netflix, Prime, etc. because he was so busy doing stuff in the community, and he said my grandma helped him! 😂
When your advertisers start to abandon you, that's when the end is near
Advertisers Are Leaving Cable TV Networks Putting Disney, Paramount, Comcast, & Warner Bros. Discovery in a Tough Spot | Cord Cutters News
In a significant shift within the U.S. advertising industry, broadcast and cable television ad spending is projected to decline sharply in 2025, while connected TV (CTV) advertising continues its rapid ascent. According to a recent report from research firm eMarketer, traditional TV ad spending...
cordcuttersnews.com
I'm in a hard to receive OTA situation in my apartment, in Chatham, IL about 12 miles southwest of the Illinois State Capitol Complex (in the living room it's impossible to receive all of our local stations--although there is only one "sweet spot" where there is adequate reception of all local stations) and no smart TV (so I would need an adapter). The only thing that could convince me to switch from Comcast limited basic to something like Youtube TV or another streaming only service would be the following:
1. The streaming service carries Local channels for your market (in my case, Springfield/Decatur/Champaign--although I'm less than 10 miles from the Macoupin and Montgomery County lines in Illinois that would be in the St. Louis DMA, so maybe there's some way I could try to get STL instead).
2. And all said Local channels--plus preferably all their subchannels and low-power stations that are licensed within your market, or national feeds thereof--are required must carry channels. Any and all stations. Not just the Big 4 and Fox only. Everything, all stations including multiple PBS's, CW/My/Ion, religious, etc. and all subchannel netlets have to be carried by the streaming service.
3. My preference would be for the streaming channels to be listed like "channel numbers" on the grid.
1. The streaming service carries Local channels for your market (in my case, Springfield/Decatur/Champaign--although I'm less than 10 miles from the Macoupin and Montgomery County lines in Illinois that would be in the St. Louis DMA, so maybe there's some way I could try to get STL instead).
2. And all said Local channels--plus preferably all their subchannels and low-power stations that are licensed within your market, or national feeds thereof--are required must carry channels. Any and all stations. Not just the Big 4 and Fox only. Everything, all stations including multiple PBS's, CW/My/Ion, religious, etc. and all subchannel netlets have to be carried by the streaming service.
3. My preference would be for the streaming channels to be listed like "channel numbers" on the grid.