Author Topic: Cordcutting Thread  (Read 91849 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #100 on: August 18, 2017, 01:18:59 am »
I went up in the attic to see what kinda antenna I'm using. It has Thomson ant537 printed on it. I've had it for quite a few years now. Works good. I'm in the city though and last time I did a channel search the tv came back with too many damn channels. I think its sold as a RCA item. Don't know if you can still get it. That model at least.


Offline GtHawk

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #102 on: August 19, 2017, 05:36:44 pm »
Mine just came today.  What a waist of money.  I got even less channels than with my 15 dollar Walmart bought one I was using.    I don't want to return it to Amazon so I hooked it up to a TV in the "Lets put everything that doesn't match anything room".

If you see this one.  Don't buy it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X9WM8XR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I had to move to an apartment a couple of years ago, I tried those flat amplified antennas and they just couldn't cut it, too far from the transmitters and obstruction from the second story apartments. I went to an 80 mile outdoor antenna, Amazons 1byone
 https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Digital-Amplified-Extremely-Performance/dp/B00ZI9LWS2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503163894&sr=1-2&keywords=80+mile+range+tv+antenna
Put it on a ten foot stick of EMT and  I can get all the majors including PBS and of course the ones that come in best are the Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and sellucraps, but it's been pretty bulletproof.

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #103 on: August 19, 2017, 06:33:38 pm »
I had to move to an apartment a couple of years ago, I tried those flat amplified antennas and they just couldn't cut it, too far from the transmitters and obstruction from the second story apartments. I went to an 80 mile outdoor antenna, Amazons 1byone
 https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Digital-Amplified-Extremely-Performance/dp/B00ZI9LWS2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503163894&sr=1-2&keywords=80+mile+range+tv+antenna
Put it on a ten foot stick of EMT and  I can get all the majors including PBS and of course the ones that come in best are the Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and sellucraps, but it's been pretty bulletproof.


Darn. 29.99.   Might give that a go  I can mount it on my Direct TV dish poll.

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Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #105 on: August 26, 2017, 08:10:11 pm »
http://cordcuttersnews.com/amazon-ramping-original-programming/
Good. I have been looking for the 3rd season of Man in the High Castle. Interesting show.
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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #106 on: August 26, 2017, 08:12:12 pm »
Good. I have been looking for the 3rd season of Man in the High Castle. Interesting show.


Same here... I'm hoping that Amazon picks up Oasis.  But the reality is this. We are seeing a change in how TV is being viewed and it is for the good imho.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #107 on: August 26, 2017, 08:13:31 pm »

Same here... I'm hoping that Amazon picks up Oasis.  But the reality is this. We are seeing a change in how TV is being viewed and it is for the good imho.
I agree.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Elderberry

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #108 on: August 26, 2017, 08:19:11 pm »
I had to move to an apartment a couple of years ago, I tried those flat amplified antennas and they just couldn't cut it, too far from the transmitters and obstruction from the second story apartments. I went to an 80 mile outdoor antenna, Amazons 1byone
 https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Digital-Amplified-Extremely-Performance/dp/B00ZI9LWS2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503163894&sr=1-2&keywords=80+mile+range+tv+antenna
Put it on a ten foot stick of EMT and  I can get all the majors including PBS and of course the ones that come in best are the Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and sellucraps, but it's been pretty bulletproof.


Looks like quite an antenna for a great price. With that many directors, its going to be quite directional.



Offline Suppressed

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #111 on: August 30, 2017, 11:23:45 pm »
I had to move to an apartment a couple of years ago, I tried those flat amplified antennas and they just couldn't cut it, too far from the transmitters and obstruction from the second story apartments. I went to an 80 mile outdoor antenna, Amazons 1byone
 https://www.amazon.com/1byone-Digital-Amplified-Extremely-Performance/dp/B00ZI9LWS2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503163894&sr=1-2&keywords=80+mile+range+tv+antenna
Put it on a ten foot stick of EMT and  I can get all the majors including PBS and of course the ones that come in best are the Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and sellucraps, but it's been pretty bulletproof.


@GtHawk

Did you stick it out the window, or what?
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Offline GtHawk

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #112 on: August 31, 2017, 12:01:47 am »
@GtHawk

Did you stick it out the window, or what?
Fortunately I live on the first floor, can't deal with stairs, and have a patio. Even with the obstruction of second floor units I have the antenna on a ten foot stick of EMT and can orient it well enough with the transmitters that I almost always have uninterrupted reception, probably be bulletproof another ten feet up. The indoor antennas are worthless unless you are reasonably close to the transmitter and have an unobstructed exposure, at least in my experience.

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Offline Applewood

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #114 on: August 31, 2017, 04:39:03 pm »

Offline GtHawk

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #115 on: August 31, 2017, 08:25:53 pm »
Egg-cellent!  I hope cable and satellite starve to death.
I've been triggered!!


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Offline InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #116 on: August 31, 2017, 09:17:06 pm »
I've been thinking about where all this leads (form an economics bent).

Let's say along with the big channels, $50/mon of my cable bill is for 100 channels, or 50 cents each.  Maybe I watch five of them, and subsidize 95.  But any of those channels also has viewers that are subsidizing my channels.

Now we move to ala carte.  To make up for the subsidies, my channels would need to charge me a lot more.  Assuming markets are rational [a theory I'll butcher in a moment], it should come to ABOUT $10/mon each. [I emphasize 'about' because I'm skipping a few details here that some will recognize, but I think for discussion's sake $10 is close enough].

Once consumers see that price, I think many will drop one or more channels (further driving prices up to make up for lost revenue).  Yes, I'm saying that a consumer who is willing to pay $50/mon for five channels will not be willing to pay $50/mon for five channels.

So, say goodbye to the SciFi channel (and hundreds of others only viewed by a small percentage of viewers).

Who wins?  Well, the big networks now have a lot less competition.  Also I think people will turn to homemade video, internet content, social media, etc.  Actually reading a book or talking to your family -- not so much.  So we get rid of the decent but not great production quality channels (the middle class?) and replace it with more on the high end and more on the low end ("income" inequality?).

Or not.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #117 on: August 31, 2017, 10:11:03 pm »
I've been thinking about where all this leads (form an economics bent).

Let's say along with the big channels, $50/mon of my cable bill is for 100 channels, or 50 cents each.  Maybe I watch five of them, and subsidize 95.  But any of those channels also has viewers that are subsidizing my channels.

Now we move to ala carte.  To make up for the subsidies, my channels would need to charge me a lot more.  Assuming markets are rational [a theory I'll butcher in a moment], it should come to ABOUT $10/mon each. [I emphasize 'about' because I'm skipping a few details here that some will recognize, but I think for discussion's sake $10 is close enough].

Once consumers see that price, I think many will drop one or more channels (further driving prices up to make up for lost revenue).  Yes, I'm saying that a consumer who is willing to pay $50/mon for five channels will not be willing to pay $50/mon for five channels.

So, say goodbye to the SciFi channel (and hundreds of others only viewed by a small percentage of viewers).

Who wins?  Well, the big networks now have a lot less competition.  Also I think people will turn to homemade video, internet content, social media, etc.  Actually reading a book or talking to your family -- not so much.  So we get rid of the decent but not great production quality channels (the middle class?) and replace it with more on the high end and more on the low end ("income" inequality?).

Or not.
As long as we are batting ideas about, I can see sports channel consolidation, or network channels offering a range (Fox with business, sports, news, adding an entertainment channel or two and selling that package). I can see the clusters of channels getting smaller, but will that mean more variety in clusters of channels, or will it mean every group will try to be 'the one' you subscribe to, with their smaller variety of related channels? That could put things like TBS, TNT, together with CNN and an 'old shows' network in one clump, NatGeo, Sci, Discovery in another cluster with their own news channel, or add in a weather channel on any of them (there are a few different ones, some just local).
I'm not sure some of the more special interest nets would go away, just get folded in and the whole package thing happen on a smaller scale. In fact, that's where I think things will likely go, and the bigger groups like OWN may have a variety of packages which support their lesser feeds to keep those alive and pad out the package.

While the channel packs may get smaller and even more specialized, I think they will try to give a cluster of channels with a little broader appeal in order to pull more people in and give the appearance of giving more for  the price of that smaller package than just one channel for 7 or 10 bucks a month.

Face it, there are few channels out there that people are going to want to shell ten bucks a month for that aren't offering premium content, and even the movie channels go flat after a month or two because of repetition. It would not take long to watch all the 4+ star IMDB 5 or higher movies or shows on any one offering group, and you can only watch so much mediocre TV.

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Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #118 on: August 31, 2017, 10:24:02 pm »

While the channel packs may get smaller and even more specialized, I think they will try to give a cluster of channels with a little broader appeal in order to pull more people in and give the appearance of giving more for  the price of that smaller package than just one channel for 7 or 10 bucks a month.


Could be.  I think the advertisers will look at the smaller pool of potential viewers and be willing to pay less, and subscribers will not be willing to make up the difference by paying more.  I could be way off base here, I have no idea how much revenue comes from each, or what people are willing to pay.

What I'm pretty certain of is that if ala carte pricing does take off, it's not going to be 'everything's the same but I only pay for what I want to pay for'.
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Offline roamer_1

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #119 on: August 31, 2017, 10:50:51 pm »
The argument should be whether it is worth paying for at all.
TV was free for most of it's life, with the cost being borne by advertisers.

Cable changed that dynamic, getting it's revenue coming and going, with bundling protecting garbage programming, and enabling indoctrination and poorer and poorer programming...

The value to day in real programming is far inferior to TV in it's heyday.
In fact, I am paying them exactly what they deserve. Nothing at all.

Hooray, I say. I hope they are driven into the ground. for the colossal waste of intellect that it is.

Offline Sanguine

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #120 on: August 31, 2017, 10:55:58 pm »
And, why am I paying for TV AND commercials?

Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #121 on: August 31, 2017, 11:14:12 pm »
Could be.  I think the advertisers will look at the smaller pool of potential viewers and be willing to pay less, and subscribers will not be willing to make up the difference by paying more.  I could be way off base here, I have no idea how much revenue comes from each, or what people are willing to pay.

What I'm pretty certain of is that if ala carte pricing does take off, it's not going to be 'everything's the same but I only pay for what I want to pay for'.
I think you are right about pricing, and it could mean a golden age for TV--or not. If a network has a 'hot' show, or more than one, they will be more expensive.
I think the less appealing will have a lower price range.

What that will eventually mean is that the 'firstest with the mostest' will get fatter, faster, to stay that way. and I think that is already happening in the current competition between providers like Amazon for hot shows.  For writers/actors it is a golden age because there will be more competition for hot show ideas and good writing/acting/production/editing/CGI to pull those ideas from concept to a hit.

I can also see the hottest YouTube channels going commercial on their own if they can keep the material fresh.
And I can forsee a 'no commercials' option at a premium, too. (surcharge, whatever).
Considering the average cable subscriber is already paying for 1/4 or more of their airtime (although usually in the middle of the night) to be infomercials (which pay both ways, subscriber and advertiser both chip in), the no commercial option will come at a price, likely 12 hour programming that repeats.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #122 on: August 31, 2017, 11:14:39 pm »
And, why am I paying for TV AND commercials?

Answer #1:  Because the companies have determined that the current combination of about 1/3 ads and 2/3 content maximizes their revenue.  You could have 100% content, but for a higher price, and they don't think you'll pay that.

Answer #2:  I don't know, it's your money, why are YOU paying.... (really just another form of answer #1).
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Offline InHeavenThereIsNoBeer

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #123 on: August 31, 2017, 11:28:24 pm »
I think you are right about pricing, and it could mean a golden age for TV--or not. If a network has a 'hot' show, or more than one, they will be more expensive.
I think the less appealing will have a lower price range.


But, isn't a network just a very small package?

Technology is (has) taking us to a place where (for those not using free legacy OTA connections exclusively) networks aren't required.  You could subscribe to an individual show, or even just pay per episode.

And now that the blatantly obvious has just hit me in the face, isn't Amazon Prime (the TV/movie part) just a network with video on demand?  Or, IOW, a package?  Meet the new boss?
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Cordcutting Thread
« Reply #124 on: August 31, 2017, 11:37:47 pm »
But, isn't a network just a very small package?

Technology is (has) taking us to a place where (for those not using free legacy OTA connections exclusively) networks aren't required.  You could subscribe to an individual show, or even just pay per episode.

And now that the blatantly obvious has just hit me in the face, isn't Amazon Prime (the TV/movie part) just a network with video on demand?  Or, IOW, a package?  Meet the new boss?
Precisely, Prime, Hulu, Any of the streaming services essentially offer packages and premium channels/PPV movies, etc. as well. Prime just comes with free shipping on a lot of stuff.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis