Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/danegeld-over-co-ax.html
…
4 Likes
My cable, internet,and phone came at $140… channels we never watch,a phone we rarely use and Wi-Fi we all love…I’ve noticed a $10 difference on my upcoming bill so now it’s $150 a MTH a growing faster than my belly(I’m pregnant 
)if prices keep going up
14 Likes
Cable TV is full of commercials, it really should be free.
9 Likes
Yes I know every time I turn around they are raising rates. It spend a lot of time constantly rebooting. Hate Spectrum especially after thay went all digital forcing me to lease a receiver box for 11.00 dollars each month. My monthly bill is over 75.00.It makes it hard for me since I am living on disability income.
10 Likes
I’m shocked whenever I talk to my parents about their cable bill in the US. I live in France and get 200 Mbps internet, basic cable, VOIP with free international calling to most countries, and mobile phone service (with only 50 MB data/month, but that’s fine for a dumb phone with no data capability) for €40/month, all taxes and fees included. I will have 1 Gbps internet at the same price once get around to calling the cable company for the upgrade, but I’ve been putting it off because my friends’ experiences suggest that their customer service is really no better than Comcast. At least when they call to try to sell me more services I can pretend I don’t speak French…
8 Likes
Cable-free and very happy since 2007 here
3 Likes
We pay $150 for a small cable package, gigabit fiber internet access, and the land line.
We don’t use the land line at all. It’s just part of the package and this package is cheaper than getting tv and internet separately.
The reason we keep cable is NBA and NFL games. That’s it.
2 Likes
The problem is that the cable companies charge so much for having just internet service if it’s not packaged with cable service. Add to that any streaming services like Netflix and Hulu and you are right back where you started. With all these new streaming services set to hit the market it will only get worse. You will have to decide what you really want to watch.
4 Likes
This is between 5 and 6% annual growth over 8 years, right? This is fuzzy math, but if you subtract inflation, wouldn’t you be down to 2.5% annual growth over the last 8 years?
My down speed was like 5 Mbps in 2010, and now it’s above 60 Mbps. It’s not as if I get nothing for my money. We don’t have cable TV; just internet and phone. I guess if I paid the extra $75/month for TV channels where the quality of programming has declined steadily for 18 years, I would feel burned.
Would you say that the year 2000 was the best year for Cable TV programming? Since then it has steadily declined. How many reality shows are there about cake, now?
Here’s what I ran into when deciding to cut the cord - Comcast has a lock on a 2 block radius with a max internet option of 250 mbps down, which I had signed up for a few years ago and get at a reasonable rate. Now, however, if I decide to drop the TV portion, that would go up well past $100 / month for just internet access. Tack on another $45 for Sling + Netflix is another $13 + any movie rental and it’s back up to pretty much what we are paying now for cable TV + Internet. If there was a better option for internet (faster speeds or different provider) we’d cut the cord in a second, however that is not an option.
7 Likes
We stopped paying for cable TV back in 2012 or so, and it’s been bilssfully cheaper.
However, @doctorow, please remember that for people who like to watch sports, there often is no other option than subscribing to a fat expensive bundle of overpriced cable TV. With limited exceptions, sport broadcasting remains the last realm of content that is exclusive to cable
.
4 Likes
Sportsball lovers could organize a consumer boycott for a season. That’d raise some hairs.
9 Likes
Cable Boxes can be a real pain when they malfunction. Just ask Major Grubert.
3 Likes
I’m only paying $35 for TV, but $65 for internet (through Specturm). My new (free for a year) cable box turns itself off every few hours, though.
2 Likes
Ditch it. Get a chromecast, super easy to install, and stream whatever you want to watch from computer or phone. You can rent all kinds of shows over the internet through local libraries too.
Unless it’s sports you want. 
1 Like
It depends on the network. “Basic cable” channels intended to be part of a cable package have lower subscription fees or lower charges for the contract with the carier. This patches the gap on the lower ad rates they earn vs a broadcast network with a larger customer base.
Others “premium channels” like HBO charge the viewers a larger subscription fee. And don’t run ads. .
But then the cable companies get involved. In terms of the basic cable channels they often fight hard to extract lower subscription fees and other concessions. Supposedly to help “lower customer’s bills.”
If you’ve ever turned on the TV to find a channel missing that’s what happened. If the network or it’s parent company don’t immediately agree to the carrier’s demands. They drop them from the line up and run ads claiming the network is demanding exorbitant amounts of money to not rape customers children. Network breaks carrier gets what they want. And you cable bill goes up.
This means basic cable networks need to run more ads then they ever intended. Often more than broadcast. Because even as subscriptions fall. They’re seeing less per package as well. But the cable carrier’s end up making more profit.
Additionally some of those ad blocks are specifically for ads sold by the cable company. Not the network. And the cable company can even preempt and replace network ads with their own. So despite the fact that the carrier now has ad recenue you bill keeps going up.
Cable companies basically screw everyone they deal with. They over charge you, to underpay the sources of the content you’re paying for in the first place.
6 Likes
They’re just milking the shrinking and aging audience of people who don’t know about or are too technophobic to use better alternatives. And sports fans, because the leagues are so infested with lawyers and third-rate technologists that they haven’t been able to come up with quality Netflix-like services for their sports.
5 Likes
Cable? What’s cable?
4 Likes
I really don’t blame anyone for cutting out cable and resorting to VPN and streaming from pirate sites anymore. The capitalist telcom systems today are too much like the shipping wars of yore, where the only difference between being considered a pirate or an admiral was whether you pledged allegiance to the crown.
9 Likes
This is also why a lot of those ads on basic cable (esp. the local ones in space sold by the cable co.) are rock-bottom in terms of production value and what they’re selling. There’s only so much stock of quality 30-second interstitials for products and services viewers might actually want. So instead you get a lot of ads trying to con elderly people that look like they were directed by Saul Goodman.
5 Likes
