The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
Please vote in the Forum Structure Poll. Polling will close at 2PM EST on January 21, 2025.
I want to buy only the channels I want to watch
1ddqd
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have had DirecTV in the past and frankly, there's a ton of crap I don't watch. What I want to do is get a provider (FioS apartment community, no cable options) that allows me to pick and pay for exactly the channels I want. Like 20 channels, all of my choosing, for $10 a month.
I can't seem to find anything like that though. Any ideas?
I can't seem to find anything like that though. Any ideas?
1ddqd on
0
Posts
I'm 99% sure such a thing does not exist.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
The idea of Netflix and Hulu might be a good one for you, and what you can't find on Hulu you may be able to get off of channels' websites.
Doesn't exist.
Cable companies collude on what they offer and what prices so they don't compete with each other.
It's totally illegal, but unenforced.
The Sixth Annual Triwizard Drinking Tournament Part 1 |
Pokecrawl Episode 4: The Power Of One!
Portalflip
Pokemon X: Atlus | 3539-8807-3813
Ugh. Ok, so now that I need to get a package deal, let me describe the situation.
I need 3 receivers. 1 main DVR and 2 "satellite" ones for the bedrooms. I see a package for $34.99 for a DVR and 200 channels on DirecTV's site. Does this seem like a reasonable price? The add-on systems are like $10 more a month.
Normally, I watch my shows on my PC, which is no problem, but the g/f doesn't like that, so we go to the living room. No HDTV, no way to run a wire to the TV itself, no console to use transcode 360 (or similar), so satellite is the cheapest, easiest option. Good point though!
There've been arguments about why it doesn't and should exist for years.
This is an old article, but it covers the high points each way from about two years ago, when it actually looked like a la carte packages would be made mandatory, which they never were. When it comes down to it, it's as simple as cable and satellite companies knowing that enough people will continue to pay for the full package for the channels they want, particularly as long as there's no such option from competitors. They lose less in canceled service than they likely would with package-trimming a la carte customers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-03-01-ala-carte-cable_x.htm
I have one box from Dish that has two DVRs built into it and is hooked up to two TVs (one uses RF so it can be anywhere in the house). I would check them out.
A la carte pricing would allow for price discrimination - we'd get bilked for getting an ESPN, Fox or something similar, because lots of people want it and would pay a high price for it. Channels like Sci Fi would likely shrivel up and die - in the short term, i'd just buy Battlestar Galactica on DVD. In the long term, Sci Fi would run out of money from lack of advertiser revenue and not be able to produce another BSG.
What you will soon come to realize that its cheaper to cut all but a net connection, and use hulu / netflix / other sites to get the shows you watch to your home. its then trivial to pipe them out to your tv.
One awesome solution is to get a gen 3 tivo (TivoHD) which will pull HD channels over the air (OTA) so you can watch most popular shows with zero cable charges (but interweb, and tivo month fee applies).
There is also a program called pyTivo that will serve media from a Linux server to the tivo from various sources pretty seamlessly, and i am using it to great affect.
I am this | | close to telling comcast to take a hike.. but I like the random crap on tv sometimes..
Librarians harbor a terrible secret. Find it.
I forgot how entertaining 3rd Rock From the Sun was.
Sure, it's got commercials, editing and possibly trimmed for content or time, but it's something on that I wouldn't mind watching at least part of, but not good enough for me to bother buying/ordering/renting/etc'ing otherwise.
"Your hand is on my knee!"
"Do you want me to move it?"
"Yes!"
"... I meant around."
Anyway, the traditional argument I've heard is that if they offered you to just buy one channel at a time, most channels wouldn't exist and you'd jus have about 20 different channels of either 24/7 Big Brother Dancing with the Biggest Loser or 24/7 CSI:Your Hometown to pick from.
Instead, the big networks who need to sell more and more advertising space package their channels to the providers with tons of lesser channels.
Scripps Network Interactive owns HGTV, the home & garden improvement channel thing loved by housewives everywhere. They also happen to own The Food Network, DIY Network, and others. You wanna carry the Food Network in your cable company so your subscribers can watch Iron Chef? You're paying to carry the DIY Network then too, or they won't let you have the Food Network.
Since cable companies must carry major channels like Comedy Central, USA, ESPN, TNT, TBS or die from people abandoning them, they must also pay for channels owned by the same company. If they're paying for those channels, you bet they're gonna goddamn broadcast them.
Cable is a funny business. Companies will stipulate that if you put one channel on, you put ALL channels they own on. Channels like ESPN have stipulations on what channels are allowed to be next to them in the Chanel Lineup. Take a look at your cable guide on your box some time. ESPN sure as shit ain't next to the Oprah channel, or Lifetime.
Some channels are fucking expensive too.
I used to work for a cable company (I was IT but you still pick up a lot of the trade and rumors). We paid ESPN more for the privilege of broadcasting their channels than we paid our entire company in payroll, including all our CEO's. And this was not a small cable company, over 5 thousand employees across something like 20 states.
ESPN is one of the Cadillac channels, they know they're worth a shitload. Disney also knows it's suicide to not carry them, nobody will want your service. So you want ESPN? You're paying for everything else Disney offers too. And god forbid if you put the Lifetime Movie Network next to them on the dial.
I realize, yes, I can pirate stuff, but until it becomes truly automated and free, there's not really a viable substitute (without getting my hands really dirty).
Thanks to all for the info. It's been a good learning experience. I just feel so damn naughty paying for satellite.
What they don't realize is their channel fucking sucks.
So not only do you have to get past the companies and their contracts, the small lone channels will also fight it til the end.
Though it sucks waiting 6 months for the 3rd season of BSG.
Stateside is a bit rougher because the providers are all in bed together, often owning large sections of thier competitors network. The reasoning in the beginning was simple, the 'tiered' system was a way to select one of three of four settings for your clients, and then broadcast that channel range over analogue. Once it became part of the expectation for services (ie, people will pay for that) everbody followed suit because it simplifies order entry and you make more money that way.
Change is coming, but its a long way off. Startups in the biz have a very short life, often undercut by the big guys. It only costs an incumbent about a tenth of your subcription fee to provide the service, but a newcomer looking to enter into the biz has to purchase network segments to provide service, at costs controlled primarily by the competitor. A hidden monopoly of sorts, theres nothing barring them for doing so, but they are seldom cost effective enough to take hold of any significant portion of the market share.
Canada, Germany and the UK (I think?) have regulatory bodies that control television, internet and broadcast pricing, making it easier for competitors to enter the market. If the states has one I've never heard of it, meaning it either doesn't exist or its so ineffective its demands never come into serious consideration.
This is exceptionally true. My old company's business model was to build their way into a new community, offer their services at a wildly discounted rate well below the small-time provider already in the area, put them out of business, and then jack rates back up.