A Post-Bundle TV World

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323293704578332310042699472.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

 

Some of you probably can't get access, but:

 

What happens when the "bundle" begins to unravel?

 

The question is taking on intense importance for the cable-TV business, which for decades has forced customers to subscribe to groups, or bundles, of channels?whether they wanted them or not.

 

Attacks on the bundle approach have escalated, most recently with Cablevision Systems Corp.'s CVC -10.58% lawsuit this week against Viacom Inc., VIAB +1.09% accusing it of antitrust violations for forcing it to carry and pay for more than a dozen "lesser-watched" channels in order to offer the popular ones like Nickelodeon and MTV. Viacom disputes the allegation.

 

Allowing people to drop sports channels, in particular, could help them save money because sports channels are among the priciest. ESPN is the single most expensive channel by far. But if lots of people drop it, customers who want it would have to pay more.

 

I think a lot of people hate the fact that they have to pay for all these channels that they don't really use at all, but thinking about that second quote, it most likely will be more expensive for the consumers in the end anyway.

[NYR2711]

This was the issue I had with Cablevision. My bill was so high with them, and the only upgrade we had was for HBO/Starz/Encore and the NHL network. I called up to see if they would do anything for my bill, and they told me if I dropped some channels, my bill would go down. I told them to drop my spanish channels because I dont need them or use them so I dont want to pay for them. They told me that those werent channels I could drop, and when I asked why, they couldnt give me an answer. Soon after, Verizon came into my area, we called Cablevision to see what they would do, they told us nothing, so we switched over. We told Cablevision not to contact us, we are done with them. We just passed a year with Verizon, our bill went up, we spoke to someone in disconecctions, they dropped some movie channels for about 8 hours, and then put them back on for us, and we have every movie channel, the NHL network and are still paying less than we did with Cablevision, and Verizon has been 10 times better. We have more movie channels, the screen doesnt freeze up all the time, and I dont have to disconnect and wait 30 seconds and plug back in my modem every month. Fuck Cablevision.

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

I know this article focuses on cablevision a lot, but don't a lot of other companies do that as well? By "that", I mean bundling. Didn't really think Verizon could do that.

[NYR2711]

Verizon has a ton of different packages where you can get as little or as much as you want. They offer more than Cablevision, and they are cheaper. When my bill went up with Verizon after our year was up, I was still paying about $20 less than I was when I left Cablevision, and I still had a lot more than I did on Verizon than Cablevision. Cablevision wont work with you, Verizon will. Cablevision will try to get you back once you have left, and even then, they wont offer you a great deal, they will only give you back a similar package to what you were paying. We have friends that didnt want the triple play becuase they didnt want a landline, but Verizon told them its cheaper to get the triple play, so they did and just dont have the landline set up.

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

Do you have Verizon FIOS?

 

When I move, I'm getting it. I can't fucking wait because I notice the speeds are a lot better than what I have now.

[Pete]

FiOS is awesome.

[NYR2711]

I have Fios and I love it. Every channel you have comes with free On Demand, there are a ton of free On Demand movies as well. I also think the internet is faster with them, they are well worth it. Like I said, I have every movie channel, plus all of the local sports channels, and I am still paying less than I did with Cablevision where I just had the HBO package and had to pay extra for the NHL network. Cablevision also charges for all of their On Demand Channels, and the DVR box on Fios holds more, and the multi-room DVR is the best, we can DVR it on one TV and watch it in any room that has an HD box. We also have more boxes with Verizon than we did with Cablevision. To save some money, our TV in the bedroom isnt HD, we dont use it that much.