Subscription Fatigue (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Donahue]

Unless you have multiple people in the house streaming at the same time, there is no reason for high volume internet.

I think most of us do. Between homes having kids, there are also a lot of homes that are filled with roommates,etc. Every night in my house there are 2 TV's streaming at the same time.

 

[bigshot]

Cable TV charges you for each TV connected. Won't Roku let you connect to as many sets at the same time as you want as long as they aren't all watching the same service? Not sure how that works because my streaming is just for me.

 

[bigshot]

We were comparing relative costs... Cable TV vs a collection of streaming subscriptions. I still think you would have a really hard time bringing a streaming subscription bill up to the level of a comparable cable TV bill.

 

[Patrick Donahue]

Cable TV charges you for each TV connected. Won't Roku let you connect to as many sets at the same time as you want as long as they aren't all watching the same service? Not sure how that works because my streaming is just for me.

Correct, I was just saying that if you do stream multiple TV's at once you really do need a higher capacity Internet otherwise your pic will keep buffering.

 

[Towergrove]

I don't have a high speed connection. I have a regular low end Fios connection and it works fine for streaming. I'd have internet anyway. How else would I be chatting with you here?

Well you could be chatting with me on your mobile phone or you could be at the library on a computer system etc. as there are many ways that you could be chatting with me and not have Internet connectivity at your home.I still believe you have to include the cost of your Internet service in your total cost of streaming media. Regardless of if you have Internet connectivity prior to streaming content, it is still a utility that is required for getting the media into your home otherwise these other subscriptions are useless.

 

[Towergrove]

Correct, I was just saying that if you do stream multiple TV's at once you really do need a higher capacity Internet otherwise your pic will keep buffering.

Yes many of us with families have multiple televisions that we stream content on.

 

[atfree]

Yes many of us with families have multiple televisions that we stream content on.

Plus other devices. We have 3 TV's connected plus a blu-ray player, 3 Xbox 360's, a PS3, 3 tablets, 3 laptops, 2 gaming PC's, a DirecTV DVR, not to mention smartphones. Between my wife and I & our 4 kids, we might have 6 devices streaming content of some kind at any one time. It took 24mbps internet just to keep up. I monitor our network and during Christmas break last year, one day we had 14 devices downloading/streaming at one time (I discovered this because my AIV kept buffering).

 

[schan1269]

Here is mine...$85/Month Directv. I get all the stations cause I used to work for their main distributor.Combined Sprint/VZW is $375 month. Provides 62g of internet across 4 devices.Wild Blue/ADT* is $125/month. Switching to HughesNet Gen4 sometime after February.Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and Amazon.I cannot get DSL or cable internet.Satellite internet only offers a max monthly of 40g(the top plan with HughesNet Gen4). That will cost 40% more than my current maxed out Wild Blue with 1/2 the capacity and 2/3 the speed. But, it "might" allow me to scale back the VZW, which costs $3.75 more per gig. Although you can buy as much as 300g a month with VZW...if you want the bill that goes along with it.VZW is faster than Wild Blue. Sprint(where I am) is barely faster than Wild Blue. HughesNet will be almost the equal to VZW. Even 3G VZW allows 1080P streaming. Wild Blue barely allows 1080P. On the devices I can set...I set 720P for the Wild Blue.*The ADT portion of usage is not counted against my alotment. When I switch to HughesNet, that portion will be. I've monitored it...and I'll still gain 15g a month. Good news is, ADT now has remote locks/light switches that can jump from one internet connection to another. IE, when I arrive home and turn lights on...it will use my VZW, not the HughesNet. The current setup can only use the Wild Blue.

 

[bigshot]

I still believe you have to include the cost of your Internet service in your total cost of streaming media. Regardless of if you have Internet connectivity prior to streaming content, it is still a utility that is required for getting the media into your home otherwise these other subscriptions are useless.

Count your electric bill too then.

 

[britx]

I still believe you have to include the cost of your Internet service in your total cost of streaming media. Regardless of if you have Internet connectivity prior to streaming content, it is still a utility that is required for getting the media into your home otherwise these other subscriptions are useless.

I don't understand this line of thinking. I've had internet access for close to 20 years. It didn't matter whether I had cable tv service, satellite tv service, or OTA "service" + streaming. Right now I'm strictly OTA and I still pay for the same speed / package that I have for the last eight years. My point is that I'll have internet access regardless so it makes no sense for me to add that to my streaming costs.

 

[Towergrove]

I don't understand this line of thinking. I've had internet access for close to 20 years. It didn't matter whether I had cable tv service, satellite tv service, or OTA "service" + streaming. Right now I'm strictly OTA and I still pay for the same speed / package that I have for the last eight years. My point is that I'll have internet access regardless so it makes no sense for me to add that to my streaming costs.

My line of thinking is very easy to understand. I am the one in my family who pays the bills each month and I see the subscriptions as small as they are on their own are starting to add up little by little when you look at them together. The whole point of my original post is that when you add up all of the subscription costs that it gets to be quite a lot for the consumer to handle each month. You can add and or subtract whichever utilities you like but in the end of the day your pocketbook is getting thinner and thinner because of all of the subscriptions. This phenomenon is starting to be shown in the media now as being an issue. By doing a simple Google search you will see that subscription fatigue starting to be discussed.With each studio coming out with their own subscription service these costs will begin to add up to almost which you would be paying for a full version of the cable TV sub. These are the reasons why I started this conversation to begin with.

 

[atfree]

I hate to add-up my "media" costs:

$155/mth for Directv, including Starz/Encore channels, HD on 3 TV's, SD on 2 other TV's, HD-DVR, SD-DVR. Bills goes up to $210 during f-ball season for Sunday Ticket Max

$90/mth for U-Verse 24mbps internet plus VOIP phone (my wife insists we keep a landline).

$12/mth for Netflix streaming only

$99 year for Amazon Prime (I do get my more than money's worth in free shipping)

$110/mth for Verizon cellphone service (4 phones, myself, wifey, youngest son and daughter). My two oldest sons are in HS and college and work part-time and wanted smartphones so they pay for their own Iphone plans thru Boost.

Whenever we look to save $, these are the items I never consider, mainly because switching some of the services are such a pain in the A** and also because I like the services I get.

 

[atfree]

My line of thinking is very easy to understand. I am the one in my family who pays the bills each month and I see the subscriptions as small as they are on their own are starting to add up little by little when you look at them together. The whole point of my original post is that when you add up all of the subscription costs that it gets to be quite a lot for the consumer to handle each month. You can add and or subtract whichever utilities you like but in the end of the day your pocketbook is getting thinner and thinner because of all of the subscriptions. This phenomenon is starting to be shown in the media now as being an issue. By doing a simple Google search you will see that subscription fatigue starting to be discussed.With each studio coming out with their own subscription service these costs will begin to add up to almost which you would be paying for a full version of the cable TV sub. These are the reasons why I started this conversation to begin with.

The main problem is that none of the subscription services have EVERYTHING people want, so people subscribe to Netflix for this, AIV for that, Hulu Plus for this, Vudu for that, and so on, and before long their total subscription costs are at or near the cost they had before they "cut the cord". With every provider seeking out "exclusive" content, subscription fatigue will only grow.

 

[Ejanss]

The main problem is that none of the subscription services have EVERYTHING people want, so people subscribe to Netflix for this, AIV for that, Hulu Plus for this, Vudu for that, and so on, and before long their total subscription costs are at or near the cost they had before they "cut the cord". With every provider seeking out "exclusive" content, subscription fatigue will only grow.

I stick with one favorite--Netflix, of course, will always be the "classy" option--and take others smorgasbord: A month of Hulu Plus here, a month or two of Warner Instant Archive there, and a one-off Vudu rental when there's a new-release movie. (Not counting the one-price Amazon Prime, and that just for the free shipping.)

I find that the other non-Netflix options have not enough of what I'm looking for--Hulu Plus has Criterion movies, but ABSOLUTELY nothing else in their movie section, and their classic-rerun section shrinks by the day. So, if I'm in the mood to check up on what's on Hulu Plus, I'll splurge on one month, binge a few Criterion movies, cancel before the end, and check back later in the year.
Similarly, I found that Crunchyroll runs for free with ads (lots of ads, but for free, I can put up with it) on my tablet, but if I get a free promotional Premium month, I'll spend a month catching up on a backlog of titles on my PS3.
Has more of a "What do I feel like enjoying this month?" feel to it, rather than sit there continuing to pay a running subscription to WIA, and finding they're just offering the retired official DVD's I already bought from them the first time around.

 

[bigshot]

The main problem is that none of the subscription services have EVERYTHING people want, so people subscribe to Netflix for this, AIV for that, Hulu Plus for this, Vudu for that, and so on, and before long their total subscription costs are at or near the cost they had before they "cut the cord". With every provider seeking out "exclusive" content, subscription fatigue will only grow.

Do you have any subscription streaming services? The reason I ask is because back when I had cable, there were over 110 channels. I would only watch maybe 6 or 8 of them regularly. But a lot of times, I would snap all the way through every single channel without having anything to watch. Even if there was something to watch, it might already half way through and I didn't want to jump in the middle. I was paying a LOT of money for it and at any given time, the choices were extremely limited.

Now I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and Warner Archive. I have queues in each one packed with programs to watch, and I don't have to waste time waiting for a program to start, or snapping through the dial randomly trying to find something. Every month or so, I take a spin through the offerings and fill my queue again. Honestly, Netflix alone would keep me supplied with more interesting programming than I could possibly watch. But I have Amazon Prime for the shipping and Warner Archive has deep catalog classic movies that sometimes aren't on Netflix.

In any case, I have MUCH more to choose from right now at this very moment than at any time of the day or night on cable.

 

[atfree]

Do you have any subscription streaming services? The reason I ask is because back when I had cable, there were over 110 channels. I would only watch maybe 6 or 8 of them regularly. But a lot of times, I would snap all the way through every single channel without having anything to watch. Even if there was something to watch, it might already half way through and I didn't want to jump in the middle. I was paying a LOT of money for it and at any given time, the choices were extremely limited.Now I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and Warner Archive. I have queues in each one packed with programs to watch, and I don't have to waste time waiting for a program to start, or snapping through the dial randomly trying to find something. Every month or so, I take a spin through the offerings and fill my queue again. Honestly, Netflix alone would keep me supplied with more interesting programming than I could possibly watch. But I have Amazon Prime for the shipping and Warner Archive has deep catalog classic movies that sometimes aren't on Netflix.In any case, I have MUCH more to choose from right now at this very moment than at any time of the day or night on cable.

I have Netflix and AIV. My wife and I watch random movies on both but my kids watch a ton of programming that we aren't interested in. My wife and I watch about 10 network and 5 or so cable series regularly which we DVR if there are conflicts or we aren't at home. I'm locked into DirecTV for the long run because of NFL Sunday Ticket...huge Broncos fan (they are not my local team) and NFL fan in general. On Sundays, the NFL is on from noon till midnight. Netflix streaming has become terrible IMO as most of there movies are obscure B movies or ones I already have on blu-ray or DVD. At least with AIV I can buy stuff in addition to the free streams.And I don't watch any reality programming (dreadful stuff) which both AIV and Netflix are inundated with.

 

[[email protected]]

Do you have any subscription streaming services? The reason I ask is because back when I had cable, there were over 110 channels. I would only watch maybe 6 or 8 of them regularly. But a lot of times, I would snap all the way through every single channel without having anything to watch. Even if there was something to watch, it might already half way through and I didn't want to jump in the middle. I was paying a LOT of money for it and at any given time, the choices were extremely limited.

Now I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and Warner Archive. I have queues in each one packed with programs to watch, and I don't have to waste time waiting for a program to start, or snapping through the dial randomly trying to find something. Every month or so, I take a spin through the offerings and fill my queue again. Honestly, Netflix alone would keep me supplied with more interesting programming than I could possibly watch. But I have Amazon Prime for the shipping and Warner Archive has deep catalog classic movies that sometimes aren't on Netflix.

In any case, I have MUCH more to choose from right now at this very moment than at any time of the day or night on cable.

I agree. People think I watch tv like this to save money but, it is really because there is alot more to watch! Between Netflix, Amazon prime and my UV movie collection on Vudu, I don't need Directv at all. I still have Directv for Sunday ticket but that is all its used for( sad, but that is another subject) Can't remember the last time I watched a movie on Netflix though (just TV).....there are much better avenues...

 

[Patrick Donahue]

The only thing I need cable for is news and sports. I can make do with Sky News on Apple TV but sports is tricky. If the leagues would just drop the blackout restrictions for local teams on their apps I would be golden...

 

[bigshot]

I'm not a sports fan, but I kinda get the feeling that if sports went online, no one would need cable any more.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One of the things that keeps me from considering cord cutting for cable is that my cable and internet is packaged together. The way my cable company is set up, you can get just Internet, but they basically double the rate so it costs about the same as getting Internet alone as it does to get basic cable and internet together. So might as well get both. There are enough random, live (or semi-live) things we watch that kinda justify keeping things as they are.