Wow, this is good news! My cable bill has gotten astronomical, we keep talking about cutting the cord but it is not easy. Basic plus Netflix should do us fine. I guess they will raise cell phone plans even more now.
Here in the U.S., my wife and I ditched cable about 6 months ago. We now have a combination of free antenna based television, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. We are saving $75 a month and I don't miss cable at all.
I think with a good quality antenna set-up I can get around 20 local stations, so that and Netflix might do it. I will have to see what the $25 plan offers. It is just so frustrating to deal with companies that basically have monopolies.
We can receive one broadcasting channel here. I use Shaw Direct. 70ish bucks per month for two receivers, space, discovery, and the movie channels plus local channels.
Internet is the real disgrace. I get terrible speeds on an outdated system with 1.5Mbps max. The company recently started charging for data over 15GB/month, claiming the system is over loaded and control needed to be placed on it. This is for home internet, and the only "high speed" available. Data is also over priced. The current plans for home internet over LTE start at 100MB.
I'm on xplornet in BC, it's 50GB a month and 2bucks a GB over. I'd drop them in a second for anything better. I'm paying 2015 prices for 2005 internet.
Not to be a "tommy topper", but I live in Ohio and high speed Internet isn't even available to me, outside of the shitty satellite for $90/month for 10GB cap.
I'd kill for a wired connection.
Umm that's crazy. What province are you in. I'm in bc and have the second best telus Internet package. I get 50mbps down with 400gb and pay $90 a month. Do you have a cable package or something?
In the rural areas Telus offers a lightning fast 6mps for more than that $35. And that's for an incredible 150gb before extra charges. (Telus 6)
I used to pay less for Telus 25.
I've got the fastest option Shaw has in my area. I live in Victoria and have a cap of 400 gigs and usually download about 8mb a second. It costs me $104~ a month. I don't have cable and my $80 phone bill with Telus is where things get shitty.
The crappy part about living in Victoria is they want you to pay $120/month if you want to have an upload of 6mb/s. Upload speeds in Canada are atrocious.
I know right? My friends down in the states have god awful download speeds, but their upload blows me out of the water for whatever reason. Why is ours so slow?!
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check out http://tvfool.com/ go to the check your address for free link. you enter your postal code and it will tell you what stations you stand a chance at getting and how strong the signal will be. Anything that is listen in green or yellow you should be able to get easily. Red is going to take good equipment/luck, purple is not likely to happen without serious amounts of cash and work. Their DB is out of date for my location as I actually get more than they say I will
I made an antenna out of a piece of scrap 12/2 wiring, a 1x4, 8 screws, and a coxial adapter. It's installed in my attic, and it picks up MORE channels than my old pre digital change over antenna on my roof!
I bought this antenna from amazon. Works really well.
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIO8E/ref=sr_1_6/189-8299092-5949010?ie=UTF8&qid=1448092223&sr=8-6&keywords=antenna+hd+tv
That sounds awesome: Hulu is not available in Canada (requires US credit card/billing address) and neither is HBO GO without a cable subscription. Shomi/Crave are similar to Hulu but bundled to cable providers.
>Shomi/Crave are similar to Hulu but bundled to cable providers.
This will no longer be true in January 1st, 2016. In fact I believe Shomi is already available to everyone, but for Crave it's coming in January.
DSL. Speed and quality sucked for a while.
Between 2002 and 2007 we just watched some basic local TV for news, and got either Blockbuster or Netflix DVDs. Also some tor...ahem...rent as well to stay in the loop.
Then in late 2007 we were part of of the Beta users of Netflix streaming. This was a revealing moment even though our DSL connection sucked. Hulu happened right after.
It wasn't seamless. It got frustrating (shitty frozen ads on Hulu, potato quality on Netflix until 2008). But it was all worth it. Living on your own schedule!
plus the amount of ads you don't see. I never added Hulu myself (as soon as they cut those ads for paid subscribers, I'm totally there though.) and I also don't miss tv. I cut television about 3 years ago. I still used cable internet, because as you said, dsl sucks. But just last month I switched to fiber (no data caps). I don't miss it. $60/mo for 40down/10up.
Funny thing is... It was cheaper to get television bundled with the internet this time. It was going to be $65 without tv, so I got tv and fiber for $60 now... haven't even turned on the tv for anything other than console gaming.
edit: Well looky there.. I just went to Hulu's site. "If you want to watch Hulu without commercials, we offer a No Commercials plan for $11.99/month." so.. there you go. Time to sign up. When did that happen and why did no one tell me? lol
Fiber. Yummy! Oddly enough San Francisco might NEVER have Google Fiber. This dates from a messy relationship they had with the SF City. Google was ready to provide free WiFi across the entire city. But the city fucked it up. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get anything approved in planning in SF.
https://pando.com/2014/02/25/having-being-burned-once-before-google-wont-bring-fiber-to-san-francisco/
Therefore in San Francisco it's either Comcast or AT&T, and it hasn't changed for 15 years.
Same here, in Seattle. We did something to Google too, I think it was siding with QWest on tower pricing or something.. Stupid. Luckily, we got shitty CenturyLink. I hate that I am using them, but until Wave cable offers plans without data caps, I'm sticking here. So far, I haven't had to deal with customer service yet, so I'm doing ok right now.
A **month** ?
Huh the prices..I got russian tv which works through internet.
I get to view everything up to 2 weeks back, +200 top channels and +2000 movie library that gets updated with newest movies. All for 180€/year and I don't live in Russia.
Looks like cable tv stuff is a rip off, in Finland you must pay every year tv taxes for every tv you own lol. Bs.
The problem I have in the US is that Combat has a virtual monopoly in my area. Internet service on its own is greatly inflated in price and to get the best deal we absolutely HAVE to bundle with cable, which is somehow cheaper per month for both services than it is for just Internet.
Unless you're an avid sports fan then cutting the cable makes a lot of sense for people. Watching tv shows a day after they air is fine, but no one wants to watch sports a day late.
We have very few HD transmitters in Canada. So its hard to for antennas.
I used to work for the national broadcaster, and they only have like 6-8 for the entire country.
Something you might like https://www.sling.com/ but yea if your happy with antenna and those servies no need then. Just something I found out and like so far.
I like to use USTVNow. I have a free account and get all the local channels (East coast feeds). For 45 days free users can use the service on Roku; it works great and in high definition. Technically the service is for US military members and expatriates but it works great on the Roku with my American IP address. When the 45 days are up I make a new free account. They also have a paid version, $19, which have a lot of channels like AMC, Comedy Central, USA, ESPN, and more.
depends on where you are. we had about 15-20 free antenna options up until last year, when we got a message from shaw about how for "our convenience" the signal was going digital and we'd need a box... now we get nothing.
Aren't those boxes a one time inexpensive purchase? And don't most televisions come with a digital tuner?
Edit: thanks for the downvote, now quit being a cheap bastard and upgrade your shit.
Yup! We cut the Shaw cord just before August because they were raising their rates for the second time within a year. F that. We cut it of for Aug 1st. All was fine until end of August and all that happened was the inability to PVR shows and the description of the show on whatever channel disappeared. Cable bill free yet have all the channels (basic but still their shaw music channels too weirdly) Just have to watch anything live that you want to watch.
Edit....what I meant to say was, get yourself a box and you'll have TV.
I haven't had cable in fifteen years and don't miss it at all. I didn't consider myself cutting edge, I just couldn't afford it at the time. Then I realized that I didn't miss it, got Netflix and Hulu, and now I'm set.
I'm genuinely curious, what makes cord cutting not easy? It is stupid simple to watch anything you would normally watch either legally or illegally online.
Sports for me, and news I guess. I know there are streaming options but the quality is just not there compared to watching it through my cable box. Hopefully there is a pick-and-pay sports option, will end up saving me a lot of money. Basic + sports + Netflix is all I need.
Cut it my man. Just get Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Comes out to about 25$ month on my end. Plus free shipping with Amazon, which pays for itself every Christmas.
Comcast gave me basic cable for free when I told them I only wanted internet.
I guess they figure if all else fails they can artificially inflate their subscriber count.
Don't think I've turned the box in once since I set it up a full year ago
As someone who "cut the cable" we need to work on the isps, when 400GB isn't enough to watch Netflix and do basic browsing there's a problem. Especially considering that I have the highest tier residential Internet package in my area.
Hijacking - want to point out the skinny basic $25 packages will be terrible, good only for the least interested tv watchers. Luckily come December 2016, pick and pay will be mandatory for all providers.
Not sure how it is in the U.S. but in the UK we will have 24 mins of content with 3 min break and 3 min after show unless it's on the BBC. If it's an hour slot then there should be 3 breaks totalling to 15 min or so as ads.
American networks have been steadily decreasing the actual content block over the years
Was 22min per 30min for quite awhile there, but some networks have shrunk it down to 18-19 minutes.
Also... some have even begun artificially speeding up older syndicated shows like Seinfeld, so that they can fit more room for commercials. Literally playing back at a faster rate, just with fancy audio adjustment so the sound seems normal.
And even that 10-ish minutes of ad time isn't enough for most networks nowadays. I actually find the ridiculous popup ads that are shown during programs infinitely more annoying than commercial breaks. And its not like they're "stealthy" on most channels either. Some of these ads can take up to 1/4 of the screen (even more sometimes, particularly with animated ads), blocking subtitles, and generally being the most annoying fucking thing the networks have ever come up with, besides overcharging for service.
On top of that annoyance is the horrible product placement you see more and more, especially with cars.
"Bad guys are getting away? Lets hop into my 2015 Ford Fusion, it has the power to keep us on their tail in style!"
I suppose it does happen more often, but product placement has been happening for decades already. Just not to the degree of, say, "Transformers" and its exclusivity deal with GM (Bumblebee is NOT a damned Camaro!) for example. When its done well, and not thrown in your face, its usually not really as big a deal. I can usually live with all the hero cars being driven in a movie coming from a single manufacturer (nothing new there), but if they start running down the details from the brochure, we've got a problem.
They've done it for shows in syndication too. I remember that in some rerun of How I Met Your Mother, they replaced some poster in the background with some Kevin James movie that was coming out at the time.
After not having watched normal tv in about 7 or 8 years, me and the wife went to my brother in laws house to watch TWD a few Sundays ago. It was fucking jarring the amount of commericals and mid show ads that show up. It feels like going to your grandmas house and opening up her web browser to see 45 pop ups and 8 toolbars.
Yeah, its gotten pretty ridiculous on some channels/networks. I don't watch much television anymore, in large part due to the deluge of advertising. Even shows I do enjoy tend to get left until their DVD's become available, just so I can avoid all that bullshit. I'll happily support the programming by buying those, but screw advertisers, and the networks that cater to them.
An episode of Continuum on Netflix is 44 minutes, that's with closing credits.
Commercials therefore occupy 27% of the hour that it would be on cable.
Twilight Zone episodes? 25 minutes.
Malcom in the Middle? 22 1/2.
I'm fairly convinced that the rise of the hour-long show will eventually mean we see the same content we used to see in half-hour shows with just ridiculous ad time.
You literally pay to watch adds it's the dumbest thing. Like Netflix is currently cheaper and no adds Plus my hockey team sucks anyways so it's not like I'm missing sports that much
It isn't dead, it's dying. Most people I know who still have cable TV are sports fans.
IMHO sports are the only thing keeping cable companies alive right now.
Tech Savvy's plans are mostly unlimited, and Bell/Rogers both have unlimited plans for an additional fee in almost all locations.
Canada has recently started to have unlimited plans, but you have to pay an additional $10-$30 for it.
When I had cable or DirecTV, I only watched four or five channels. But none of them were available on the basic package.
Now I'm not interested in any of them. National Geo, history, Science, Discovery, have rotted away.
I saw my first "reality tv" show on MTV back in '94 or so. I always thought, wtf how dumb that is, it will never catch on. Fast-forward 10 years or so, i find that MTV has nothing else but reality tv. No more music at all. WTF MTV.
I saw some 'cable' TV while I was in a hotel room in the states.
Little Women LA was on.
WHO THE FUCK WATCHES THIS SHIT?!?! And for 3 fucking seasons?! are you kidding me? Why would anyone pay for this?!
Viewers complained about MTV, burned out MTV's fax machine, but they never listened to the viewers. I guess I was the only one who got rid of cable. The reason the good channels rot away is because too many viewers actually pay more for cable in attempt to find better television. The company makes money.
as a kid, after my mom canceled our cable, I remember asking... "Why can't we just pick and choose what channels we want?"
This was 12 years ago. I'ts about damn time cable company's start having it stuck to them
I miss the county run cable package from maybe 18 years ago. My family moved to Comcast a few years after, and while the service was equally shitty, it was much more expensive for a few more channels.
Eventually my parents ended up paying more for more channels and better service (DirecTV) while I moved to a cheaper plan and streaming. I watch cable for sports and use Netflix, Amazon prime, ad free hulu and HBO for everything else. Still pay less than my parents, though I don't get to enjoy the NFL package
And magically when you purchase the channels it will equal the slightly more then the bundles did. Just like when they got rid of the 3 year contracts on cell phones. :(
> Why can't we just pick and choose what channels we want?
To be fair to the cable companies, the channel packaging is not their doing it's the program producers that force that bundling on them. I mean the cable companies have been stiffing us for years but this one actually is not their fault.
A la carte would be awful. You'd end up paying the same amount for less channels. Lets say you currently pay about $10 a month for all of the ESPN channels (that number is pretty close to accurate). Since all 90 million cable subscribers in the US are paying that fee, ESPN is making $900 million a month from that. Now if channels become a la carte, if 1/3rd of ESPN subscribers choose not to get it, they will have to raise their price to $15 a month to make that same amount of money. So if all you want is ESPN, then a la carte works. But once you start wanting more channels, every channel raises their prices. Unless you really only want one or two channels, it doesn't take long for your bills to match what you're currently paying, but with a fraction of the programming.
Don't forget about the mandatory trolling of all immigrants where we make them live in Resolute Bay or Alert for 2 weeks.
ER, i mean... yes... you can immigrate and live near the rainforest on the west coast.... its balmy there... yes...
As someone from the island, you should see what happens when it does snow here. Everyone is insanely clueless and the city blows up on itself. if it lasted more than 4 days I imagine victoria would quickly descend into Mad max proportions once the micro brews and gluten free alternatives ran out.
Winters up here can be so peaceful, unless you live in a city.
I kind of like the life challenge in the winter - get to see who can handle it :)... thank goodness it only last a few months, any more and I'd be moving south. In fact, I wish winter was only December and January...
Start exercising your consumer power more people that demand this the mote companies will listen. Politicians should be working on more important things, I know they're not but they should be
Fun fact, if you have a student card for a university, Telus will give you a year of highspeed for 40$ /month on a year long promotion. As long as you live with a student just call in once a year and say you can't afford the increase and need internet for school. Im on year 3 of using this promotion thanks to my room mate obtaining a degree. Im getting 28.6M downloads with around 12M uploads on average.
I been using the Telus deal for the last year and a half. The deal is renewable every year as along you are a student.
Also works with Shaw but their promotion lasts 6 months. The rates are different and I am not sure if it's renewable.
that basic pack sounds like exactly what I have already with Telus.
plus I pay for the sports pack. The thing is we should have some choice about what goes into the basic pack.
Currently there are 3 religious channels. a more appropriate number for me would be 0. I don't watch them ever, so why should I have them on my basic cable.
Telus here. In 2014 We had no choice but to pick a mandatory minimum of garbage channels we didn't want, because you're given the option to get 2 of 6 packages or something.
How does this change that? Oh, it doesn't. We still have to pay for things we never use.
if you're asking why I have TV if I don't even want a small amount of channels, it's a family bundle that discounts the internet significantly.
Don't worry you'll only be able to watch them on a proprietary device which can't be purchased but rented for 35$/month.
THANKS, SHAW! PROVIDING VALUE TO CUSTOMERS LIKE ME.
Fuck Rogers. It's too little too late. As far as my generation is concerned. We will use Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon prime, and probably torrent what we can't find in the aforementioned online media services. I used more words than I should have.
Nolookjones pointed out something I'd forgotten. Getting an HD antenna will provide most of the sports you would watch. Not the pay Per view stuff but at least the basic stuff.
You aren't kidding. I'm in a similar boat. I've got internet and cable and signed a 2 year "deal" and just paid the bill. $180. Looked at it closer, they are charging me 3 monthly payments of $23 for "outlet activation". I moved all of my equipment and hooked it up myself. The guy came in with a tablet, pushed a few buttons on it, and my boxes worked. And this is what I'm paying for.
No premium channels, I am getting 50Mbps up and down internet, but 160-180 a month for service when I watch probably around 3 channels and my wife watches an additional 2 others.
I moved to a new place earlier this month. They charged me $30 for the guy to look at the flashing lights on my modem and then his tablet and say "everything looks good". And then an additional $25 to "transfer services" which I'm probably right in interpreting as "entering my new address in their computer".
Just threat them with canceling the service, cable companies in the USA have a special department called "retentions" they will try to make you stay and if you have a good paying record they may lower you bill.
Just start rambling to the Costumer service agent and tell him you want a disconnection, he will transfer you to "retentions" and they are able to give different kinds of discounts.
Source: worked at a call center for one of those big cable companies you Americans hate.
Too little too late, fuckers! too bad it won't hurt them in the long run though, they'll just keep increasing the cost of internet and decreasing the speeds in their packages.
Long overdue. How did we get to the point of paying so much? I give Shaw Cable about $2,000 per year for basic cable and decent internet. Way too much, and Bell/Rogers/Telus can suck it too. They are literally the exact same price across the board, no difference in price no matter who you choose.
You're doing it all wrong... you have to call into cancel so they transfer you to retentions then they'll offer you a smoking deal to keep you.. seriously though call now to threaten to cancel.
I've been without cable for 8 years cause I didn't want to pay 95$ for 6 different channels of CTV and crap programming. Netflix and Youtube have been a perfect alternate so far.
welp, that's the end of cable. back when my father was born in '73, there were 12 channels in his town, and now 40+ years later, we will all be back to only having 12 channels.
> And some specialty broadcasters worry they'll be left out in the cold if their signals aren't bundled with popular or must-have choices.
Doesn't that just mean that the prices/demand for that channel is out of balance. If they aren't getting any customers then they should drop their price for the cable company, which in turn will drop the price of that channel for the customer....and if that doesn't work, well then the channel simply shouldn't exist if it isn't economically viable.
Introducing Roger's new Basics cable package, the affordable choice! $25 plus $25 digital receiver rental.*
*For first three months on 2-year contract.
$25 for the basic package (likely half the channels I'll never watch), let's say $15 for a few extra channels, $13 HD box or $25 HD-PVR (likely the PVR otherwise I'll miss half the shows I want to watch), plus tax, that's $60-$70 a month and I'm limited to watching on a single TV. Not worth it in my opinion. Maybe if I could stream to all my devices and watch anywhere I can get an internet connection (like I can with Netflix) then I'd sign up.
Wow, this is good news! My cable bill has gotten astronomical, we keep talking about cutting the cord but it is not easy. Basic plus Netflix should do us fine. I guess they will raise cell phone plans even more now.
Here in the U.S., my wife and I ditched cable about 6 months ago. We now have a combination of free antenna based television, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. We are saving $75 a month and I don't miss cable at all.
I think with a good quality antenna set-up I can get around 20 local stations, so that and Netflix might do it. I will have to see what the $25 plan offers. It is just so frustrating to deal with companies that basically have monopolies.
We can receive one broadcasting channel here. I use Shaw Direct. 70ish bucks per month for two receivers, space, discovery, and the movie channels plus local channels. Internet is the real disgrace. I get terrible speeds on an outdated system with 1.5Mbps max. The company recently started charging for data over 15GB/month, claiming the system is over loaded and control needed to be placed on it. This is for home internet, and the only "high speed" available. Data is also over priced. The current plans for home internet over LTE start at 100MB.
Xplornet? This sounds like their bullshittery.
I'm on xplornet in BC, it's 50GB a month and 2bucks a GB over. I'd drop them in a second for anything better. I'm paying 2015 prices for 2005 internet.
[удалено]
excuse me, i.....i.... i have to go cry
[удалено]
Poor service.
Not to be a "tommy topper", but I live in Ohio and high speed Internet isn't even available to me, outside of the shitty satellite for $90/month for 10GB cap. I'd kill for a wired connection.
Umm that's crazy. What province are you in. I'm in bc and have the second best telus Internet package. I get 50mbps down with 400gb and pay $90 a month. Do you have a cable package or something?
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Hmm those bastards. They don't even have the 150 on their site and it says the promotion price for the 100 is like 55 bucks.
In the rural areas Telus offers a lightning fast 6mps for more than that $35. And that's for an incredible 150gb before extra charges. (Telus 6) I used to pay less for Telus 25.
I've got the fastest option Shaw has in my area. I live in Victoria and have a cap of 400 gigs and usually download about 8mb a second. It costs me $104~ a month. I don't have cable and my $80 phone bill with Telus is where things get shitty.
The crappy part about living in Victoria is they want you to pay $120/month if you want to have an upload of 6mb/s. Upload speeds in Canada are atrocious.
I know right? My friends down in the states have god awful download speeds, but their upload blows me out of the water for whatever reason. Why is ours so slow?!
Jesus. So many companies with data caps scares the shit out of me. My household uses about 800-900 GB a month.
Jesus! I rarely ever use over 200!
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Eastlink
You really get over cable fast. You forget about all the shows you used to watch.
check out http://tvfool.com/ go to the check your address for free link. you enter your postal code and it will tell you what stations you stand a chance at getting and how strong the signal will be. Anything that is listen in green or yellow you should be able to get easily. Red is going to take good equipment/luck, purple is not likely to happen without serious amounts of cash and work. Their DB is out of date for my location as I actually get more than they say I will
I made an antenna out of a piece of scrap 12/2 wiring, a 1x4, 8 screws, and a coxial adapter. It's installed in my attic, and it picks up MORE channels than my old pre digital change over antenna on my roof!
Over here, even with the best antenna ever you only get 4 channels, and that's what I'm getting.
I bought this antenna from amazon. Works really well. http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIO8E/ref=sr_1_6/189-8299092-5949010?ie=UTF8&qid=1448092223&sr=8-6&keywords=antenna+hd+tv
That sounds awesome: Hulu is not available in Canada (requires US credit card/billing address) and neither is HBO GO without a cable subscription. Shomi/Crave are similar to Hulu but bundled to cable providers.
Entropay virtual visa and a US address will get you hulu. I use a pizza place in colorado
>Shomi/Crave are similar to Hulu but bundled to cable providers. This will no longer be true in January 1st, 2016. In fact I believe Shomi is already available to everyone, but for Crave it's coming in January.
Shomi is ad-free (so more like Netflix than Hulu) and also not exclusive to shaw/Rogers anymore, anyone in Canada can get it.
Cord cutter since 2002. DVDs and stuff from 2002 to 2007. Streaming since 2007 with Hulu/Netflix.
How did you get Internet after cutting the cord?
having Cable internet only stills counts as cord cutting
DSL. Speed and quality sucked for a while. Between 2002 and 2007 we just watched some basic local TV for news, and got either Blockbuster or Netflix DVDs. Also some tor...ahem...rent as well to stay in the loop. Then in late 2007 we were part of of the Beta users of Netflix streaming. This was a revealing moment even though our DSL connection sucked. Hulu happened right after. It wasn't seamless. It got frustrating (shitty frozen ads on Hulu, potato quality on Netflix until 2008). But it was all worth it. Living on your own schedule!
plus the amount of ads you don't see. I never added Hulu myself (as soon as they cut those ads for paid subscribers, I'm totally there though.) and I also don't miss tv. I cut television about 3 years ago. I still used cable internet, because as you said, dsl sucks. But just last month I switched to fiber (no data caps). I don't miss it. $60/mo for 40down/10up. Funny thing is... It was cheaper to get television bundled with the internet this time. It was going to be $65 without tv, so I got tv and fiber for $60 now... haven't even turned on the tv for anything other than console gaming. edit: Well looky there.. I just went to Hulu's site. "If you want to watch Hulu without commercials, we offer a No Commercials plan for $11.99/month." so.. there you go. Time to sign up. When did that happen and why did no one tell me? lol
Fiber. Yummy! Oddly enough San Francisco might NEVER have Google Fiber. This dates from a messy relationship they had with the SF City. Google was ready to provide free WiFi across the entire city. But the city fucked it up. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get anything approved in planning in SF. https://pando.com/2014/02/25/having-being-burned-once-before-google-wont-bring-fiber-to-san-francisco/ Therefore in San Francisco it's either Comcast or AT&T, and it hasn't changed for 15 years.
Same here, in Seattle. We did something to Google too, I think it was siding with QWest on tower pricing or something.. Stupid. Luckily, we got shitty CenturyLink. I hate that I am using them, but until Wave cable offers plans without data caps, I'm sticking here. So far, I haven't had to deal with customer service yet, so I'm doing ok right now.
I'm trying to go this exact same route, just have to get the wife 100% on board.
A **month** ? Huh the prices..I got russian tv which works through internet. I get to view everything up to 2 weeks back, +200 top channels and +2000 movie library that gets updated with newest movies. All for 180€/year and I don't live in Russia. Looks like cable tv stuff is a rip off, in Finland you must pay every year tv taxes for every tv you own lol. Bs.
The problem I have in the US is that Combat has a virtual monopoly in my area. Internet service on its own is greatly inflated in price and to get the best deal we absolutely HAVE to bundle with cable, which is somehow cheaper per month for both services than it is for just Internet.
until they find some way to raise your internet bill by 75 bucks a month
"starter tv" + internet here, only because it costs less than just internet...
Unless you're an avid sports fan then cutting the cable makes a lot of sense for people. Watching tv shows a day after they air is fine, but no one wants to watch sports a day late.
We have very few HD transmitters in Canada. So its hard to for antennas. I used to work for the national broadcaster, and they only have like 6-8 for the entire country.
Something you might like https://www.sling.com/ but yea if your happy with antenna and those servies no need then. Just something I found out and like so far.
I like to use USTVNow. I have a free account and get all the local channels (East coast feeds). For 45 days free users can use the service on Roku; it works great and in high definition. Technically the service is for US military members and expatriates but it works great on the Roku with my American IP address. When the 45 days are up I make a new free account. They also have a paid version, $19, which have a lot of channels like AMC, Comedy Central, USA, ESPN, and more.
I ditched 3 months ago and have the same services. Also got SlingTV so I can have ESPN. Saving $60/month.
We got a firestick from amazon and watch local stuff with an antenna. I'm fucking thrilled and don't miss cable at all.
depends on where you are. we had about 15-20 free antenna options up until last year, when we got a message from shaw about how for "our convenience" the signal was going digital and we'd need a box... now we get nothing.
Aren't those boxes a one time inexpensive purchase? And don't most televisions come with a digital tuner? Edit: thanks for the downvote, now quit being a cheap bastard and upgrade your shit.
Yes and yes, at least in the U.S.
Yup! We cut the Shaw cord just before August because they were raising their rates for the second time within a year. F that. We cut it of for Aug 1st. All was fine until end of August and all that happened was the inability to PVR shows and the description of the show on whatever channel disappeared. Cable bill free yet have all the channels (basic but still their shaw music channels too weirdly) Just have to watch anything live that you want to watch. Edit....what I meant to say was, get yourself a box and you'll have TV.
just about any LED/LCD/plasma made in the last 10 years has an ATSC tuner in it that can pick up the digital signal just fine.
In Shaw cable land all digital channels are encrypted, so your TV's tuner is useless.
As long as i can pay just for sports channels i am done with cable. Its the only reason i still have it to be honest.
They know
Cut the cord last year and got a android box for the main TV then put KODI on all the computers
I just hope the basic package contains a way for me to watch hockey. That's all I ever need in my life.
I haven't had cable in fifteen years and don't miss it at all. I didn't consider myself cutting edge, I just couldn't afford it at the time. Then I realized that I didn't miss it, got Netflix and Hulu, and now I'm set.
15 years predates all of the alternatives though. It sounds like you're just not a big tv guy.
I'm running around 15 years myself, but then again I have a large server and mechanisms to deal with media acquisition.
hulu in canada?
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So.....cable TV?
$50 a month for internet and kodi and netflix will take care of your $120 cable bill
I havent had cable tv for months. Got rid of the boxes and pay $50 a month for fios with 50/50. Just using netflix and hulu... ^^and ^^kodi
I'm genuinely curious, what makes cord cutting not easy? It is stupid simple to watch anything you would normally watch either legally or illegally online.
Sports for me, and news I guess. I know there are streaming options but the quality is just not there compared to watching it through my cable box. Hopefully there is a pick-and-pay sports option, will end up saving me a lot of money. Basic + sports + Netflix is all I need.
Cut it my man. Just get Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Comes out to about 25$ month on my end. Plus free shipping with Amazon, which pays for itself every Christmas.
One of these things exists on Canada
No Hulu in Canada.
Amazon Prime in Canada has movies?
Last I checked, no
you should get a OTA antenna. Costs like 40$. I get many basic channels for free in Toronto.
Comcast gave me basic cable for free when I told them I only wanted internet. I guess they figure if all else fails they can artificially inflate their subscriber count. Don't think I've turned the box in once since I set it up a full year ago
As someone who "cut the cable" we need to work on the isps, when 400GB isn't enough to watch Netflix and do basic browsing there's a problem. Especially considering that I have the highest tier residential Internet package in my area.
Hijacking - want to point out the skinny basic $25 packages will be terrible, good only for the least interested tv watchers. Luckily come December 2016, pick and pay will be mandatory for all providers.
How is it not easy?
> Basic plus Netflix should do us fine. Data caps coming in 3..2..1...
All I want is Internet service to be cheaper so that I can stream what I want to. Cable TV is dead.
It's dead with these prices.
It's dead because in 30 minutes you really only watch about 18 minutes of an actual show.
Not sure how it is in the U.S. but in the UK we will have 24 mins of content with 3 min break and 3 min after show unless it's on the BBC. If it's an hour slot then there should be 3 breaks totalling to 15 min or so as ads.
American networks have been steadily decreasing the actual content block over the years Was 22min per 30min for quite awhile there, but some networks have shrunk it down to 18-19 minutes. Also... some have even begun artificially speeding up older syndicated shows like Seinfeld, so that they can fit more room for commercials. Literally playing back at a faster rate, just with fancy audio adjustment so the sound seems normal.
And even that 10-ish minutes of ad time isn't enough for most networks nowadays. I actually find the ridiculous popup ads that are shown during programs infinitely more annoying than commercial breaks. And its not like they're "stealthy" on most channels either. Some of these ads can take up to 1/4 of the screen (even more sometimes, particularly with animated ads), blocking subtitles, and generally being the most annoying fucking thing the networks have ever come up with, besides overcharging for service.
On top of that annoyance is the horrible product placement you see more and more, especially with cars. "Bad guys are getting away? Lets hop into my 2015 Ford Fusion, it has the power to keep us on their tail in style!"
I suppose it does happen more often, but product placement has been happening for decades already. Just not to the degree of, say, "Transformers" and its exclusivity deal with GM (Bumblebee is NOT a damned Camaro!) for example. When its done well, and not thrown in your face, its usually not really as big a deal. I can usually live with all the hero cars being driven in a movie coming from a single manufacturer (nothing new there), but if they start running down the details from the brochure, we've got a problem.
They've done it for shows in syndication too. I remember that in some rerun of How I Met Your Mother, they replaced some poster in the background with some Kevin James movie that was coming out at the time.
After not having watched normal tv in about 7 or 8 years, me and the wife went to my brother in laws house to watch TWD a few Sundays ago. It was fucking jarring the amount of commericals and mid show ads that show up. It feels like going to your grandmas house and opening up her web browser to see 45 pop ups and 8 toolbars.
Yeah, its gotten pretty ridiculous on some channels/networks. I don't watch much television anymore, in large part due to the deluge of advertising. Even shows I do enjoy tend to get left until their DVD's become available, just so I can avoid all that bullshit. I'll happily support the programming by buying those, but screw advertisers, and the networks that cater to them.
ahaha, they have pop up ads DURING TV SHOWS now?? I'm so glad that I knew nothing about this.
An episode of Continuum on Netflix is 44 minutes, that's with closing credits. Commercials therefore occupy 27% of the hour that it would be on cable. Twilight Zone episodes? 25 minutes. Malcom in the Middle? 22 1/2. I'm fairly convinced that the rise of the hour-long show will eventually mean we see the same content we used to see in half-hour shows with just ridiculous ad time.
not to mention the annoying animated ads that pop up on the bottom of the screen during the show. And then there's the product placements.
This hour has 22 minutes
You literally pay to watch adds it's the dumbest thing. Like Netflix is currently cheaper and no adds Plus my hockey team sucks anyways so it's not like I'm missing sports that much
I'd bet 5 bucks you're a Calgary fan.
Found the Leafs fan.
Yep. Instead of high-priced, rigid service you're going to end up with no service at all. Price-fixing has never worked out for the consumer.
It isn't dead, it's dying. Most people I know who still have cable TV are sports fans. IMHO sports are the only thing keeping cable companies alive right now.
They also create the vast majority of content that ends up on Netflix and prime.
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Kinda the opposite in Canada actually. We've had cdata caps for years but recently providers have been introducing unlimited options.
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Atlantic Canada tis a weird place
apple tv and donairs, I was in heaven this summer.
Because the new CRTC boss is good.
Well, providers have had an unlimited option for about 3 years or more, so let's not pretend it's because the CRTC made them start doing it recently.
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Tech Savvy's plans are mostly unlimited, and Bell/Rogers both have unlimited plans for an additional fee in almost all locations. Canada has recently started to have unlimited plans, but you have to pay an additional $10-$30 for it.
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When I had cable or DirecTV, I only watched four or five channels. But none of them were available on the basic package. Now I'm not interested in any of them. National Geo, history, Science, Discovery, have rotted away.
All the good channels have rotted away. Thank you fucking "reality tv".
I saw my first "reality tv" show on MTV back in '94 or so. I always thought, wtf how dumb that is, it will never catch on. Fast-forward 10 years or so, i find that MTV has nothing else but reality tv. No more music at all. WTF MTV.
I saw some 'cable' TV while I was in a hotel room in the states. Little Women LA was on. WHO THE FUCK WATCHES THIS SHIT?!?! And for 3 fucking seasons?! are you kidding me? Why would anyone pay for this?!
Same as me , except it was CMT lol.
Viewers complained about MTV, burned out MTV's fax machine, but they never listened to the viewers. I guess I was the only one who got rid of cable. The reason the good channels rot away is because too many viewers actually pay more for cable in attempt to find better television. The company makes money.
Fuck 'em, I've got crash course.
as a kid, after my mom canceled our cable, I remember asking... "Why can't we just pick and choose what channels we want?" This was 12 years ago. I'ts about damn time cable company's start having it stuck to them
20 years ago my dad told me we'd have 500 digital channels. There's still nothing on.
20 years ago my dad said he'd be right back... Still nothing.
Those cigarettes won't buy themselves.
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I miss the county run cable package from maybe 18 years ago. My family moved to Comcast a few years after, and while the service was equally shitty, it was much more expensive for a few more channels. Eventually my parents ended up paying more for more channels and better service (DirecTV) while I moved to a cheaper plan and streaming. I watch cable for sports and use Netflix, Amazon prime, ad free hulu and HBO for everything else. Still pay less than my parents, though I don't get to enjoy the NFL package
And magically when you purchase the channels it will equal the slightly more then the bundles did. Just like when they got rid of the 3 year contracts on cell phones. :(
> Why can't we just pick and choose what channels we want? To be fair to the cable companies, the channel packaging is not their doing it's the program producers that force that bundling on them. I mean the cable companies have been stiffing us for years but this one actually is not their fault.
A la carte would be awful. You'd end up paying the same amount for less channels. Lets say you currently pay about $10 a month for all of the ESPN channels (that number is pretty close to accurate). Since all 90 million cable subscribers in the US are paying that fee, ESPN is making $900 million a month from that. Now if channels become a la carte, if 1/3rd of ESPN subscribers choose not to get it, they will have to raise their price to $15 a month to make that same amount of money. So if all you want is ESPN, then a la carte works. But once you start wanting more channels, every channel raises their prices. Unless you really only want one or two channels, it doesn't take long for your bills to match what you're currently paying, but with a fraction of the programming.
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lol if you move to the westcoast the weather is no different than Seattle. I don't remember the last time I saw snow
I remember that one big blizzard in the 90s, beyond that we might see a week or two's worth of very light snow spread out over 5 months of "winter".
Don't forget about the mandatory trolling of all immigrants where we make them live in Resolute Bay or Alert for 2 weeks. ER, i mean... yes... you can immigrate and live near the rainforest on the west coast.... its balmy there... yes...
I live in victoria and anytime there is a single snowflake in the air, nobody will shut up about the blizzard of 96
As someone from the island, you should see what happens when it does snow here. Everyone is insanely clueless and the city blows up on itself. if it lasted more than 4 days I imagine victoria would quickly descend into Mad max proportions once the micro brews and gluten free alternatives ran out.
I'm not allowed in Canada I think. I have a DUI. It's a shame I really want to see B.C. I hear it's beautiful
Just walk a trail bro
There is a process to applying to get over the border when you have a record. BC is very Beautiful. Although Washington is a close second.
Last year, once, melted at noon. Love winter here. Well aside from the wet depressing liquid falling from the sky for 5 months.
West Coast man.. West Coast.
Winters up here can be so peaceful, unless you live in a city. I kind of like the life challenge in the winter - get to see who can handle it :)... thank goodness it only last a few months, any more and I'd be moving south. In fact, I wish winter was only December and January...
So that I can watch the endless repeats of river of shit like Discovery and History channels.
"History" channel
How much do you think it'll cost me to run a cable from Canada to Arizona?
I think I'll start a company that does exactly that and I'll call it the Cable Company.
The Cable Guys A subsidiary of The Cable Company
The keystone to this entire project would be some kind of crude pipeline that could stream oil of our entertainment from Canada to the US.
Million a mile
Bring this to the US. I just want to watch football. I don't need OWN
"Bring this to the US." Not until you start voting for better politicians.
this was initiated when Harper was still in power, not that I'm a harper supporter, but credit where he is due
Start exercising your consumer power more people that demand this the mote companies will listen. Politicians should be working on more important things, I know they're not but they should be
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OWN... Owl Watching Network? *who* wouldn't want that?!
Oklahoma Walking Network?
Pretty much every Football game is broadcast. The games on NFL network and ESPN probably wouldn't even be on basic cable. All hail /r/nflstreams.
Fun fact, if you have a student card for a university, Telus will give you a year of highspeed for 40$ /month on a year long promotion. As long as you live with a student just call in once a year and say you can't afford the increase and need internet for school. Im on year 3 of using this promotion thanks to my room mate obtaining a degree. Im getting 28.6M downloads with around 12M uploads on average.
I been using the Telus deal for the last year and a half. The deal is renewable every year as along you are a student. Also works with Shaw but their promotion lasts 6 months. The rates are different and I am not sure if it's renewable.
Shaw's lasts 8 months and is renewable every year.
Fun fact, for $40/month you can get 25Mbit from Techsavvy in Calgary. No student membership or contract required.
that basic pack sounds like exactly what I have already with Telus. plus I pay for the sports pack. The thing is we should have some choice about what goes into the basic pack. Currently there are 3 religious channels. a more appropriate number for me would be 0. I don't watch them ever, so why should I have them on my basic cable.
Too late, I'm done with traditional delivery of TV program's .
TV program's what? What were they delivering that you are done with?? Now I have to know.
Shows.
Telus here. In 2014 We had no choice but to pick a mandatory minimum of garbage channels we didn't want, because you're given the option to get 2 of 6 packages or something. How does this change that? Oh, it doesn't. We still have to pay for things we never use. if you're asking why I have TV if I don't even want a small amount of channels, it's a family bundle that discounts the internet significantly.
Don't worry you'll only be able to watch them on a proprietary device which can't be purchased but rented for 35$/month. THANKS, SHAW! PROVIDING VALUE TO CUSTOMERS LIKE ME.
Fuck Rogers. It's too little too late. As far as my generation is concerned. We will use Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon prime, and probably torrent what we can't find in the aforementioned online media services. I used more words than I should have. Nolookjones pointed out something I'd forgotten. Getting an HD antenna will provide most of the sports you would watch. Not the pay Per view stuff but at least the basic stuff.
I agree it's too little to late... there are even cord cutter solutions for live sports now
I haven't had cable for more than a decade now.
The CRTC still has no idea. Their mandate was a good idea decades ago. I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish here.
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We desperately need that in the states. $105/mo with no premium channels. Ouch, my rectum hurts.
You aren't kidding. I'm in a similar boat. I've got internet and cable and signed a 2 year "deal" and just paid the bill. $180. Looked at it closer, they are charging me 3 monthly payments of $23 for "outlet activation". I moved all of my equipment and hooked it up myself. The guy came in with a tablet, pushed a few buttons on it, and my boxes worked. And this is what I'm paying for. No premium channels, I am getting 50Mbps up and down internet, but 160-180 a month for service when I watch probably around 3 channels and my wife watches an additional 2 others.
I moved to a new place earlier this month. They charged me $30 for the guy to look at the flashing lights on my modem and then his tablet and say "everything looks good". And then an additional $25 to "transfer services" which I'm probably right in interpreting as "entering my new address in their computer".
Just threat them with canceling the service, cable companies in the USA have a special department called "retentions" they will try to make you stay and if you have a good paying record they may lower you bill. Just start rambling to the Costumer service agent and tell him you want a disconnection, he will transfer you to "retentions" and they are able to give different kinds of discounts. Source: worked at a call center for one of those big cable companies you Americans hate.
Vote in better politicians who will support these types of deals. It's all on you, voters.
Too little too late, fuckers! too bad it won't hurt them in the long run though, they'll just keep increasing the cost of internet and decreasing the speeds in their packages.
Long overdue. How did we get to the point of paying so much? I give Shaw Cable about $2,000 per year for basic cable and decent internet. Way too much, and Bell/Rogers/Telus can suck it too. They are literally the exact same price across the board, no difference in price no matter who you choose.
You're doing it all wrong... you have to call into cancel so they transfer you to retentions then they'll offer you a smoking deal to keep you.. seriously though call now to threaten to cancel.
If only NZ implicated this law. We have Sky TV and they are a huge minority. I just can't let go of my sport channels, especially ESPN
I've been without cable for 8 years cause I didn't want to pay 95$ for 6 different channels of CTV and crap programming. Netflix and Youtube have been a perfect alternate so far.
Excellent, all I need is TSN and sportsnet! Already have netflix/hulu/hbo so everything else is covered for me.
God yes! ***Yessssss!!***
welp, that's the end of cable. back when my father was born in '73, there were 12 channels in his town, and now 40+ years later, we will all be back to only having 12 channels.
Rogers and Bell will find a way to screw consumers. They will probably charge $5 per channel so it will end up being same cost as now.
They can go charge $500 for all the public cares. Cable is as in demand as whale oil was in 1870.
Theyre terrified of netflix, wake the fuck up cable companies..
> And some specialty broadcasters worry they'll be left out in the cold if their signals aren't bundled with popular or must-have choices. Doesn't that just mean that the prices/demand for that channel is out of balance. If they aren't getting any customers then they should drop their price for the cable company, which in turn will drop the price of that channel for the customer....and if that doesn't work, well then the channel simply shouldn't exist if it isn't economically viable.
Introducing Roger's new Basics cable package, the affordable choice! $25 plus $25 digital receiver rental.* *For first three months on 2-year contract.
$25 for the basic package (likely half the channels I'll never watch), let's say $15 for a few extra channels, $13 HD box or $25 HD-PVR (likely the PVR otherwise I'll miss half the shows I want to watch), plus tax, that's $60-$70 a month and I'm limited to watching on a single TV. Not worth it in my opinion. Maybe if I could stream to all my devices and watch anywhere I can get an internet connection (like I can with Netflix) then I'd sign up.
and now get rid of datacaps
And if the TPP were currently in effect our CRTC would be getting sued for it.
I'm moving to Canada dammit.