“Last week I came to the realization that with Netflix and iTunes, I would be able to cut out the $50 portion of my cable TV bill and ditch the 80 or so channels I never watch, including 3 shopping channels, 3 sports channels, 6 family channels, numerous foreign language channels, and one Lifetime Channel for Women that my fiance tortures me with. Farewell Melissa Gilbert, Rachael Ray, and Paula Deen! You are thus banished from my home,” Alan Graham blogs for ZDNet.
Graham writes, “I’m currently interested in about 6 shows, all of which it turns out I can get on iTunes. Plus, Netflix handles all of my movie needs. If I’m generous with my iTunes figures, it adds up to about $300 in purchases each year, versus the $600 I pay for all of the ‘variety’ that Comcast provides me. The old model of just piping junk into my home simply doesn’t make sense to me anymore.”
Graham writes, “I called Comcast and asked to disconnect the cable television part of my bill and just keep my high speed internet. They were very nice and said, no problem. They would be happy to do that.”
“Oh yeah…btw…we also have to cut your 6Mbps connection down to 3Mbps, and we’re gonna have to charge you more money for it. Or, we can offer you basic cable and you get to keep your high speed connection for just $64.”
Graham writes, “So wait, you are giving me the choice of charging me more money for less features, or charging me more money and giving me less value? I guess I’ll take what I don’t want…to keep what I do want. Thank goodness for deregulation!”
Graham writes, “Of course as long as companies like Comcast own the pipes, don’t expect any of this to change. But this experience got me thinking about Net Neutrality. What I wonder is, as services like iTunes, Joost, Netflix, and others begin to make greater inroads into the Comcast cash cow, and as the telecoms begin to provide cable tv options as well, will they be choking off the value of competing services by slowing down the pipes?”
Graham writes, “This seems like an anti-competitive tactic and is something we need to start looking closely at now. iTunes may be a juggernaut at the moment, but they can’t compete with Comcast and other cable/telecom companies, if they start choking off the connection. And that’s not just bad for Apple, Google, or Yahoo!, it hurts every other company out there, especially the smaller ones.”
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “BB” for the heads up.]
Tour of Apple’s new Apple TV (3:58):
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RUMOR: Apple TV sales blowing away Apple’s internal expectations – January 25, 2007
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Congress voted yes to net neutrality not two weeks ago, so hopefully, Comcast should not be allowed to pull shit like this in the future.
Also, I believe part of that bill stated that cable/satellite operators can no longer require that you use their set-top boxes. Instead, they may be required to provide a card of some sort that you can stick into any old set-top box (tivo, appleTV, etc) that would then authorize the box to decode cable/sat signals.
Assuming I’m right about the details, and assuming it gets signed into law, this would be a very good thing indeed.
The author must be a little myopic. All he had to do was say that he was going to get his video from satellite, and his internet from the telco and Comcast would have caved. I don’t have cable so it doesn’t matter to me, but a close friend does and that is what she did. She ended up with basic cable at $24.95 and high speed for $14.95 (Time Warner) with the prices good for the next 12 months.
Let’s hear it for city wide WiFi. It’s our constitutional right! Right?
Hmmm. Good thing Google has a satellite network that they currently use only to power Google Earth. I bet that could provide a whole new high speed network. Isn’t the guy from Google on Apple’s board?
I too took the no cable route. Netflix provides a great deal of content and much of it is collections of past TV programing. I had to go with a DSL provided over a land line, so, in a way I had to pick my poison. I took a land phone line and a DSL provider over a cable connection. In Seattle, and hopefully in many other places as well, there is a third, wireless internet feed option getting underway. We will see where that goes.
But if you must have live sports…
I pay for Comcast’s 8Mbit Service without any TV from them – It is great..
Do you favor Net Neutrality? Whatever your answer is, please explain why?
I would like to explain someone with your point of view.
the day comes…
it will not come before you can download HD content, of course. That won’t every happen.
Do you favor Net Neutrality? If so or if not, please explain why?
I would explain your point of view with someone.
Thanks
Ditching cable TV certainly means you could go for satellite or DSL.
Hopefully we will get more choices in the future. We currently pay over $110 for cable TV and internet, which is way too much. More competition the better for the end user.
What Alan Graham said…might as well be me. I’m doing exactly the same thing. My Comcast bill went through the roof when I decided I wanted their HD. No more! Near DVD quality will have to do, for now.
What Comcast offers in HD in my area is pitiful. Doesn’t even include the major networks.
From: Gregg Thurman
The author must be a little myopic. All he had to do was say that he was going to get his video from satellite, and his internet from the telco and Comcast would have caved.
Yes, he could do that. But that’s beside the point. The point is, when he asks for a lesser set of services he should not be overcharged in order to punish him for not wanting cable tv.
Why should he have to LIE to the telco, in order to get the just services *HE* wants?
Everybody should send the link to their senators/congressmen, whose knowledge of what’s going on is usually only from corporate lobbyists. We gotta take the power back.
IMAGINE THIS:
Apple offers the whole next season of LOST for $100, before a single episode is shown on network TV. I garauntee there would be thousands of people plopping down the money.
possibilities folks… possibilities.
Apple needs a subscription model. Your method doesn’t work too well for a family of 4 with different tastes, including kid’s shows and sports. I could never buy every show ala cart. Subscription by channel would be nice but I would still keep about 15 to include networks, news channels, kid’s programming, sports stations and a few others.
Sometimes, you just like to browse the channels or your Tivo Now Showing list to find something to watch.
possibilities, but the second iTunes integrates advertising, I will stop using it all together. The thing I enjoy about it is that I can watch what I like anytime with nobody else’s fingers in the mix ruining the experience. I don’t have cable and don’t watch regular television for this very reason. Between iTunes and BT I have my bases covered.
I’ve got the same hopes as this guy. I would love to ditch my cable TV service since I only watch three stations above basic cable. Okay, four, since I’m watching the Australian Open on ESPN2. SciFi cancelled Stargate SG-1 so I don’t watch that channel anymore. All that leaves is a show or two on USA and Discovery, and sports on ESPN. Except for the sports, I can get the rest on iTS for much cheaper than my cable service. I can’t wait.
Farewell Melissa Gilbert, Rachael Ray, and Paula Deen!
Hey! Don’t dis Rachael Ray.
to Go Tar Heel,
Yes, I need live sports on my TV too. Carolina sucks!!
Go Pack!!
to effwerd: Did they cancel SG1!? I thought they had one more season before SciFi channel cut them off! Oh, if thats true Im gonna be pissed. Luv Battlestar Galactica tho.
WHERE ARE THE CAPTIONS??!!
As long as iTunes keeps removing the closed-caption information from their network programming, it’s not a replacement for my family (my wife is hearing impaired) nor for the other 30 million Americans who suffer from hearing loss and deafness.
This is a huge problem with all online video sources, and needs to be addressed!! Can’t imagine such a small text feed would really increase file size that much!!
Apple owns dark glass which may be lit whenever it feels like it. After all, Steve also said that Apple and AT&T have many joint projects down the line.
You tie the loose ends…
Mike! Regards to Captions…. Please Contact me!
Look, this transition to ala carte tv watching has to happen in baby steps. Why? The tv stations subsidize the networks. For example, the stations help pay the huge fee to the NFL. By circumventing the stations, the network risks alienating them. So, the transition has to be subtle, so that when the tipping point is reached the stations and cable systems won’t know what hit them.
ohno, I’m pretty sure they meant the tenth season (the one just past) was their last. I’d be happy to be wrong, though.
Here is the SciFi press release. I have no idea what they’re going to do to wrap up the last episode.
Yes, it sucks. How will I get my Amanda Tapping fix now?