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re: Playstation Vue Price Increase
Posted on 7/6/17 at 11:14 pm to t00f
Posted on 7/6/17 at 11:14 pm to t00f
quote:
Feel like I am getting sucked back into a cable business model.
You are.
I've written about this here before, and the gist of it is the current crop of streaming services suffers from the same problem as cable packages: the channel bundle. The popular (read: expensive) channels want to be bundled with a bunch of cheap channels to hide their true cost via averaging, and the cheap channels want to be bundled with the popular ones to increase their reach. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement on their end, and the customer ultimately gets screwed.
The other big problem is the TV industry is a bizarro world where more competition leads to higher prices, rather than the other way around like it should. The reason is the streaming services, like the cable companies, are at the mercy of the content owners, because the content owners are the only source of their particular product. It's not like most products where you can choose an alternative. Each channel is its own collection of art that can't be found elsewhere. It's like an auction, where more bidders (in this case streaming services) drive prices higher.
So I think this is phase 1 of the TV revolution. The bundles will keep getting bigger, and the prices will keep creeping up until people start to realize that this is just the same old cable TV delivered a slightly different way. Then we'll have to go through the whole process of cutting this new cord again to bust the bundles. Then there may be another phase where the market pries individual shows away from the content owners to bust those "bundles".
It's not going to get better permanently until we can subscribe to individual shows a la carte at reasonable prices. Until then, expect the industry to keep gravitating toward the cable bundle model.
2
Posted on 7/6/17 at 11:21 pm to Korkstand
For right now ride it out as services like Vue along with your ISP are cheaper than getting tv and internet from one provider along with heir extra fees, increased fees after introduction rates and rental cost for boxes.
Posted on 7/7/17 at 3:26 pm to Korkstand
"More competition leads to higher prices"? Really?
Cable companies and streaming services are middle men. Their job is to get the content for the least amount possible and then sell it for the maximum amount possible.
Yes, the content providers are the only source of their particular product, as are most companies that produce a product. Apple is ultimately the only source of an iPhone; but you can choose an alternative, get a Droid. You can choose to subscribe to HBO, and not Showtime. You can choose to pay for the cable package that includes every channel in existence, or you can choose a Sling package for less than a quarter of the price. You decide; you're the consumer.
It's not an auction. Only one bidder gets the piece of art in an auction; the cable companies and streaming services can all get access to the content, not just one. And they will do so as long as they believe their viewers will pay more than what they are paying the content providers.
The viewer drives down the price. The more options there are as far as bundling and packages, the better bc there will be cheap packages (which is the trend) and expensive ones. Each viewer pays for what they want. The more content providers that offer their content directly to the viewer without a subscription, the better. That is another trend; albeit, a slow one bc it's mainly premium channels that have done that (I would argue that Amazon shows, Netflix shows, Hulu shows, etc are also in this category). Once a major cable network (namely, ESPN, or AMC, or FX) breaks away and decides to offer its content directly to the viewer for a certain price, others will begin to follow suit.
If you believe more competition leads to higher prices, then you must want only one cable company for the entire country (less competition, lower prices, right?). Sounds disastrous.
Cable companies and streaming services are middle men. Their job is to get the content for the least amount possible and then sell it for the maximum amount possible.
Yes, the content providers are the only source of their particular product, as are most companies that produce a product. Apple is ultimately the only source of an iPhone; but you can choose an alternative, get a Droid. You can choose to subscribe to HBO, and not Showtime. You can choose to pay for the cable package that includes every channel in existence, or you can choose a Sling package for less than a quarter of the price. You decide; you're the consumer.
It's not an auction. Only one bidder gets the piece of art in an auction; the cable companies and streaming services can all get access to the content, not just one. And they will do so as long as they believe their viewers will pay more than what they are paying the content providers.
The viewer drives down the price. The more options there are as far as bundling and packages, the better bc there will be cheap packages (which is the trend) and expensive ones. Each viewer pays for what they want. The more content providers that offer their content directly to the viewer without a subscription, the better. That is another trend; albeit, a slow one bc it's mainly premium channels that have done that (I would argue that Amazon shows, Netflix shows, Hulu shows, etc are also in this category). Once a major cable network (namely, ESPN, or AMC, or FX) breaks away and decides to offer its content directly to the viewer for a certain price, others will begin to follow suit.
If you believe more competition leads to higher prices, then you must want only one cable company for the entire country (less competition, lower prices, right?). Sounds disastrous.
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