[mythtv-users] All clear QAMs gone in Portland, OR

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Fri Nov 1 14:46:04 UTC 2013


On 10/31/2013 04:33 PM, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 7:59 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> .....
>> I consider myself a cord cutter--in 2006, I dropped satellite (which I had
>> for 2 years, before which I had cable), and am now using only OTA ATSC plus
>> buying DVD/BluRay versions of or streaming with Amazon Instant/Netflix those
>> cable-only shows I want to watch.  Doing so saves me a fortune compared to
>> the cost of cable, plus I get the no-DRM benefit of OTA.  And all of this
>> without torrenting/stealing any TV.
> And yet, in a previous post, you said you are (likely) to again
> subscribe to a MSO to get ESPN.   There are those in the
> industry that would say the lesson to learn is content is king,
> and to take the long view, and they will all come back into the
> fold :-)
>
> Yes, that was a cheap shot.  Sorry.  But it illustrates a
> point.

Yeah, and it's the point that industry would take from my once again 
getting cable TV.

On the bright side, the "total" subscriber number will actually decrease 
when I go back to having cable.  I currently have a cable-Internet-only 
subscription and my fiancee has TV + Internet, so when we combine 
accounts, it will result in the loss of one cable-Internet-only 
subscription.

I'm trying to decide whether to cancel my account and "move" hers to the 
house or to cancel hers and change mine to include TV.  I'm leaning 
toward the former just so there's no new subscriber to the TV packages 
(even if it would be offset by a lost subscription).  I'm not sure, 
though, if the principle is worth the cost if that results in extra fees 
(service shutdown and/or startup fees).

> In the end, the (self selected) people on this list are a very
> small minority compared to the number of the sheeple
> subscribing to Cable/Satellite who take what they are told
> is best for them (you *need* 1000 channels of shopping).
> If all of us (on the list) dropped US Cable/Satellite
> subscriptions tomorrow, I would be surprised if it was a
> statistically significant number greater than normal churn.
> And how many could (legitimately) give up that content
> and still have household harmony?  Michael clearly did
> for quite some time, but he is probably in an even smaller
> minority.

And I really would continue giving up that content--even after the 
wedding--if there were some other legal means of getting the sports.  
It's especially annoying that of the $50 extra it will cost, only about 
$7 of that is for the channels I want.  I truly believe that NFL and 
NCAA see cable/satellite as their customers and all the people who want 
to watch the games are just hostages to their distribution contracts.

Mike


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