Cable TV companies are quickly losing audience and are likely to be out of business in the next 5 years or so.

Cable household penetration projects to drop to about 40% at the end of this year, down from 90% in the mid 2010s.

The last remaining customers are largely Boomers, and even they are deserting in droves.

I'll miss the competition. I hate Spectrum with a passion, but the 90 minutes I lose every year threatening cancellation has kept my rates unbelievably low.

Less competition is not a good thing for consumers. Even if it is effin' cable

https://cordcuttersnews.com/the-end-of-cable-tv-why-cable-tv-companies-are-abandoning-tv-at-a-record-pace/

If my FIL lives long enough, he will be their last remaining customer. He absolutely refuses to learn how to stream entertainment.

Maybe cable can make a comeback, with how irritating streaming services are getting

Instead of paying for the channels I want with a side of cnn and golden girls, I now pay for that and 15 streaming services because shows switch between them so much.

But those licensing deals for content are sunsetting and the original owners will have it on their platform.

Why there has been no class action on having to buy the same media over and over again? I assume the answer lies in the fine print.

And maybe horse and carriages will make a comeback as well.

Yes, lets feel bad for cable companies who have overcharged customer for years while providing terrible customer service.

Weird thread.

GAC06 said:

---

Maybe cable can make a comeback, with how irritating streaming services are getting

---

Yep. You get more commercials while streaming content now than you used to get watching big 3 network or cable programming back in the day. However, I refuse to pay an extra $20-$30 a month, per service, to avoid it.

I'm definitely not sad. I remember the days where I had no choice to shop around. It was either the local cable company or satellite. Cable companies treated customers like dog chit. I'm happy to see them die.

flown-the-coop said:

---

Instead of paying for the channels I want with a side of cnn and golden girls, I now pay for that and 15 streaming services because shows switch between them so much.

But those licensing deals for content are sunsetting and the original owners will have it on their platform.

Why there has been no class action on having to buy the same media over and over again? I assume the answer lies in the fine print.

---

I agree. But, tbh we don't buy the media, we only get to rent it.

I'm paying as much as I did before i cut the cord. And it's more difficult to find programs. Cutting the cord has not delivered what it promised from my perspective.

My parents and sister and brother in law refuse to believe that streaming services like YT TV and Hulu plus act just like cable where you can choose live TV and watch exactly like you were watching something AT&T Uverse. They think you will constantly be working that remote to choose what to watch with each show. I gave up trying to convince them it's just like you have cable and cancelling, adding channels, or subtracting channels is so quick and easy.

heres the trick go and cancel your current plan you either get offered a discount to say immediately or in a few days.

Confused. If they are losing customers they aren't providing a competitive product so doesn't seem like it would impact competition.

beanbean said:

---

My parents and sister and brother in law refuse to believe that streaming services like YT TV and Hulu plus act just like cable where you can choose live TV and watch exactly like you were watching something AT&T Uverse. They think you will constantly be working that remote to choose what to watch with each show. I gave up trying to convince them it's just like you have cable and cancelling, adding channels, or subtracting channels is so quick and easy.

---

This is the key, no contract. Streaming is month to month. No equipment to return. No cable guy. Even at same price, you are still winning!!

I think malls will be gone within 10 years.

Disagree that they will be out of business in 5 years. They are in the process of transitioning to being primarily providers of high speed internet. In most cities they serve, they hold very valuable franchise licenses to be the sole cable provider (meaning all the physical infrastructure and ability to serve every household). The telcos are catching up with fiber but it's still mostly a two horse race for terrestrial internet service (cable company vs. phone company).

For TV specifically, what you'll probably see is the cable companies starting to get a lot more aggressive with branded bundles of streaming offerings, IPTV distribution with their own proprietary hardware (already seeing this), etc.

Don't forget Amazon prime just rolled out a 2.99 monthly charge to go ad-free for Prime members. So pay annual fee that said you would get commercial free Prime tv content, then a few years later start with small in(convenience) fee.

Several years ago, the owners of my town's cable tv company sold it to someone from out of town who had a cable tv company in their own home town.

The new owner put a relative in charge (I think a nephew) who turned out to be worthless. I've been told that he drank most of the time but I never met him and so I can't say for sure. He didn't maintain anything and the quality of their service dropped until it was really terrible and so most customers switched to satellite tv.

When the new owner shut it down, they offered to give us the service for free. We turned it down because we knew that since most of their customers deserted, they were unlikely to return. Also, it would have taken a lot of expensive work to get the service usable by the few customers they had left.

beanbean said:

---

My parents and sister and brother in law refuse to believe that streaming services like YT TV and Hulu plus act just like cable where you can choose live TV and watch exactly like you were watching something AT&T Uverse. They think you will constantly be working that remote to choose what to watch with each show. I gave up trying to convince them it's just like you have cable and cancelling, adding channels, or subtracting channels is so quick and easy.

---

It's so frustrating, isn't it? I've given up trying to convince my FIL. Maybe if someone started a streaming service called "Old Fartz" with its own remote that only has a power button and a volume/mute button, I could get him on board. All that would be required of the streaming service would be to play a random assortment of old westerns and "The Andy Griffith Show" reruns.

Bull Meachem said:

---

And maybe horse and carriages will make a comeback as well.

---

The Orcs are using them in Ukraine

GAC06 said:

---

Maybe cable can make a comeback, with how irritating streaming services are getting

---

Like FloSports or whatever the frick they call it.

TomFoolery said:

---

Confused. If they are losing customers they aren't providing a competitive product so doesn't seem like it would impact competition.

---

Plus, isn't what they're switching to competition?

streaming is too slow...always 10-30 seconds behind game threads.

TomFoolery said:

---

Confused. If they are losing customers they aren't providing a competitive product so doesn't seem like it would impact competition.

---

Actually the opposite. They are trying to hold out as long as possible. DESPERATE

I am getting 2 cell phone lines for $30 total, but total credit on phones is about $60 which they are paying for.
Landline (I know..) $15
500 MB internet $30
Cheap TV package.


It is a pain doing this every year, but best deal around.

Snipe the shows you want to watch.

We don't watch a lot of TV, but we wait for a show to drop, subscribe, watch and drop.

Over_ed said:

---

TomFoolery said:

---

Confused. If they are losing customers they aren't providing a competitive product so doesn't seem like it would impact competition.

---

Actually the opposite. They are trying to hold out as long as possible. DESPERATE

I am getting 2 cell phone lines for $30 total, but total credit on phones is about $60 which they are paying for.
Landline (I know..) $15
500 MB internet $30
Cheap TV package.


It is a pain doing this every year, but best deal around.

---

Then why are they bleeding customers and at risk of going out of business?

out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Every product, platform and service is en****tefied.

One Louder said:

---

beanbean said:

---

My parents and sister and brother in law refuse to believe that streaming services like YT TV and Hulu plus act just like cable where you can choose live TV and watch exactly like you were watching something AT&T Uverse. They think you will constantly be working that remote to choose what to watch with each show. I gave up trying to convince them it's just like you have cable and cancelling, adding channels, or subtracting channels is so quick and easy.

---

It's so frustrating, isn't it? I've given up trying to convince my FIL. Maybe if someone started a streaming service called "Old Fartz" with its own remote that only has a power button and a volume/mute button, I could get him on board. All that would be required of the streaming service would be to play a random assortment of old westerns and "The Andy Griffith Show" reruns.

---

Add all ESPN, fox sports, hgtv, food channels and maybe discovery or national geographic and I'd jump right in with him!

Over_ed said:

---

TomFoolery said:

---

Confused. If they are losing customers they aren't providing a competitive product so doesn't seem like it would impact competition.

---

Actually the opposite. They are trying to hold out as long as possible. DESPERATE

I am getting 2 cell phone lines for $30 total, but total credit on phones is about $60 which they are paying for.
Landline (I know..) $15
500 MB internet $30
Cheap TV package.


It is a pain doing this every year, but best deal around.

---

Wow. I have Spectrum for internet only and the best I can get is $85 a month. But to be fair, I don't really want to deal with having a bunch of other services I don't want in order to save a marginal amount.

My geographical location pretty much forces me to use streaming services. I haven't had "Cable" for years now. I live out in the boonies.

Suddenlink still owes me for unannounced price increases followed by the telephone tag, followed by the threats to leave, followed by the "oh my supervisor says we can offer you a new deal", followed six months later by the price increase and the cycle repeating itself.

When cable competition is gone the price of streaming will go up. It's already higher than it should be. We actually just watch OTA stuff now. It's free.

akaggie05 said:

---

Disagree that they will be out of business in 5 years. They are in the process of transitioning to being primarily providers of high speed internet. In most cities they serve, they hold very valuable franchise licenses to be the sole cable provider (meaning all the physical infrastructure and ability to serve every household). The telcos are catching up with fiber but it's still mostly a two horse race for terrestrial internet service (cable company vs. phone company).

---

Don't forget satellite. I used a company called Starry for several years for internet. Was $50 a month and I had wY fewer headaches than I did with Xfinity and especially Centurylink. **This was in Denver**

Somehow "cutting the cord" now means I'm paying for at least dozen damn apps

akaggie05 said:

---

Disagree that they will be out of business in 5 years. They are in the process of transitioning to being primarily providers of high speed internet. In most cities they serve, they hold very valuable franchise licenses to be the sole cable provider (meaning all the physical infrastructure and ability to serve every household). The telcos are catching up with fiber but it's still mostly a two horse race for terrestrial internet service (cable company vs. phone company).

For TV specifically, what you'll probably see is the cable companies starting to get a lot more aggressive with branded bundles of streaming offerings, IPTV distribution with their own proprietary hardware (already seeing this), etc.

---

They're not going anywhere. They have tens/hundreds of thousands of commercial accounts for, at least, internet and phone service all over the place. Those businesses don't need/use TV -- or if they do, they're needs are so light -- so any comparison to streaming issues don't matter.