For years, cable providers have bullied us all into accepting their “bundle” packages, all priced at a premium (of course). For example, if you wanted CNN, you were forced into also buying MSNBC and FOX too. If you wanted HBO, you also had to pay for STARZ and ENCORE as well. But alas, your prayers may soon be answered. With the advent of online video services, including Hulu, Roku and others, combined with millions of cable consumers simply canceling their service, cable companies are seeing the writing on the wall and seem ready to change their entire structure.
U.S. cable and satellite providers announced last week that they wish to unbundle their channel packages so as to better compete with Internet video and a tough economy. DirecTV, Mediacom, Suddenlink, and others are pushing the FCC to alter retransmission fee systems and let them sell access by the channel so that they can lower the actual cost of selling TV services. For us, this means that we may soon be able to buy 1 channel or 100 channels, all depending on OUR wants and not what they cable companies tell us we want. YEA!
Many former cable subscribers have ditched the service in favor of simply catching their favorite shows on iTunes, Hulu, or via networks including ABC, CBS, Comedy Central and others, which offer all their shows online. Consumers have been hard pressed to make sense of paying cable companies between $50 to $75 per month for hundreds of channels they don’t want or use, when they could just watch their 1 or 2 favorite shows at whatever time of day they want, for about $10 bucks.
Cable TV as we know it, is on a slow decline toward death. Unless cable providers act now, they will find themselves in the same boat as brick and mortar video and music stores — unnecessary and extinct.
So cross all your fingers and toes that cable “bundles” die a quick death and soon usher in the new “a la carte” era.
