RSS Feed
E-Mail DigestCompared to the slew of new media delivery solutions that have developed over the past few years like iTunes (Etilities Forum), Netflix
(Etilities Forum), Hulu
(Etilities Forum) or Joost
(Etilities Forum), Cable TV seems a bit like a dinosaur. Along with radio, it is one of the older content delivery services, and it shows.
Research group Parks Associates released a study in late October explaining that Cable TV has customer satisfaction issues compared to Satellite TV and IPTV providers. Although the details of the study are not publically available, my thought is that this is primarily due to a shift in how much control consumers expect to have on what they watch and when they watch it. The old, familiar model is that you need to tune in to the right channel at the right time. You arrange your schedule around the TV network schedules and hope you don’t get interrupted. What products like Tivo (Etilities Forum) and the Apple TV have introduced is the ability to make your own entertainment schedule.
The answer to this was Digital Cable, specifically Video On Demand (VOD) offerings which let you select movies, TV shows or documentaries out of a library of media that your subscription gives you access to. But there are still problems. First, VOD tends to have a more limited selection than the alternatives listed above. Second, the interface is often sluggish and poorly designed. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, this offering still rides on a service that is very expensive: according to the FCC, cable prices have more than doubled over the last decade!
The main thing Cable TV has going for it is that it has a very large established consumer base, and old habits die hard. But Cable providers should probably realize, for their own good, that we are in the middle of the danger zone: a tough economic downturn that makes everyone try to save money. Once enough people realize the alternatives out there, Cable TV will need to make a choice: adapt or wither.
©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
I am looking for a tv provider who will allow me to select what I want and nothing more. This concept should be easy with computers these days, and I am sick of the high prices they charge, and how – if I am to have all the channels I want, I would have to subcribe to the most expensive service and have hundreds of channels I would never watch. I want ONLY what I want, and will go with a cable company or satellite company that will give it to me at a reasonable price.
@CC: This will be a problem for TV viewers for a long time to come. The main reason is that cable and satellite companies can’t figure out how to make it profitable to deliver what are known as “ala carte” channel packages. Now, don’t get me wrong – I agree 100% that they should, and probably are, heading in this direction, but it’s slow going.
The good news is that there are a large number of alternatives to acquiring your TV service from the cable or satellite company. Outfits such as Hulu, Joost, and even iTunes and Netflix are making it more and more feasible to ditch the traditional provider and just watch what you want. Sometimes this can be done for free, but some providers are for-fee.
In fact, Thibaud, the author of this article, has ditched his cable entirely, as an experiment that he’s writing about for the blog.
We’re very interested to hear what your thoughts would be on these kinds of opportunities. If you have a chance to try any of them out, you can also participate in our community forums and let others know your experience – good or bad.