About damn time:

http://wane.com/2014/10/16/cbs-debuts-stand-alone-streaming-service/

I dream of a world where every network/channel has a paid monthly subscription for streaming and the cable/satellite companies GF themselves.

justincredible;1664105 wrote:I dream of a world where every network/channel has a paid monthly subscription for streaming and the cable/satellite companies GF themselves.

Agreed, nice to see HBO on the bandwagon as well.

Somebody post the "it's happening" gif.

If somehow I could get sports a la carte streaming I'd never need cable again.

I'd get:

- Local network channels (that shouldn't be freaking $6/month, when you can get them for free!)
- HBO
- ESPN
- Netflix and Prime for kids stuff
- FX/FXX

Automatik;1664111 wrote:If somehow I could get sports a la carte streaming I'd never need cable again.

Pretty much this.

ernest_t_bass;1664113 wrote:I'd get:

- Local network channels (that shouldn't be freaking $6/month, when you can get them for free!)
- HBO
- ESPN
- Netflix and Prime for kids stuff
- FX/FXX

Absolutley this!

In the past the talk about this said that many people could be close to paying what they would for regular cable if you chose 12-15 channels as many of the popular onces would charge a good chunk of money. Right now eSPN gets over 5 bucks per subscriber to cable right now. Thats alot of $$$. To go a la carte you can expect them to charge 3-4 times that.

It could be great and networks would have to survive on their own. I look for it to be years and years before it would become a reality for many.

justincredible;1664105 wrote:I dream of a world where every network/channel has a paid monthly subscription for streaming and the cable/satellite companies GF themselves.

I dream of that too, but what will the price be then when...

ESPN wants $5 per month
ABC wants $5 per month
NBC wants $5 per month
CBS wants $5 per month
TNT wants $5 per month
TBS wants $5 per month
FOX wants $5 per month
FOX Sports wants $5 per month
USA wants $5 per month
CNN wants $5 per month
Big Ten Network wants $5 per month
SEC Network wants $5 per month
FX wants $5 per month
FXX wants $5 per month
....
That's $60 per month right there, and not even including internet.

Now, hopefully some of these companies bundle/package their services (i.e., ESPN & ABC, FOX & FOX SPORTS, FX & FXX, etc.) I have to imagine cable providers (AT&T U-verse, TimeWarner, Cox) are going to skyrocket their internet packages when they start losing cable subscribers at plummeting rates.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664140 wrote:I dream of that too, but what will the price be then when...

ESPN wants $5 per month
ABC wants $5 per month
NBC wants $5 per month
CBS wants $5 per month
TNT wants $5 per month
TBS wants $5 per month
FOX wants $5 per month
FOX Sports wants $5 per month
USA wants $5 per month
CNN wants $5 per month
Big Ten Network wants $5 per month
SEC Network wants $5 per month
....
That's $60 per month right there, and not even including internet.

Now, hopefully some of these companies bundle/package their services (i.e., ESPN & ABC and FOX & FOX SPORTS, etc.) I have to imagine cable providers (AT&T U-verse, TimeWarner, Cox) are going to skyrocket their internet packages when they start losing cable subscribers at plummeting rates.

I could see ESPN wanting more than that. Right now they get more than that per subscriber to the cable companies. It is great in theory, but many people could end up paying more for less channels.
I would like ESPN, FX, CNN or FNC (depending whom is in the WH), USA, TNT/TBS. Man, discovery and History has some good stuff, same with Natgeo.
I used to e in the cable biz and this was brought up a few times and the common thought on the "inside" was the over/under would be about 10-11 channels for what you pay. I know my local provider is like 54 bucks for 85 channels. Had TWC at our lake condo this summer and those people rape you.
If you only go with like 4-8 channels you may pay less but 10 and over it may be a diff thing... Most people watch more channels than they think.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664140 wrote:I dream of that too, but what will the price be then when...

ESPN wants $5 per month
ABC wants $5 per month
NBC wants $5 per month
CBS wants $5 per month
TNT wants $5 per month
TBS wants $5 per month
FOX wants $5 per month
FOX Sports wants $5 per month
USA wants $5 per month
CNN wants $5 per month
Big Ten Network wants $5 per month
SEC Network wants $5 per month
FX wants $5 per month
FXX wants $5 per month
....
That's $60 per month right there, and not even including internet.

FOX, ABC, NBC, etc are all free over the air so I wouldn't pay for them. I think $5/month is a great price for an individual channel.

justincredible;1664144 wrote:FOX, ABC, NBC, etc are all free over the air so I wouldn't pay for them. I think $5/month is a great price for an individual channel.

It would be but I am betting some will be north of five bucks.....

justincredible;1664105 wrote:I dream of a world where every network/channel has a paid monthly subscription for streaming and the cable/satellite companies GF themselves.

Agreed.

justincredible;1664144 wrote:FOX, ABC, NBC, etc are all free over the air so I wouldn't pay for them.

Isn't CBS free over the air? Why are they charging then?

thavoice;1664145 wrote:It would be but I am betting some will be north of five bucks.....

Agreed. ESPN will certainly demand more.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664174 wrote:Isn't CBS free over the air? Why are they charging then?

Because suckers.

But really, they are offering a streaming service for a cost. Not just their live feed.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664175 wrote:Agreed. ESPN will certainly demand more.

Doesn't mean they'll get it. The market will decide what their service is worth.

justincredible;1664178 wrote:Doesn't mean they'll get it. The market will decide what their service is worth.

You bet your pony they'll get it. I bet ESPN could EASILY get $12 a month. EASILY.

Automatik;1664111 wrote:If somehow I could get sports a la carte streaming I'd never need cable again.

Agreed, but I don't think we see that for the foreseeable future, especially with these mega deals they keep inking. Too much money to be made in this format, would greatly outweigh the streaming aspect for sports.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664183 wrote:You bet your pony they'll get it. I bet ESPN could EASILY get $12 a month. EASILY.

Ok. Then they'll charge $12+ a month.

Six of one, half a dozen of another.

Cable companies still hold a large chunk of the ISP market share. As someone mentioned earlier they'll simply jack up their ISP rates to compensate for lost cable TV revenues as more and more services go to streaming.

On the other hand if they jack up their ISP rates there are always other non-cable ISP options to choose from. So who knows how that will pan out?

I use Charter cable as my ISP but do not subscribe to any of their TV services. I get all the major networks plus sub-channels OTA, Netflix, ROKU, and use other streaming sources (IE: ESPN3, etc.) for any sports programming I want to watch. I basically don't watch television for the most part except sports and news.

I really think as time goes on cable companies will be forced to go to an a la carte menu system to retain their customer base.

I don't like the sound of this. Ala carte will end up way more expensive.

Couldn't the cable companies just lower bandwidth and slow download times (aren't they already doing this?) and make it a miserable experience to be all streaming? Or they will make their internet package that is good enough to support all streaming so ungodly expensive that it doesn't make sense.

They will get theirs somehow.

For me, I am fine with my $170 cable bill. I have HD in every room plus DVR. I haven't had a service outage in years. It is reliable. I have upgraded internet which is near business class. No complaints.

It won't take long to get to $200/mo when you start buying channels ala carte, especially since the cable companies won't be keen on giving deals to subscribers for internet only when they aren't paying for their cable.

Scarlet_Buckeye;1664140 wrote: That's $60 per month right there, and not even including internet.

ding ding ding! The price of my bundled internet is @ $30 ($80 without promo pricing). The 4 networks, USA, FX, HBO and a few others would put me at $60-$80/mo...oh, and the kicker is if everyone starts ditching cable stand-alone internet prices will increase.

Although if you want to watch illegal free streams of shows, then you can get by with maybe just the 4 networks. On the other hand, you think the broadcasters would stream their shows for free as right now people wouldn't be able to skip commercials (until software comes out that records shows like a DVR...probably exists already).

And then interfacing on internet-ready tv's will be clunky for a while. Not sure how it would work with home theater set-ups that pipe everything thru a receiver (although newer receivers are also wifi-capable).

Interesting developments, anyway. But why in the world do I pay $5 and have to wait a day to watch a new episode? And if I'm paying you better not subject me to commercials, either.

gut;1664620 wrote:ding ding ding! The price of my bundled internet is @ $30 ($80 without promo pricing). The 4 networks, USA, FX, HBO and a few others would put me at $60-$80/mo...oh, and the kicker is if everyone starts ditching cable stand-alone internet prices will increase.

Although if you want to watch illegal free streams of shows, then you can get by with maybe just the 4 networks. On the other hand, you think the broadcasters would stream their shows for free as right now people wouldn't be able to skip commercials (until software comes out that records shows like a DVR...probably exists already).

And then interfacing on internet-ready tv's will be clunky for a while. Not sure how it would work with home theater set-ups that pipe everything thru a receiver (although newer receivers are also wifi-capable).

Interesting developments, anyway. But why in the world do I pay $5 and have to wait a day to watch a new episode? And if I'm paying you better not subject me to commercials, either.

Good point, belly.