Nerd Rage with the Bad Nerd
Can we talk turkey? And no, this isn’t
another bloated, Thanksgiving preaching session about thankfulness and the
holiday spirit. In fact, I’m outraged. Because while the times
they are a changing, some cable and satellite companies are partying in your pockets
like its 1999. And that’s a party whose invitation I’m
glad got “lost in the mail”.
Here’s the stink. Apparently, DirecTV has
increased their price for service by another 6.2% from last year. This amounts
to $102.37 revenue per subscriber. It’s also worth noting that this is the
first time the company has broken the triple digit average cost per subscriber.
In their defense, DirecTV said the increase was mostly due to higher advanced
receiver service fees, price hikes for programming packages, higher fees for a
new enhanced-warranty program, as well as higher pay-per-view revenues.
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| 2 year contract? Your soul is ours now chump |
Now, some people might say that this is normal. Inflation
happens. I get it. However, they aren’t done raising prices. In February
2014, they will raise their prices once more. On average, that means over 20
million people are paying at least $1,200 a year for entertainment through
their old boob tubes, and that’s ridiculous.
We are on the verge of a media revolution. Over-the-top (OTT)
services, like Netflix, Hulu, and other online content providers are the future
of TV entertainment. The DVR ushered in the first wave of the revolution with
the ability to fast forward past commercials and watch episodes on your
schedule instead of when they aired. But they were limited to the number of
shows that could be recorded and/or played back simultaneously, which meant you
were forced to make choices and miss out on a show you might have watched
otherwise. But OTT services meant that frustration was over. They just needed
time to settle into the market place as a viable option.
Currently, Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions are higher than
ever. And these services are a paltry $8/a piece. Anyone with an AppleTV, Roku
device (or any video game platform for that matter) can play either one on
their televisions in HD. Not to mention SmartTVs have apps built-in, as well.
And on top of that, HBOGo is also available through them (although admittedly
only with a cable subscription, but they are looking at going a la carte soon).
And then there’s the internet for $30/month
respectively, which gives you access to all of the cable and network channel’s
websites where you can watch any show they distribute. So, given that, you
could be paying north of $46/month for your TV entertainment. That’s
still, at the very least, half of what you’d pay.
And to add more fuel to the revolutionary fire, Charter just
announced that they are launching an app for streaming 100-plus live channels a
la carte, which means you don’t have to be a subscriber. There’s
no word on the cost of this new service, but it is being modeled on the Netflix
setup. In addition to live TV, the app lets subscribers browse on-demand titles
and TV listings, schedule their DVRs or use a mobile device as a remote control
for their set-top.
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| Your Contract lets us stalk you more than the NSA does. |
This holiday season, I sincerely hope that you aren’t
the turkey sitting helplessly on the table waiting to be carved; because if you’re
still sucked into the vortex of old pay-TV services, you just might be.
- Bad Nerd
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