Mercury News Covers Cord Cutters & 1.5 Million Cut the Cord in 2011

Chris O'Brien from the The San Jose Mercury News wrote about his experience in cutting the cord. 

Now came the hard part: Figuring out how to watch all the shows we used to watch. The Panasonic Viera comes with a large selection of apps installed, including Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon. We are longtime Netflix subscribers, so that didn't cost anything extra. We also had Amazon Prime, a $79 annual service that gives you free shipping and access to a modest selection of free "Prime" TV shows and movies.The one addition we made was to subscribe to Hulu Plus for $7.99 a month. This gave us a full library of shows we watch on Fox, NBC and a collection of secondary cable channels. So far, so good.

I also paid $99 to get Apple TV, which allows me to turn the TV into a stereo by streaming our music collection from our PC. I can also download videos right from the iTunes store and mirror content I'm playing on my iPad or iPhone right onto the TV. It's kind of awesome, actually.Mostly, it's been great. But there are a few pitfalls. We have to remember what shows we can find on which service. Even then, there are random headaches. For instance, we're fans of "30 Rock," which is available on Hulu Plus. But when we punched it up the other night, we saw a notice saying "Web only."

In related news paidContent reported that more than 1.5 million people cut the cord in 2011.

In fact, belying several earlier research studies, which said growth of U.S. multi-channel services has slowed significantly but not stopped, Nielsen’s latest “Cross-Platform Report” says the number of U.S. homes paying a multichannel provider for TV services last year actually declined by 1.5 million, or about 1.5 percent.

Subscription gains made by telco providers AT&T and Verizon (about 1.1 million) and satellite service companies DirecTV and Dish (added 280,000 subscribers) could not offset the over 2.9 million subscriptions lost by cable providers, Nielsen reports.

Will 2012 be the year that cord cutting takes off?

Comments

[Serra]

Cutting the cord makes it slightly more difficult to watch all of the shows I use to watch, specifically shows like Covert Affairs and Mad Men. However, it isn't too difficult.

[Dusty T]

We cut the cord at the begining of this year. We couldn't be have made a better decision. We are saving close to $50 a month. We still get to watch most of our favorite tv shows. The CBS shows we usually have to torrent or find a site to stream them to the tv. That is oour only true loss because we can't watch those CBS shows on Hulu Plus.

[Robert Emmerich]

"a $79 annual service that gives you free shipping"

How does somebody write that with a straight face? Spending over $24.99 gets you "free shipping", $79 gets you 2 day shipping AT NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

I've tried to cut the cord but I can' t. Funny thing, we don't watch tv shows per se, but I like the noise and news and sports on in the background. I'm currently getting basic at a discount w/ my cable modem and VOIP, don't know what I will do when the deal is over though.

[FearNo1]

In my experience, there is no difference in shipping times between amazon's free shipping on orders over $25 and the 2 day shipping via prime; either way it takes about 5 biz days for the product to arrive. Thus I cancelled amazon prime trial.

With netflix, hulu, crackle, etc available on streamboxes, smart TVs, consoles, etc, cable/sat companies have to be impacted. I'd like to see how premium channels are affected.

I'd like to cut the cord, but I do like sports and background news.

[gir]

"Will 2012 be the year that cord cutting takes off?"

I would really like it to be, in a huge way ... not holding me breath though.

[moviegeek]

You don't need an Apple TV if you have a DLNA enabled Blu-ray player(LG, Sony, etc) and WMP 12, I use WMP 12 to stream my music and video library to my Sony Blu-ray player that's hooked up to my stereo. I was sad to see 30 Rock get pulled from Hulu Plus, I'm also displeased that all the new TV shows are foreign language soap operas.

[moviegeek]

I have to agree with Amazon Prime is not worth it, I only order things over $25 and get free shipping which I receive in about 4-7 days. Many third party vendors don't have a minimum and have free shipping which makes Prime moot. Besides the Amazon UI sucks on most devices.

[troll]

4 years without the cord
will never go back ...

[MasterRobyn]

We cut the cord a year ago and switched to OTA HDTV + Netflix though our TiVo. We have NEVER been happier and save over $100/mo!

When it comes to "current" shows on cable that we MUST watch ASAP (there is only one) we buy them per season via Amazon!

Transferring videos (from iTunes) on our computer to our TiVo is easy using a freeware app!

Never been happier!

[noor]

6 years no cable

tivo is rip off devices whom wants to 14.99 a month plus 7.99 and 7.99 and 99.99 hello not me.

netflix and other service are better

[Groggie]

I often think about cutting the cord... 240 bucks a month for comcast just isn't worth it. Their internet speeds are great, but I find that I need a phone line less and less as time goes on (cell phones are better). The only reason I don't chop down my comcast bill to just be internet is because of the premium movie channels. If HBO, Starz, and Showtime would offer their service for a subscription that didn't require cable, I would be gone in a heart beat.

[jheartney]

Cut the cord about 5 years ago, don't miss cable at all. For background-drone TV/news our rooftop antenna does a fine job, and Netflix offers more stuff to watch than I have time for. Kids are used to finding something to watch rather than just letting cable pour in unattended. No cable bill and no commercials on Netflix; I dunno why more people don't cut the cord.

[CordCutter]

My brother was hesitant to cut the cord because of some of his favorite shows were on HBO/Starz/Showtime. Once he did the math though he saw it wasn't worth the price of cable. You can purchase entire seasons of shows like Dexter on Amazon for 30$. That's the entire season in HD. Showtime alone was costing him $15 a month from his provider. The season of Dexter stretched almost 3 full months, that's $45 and he didn't own the digital copy and couldn't watch it on a huge # of devices/platforms like he can with Amazon. Once you add on the cost of cable itself and the digital/HD boxes that are required for channels such as HBO/Starz it's not worth it. You just have to be okay with the delay, most streams don't become available for purchase until the DVD set does. For him, the money he was saving was worth the wait.

Sports is another beast all-together. You can get a lot of sports OTA. Majority of NFL games are delivered this way. Also, if your ISP provides ESPN3 access, you get 80-90% of ESPN/ESPN 2 programming right there. NHL, NBA & MLB all offer packages online, which are perfect if you're out of market. If you're in market a VPN gets you past their authentication. Most of those services only authenticate once, when you launch the game, so you can kill the VPN after a minute or two of use and you're good to go. Not exactly ethical, but not exactly evil either considering you're still paying them $100+ for the season package. They are still getting your money. (Sadly, not even one month's cable bill for me when I still had it). An HTPC running playon will sling ESPN3, MLB.tv, NHL GCL, etc. to a huge number of devices including a slick easy-to-use Roku channel.

I would LOVE not to have to jump through the hoops I do to have to get the programming I want. Once the cable industry realizes this and offers a la carte pricing for channels I will think about going back. But they also have to look at how they deliver the product, I don't want to "rent" a box from them or have to switch out my TVs for ones with cable cards. If they'd roll out apps for services like smart TVs and set top addon boxes along with a la carte pricing I would be back in a heartbeat.

[sucram]

I would like to cut the chord completely but my wife is holding out. I've got all of the pieces mentioned in the article already in place, plus two TivoHD DVRs with Lifetime subscriptions. She's getting accustomed to using Hulu+ and Amazon VOD. We have Prime too because I like the two day shipping. The instant videos are gravy. Have had Netflix for 9 years (Streaming + 1-Disc). Have access to Prime, Netflix, and Vudu via PS3 and a Sony BD players. Can get OTA HD via the Tivo's. She Loves Game Of Thrones and True Blood but I have demonstrated for her that it is possible to get those same or next day via other means. The tipping point may be near, however. With the expiration of some promotions our cable bill has climbed from $156/Month (Too Much) to $180 (Way too Much). At the beginning of July the last of our promotional rates will expire and I'm sure the total will suprass $200 (Insane!). If we can't get another promotion I will make an executive decision and Just do it.

[CordCutter]

I cannot stress enough how nice Playon.tv is for those thinking of cutting the cord. My brother took advantage of a deal they were running, lifetime license and a ROKU LT for $80. You can also share out your movies via it. I ripped my movies to .mkv file format on my HTPC and I can stream them to the Roku's in my bedrooms using Playon. It's pretty solid with very little issues so far. Playon runs on your HTPC and goes out to the official websites and pulls the episodes/movies down and slings them to your device (in my case Rokus). So you can watch full episodes from sites such as A&E, Lifetime, etc. Here is the list of their official channels:
http://www.playon.tv/content-channels
There are also numerous channels not listed that people have created plugins for, like the History Channel. They are easy to find/install.

[Judy__]

Netflix turns up the heat on net neutrality:
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=220779&site=lr_cable&f_src=lightreading_sitedefault

•Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) complained to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staffers this week that broadband caps are unfair to over-the-top video services. Netflix coupled its verbal argument with a slideshow titled "A Level Playing Field for Video" that points the finger at three service provider applications that are exempt from broadband consumption caps: Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK)'s Xfinity TV on Xbox 360, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)'s U-verse TV on Xbox 360, and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC)'s iPad application. It goes on to outline a range of services that are subject to caps, including MLB.tv, Hulu Plus, Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE)'s Crackle and, of course, Netflix.

[Groggie]

Netflix should also highlight this, where comcast is ignoring net neutrality in another way...
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/05/08/netflix-is-right-comcast-may-be-evil.aspx

[Melvin Tinkle]

Bittorent the shows. It's free and the comercials are stripped out. Most of the time you can get them in HD. Double bonus!

[BOB]

Cable televisions trickery and scam tactics are about to get what they deserve when they take losses. Every time someone cuts the cord the only thing the fat cats can think to do is raise the price thus causing more cord cutting. The system they have in place is a dinosaur and people are fed up. Paying for content you don't want is how the cable industries has been able to charge more than the service is worth to the individual for years. The cable industries time is over and if they don't get with the program and offer smaller, cheaper and more customizable packages they deserve to go the same way as the dinosaurs. Why would I choose to pay for 25 shopping channel or 10 Cspan channels or 8 fox news channels. Seriously what is going on with cable. I cut the cord 3 years ago and haven't looked back. If a TV show isn't available on a streaming service I just wait for the DVD or Bluray Box set to become available at a rental service/Netflix. I didn't really cut the cord to save money. I cut it because I don't fall for tricks.

[FREE Netflix Account]

I ordered for shipping and it reached me after 3 days..

[Judy__]

Cut the cord 10 years ago. Haven't missed it.

[eviltimes]

I called Comcast to cut my cable TV portion and they asked why? I told them it was too frakkin expensive - especially all those little monthly rental fees - and they immediately dropped them for a year (which practically cut the TV portion of the bill in half) - so I fully intended to cut the cord, but they made it worth my while.
And I didn't even have to leave a horse head in anybody's bed!