Don't cut the cord on cable like a rookie (The 3:59, Ep. 503)
Don't cut the cord on cable like a rookie (The 3:59, Ep. 503)
2018-12-12
welcome to 359 I'm Joni Salzmann David
Katz Meyer is joining us too so
Katz why are you are our television guru
and you recently updated your advice
about cutting the cord it's never been
more viable to cut the cord but that
doesn't mean that it's easy or simple
what would you what's kind of the most
important thing that you think people
should consider when they're thinking
about getting out of a regular pay TV
subscription yeah I mean that's the real
thing it's like if you've never had
cable then it's easy you know you know
what you're getting but if you're one
these people have decided hey you know
I've had cable for a long time I got a
DVR I'm used to these kinds of things
when you go to you know get rid of it
you're gonna be losing some stuff so the
main thing to consider is the money
you're gonna save you know if you have
just internet versus your bundle versus
your packaging I always tell people try
to negotiate with your cable company
call them up or if there's a couple in
your neighborhood if you're lucky enough
to have some competition come up and be
like hey dude I'm quitting cable can you
cut me a deal so the best way in that
sense to cut the cord is to not cut the
cord
well that let's say they can't match
your price you know because there's one
thing to consider
then then you go okay fine time to cut
the cord then you can consider one of
these live TV streaming services or you
can put up an antenna those are the two
best ways to get sort of the replacement
for cable the other thing is if you're a
sports lover make sure that you know
this particular team that you follow is
gonna be available that's really the
main thing that keeps a lot of people on
cable is these regional sports networks
where you the only way to get it is if
you have your cable subscription but a
lot of new live TV streaming services
like FUBU TV like YouTube TV actually do
have these are SNS now so they actually
allow you to go ahead and do that it's
really cool what about beyond live TV
stuff that you'll be losing what about
on demand things do you think that
there's ways that people can cobble
together a package that works for them
yes
I feel like you know Hulu is your friend
if you really like these a lot of
on-demand Hulu which you know just the
basic service has a tremendous amount of
stuff available on demand really if
you're watching on demand cable is the
worst way to do it I mean between
Netflix Hulu and even you know the net
work apps if you want to go that deep
available on any of these devices you
can get a lot of stuff available
immediately to stream and you don't have
to worry about a cable suggestion to do
that what about people you know part of
the problem with cutting the cord is
that it's so hard to figure out what it
is how you can get those things that you
want because everybody is in an
individual they all have different
tastes and priorities what do you
recommend for people who may not know
about things that are available to them
are there Ed is there anything out there
that people might not be aware that they
could try yeah the easiest thing is to
just sit down and write down your list
of must-haves shows and it's a lot
harder if you have a family you know
everybody has to be considered you know
and figure out which shows you can live
with which shows in live without which
networks they're on it takes a little
bit of work but then once you have that
list the internet is your friend and it
CNET for example you have a whole list
of for example all the various channels
carry it on each of these like TV
services whether they're actually
available in your area
for example ABC NBC CBS and Fox are only
available in you know most of these
metropolitan areas if you live a little
bit further away from the city you might
not be able to get them so you know
those sorts of things
you're gonna have to figure out on your
own or again if you want to put up an
antenna that's a whole other thing and
that's a great way to save a lot of
money on your cables refuse to put up an
antenna see what you get because you
they're cheap you can connect it to your
TV right now and just kind of experiment
so moving on
do you remember that's Marriott hotel
chain cyberattack from a few weeks ago
well it turns out that it may have been
bigger and more insidious than we
thought there's a report and in about an
investigation into that attack that
appears to indicate it's part of a wider
Chinese spying effort David have all
these cyber attacks have they changed at
all how you consider your own digital
profiles exposure well I'll tell you one
thing I do have a monitoring service and
I get a lot more emails you know about
this so I actually got the little alert
you know but Marriott and and and you
know that bothers me but it's one of
these things where you know it's it's
just around all the time and it kind of
doesn't surprise me that Oh China is
behind this or Heil
North Korea is behind that or whatever
like it's it's become weaponized
and you know it's a little bit scary but
I feel like as long as you're you're
smart you use I use like a password
protection service for example
pass you use one of these things you're
taking steps in the right direction I
think credit monitoring is also a really
good thing especially you know if you
have some credit to protect then quickly
there's also a story out from czar
Stephen Shanklin it's about Intel with a
new type of breakthrough 3-d chip
stacking called faux voz the idea is
that it'll bring a kind of processing
that previously is used for artificial
intelligence and machine learning but
has been really expensive make it much
more affordable and that means there
might be a reason for you to upgrade
your PC in the next couple of years you
can check out that story and all the
rest at cnet.com I'm Joni salzman I'm
David Katz Myer thanks for listening
speaking of the chips I was just
threatening last episode to replace
everybody on the show with AI BOTS that
I build myself so you can stand by for
that look at 29th you'd be surprised
let's be honest here for a second I want
natural intelligence darkness the full
flavor I don't know natural intelligence
on this show usually ends up with me
screwing up something or been completely
botching the intros putting that out
there everybody it's time to go ahead
and send your questions to come and some
of you already have been so thank you
for that let's keep this conversation
going let's start off going right back
to the beginning and talking a little
bit more about cutting the cord now I'm
a big proponent of it have been for a
long time let's talk about what services
we personally subscribe to and why maybe
to kind of set this stage the first one
I signed up for was Netflix I was a very
early adopter as excited about that
jumped on the Hulu train shortly after
that presently I am experimenting with
CBS all access and I recently got the DC
Universe app that was actually gifted to
me for participating in New York
comic-con this year which was a
excellent wonderful gift thank you WB DC
etc it's been Pleasant so far what about
you guys what are you using these days
Oh Amazon Prime two for me cats you try
everything yeah yeah and and at home
right now we're on YouTube TV because we
are a post cable household and it was a
long hard transition is maybe you can
tell from that article we were talking
about earlier you know I I started in
you know probably eight years ago
climbing on the roof with an antenna and
realizing I couldn't get anything but
yeah you two TVs been great but I can't
watch the Knicks for example on YouTube
TV so you know if I want to I would
subscribe to DirecTV now which has that
channel so it's interesting like I would
probably if I was if the Knicks are
really good I really wanted to watch
them this year I would trade you know my
youtube TV which I think I like the
integration the DVR better for directing
me now because it has that channel you
know it's one of these things where you
have to make these kind of changes but
part of this new world of over-the-air
are sorry over-the-top streaming
television is that
unlike with your cable subscription it's
really easy to just switch from UT from
YouTube TV to DirecTV you know it's not
like you're in a contract you can just
stop and go to the other one and then go
back to the other one when the next
season is over yeah yeah it's it's and
you can do the same thing with shows
which you know a lot of people do with
HBO for example no and and I'm sure
their subscriptions gonna go through the
roof once Game of Thrones starts up
again that sort of thing you know
following these things around is really
cool and really freeing and we tried
around we played around with PlayStation
View for example my wife like didn't
like the interface I was kind of used to
it you know we tried sling TV my sisters
you need to be for example because they
watch a lot of soccer and a lot of like
sports that are that are on there that
and they prefer you know obviously
paying $50 less a month for that so
there's so many different ways you can
do it and then the on-demand stuff we're
talking before that's just live TV and
for the most part our family it's we
watch you know Netflix we watch Amazon
we don't what we do watch some Hulu as
well so those three are like kind of
must-haves you know beyond this like TV
stuff so yeah the bill at the end of the
day we're not saving that much but I
love what you talked about the fact that
you don't have a contract you can change
out whenever you want I feel like you
know if the price is the same yeah and
you don't have to worry about even if
the price is the same now you don't have
to worry about like when that contract
expires it's gonna be going up 20% yeah
there's not gonna and you don't have to
worry about these these installations
like be there for a window between 3:00
p.m. and 8:00 p.m. yeah for us to come
out to your house and there's there's
product benefits to cutting the cord
beyond just the content in the price
yeah and and I mean we're having these
these conversations at the holidays for
example you know like I have my my
relatives coming and being like you know
whatever it is and they're always paying
crazy amount like how can you possibly
pay like 100 80 bucks a month for like
TV and Internet but you know they do and
those guys are prime candidates for once
they get over the a little bit of a
learning curve and figure out they can
do this stuff and I'm generally helping
them with that and I've gotten some
really you know good you know results
from people again once they can get
their sports teams basically yeah it's a
clutch
it's an experiment in control really at
least it was for me I got a lot of my
family gifts of NetFlow
subscriptions early on just to kind of
get them on that train and now picking
them up things like Roku's and fire
sticks and etc to keep the hardware warm
you know it you like you said you really
not changing the bill that much and with
so many more places going independent a
la carte like Disney's going to be
launching their own service right now
which means that all those Marvel
properties on Netflix are probably going
to migrate in some fashion disappearing
well we might not lose all of them but a
large theory is that you know the
defenders series is going to find a new
home on Disney Plus whatever they're
calling it now so yeah at that point
you're paying $8 for that $8 for that
$10 for that $6 for that one and it does
it's gonna pile up but what you're
paying for now instead of the sheer
volume and capacity of continuous
broadcast content which may or may not
appease your tastes you're paying for
control of the aaalac our on-demand
service when you want it how you want it
yeah that's my two cents i I want to
talk a little about the antenna thing
too I don't know we have any questions
on this but the antenna aspect if you
can get these channels is really cool
one you know big gotcha about these like
TV services there's no PBS for example
and my you know I got young kids PBS is
a must you know and it's kind of awesome
to you know have an antenna option and
and yeah in New York we get like you
know 40 channels now if you don't live
in the basement yeah you can get one of
these live TV a DVR even to schedule
recordings of stuff and and you know
basically pretend you have almost a
cable through these things yeah guide
all this stuff yeah I don't know I like
it
over-the-air antennas are kind of like
magic it's like this magic that is
existed since the dawn of time and
everybody we've gotten to this mindset
of cable subscriptions and paid TV
subscriptions that people forget that
there's just television floating around
yeah you can grab and get for free and
it's free that's very true
I have an antenna as well but I live in
a recessed apartment underground so my
signals kind of lousy and I've tried
getting creative with it - I've tried
like attaching it to the pipes in like
my heating pipes in the apartment try
and get better reception reflective do
that
I'm not I'm not a scientist yeah and and
and I can't use an antenna because I
live like there's too many trees and I'm
like kind of out you know in Long Island
so I actually don't we tried there's one
of the first things we tried we could
get like you know three channels and
then they didn't come in and then the
other one and what about you John can we
go for three here I don't have an
incentive right now only because so
you're a cord cutter I'm a cord never
like I've never really had cable in my
adult life like after I left my my
parents house and so I never like like
acclimated myself to the idea that I
like it's natural to watch TV in a
linear like broadcast sort of way I just
have always been watching stuff on
demand so I don't have one but I think
it's great for a lot of people yeah it
makes a lot of sense for a lot of people
if you really like that kind of like
watching things as they're broadcast
over the air content then it makes sense
for you I just don't have one because
I'm one of those ones do you like like
just watch over live news yeah yeah just
like watch like online and watch like
apps like I'll just go to like the CNN
app on my Roku
but when something's like live and
breaking I usually I'm watching that
stuff on my phone I don't really keep it
on my big TV in the main screen of the
house partly because I have young kids
too and if something is a news event
that I want to be keeping tabs on live
it's probably not something I want my
kids to really be exposed to it's
probably something bad and disturbing
internet works pretty good for news yeah
yeah there's a lot more options floating
out there now too like we talked news
and sports I not pandering here use the
CBS all access sports to watch the
Buffalo Bills also there's stuff like
fubo floating out there now too
yeah and I've been experimenting that
did a trial with that it works great
sometimes the selection is limiting but
those things are made to grow and expand
expand so yeah there's so many options
and just like cats point out there's so
many options just in that live tree TV
replicating a live
all experience there's so many options
in that now like add-on to that free
apps and paid on-demand subscriptions
it's just a lot well is it gonna start
narrowing at some point do you think
Joan you track this pretty closely I
mean you've written a lot of stories
about these kind of I know that there's
like some some perverse financial
incentives going on to with these guys
always talking about how you know
YouTube TV is a loss leader that was out
for a while you know these guys you know
there's a lot of channels they're
charging a relatively small mint of
money plus we've had some price
increases yeah so the price increases
had an effect like I know that sling and
DirecTV they were having like
gangbusters gross growth in the first
half of the year and then they stopped
having a lot of their promotions and all
of a sudden lo and behold their growth
was like mhm
it was a huge steep drop-off yeah but
yeah I mean like you know the way that
we talked about how like with on-demand
paid apps there's Netflix that almost
everybody has if you have one you
probably have that one and then there's
like two or three others that you might
subscribe to one or two of those pardon
me I think that might happen with the
live TV streamers that eventually
they'll be like maybe three of the kind
of all-purpose we give you a giant
collection like a larger bundle that
pulls out a head because people I think
yeah they even though you can switch in
the hop between them I think most people
just don't want to have to do that yeah
they want to find the one they like yeah
get a price that's reasonable for them
and then be like alright that's my TV
yeah so I do you think that a few are
gonna pull ahead from the pack it'll be
interesting to see what which ones I
think it'd be really interesting if like
a fubo or a Philo which are the kind of
independent they're not owned by a
gigantic corporation like DirecTV now is
or like YouTube TV is or sling TV and be
it'll be interesting to see like if any
of the small players are managed to
become one of the dominant services I
think it'll be really interesting yeah
they they're both pretty niche you know
it's like those sports and then Philo's
know sports right and and third the
price of food Oh for example yeah I
think that there's there's way too many
now and it's super confusing and really
using you and it's kind of like what how
are they different and especially since
he could switch between them everything
and cats didn't do justice to like when
he when you said that you can go and see
net and find out that all the different
channels that can get on each one that's
because katha has a gigantic Excel
spreadsheet and he continually updates
with like not enough apparently
like monk like fastidious it's fun I
just one of my favorite things in the
world excel spreadsheets are fun I mean
sharing it on on Google Docs and having
all these anonymous like lemurs and and
yeah so you can have aardvarks and
everything like come in because Google
that they'll put little animals on there
to symbolize anonymous nests because
it's just a weird Google thing yeah so
and it's fun to go on there and see like
you know 150 other weird animals you
know checking out whether you can get
CBS in the morning yeah it's it's it's
pretty fun but there's I mean that's
again it's incomprehensible like there's
so much you need a friggin spreadsheet
yeah that's crazy yeah so we've covered
so much ground and specifically we've
talked about all of the favorites I'm
gonna go ahead and bring up your
spreadsheet here and the listings and it
is bonkers it's not even the G doc dude
no no I know I know but this is the one
that people can see you once seen it
just search OTT it'll turn right up yeah
but while we're looking at this let's go
ahead and take some commentary from the
chat that we've been neglecting like a
lot like as he points out we we kind of
forgot PlayStation View we did bring up
sling TV DirecTV now watch TV YouTube TV
and Philo once so Loic says I'm paying
200 bucks a month for Comcast Xfinity
yeah I what cut the cord but Comcast
Xfinity is the only Wi-Fi provider in my
area and they say if I downgrade my
service to Wi-Fi only it's still gonna
be $89 a month and that's the same
problem I've kind of run into with Time
Warner who's the only one in my area
Matthieu dieter chimes in and says my
problem is at Comcast is the only
internet provider in the area
yeah price difference between comcast
internet o Navy plus Internet is hardly
anything they really want you to stay
loyal and he says I can't cut the cord
until I have more choice than ISP so do
we think this is gonna kind of force
that hand are we gonna actually see
more exposure for providers or are they
gonna actually start to flux the market
to kind of cater to this well so this is
where programming providers the options
that you have for over-the-top
programming stuff the sling TV use the
DirecTV now that's not gonna change
whether or not you have a choice an ISPs
and because cable companies cable
companies have regional monopolies they
have local monopolies so that's why
there's only a Comcast in your area
that's why there's only a charter in
your area that's why there's only it's
well time around time
try it on Time Warner the same thing now
but you get my drift like that's the way
that it was structured that they would
have local regional monopolies in
particular areas and then as broadband
became the default way that people get
Internet into their home that meant that
you really only they had monopolies over
you know virtual monopolies over your
internet service into your home too so
it has created this situation where they
are able to take advantage of the fact
that if you want to have a really good
internet connection most likely you only
have one really good option maybe if
you're lucky you have a second decent
option and that means they can price
those things so that it's like yeah you
could stop getting our cable
subscription and only go to Internet but
why would you because we'll charge you
so much for the internet alone that it
only really makes sense for you to be
getting Internet and video and phone if
they can throw that into I feel like
it's legitimately falsely inflating that
market that they're trying to make a
sound like cable still relevant when
it's not yeah welcome to America I mean
sorry go ahead sorry yeah that's that's
how its structured the the best way to
fight that is is is to quit cable anyway
yeah like that's what I did so I'll just
give you a quick story we were paying
like I think was about 150 160 a month
for the triple play for Verizon in my
area which is phone internet and TV and
I called him up and did this little
negotiation thing and and I there isn't
that we actually have a competing
provider in my area so I was able to
play them off of each other but at the
end of the day I still needed phone for
various reasons plus Internet so I'm
still paying about a hundred bucks a
month for that yeah so it's not like I'm
saving a massive
but as we were talking about before to
me it's worth it to have the choice of
these other services by the way even if
I had TV I'd still be Netflix Amazon
Hulu right you don't mean like the
original content now especially yeah
actually there's there's no way you can
to me at least with our family that we
couldn't subscribe to those things and
we can turn them off occasionally you
know if we're sick of them but whatever
we usually come back again for original
series or whatever it is yeah same thing
with HBO you know right now we don't
have it but we're gonna come back to it
probably so you know then there's the
live TV service which I guess kind of
zeroes out that savings but I can cancel
at any time if you know money gets tight
and I want to save you know whatever it
is a month I can cancel you know yeah
those those options are still there so
if you're paying 200 a month for example
I feel like you know as long as you're
not missing any must-have channels it's
worth it to just try it go for the you
know the internet only or in a phone if
you need it and you haven't tried doing
the negotiating tactic that - yeah well
they fold like paper do it do it and
then come back or or or do it hang up
and ask for another representative you
know there's and you can even Google how
to negotiate with the cable there's some
really good tactics out there for how to
actually get that bill down because
everybody's following a script on the
other end of the phone they wanted
retain you as a customer and especially
if you have a second provider
unfortunately a lot of us are in these
monopolies but for example where I am
there's there's Verizon and there's the
the cable company for a long island so
those you know there's two guys who can
play off against each other so there's
there's also up like smaller companies
that are trying to break down this is P
monopoly like there's starry internet
but the problem with there people are
trying to do it via fiber but the
problem with this stuff is that it's
really hard there's a reason why these
monopolies started they were built
they're baked in but there's a reason
why they haven't really been broken by
the free market it's because it's hard
to deliver Internet service 5g could
change things a lot it's thinking yeah
let's talk about 5g no and I just want
to say so the premise of this whole
conversation has been around reasons to
cut the
but there are some people you know our
listener mentioned x1 paying $200 for
for x1 feels like a lot of money but I
will give Comcast some credit x1 is a
really advanced way to watch cable
television they've integrated a lot of
things like Netflix Amazon YouTube so
that you don't they have voice so it
like they also have decent customer
service people novel idea do that really
comcast is like that open Time Warner
well ok second to last couldn't be any
worse that's all I'm saying
so here's here's some great conversation
interesting thoughts coming up out of
what we're talking about right now
Brian Stone says even if you do cut the
cord there's still gonna be data caps
you might have to deal with especially
for streaming to multiple TVs so you got
to be kind of choosy how this unfolds
now have we this is something I was
actually thinking about last night when
I was watching TV and I kept having some
buffering issues which I think was
probably a loose off the cuff deal but
with the impending crunch with the loss
of net neutrality and the increasing
trend of higher quality content being
pushed out in the form of 4k have we
backed ourselves went into a corner here
are we gonna see like a point where it's
like I've run out of TV shows on the
first Tuesday of the month that's a good
question I I would say I would say know
one of the reasons in in general first
of all those data caps are pretty high
right now because you'd have to be
competitive what they will do though is
to try and sell you a higher you know
speed or even a higher cap if if you
mentioned that you're gonna be streaming
and all that kind of thing I would again
try and start with the lowest you can
but yeah there's definitely places where
data caps gonna be an issue but like for
example Netflix is a lot of bandwidth
but it's it's not that much it's not
like you know downloading video games it
depends on how much you're watching yeah
on these daily basis you know it's
there's definitely some people who hit
the cap but you also got to change your
habit sometimes for example people leave
their TVs on hey maybe you can turn off
the TV you know or better yet turn off
the streamer because if the consumer
just keeps going and
background after you've turned off the
TV and your Roku just keeps you know
sending out your the the TV signal do a
blank TV that's a bad thing
look there's contingency plans in place
more often now and not perfect but you
know Netflix makes you question your
character after you what binge watch
seven episodes of The Office are you
still there it locks up yeah then she
goes back to the home screen eventually
that shuts off and eventually the TV
follow suit because the HDMI is like
well you're gone yeah and some services
even sling TV actually has a bandwidth
cap so you can go in there and say hey
look sir show me a lower bandwidth
version of the show for example or you
know even even warn me when these things
are happening so there are ways to deal
with it but it is an issue I feel like
it's it's it's still less of an issue
hopefully witness neutrality doesn't get
worse right yeah yeah with net
neutrality changing the there's a
possibility that service providers could
take advantage for their financial gain
that kind of predicament I think but I
do think that there are ways that the
programmers can counterbalance that like
you said there's ways to get like you
can offer like as a programmer or
somebody that's delivering like the
Netflix is can figure out ways to like
let you know and give you options about
what level of quality that you're
streaming in here's a relevant question
from Joseph in general what is a
recommended speed of Internet to use for
online streaming services for like Hulu
without having to deal with buffering
ooh tough one
so in general 50 megabits per second 15
not 50 is gonna is gonna be fine now our
HD 1080 yeah and and and that's actually
the recommended for 4k so when I say
fine that's that's pretty damn good the
problem with that is that that's
especially if you're not on FiOS if
you're not on fibre optic connection
that number can go way down during peak
hours which is when everybody watches TV
in your neighborhood if you have cable
you're subject to the peak hour issue
yeah and and that number might not be
constant in normal circumstances so I
would say that's kind of your baseline
these a lot of guys are offering a
hundred for example megabits per second
that's crazy
again if you have five people in your
family all streaming at the same time or
you know a couple people doing video
game
downloads or playing live games at the
same time yeah you're gonna use that but
for a single stream that's complete
overkill so you have to consider how
many people are streaming at the same
time at what time and you know usually
in my experience wow this is really good
with with maintaining that 15 megabits
per second compared to something like a
cable service where it'll dip and go
down that's really interesting yeah good
thing we got Google Fiber coming away
we've talked about this before Joan but
if Rayne says the TV app commercials are
repetitive and they drive me nuts I
never thought I would miss reel
commercials let's go ahead and unpack
that one again because what you told me
last time was very informative but still
enraging yeah right yeah that was fun
because I got a chance to say Brian let
me blow your mind you do so yes I
understand they especially on ad
supported streaming services lots of
repetitive ads unfortunately that's by
design not by the streaming service but
by advertisers advertising since the
dawn of television has been based on
this concept of repetitive impressions
and so when you're on TV especially a TV
as it is now there's just a lot more
commercials in an hour of regular cable
TV than there is on like say if you have
ad supported Hulu subscription if you
use if you watch YouTube a lot fewer ads
per hour on those services but what that
means is advertisers still want to have
the same number of repetitions so with
fewer commercials same amount of
repetitions you get a lot more
repetitive ads it's not like these
services don't have a variety of
marketers and advertisements to show you
it's that the advertisers specifically
want to repeat them before your eyeballs
over and over again which it's one of
those it's one of those things where
advertising hasn't caught up to how
viewing behaviors have totally changed
and it's making a less pleasurable
experience because of it and and I in my
opinion I think your time is often worth
it to subscribe to the ad free version
of Hulu which we do and it's I can't go
back at this point or even the ad-free
version CBS all access you know which
which again is
with these services offer an ad-free
version for more money
and it's you know a couple bucks a month
I would strongly consider you know say
you guys should consider paying that
just because to not have ads is is a
wonderful experience it frees up your
time and obviously this whole annoyance
factor you know if it's something you
use a lot it's totally worth it yeah I
never minded ads as long as they were
decent enough or got a cheap laughs item
at the very least you know you can try
to sell me something
I don't mind there's stuff out there I
don't know about but the sheer fact is
they get to the end of a show on Hulu
and I hate any given company because
they have bought up every single spot in
that show yeah and it's out of spite I
refuse to participate in there well the
thing is you probably remember those
brands even though if you you spite them
do you remember like what brands they
were that no I've erased them for my
memory I have eternal sunshine them
because I hate them so much
you are a special case a lot of ways
you're a very special person but I get
what you're saying and I'm so glad that
you able to actually explain that
because I'm sitting here thinking like
did they is this my first thought was is
on demand services these streaming
servers are they failing can they not
that's really interesting and raging but
interesting alright we're just about out
of time let's go ahead and address the
the elephant in the room
Timothy we're over here in 2018 he's
living in 30 18 cable should have
customers actually choose their channels
in order to compete not package deals
actually individual channels true a la
carte boy wouldn't that have been nice
well you say I mean people say that but
we kind of have an inkling of what true
a la carte is like now and it's more
expensive like the thing about cable is
that a $200 a month bill for Comcast is
insane but if you and grants it nobody
watches all of the channels on their
Comcast subscription but all the cart
channels if you go beyond 5 like it's
gonna add up and the reason that you
can't do that is because
only like nine companies on all the
networks and they force their called
MVPDs the-the-the your cable company
DirecTV SL like they're called MVPDs and
they force MVP T's to take the entire
bundle of all of their channels take it
or leave it like you can't well let me
think of one
everybody's merging with everybody so I
can't remember which ones are actually
but like well you can't if you get if
you want the Discovery Channel you got
to get discovery life and discovery
science and blah blah blah blah and if
you want ABC and Disney you also have to
have ESPN yeah in freeform yeah you know
those types of things are their common
and that's like if you look at sling TV
I think they're they're marketing says
it but it's true they're kind of as
close as you can get right now in
today's market to a la carte channels
and they have you know a really slim
cable bundle or you know of channels
that's 25 20 20 bucks a month and they
do these little add-on things like if
you want to get the kids package for
example you know seven five channels so
that's that's pretty close
I grew Jonah I don't feel like it's
gonna get be complete true ala carte
where maybe you're what are you gonna
pay two bucks a month to get you know
nick jr you know whatever it is per
channel because I don't think the
economics really add up they would never
I would be there's a reason why there
isn't a $2.00 subscription it's pretty
five yeah it would have to be more than
that and so nickel and diming that's why
you know when when Katz cuts the cord
nickel and diming it's not all you know
saving all that much money yeah but yeah
and you look at like Philo what is that
fifteen bucks a month I think yeah and
they have they have like 40 odd channels
in there a lot of them you've heard of
inter and are quote-unquote you know
legacy good channels and you know
they're able to do it because they cut
off the expensive channels because you
know they don't have this they don't
know yes PN they don't have you know
those types of channels cost a heck of a
lot more for a provider so they
experimented with you know a package
that does that and it's pretty popular
my people you don't care about sports a
news it still want live TV on these on
these services so there's a lot of
experimentation going on a lot more than
there ever was in the past you know it's
really cool yeah you know all these
things are coming out and and the market
is is really heating up and a lot of big
players are trying to get into
it and and and break this this issue and
even the TV providers and the cable
companies are seeing that you know the
writing on the wall you know you got a
you got to figure out how to serve
people yeah I remember the ad
I remember the ad that set me off on
Hulu it was a Volkswagen ad I don't know
if anybody else recalls us this was a
while ago maybe a year to ago even it
was this ad and it had this family and
it was long when to is like a 62nd or is
his family doing a cross-country road
trip in a Volkswagen vehicle and they
get to the end they're like on this
cliffside Beach kind of thing and you
meet that you realize that the reason
that they went there was a deposit
grandma's ashes and I was just like the
first time you get through it's like oh
that's sad but kind of heartwarming okay
I get it that's effective that one's
stuck and then it happened again and
then it happened again and about 30
minutes through my show I'm sobbing in
the corner and I hate Volkswagen and
every fiber of my being so the reason to
hate where I was getting serviced a mad
on very clearly because it was a Walmart
ad and it was like around fall so it was
kind of like like building on a
tailgating get everybody together for a
party watch the game sort of vibe but
they didn't have they didn't show up
specific teams they had people that were
wearing like one team was a blue team
and all their fans are wearing blue
another scene was being was an orange
team because and whatever whoever they
were but they're all gathered around to
watch this game and it drove me crazy
that blue and orange would stand up and
cheer at the exact same time okay they
wanted to show like everybody's having
fun at this party these opposing team
would stand up and cheer and I was like
it just drove me crazy and every single
time I saw it it was like it doesn't
make logical sense but then they turn
around the camera and they were actually
cheering at the Walmart commercial and
weren't even watching the game they're
just excited that they saw themselves
cheering in an infinite mirror universe
of blue and orange alright next time we
got a slow news day we're gonna go down
the rabbit hole that is bad old
commercials we could spend hours on good
old commercials oh I was like that's
that's kind of sick though that you have
so many nostalgic thoughts about
commercials from your childhood oh yeah
they stick that happy modern America for
you yeah no kidding especially now in
the holiday season boy some of the ones
that they've kept alive like the
Hershey's Kisses in Campbell Soup
Snowman and all those rolling out this
time of year I still have fond memories
of those and I can deal with them once
that's about all I'll give them there so
insidiously effective mmm I need a bowl
of soup now hey we're out of time
everybody we got one show left in 2018
and that'll be tomorrow morning at our
regularly scheduled time 11:15 a.m. all
right here on YouTube live stream and
periscope until then Joan you want to
take us on out of here yeah the 59 is
available on iTunes tune in feedburner
stitcher google play music the cool
podcast the Amazon echo and of course
cnet.com we'll see you tomorrow
take care folks thanks for joining us
you
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