No more online ABC TV without a TV provider?

[ultrarunner]

Before TV went digital... my Channel Master rotor mounted antenna would pick up many distant stations... games that were blacked out locally could be viewed simply by pointing the antenna.

With Digital... some local stations are iffy depending on cloud/fog.

That is when I started to watch a few shows over the net...

 

[thirdroc17]

Can you spell C O N S P I R A C Y? People are leaving tv providers in droves and going to streaming. So, the two got together, did a little conspiring, and the consumer gets screwed to keep big corporate profits high. Standard procedure for American corporations and American government.

I used to get 6-7 stations analog off an antenna easy, now with the higher quality digital, 3 if I'm lucky, 2 is more like it, ZERO is not unheard of on snowy days.

 

[ultrarunner]

There could be a plus side... I tend to watch too much TV in the winter and crossing ABC off my list might be a good first step...

 

[dragoneggs]

DishNetwork, DVR, and SlingBox for me and I record first, about everything I want to watch. About the only thing anymore I watch live is my favorite football teams. I now cannot stand watching live and having to idle through all the commercials. Saves about 1/4 to 1/3 the time skipping past the commercials.

Skipping back allows that missed part when the attention span wanders... like while posting on TBN. Pausing allows a passionate discussion with the wife on the meaning of life when she wants to talk about it (usually during the football game). The SlingBox let's me record and watch on the road in a lonely hotel room on my laptop when on a business trip to Timbuktu (I keep forgetting to look up TomSeller). Especially great overseas when I am craving for some news, sports, or anything American!

 

[Midniteoyl]

DishNetwork, DVR, and SlingBox for me and I record first, about everything I want to watch. About the only thing anymore I watch live is my favorite football teams. I now cannot stand watching live and having to idle through all the commercials. Saves about 1/4 to 1/3 the time skipping past the commercials.

Skipping back allows that missed part when the attention span wanders... like while posting on TBN. Pausing allows a passionate discussion with the wife on the meaning of life when she wants to talk about it (usually during the football game). The SlingBox let's me record and watch on the road in a lonely hotel room on my laptop when on a business trip to Timbuktu (I keep forgetting to look up TomSeller). Especially great overseas when I am craving for some news, sports, or anything American!

Ditto.. Record everything and skip commercials.. unless its Hulu, them no choice. Football I record for about 45 mins to an hour, then start.. By the time I catch up, is late in the 4th so still get to scream with every one else

 

[Larro Darro]

Ditto.. Record everything and skip commercials.. unless its Hulu, them no choice. Football I record for about 45 mins to an hour, then start.. By the time I catch up, is late in the 4th so still get to scream with every one else

Same here. The one drawback is being behind on sports threads. But if it's a close game it takes all my attention just watching the game. And I couldn't watch racing without the DVR. It let's you nap when you need to, then rewind to watch what you missed.

Larro

 

[Midniteoyl]

Same here. The one drawback is being behind on sports threads. But if it's a close game it takes all my attention just watching the game. And I couldn't watch racing without the DVR. It let's you nap when you need to, then rewind to watch what you missed.

Larro

No sport forums while watching.. Good way to get angry

 

[dmccarty]

We stopped watching network TV a good decade ago. It took far too long, but we finally cut the cord to paid TV in 12/12012 and we should have done it years previously. We wasted $1,000 a year to just watch noise. If we had ended paid TV when we bought the land we would have the land loan paid off...

If a TV show is good enough to watch, and most are not worth the time we waste on them even if they are free, eventually the show can be streamed and we watch when we want to watch. One really does not have to watch the latest episode as soon as it is broadcast.

I can't see what ABC is thinking trying to tie streaming with a paid TV service. Do the morons REALLY think that will stop the subscriber loses they are seeing? REALLY? The problem for the networks and paid TV services is really simple. They are charging more and more money to watch less and less quality content. This has been going on for years and people are cutting the cord. Real simple. If they want people to pay for their content, the shows must be worth watching for the price charged. Since quality and price is NOT a value for many people, they are cutting the cord. ABC's position is seemingly trying to make it harder for people to see NBC's content for free as they have been able to do since TV started. Great way to drive away customers. They drove us away and we will not return. They have lost us forever. Seriously.

We bought an antennae to get some broadcast stations but we only watch PBS on Sunday for the gardening, cooking and travel shows. Most nights the TV is not turned on. If a show is watched it is usually streamed from YouTube, Netflicks, or Amazon to the kids devices. The living room TV MIGHT get turned on in the week to stream a kids show or watch a DVD. Maybe. That TV is usually turned on Friday to Sunday for streaming and PBS on Sunday. We do not watch any major network. The only other channel besides PBS worth watching is MeTV which shows old reruns.

Some TV industry observers think that content created by Netflicks, and most likely Amazon, is going to blow the traditional networks out of the water. The streaming services KNOW what their subscribers REALLY like. They know what the subscribers are watching since the subscribers PICKS what to watch as opposed to HAVING to watching what is on a given channel at a give time. The streaming services are going to be able to create content that has a greater chance of success than traditional networks. If ABC had a brain, they would be doing their dangest to stream as much content as possible so they could gather this information. Of course they could USE that information to sell advertising as well.

Later,
Dan

 

[Larro Darro]

The percent of Americans using pay TV is down to 83%. That is a 5% drop in just three years. As more young folks come of TV watching age, the numbers will continue to go down.

Cable TV Penetration Continues to Drop - Article from CE Pro

Larro

 

[thirdroc17]

Both of us are disabled, and tend to watch a lot of tv. My Dad lives with us. At 93, he doesn't understand streaming, or anything that's not a simple channel change, even then, he gets confused at times. When he moved in, we had to upgrade our cable tv to get the channels he wants. Whenever he leaves us, cable tv is being turned off. It's simply gotten too expensive, we can't afford it on our meager incomes.

I might put up a digital antenna. Experimentation when broadcast tv went digital proved we'll get a couple channels most of the time. PBS and Create. Go online, enter our address and it'll show "Strong" signal from several more. What a laugh!!!! Propaganda backing up a piss poor decision regarding broadcast tv.

Most shows can be streamed. Any that decide to not stream will simply not be watched. We've had Netflix for years, we might add Hulu Plus or Vudo to the mix, or maybe not.

I like to watch shows like those from PowerblockTV, Powernation now. It takes 17 minutes to watch a half hour show without the commercials. It's all those commercials that was the driving force behind us going to Netflix and computer streaming. The networks got greedy. They are pricing themselves beyond the customers they need most. Not exactly a uncommon occurrence in this country anymore. Sooner or later, the entire economy is going to fail because of the rich wanting more and more until the poor masses are unable to keep paying them, but that's a whole other discussion.