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03-06-2017 07:52 AM
@gardenman wrote:Streaming is definitely the future and has momentum on its side. It was just a year or two ago that the first of the streaming cable services appeared and now there are multiple services out there. I suspect the cable companies know things are turning against them and how they react will largely determine whether they stay relevant.
With On Demand services cable companies are already into streaming to some extent. They could pretty easily switch to an ala carte streaming system where subscribers pay a basic access fee that gives them a set number of hours of TV viewing with access to every channel offered (with the exception of the subscription channels) then charge an hourly rate for every hour watched above that limit. They say the average American watches 5 hours of TV a day, so if they set the basic rate at 150 hours a month for a set fee, then charged per hour over that time they could probably do okay. If the basic rate was $50 a month with a fifty cent per hour charge for anything over 150 hours, that could work out pretty well for everyone. The cable company would monitor which channels were watched and distribute the provider share accordingly. If your channel gets watched a lot, you make a lot of money. If no one watches, you get nothing.
I wouldn't subscribe if there was an hourly rate. There is already an upper limit for streaming with your internet service which is what the streaming devices use. I'm not sure what would work for the cable companies so they still make enough of a profit to remain in business. I would like a smaller bill and only pay for the channels I watch. Using an antenna isn't practical since I don't live in a big city with lots of local over the air broadcasts.
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