Could this be the End of Cable Television?

Could this be the End of Cable?

Annual rapidly growing bills, clearly a move corporations would come to regret

Without a doubt nothing in life is free. One of the common problems almost anyone has to deal with day in and out are the stacks of bills that demand our attention every month. Each one demanding payment to keep the world going round.

For decades in addition to paying for rent, mortgages, basic utilities, phone/mobile bills the cable bill was a must have. After all who can live without entertainment?

In the 90’s when cable TV was just starting to show up in households across the United States billing statements would add up to $20-40 at the most.

Nevertheless, as the times change so do prices. This day and age most cable billing statements tend to resemble price tags which can total $100 or more. In fact with the state taxes and fees, it’s hard to know what the upcoming charges will be.

Why would anyone agree to receive unknown high charges every month?

The answer is simple, clever promotional techniques by companies such as Xfinity and Fios. Most of these promotions come in the form of promises of bills as low as $89 per month for an entire year. However, what they fail to mention is that this so-called low price doesn’t include taxes and additional hidden fees.

These invisible charges are far from minimal. On the contrary, they can easily increase the bill by at least $20. That may not seem like a lot now, but to a family whose bill totals over a hundred dollars or more this is no small amount.

When asked as to the reasons behind the increase. Most companies will use the length of cable wires as an excuse. In short PR lip service for covering up corporate greed.

Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV and YouTube

Could the days of bleeding customers dry be over?

Perhaps the end of the days of glory cable companies once enjoyed may indeed be in sight. For the simple fact that their rapidly rising prices are soon going to be seen as not a natural occurrence, but ridiculous attempts to rip loyal customers off. For something, they can get at a much cheaper price.

Who knew the exact same channels and programming could be viewed as peanuts?

Suddenly, more customers are seeing the light that there was never really a reason for the increase in prices. Companies such as Hulu, Netflix and YouTube who started off as just streaming shows have continued to see success since they give customers the shows they love for prices as low as $10 a month or under.

 

Networks seem to be getting a piece of the pie as well

Cables one and only asset of not only entire networks but live TV could be a card that they no longer have to play. For only around $39.99 a month viewers will get all the benefits of cable TV without the ever increasing prices and the steep cancellation fees.

A La Carte TV?

No one wants to pay for anything they didn’t want. Just when viewers thought it couldn’t get any better Sling TV has now made it possible for their customers to only pay for channels they want.

Long gone are the days of paying hundreds of dollars for a bunch of channels with nothing good on. Once again another nail in cable’s coffin.

Could this actually be the end of cable television?

With the wide range of information found on the Internet and its ever-growing capabilities cable’s future as a household staple may be too far gone.

Perhaps this ultimate outcome was inevitable due to the increase in technological capabilities?

Or is corporate greed solely to blame?

It’s no longer an exaggeration of a futuristic society

Just a year ago anyone would be called a tin foiled hat wearing conspiracy theorist for saying that companies whose sole profit came from providing cable television would soon be closing their doors forever.

What’s next? It’s hard to tell we’ll all just have to break out the popcorn and wait and see. At the very least we all won’t be paying an arm and a leg to do it.

 

Mary Thompson