Tuesday
Apr102012
Apr 10 Poll: How Much Do You Pay for TV?
The NPD Group has conducted a survey of Americans and has concluded that by 2020 we will be paying $200 a month for television service. The survey claims that we paid $86 a month on average in 2011. We're thinking that our listeners are either paying nothing, becuase they have cut the cord, or they are closer to the $200 mark predicted for 2020. Please chime in and we'll discuss on Friday's show!
Reader Comments (16)
I'm paying Comcast $195/month but that is for HD cable, phone, and internet. I'm estimating the phone is $50 and the internet is $50, so I put $95 for cable. I'm using a single cablecard with a Ceton InfiniTV quad tuner in my Windows Media PC and only have a single television. No extra packages either. We only watch FoodNetwork, TVLand, and an occasional other channel here and there.
OTA for free and Netflix streaming for a total of $8/month. The upfront cost of an antenna and dual ATSC tuner DVR was paid off in less than six months with the money I was saving with no satellite bill.
I cut some of the cord last year when our FIOS triple play was hitting $190 for two high definition DVRs, telephone and internet. I invested $600 in a cable modem, wireless router, a Blu-ray player, TiVo DVR, an old school roof top VHF/UHF antenna and labor for the antenna installation.
Our monthly triple play is down to $73. $40 for internet, $10 for TiVo, $8 for Netflix and $15 for voice over IP telephone service. The only extras are the season passes to AMC's Mad Men and The Killing from Amazon Instant Video. When those programs are on you can add $23 to the monthly tab.
The only complaint around the house is only getting one free over the air Philadelphia Phillies baseball game per week on Sundays. I may have to invest in an Apple TV or Roku to subscribe to MLB.TV and figure out a way to get around the blackouts.
We don't watch as much junk TV. We love Pandora radio on our TiVo. Red Box is great for the movie of the week in stunning 1080p and uncompressed sound. My children have gotten over losing iCarley and such. Did I mention how stunning NFL football looks uncompressed over the air. Can't wait to see uncompressed Olympics this summer!
I have an antenna mounted in my attic - connected to my Windows 7 box in my office, and my Sony DHGHDD250 in the living room. There is no fee for the Sony DVR service. I can record over the air television from both sources. Blu-ray content is backed up to 2 Western Digital TV Live Hubs and the office pc - I have over 4 tb of media available on my network, including recorded live tv. I cut the cord years ago - had Dish, but got rid of the service back in 2006 when I bought my first HDTV and put an antenna on it. I realized that I was paying for a gazillion channels from Dish that I was not watching.
Cut out U-Verse . Now Hdmerun dual hockup to ext ant. and networked to 3 computers and 2 xbox 360. netflx and hulu plus = less than $50
I often hear you guys talking about cutting the cord but rarely mention the impact it would have on watching live sports (except for Ara's Chicago Bears). For sports fans (and I think there are a lot of them) I don't see cutting the cord as realistic option.
I live in a suburb of Cleveland. We have WoW (Wide open West) cable service and I think it’s a good deal for the product we’re getting. We pay $77/month with taxes. We get basic HD channels (200-208) and the basic cable service (80 channels). Also, we get the 8 Mbit internet access. I could live without cable, except internet alone is $40, so for the extra $30 it’s not too bad.
The wife and I are about to cancel Netflix streaming for a couple months until they get some new content actually worth watching. We find that Red Box is a better deal since they have new movies and they’re only $1.20/movie which we’ll rent once a week.
My bundle services inclued HD Digital Cable with HBO/Starz, Internet and Phone. The total monthly bill with taxes is now around $170. So I would say about $90 is the TV service. So I voted $51-100 if you are specifically asking about TV services.
Since late 2006, I've been using primarily OTA. SageTV for DVR.
Internet via ATT UVerse is $55/month for fairly high speed.
Netflix 2 discs out plan, no streaming. Amazon Prime. Hulu (not plus).
VoIP phone for free using Google Voice and one of the free VoIP providers.
I have a FIOS triple play bundle (HD Prime, 5/15 internet and home phone). I pay $104.99 (good for two years). I have only one cable box and one cablecard which is plugged into my Ceton InfiniTV card in a windows home server 2011 computer. It, in turn, provides four networked HD tuners to two home theater PC's. I could trim the bill a bit further by handing the cable box back. Haven't done that yet.
I subscribe to MLB.tv, but that's a one-time cost (my gift to myself around tax time). Both HTPC's are internet connected and have a terabyte of storage for DVR duty. I will stay at a $100 price point or I will discontinue cable service.
I pay 226 a month but that is 3 hd dvrs 1 Sd box and 1 digital adapter . Movie channels in HD and SD and their HD channel package. That does include my internet and phone . Verizon Fios.
Was paying $120 for DirecTV with one DVR and the HD Package.
I've been using Boxee Boxes with its apps and the Live TV tuner dongles to receive my OTA for a while now.
Actually scrutinized my bill and it is actually 152.95 with 3 DVRs , 1 SD box and 1digtal adapter. Movie package in HD and SD and The HD channel package . Verizon FIos.
I dumped the dish over 5 years ago.
bought a BR player and started to spend $80 month on BR discs.
my local library has about 8000 titles at 18 city branches and 8 county branches
with free 7 day checkout, who needs red box.
OTA viewing was so much better than the dish as it looked like only dvd quality.
I bought 2 X 1 meter dishs and have one fixed dish one rotating.
I have caught all different kinds of sports games free and high quality HD.
this not to mention finding behind news reports not shown OTA. (note belong to a sat search group where wild feeds (games/news/concerts/etc) are posted.)
now I'm down to $80 per quarter for BR discs many are 3D.
I read the reviews before I buy a must have movie.
Mediacom is my provider and I pay $165/month. That includes high speed, HBO (which I rarely watch)and 3 HD boxes. I do not have a DVR. I keep telling myself I need to make "the call" to ask for some relief. I plan to get rid of HBO which would save me about $10-15/month. At least that will pay for my Netflix account!
Love the show.
Here in Australia I don't subcribe to our pay tv service but I pay $16 to quickflix for Dvds and I pay $4.99 for playon server. I also made one off payment for the remainder of the NBA playoffs.