It used to be easy. We had a "rabbit ears” or an outdoor antenna and voila…we watched TV for free. Sure, we only had around ten channels, but what the heck did we know? It seemed just fine. Then "The Cable Guy” arrived and we were able to watch a lot more channels - but at a price. Outside of satellite TV’s arrival to compete with Cable, not much changed in how we viewed things until 2007. That’s when Netflix made the decision to start offering movies directly into homes over the internet. But the big change occurred on February 1, 2013, when Netflix launched its first series, "House of Cards”. With its success, suddenly, we became awash in streaming services. From single channels such as Prime, Hulu and Max to multichannel offerings such as Sling, YouTube TV and Fubo, we now have many more ways to spend our money watching TV. And our bills keep rising.
According to Cordcutters, in 2023, the average monthly cost of our TV viewing was around $220 a month. That compares to around $60 when that whole Y2K thing never happened. Talk about inflation! The good news is that my company, Lower Tech Bills - www.lowertechbills.com, has been able to save households thousands of dollars per year on TV, Cellular and Internet costs. The bad news is that if the consumer doesn't take action, costs are just going to continue to rise. Those costs have been part of a system that’s been around ever since that cable guy came to town. The way things have worked is that all of the money we spend goes to our service provider, and they dish-out a portion of our monthly bill to the channel-owners who give us content. Both the content-maker and the distributor of that content have stayed fat and happy. Until now that is…
If you have not seen the acronym, DTC, you will. It stands for "Direct To Consumer”. It actually started with sports services such as the Cubs’ Marquee Network where you can purchase it for $19.99 a month without a subscription to anything else, as long as you have an internet connection. It so happens that Sports and News are two of the biggest areas which are keeping Cable, Satellite and the YouTube TVs of the world in business. That’s pretty much how everyone is able to watch sports and news channels like ESPN, Fox Sports 1, TBS, TNT, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and other live-event channels. But, what if ESPN, Fox and TBS decided to start their own network, go DTC and in essence, cut out the middleman? That could change the entire TV landscape.
Well guess what? The parents of those companies (Disney, Fox and Warner Bros.) just announced the formation of a new sports streaming network. This (as of this writing) yet-to-be-named network is supposed to launch later in 2024 and will allow people to subscribe to a sports-oriented package without a cable, satellite or other streaming subscription. By cutting out the middleman, these content providers stand to earn more money and could potentially put cable, satellite and multichannel streaming services in peril. But it’s a high-risk sports gamble because by cutting those companies out, the content people stand to lose the very fees which, up until now, have been the whole basis on how the system works. In fact, the first shot was just fired when streaming service Fubo, which purports to be a service aimed at sports fans, filed a lawsuit against that new Disney/Fox/Warner Bros. joint venture. The suit asks one of two things – To either stop the joint venture entirely or to allow it (Fubo) to offer a similar package to its subscribers. This lawsuit could potentially be a make-or-break moment for a lot of companies who, up to now, have had their way with us.
I’ve written a couple of articles about the great unbundling and here are links to them:
I suspect that I’ll be writing more about this in the future. But the real question for us is, "How will all of this affect my monthly TV cost?” I suspect that no matter what happens, we’re going to continue to pay more for our TV viewing unless one of two things happens. First, you can get a free, no obligation "Tech Check” analysis of your TV, Cell and Internet bills from me by emailing: hmwellsradio@gmail.com or visiting www.lowertechbills.com. I’ll look at your bills and give you a savings plan. Or you can turn back the clock to 1970 and hook-up an antenna to your TV. Did you know that with a good antenna, you can receive up to 25 Chicago area over-the-air TV stations which digitally offer 108 channels? Yes, you’ll need to speak multiple languages, enjoy reruns of old shows and like to shop a lot to watch them, but that’s one way to cut the cord. Of course, there are many other ways to save without learning to speak Korean or Polish. Which is why I started Lower Tech Bills because you may not have the time to find all the savings, but I do.
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