With the dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS leading to a blackout of CBS stations in Los Angeles and other cities, some consumers are opting to cut the cable cord entirely, reports David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times.
Alan Ehrlich of South Pasadena, Calif., was one of those who cut their cable connections because of the blackout, the story notes.
"I’ve heard stories of people cord-cutting," Ehrlich said. "I always wondered how hard it was, or if I would miss cable." He added that setting up a high-definition antenna was "easy. Any 5-year-old could do it."
The antenna allows him to receive local channels, as well as digital channels broadcast locally by TV stations, the story reports. He also kept the Internet portion of his cable service, and signed up for Amazon Prime to watch movies and TV shows.
More people are doing the same thing, Lazarus writes. The U.S. pay-TV industry lost about 316,000 customers in the 12 months ended June 30, according to Moffett Research.
“Cable Blackout Fuels Cord Cutting”
What a surprise…..
Yeah. That’s like saying rain caused rise in river levels.
Yea, punish the cable company for trying to save their customers money.
Because if CBS get its way then other broadcasters will follow suit, when contract renewals come up, and the cost of these networks channels could nearly double which will get passed on to the customer.
Remember these same channels are FREE to consumers with antennas but in most cases, these broadcasters are being paid somewhere around $1 per sub per month by the cable operator and from what I read this rate could go up to around $2 per sub per month over the term of the proposed contract. Take that times the (5) or (6) broadcast networks and this equates to more rate hikes to the customer.