News & Notes XLIII: Cam Ward is a Cute lil 10 Year Old

[tarheelhockey]

I get the reference to why Canes Prospects used that song but whenever I hear it, this immediately comes to mind

Other than the vocal, that falls into “so bad it’s good” territory.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Part of it is that maybe we’ve forgotten how ridiculously awful the price model of cable got right before streaming took off.

Back in 2008, the average cost of basic cable was $50 (source) and by 2015 that ballooned to $69 (source).

In 2024 dollars, that’s $73 increasing to $101 over the course of seven years. For basic cable.

Services like Sling, Hulu+, YouTubeTV are pretty much the same thing as basic cable. They cost $40-$76 for a base plan.


So take your (let’s call it on average) $60 for the equivalent of basic cable, which is already 40% cheaper than what you were spending before. Add on “premium channels” — Netflix, Max, Paramount, etc as listed above. If you buy the entire list, you’re in for another $60 a month.

So that’s $120 for basic + premiums. What did the equivalent cost before? Obviously a complicated question because of how tiers were designed, but this reddit thread has it around $200 for a typical multi-tier plan without actual premiums like HBO.

So as far as I can see, virtually everyone is saving about 40% off the equivalent of cable.

And there are exacerbating factors as well:

- Cable companies typically charged for equipment, which also meant charging for replacement of old equipment, and this could run into the hundreds of dollars for a household.

- Cable companies would physically damage your house for installation. I want to cry when I see original hardwood flooring with cable holes drilled through the boards.

- As we all remember, cable prices were a shell game that required you to call and threaten to disconnect in order to get better prices. This was an insane customer service model, but as monopolies they got away with it for decades. A lot of people were out there spending $300+ a month because they wanted a single top-tier channel and weren’t the sort of person to haggle on the phone.

- In order to get a decent price, cable companies required you to bundle services to get products you didn’t want at all. How many of us bought a landline phone just to cut our TV bill, or bought a tier with 8 Hallmark channels in order to be eligible for the next tier which included sports?

- To that point, cable companies deliberately loaded their tiers with junk channels that nobody watched. The equivalent of those channels now cost nothing, they’re free on services like OrbiTV. Want to watch Gunsmoke reruns 24/7 until your eyes pop out? It’s free!

- Streaming services are often given away for free as a benefit of other products. I get HBO/Max for free* with my phone plan. I get Amazon Video for free* with my Amazon Prime account. Whereas I used to pay over $100 a year just for HBO alone.

- Most importantly, you can turn streaming services on and off at will. If all you want is to binge the latest season of Ted Lasso, it’ll cost you $11 for the month. If you wanted the same thing on the old cable model, you were locked into a year contract for thousands of dollars with a termination penalty.

* yes I get how this technically works


I hear you on the results being dependent on the household and their specific dynamic, that’s true. But I can’t see how anyone could be spending as much on equivalent products as they were before, and certainly not if we’re factoring for inflation.

I get what you are saying. I think a lot of it has to do with the starting point you are referencing. Back in 2015, I was paying ~$80 for Internet+TV (100s of channels)+two free boxes. Yes, it took some haggling and threats of cutting the cord to do it, but it was easy. I'd take advantage of free trials of premium services if I wanted to binge a show but always cancel before being charged. When I cut the cord in 2017, I was very structured in how I used Streaming services to ensure I didn't end up spending more.

To get a rough equivalent of what I had back in 2015, I would need to subscribe to YoutubeTV ($73), Spectrum TV Select ($70) or Hulu+LiveTV ($77). (Sling for $40 is not an equivalent).

If the starting point is someone who was oversubscribed on Cable and didn't want to haggle and was paying $300+, then sure there can be bigger savings, but I suspect that those are the same sort of folks that would be over-subscribing in streaming services and not turn them on and off and likely won't save much.

I agree that if someone is structured in their approach to streaming, they could save money, but for many people, they just won't be that structured if they couldn't even be bothered to haggle with Cable companies in the past.

I don't have an affinity to cable companies. I cut the cord from 2017-2020 and was just fine with it. If I didn't have a neighborhood bulk deal when I moved in 2020 where I get Internet + TV for $50 / month (no box charges), I would go back to just internet, over the air and streaming.

 

[DaveG]

not this one?

 

[chaz4hockey]

A financial Times article re: Disney-Att dispute. What's amazing is that pay TV subscribers have dropped 25% in 2 years (60 to 45M) and are projected to drop as low as 25M by 2028. Disney raised prices by 6% LY but was down 2% in revenues since their subscriptions $ declined by 8%.

Subscribe to read

www.ft.com

Archived version if FT's is blocked: https://archive.ph/oshZ6

 

[tarheelhockey]

Disney raised prices by 6% LY but was down 2% in revenues since their subscriptions $ declined by 8%.

This is representative of what’s been going on for about 20 years now, as @cptjeff referenced upthread. Consumers are simply not spending as much money on TV entertainment anymore, but the companies are locked into an addiction to keeping profits at a certain level (ultimately about keeping share prices up) so they raise prices even as customers flee. Cable companies did it until it broke their profit model, and now the streaming companies are facing the same dilemma.

Unfortunately for us as sports fans, live sports is one of the few reliable profit drivers so it’s going to be held hostage to what is really the gradual decline of the industry as we have known it in the past.

 

[Derailed75]

I have for years been willing to pay for what I want to see. Canes, Guardians, Browns, occasionally the Cavs some college sports and other teams in the playoff race in the NFL, NHL and MLB. If I have a legit way to pay for it without tons of unwanted shit I will pay for it. If I can buy their product (dumb shit blackout rules, or they make me buy more than want) I will pirate it.

The demand for these products is there they just have to give us the sports consumer a viable means to purchase it.

 

[bleedgreen]

I have zero problem with “cheating” to watch the Avs games at this point. Three plus seasons with no options without overspending on Direct tv or fubo….they can all take a long walk off a short pier. I’m watching those games any way possible.

Otherwise I’m fine paying espn plus to watch the Canes and everyone else. If they came up with a reasonable streaming option here I’d pay a fair price to get the Avs and Nuggets legally.

It seems we’re on a precipice with streaming options. Not sure I want my eyes open when I step off the cliff.

 

[Borsig]

Get a jail broke fire stick and Disney plus

you don't even need that.

You just need the sixty six.

I actually went from buying NHL center ice every year to being sick of the bobs feed bullshit literal 200 DPI feed, and finding alternate solutions. Then ESPN plus was like 12.00 a month with the disney thing so I got that. Then they started blacking out games so I raised the black flag again.

Unfortunately where I live the internet is 70 a month. I refuse to have cable. I get netflix with my tmobile as well as apple tv and we get paramount for free with something else, I can't remember. The only thing I think we are paying for is Crunchyroll. I have been buying ESPN plus during hockey season and cancelling it during the offseason.

Cable sucks and is literally nothing but commercials, shitty media news outlets, and reruns.

I'm "out of market" for canes games even though the demographic maps I've seen say South VA is more canes than caps country so I guess I still use ESPN+ mostly this time.

 

[Identity404]

I also got streaming fatigue from having to subscribe and manage to a billion different services to watch what I wanted.

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

 

[Borsig]

I also got streaming fatigue from having to subscribe and manage to a billion different services to watch what I wanted.

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

wut

 

[the halleJOKEL]

I also got streaming fatigue from having to subscribe and manage to a billion different services to watch what I wanted.

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

he's right, you know

 

[SlavinAway]

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

I started this going I'm somewhat tech savvy but by the end of the first sentence it was nope, apparently I'm not.

 

[Identity404]

wut

I started this going I'm somewhat tech savvy but by the end of the first sentence it was nope, apparently I'm not.

Ok, maybe works in IT savvy… but you can follow a guide here:

TRaSH Guides

Guides mainly for Sonarr/Radarr/Bazarr and everything related to it.

trash-guides.info

 

[Derailed75]

you don't even need that.

You just need the sixty six.



I'm "out of market" for canes games even though the demographic maps I've seen say South VA is more canes than caps country so I guess I still use ESPN+ mostly this time.

I'm out of market too. I'm 1 hour 14 minutes from PNC but 3 hours 50 minutes from Capitol One. Thats part of the out dated method used to determine things that fortunately works in my favor

 

[WreckingCrew]

I also got streaming fatigue from having to subscribe and manage to a billion different services to watch what I wanted.

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

Some of these are words I know

 

[tarheelhockey]

Cable sucks and is literally nothing but commercials, shitty media news outlets, and reruns

It’s amazing to me that this same level of product comes free with a smart TV, and nobody talks about it.

 

[Unhinged Finn]

I also got streaming fatigue from having to subscribe and manage to a billion different services to watch what I wanted.

If you are somewhat technical savvy I would recommend buying a NAS with an Intel chip that supports transcoding, then run Plex/Jellyfin + the *ARR stack as containers on it. You’ll end up with your own private streaming service where you can watch whatever you want across providers with an interface that your grandparents or young children would be able to manage. The only monthly fee you’ll have is a Usenet sub and an Indexer or two, which would probably all be under $10-$15 total.

For live sports there is a service that I won’t mention openly here that will give you the ability to stream mlb/nhl/nba/ufc at 1080p+.

E.T. phone home with this?

 

[CandyCanes]

PNC Arena to Lenovo Center?

 

[AD Skinner]

I haven’t played an nhl video game since like 11 or 12 but man that screenshot looks like butt

 

[Svechhammer]

PNC Arena to Lenovo Center?

Very very interesting, indeed

 

[Identity404]

PNC Arena to Lenovo Center?

EA sucks and whatnot, but they are pretty plugged into things like new jerseys and branding. I do recall there being a rumor about this a couple of years ago.

 

[Identity404]

Also… I watched their gameplay video… did they add a significant new feature? I think they literally just added new marketing buzzwords around existing things and added back stuff that was taken away.

We need a NHL2k game again

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Also… I watched their gameplay video… did they add a significant new feature? I think they literally just added new marketing buzzwords around existing things and added back stuff that was taken away.

We need a NHL2k game again

This is EA in a nutshell. They take away things, knowing people will continue to buy it because they’re the only game in town. If sales drop enough, they’ll bring back some of the things they took away, but often it’ll be shoddily remade or haphazardly thrown in and not at all updated.

The real money from these games come from the whales in their online franchises across all the sports (CHEL and the like) so that’s the only game mode that gets updated in any significant way.

 

[AD Skinner]

I played the shit out of nhl 2k5

 

[WreckingCrew]

This is EA in a nutshell. They take away things, knowing people will continue to buy it because they’re the only game in town. If sales drop enough, they’ll bring back some of the things they took away, but often it’ll be shoddily remade or haphazardly thrown in and not at all updated.

The real money from these games come from the whales in their online franchises across all the sports (CHEL and the like) so that’s the only game mode that gets updated in any significant way.

I got tired of playing the EA NHL games years ago because you knew about 10 sec before the computer was going to score because they'd suddenly go god-mode against you and every poke-check, pass, lost puck, etc would go right to their player and they'd score a soft goal against your goalie. Meanwhile you could put up 50 one-timers and the computer would stop everything even when down & out. Gameplay is just so inconsistent, either way too easy or impossible.

I remember the NHL2K series, one of my favorite features was that a badly timed hit meant you could end up taking out your own teammate...i don' think EA ever implemented a feature like that but you can diddle the stick on a 2-second one-timer up ice!!