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Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by ocdtrekkie on Thursday May 24, 2018 @12:51PM (#17145886)
A la carte cable was a "grass is greener on the other side" thing. People asked why they pay $60 a month for 100 channels if they only watch a handful.

Now you can buy Netflix, Hulu, HBO, CBS All Access, Disney whatever, etc. each for $10 a month. You still end up paying $60 a month, but now you get six channels instead of 100.

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by rhizome on Thursday May 24, 2018 @02:46PM (#17147032)
You still end up paying $60 a month, but now you get six channels instead of 100.

And 94% of Comcast channels are trash. I have no problems with people who subscribe to Comcast based on the number of channels they carry, though. Personally, I don't need hardly any of them.

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by seanp2k2 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @03:51PM (#17147654)
There’s also the difference of OTT services showing less ads, letting you watch what you want when you want, and having much more variety than a single channel. It’s not a valid comparison.
Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by ocdtrekkie on Thursday May 24, 2018 @04:07PM (#17147818)
This isn't really true at all. When I had Comcast, I used their streaming website, which provided on demand access to any channel on their lineup you were subscribed to. Ad content was about on par with other online services.

My new ISP relies more heavily on individual channel streaming sites rather than hosting their own central portal for it, but again, the on demand experience is more or less the same I was familiar with from Hulu, CBS All Access, and other online sites I've used.

In fact, if there is any issues with the comparison, it'd be that a real TV service will let you watch things live if you want to, whereas streaming sites often won't carry something until the day after. And if you get a DVR, you can hold live TV almost indefinitely, whereas on demand services tend to expire shows after several weeks.

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by scarface74 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @07:45PM (#17149492)
Hulu and CBS All Access have an ad free tier. I had CBS All Access when I had Sling but DirecTVNow has all of the networks live in my market (NBC,ABC,CBS, Fox, CW) I could deal with the ads and awful on demand features of DTVNow for the one or two shows I watch on CBS. For everything else I have Hulu and the Cwl
Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by ocdtrekkie on Thursday May 24, 2018 @08:14PM (#17149628)
I still contend that in many ways, traditional cable subscriptions offer more for your dollar than a pile or cord cutter products. At the very least, the competition is closer than one might be led to believe.

Funny enough: My friends who never see television ads, I sometimes feel like they miss out on a lot of meme-worthy things. Sometimes I'll reference a commercial (like Grammarly, which is pasted all over YouTube), and people don't know what I'm talking about. It's weird. As annoying as ads are, they've become a significant part of our culture and it's odd when people don't see them.

Imagine if you happened to not know what the Geico gecko was or have heard the commercial from which the pronunciation "diabeetus" came from.

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by scarface74 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @10:00PM (#17150067)
I'm a cable cutter (I refuse to call myself a cord cutter), but I agree. I would have Netflix regardless of whether I had cable or not but I wouldn't have DirecTVNow or Hulu ($47/month) even with the bogus fees and when you consider the bundled discounts, cable is not a bad deal for most people. My dad came up and he fell in love with my Roku TV so I got him one for Father's Day. I had to go down and set it up for him because between the individual TVAnywhere logins, the flaky WiFi (they have both slow DSL and cable internet service long story), it was really confusing for him.

On top of that, they understand when cable goes out it just happens. But if thier internet went out and they couldn't watch TV, they would be really frustrated. Besides they live in a small town with a 150GB cap on thier DSL and a 300GB cap on thier cable internet. My family blew right through that when we stayed with them for the summer.

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by AdamM12 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @01:01PM (#17146004)
Not sure this is a fair comparative metric. One could argue that filtering on theme (crime dramas, docs, etc.) are effectively channels. More accurate comparison would be content count or hours of programming. I've not had cable in 3 years and between HBO, Netflix, and Amazon I don't ever feel like I'm at a loss for content.
Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by scarface74 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @01:23PM (#17146223)
And all of the networks offer most of their content free on the web a week after it airs without signing in, in the case of CW, within a day.

If you add the corresponding channels to Plex, you can watch them without commercials. Plex channels scrape the content from the official web channels in real time so while the networks may not like it, to the websites it looks just like you are viewing it on the web so it wouldn't be considered "piracy"

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by ocdtrekkie on Thursday May 24, 2018 @01:35PM (#17146322)
Are you confident this is still the case? I was watching CW shows on their website this week, and had to sign in with my cable provider to stream the full episodes. I've seen this as fairly hit or miss.
Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by scarface74 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @03:50PM (#17147645)
Absolutely sure.

For instance. This is the latest episode of The Flash. No login required. It's usually available the next morning

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-flash/

Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by ocdtrekkie on Thursday May 24, 2018 @01:12PM (#17146120)
Many channels do not filter on "theme". Major networks like CBS, ABC, NBC, etc. are a good example of this.
Re:Netflix is now worth more than Comcast by scarface74 on Thursday May 24, 2018 @01:02PM (#17146022)
Best article I've read about the topic....

http://cdixon.org/2012/07/08/how-bundling-benefits-sellers-a...