Cable Nostalgia Persists As Streaming Gets More Expensive, Fragmented (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0179619116
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/10/01/2056237/cable-nostalgia-persists-as-streaming-gets-more-expensive-fragmented
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/cable-nostalgia-lives-on-as-streaming-gets-more-expensive-fragmented/
> TiVo's Q2 2025 Video Trends Report: North America [1]released today points to growth in cord reviving. It reads: "The share of respondents who cut the cord but later decided to resubscribe to a traditional TV service has [2]increased about 10 percent, to 31.9 percent in Q2 2025 ." TiVo's report is based on a survey conducted by an unspecified third-party survey service in Q2 2025. The respondents are 4,510 people who are at least 18 years old and living in the US or Canada, and the survey defines traditional TV services as pay-TV platforms offering linear television via cable, satellite, or managed IPTV platforms.
>
> It's important to note that TiVo is far from an impartial observer. In addition to selling an IPTV platform, its parent company, Xperi, works with cable, broadband, and pay-TV providers and would directly benefit from the existence or perception of a cord reviving "trend." When reached for comment, a TiVo spokesperson said via email that cord reviving is driven by a "mixture of reasons, with internet bundle costs, familiarity of use, and local content (sports, news, etc.) being the primary drivers." The rep noted that it's "likely" that those re-subscribing to traditional TV services are using them alongside some streaming subscriptions. "It's possible that users are churning off some [streaming] services where there is overlap with traditional TV services," TiVo's spokesperson said.
[1] https://go2.tivo.com/Video_Trends_Report_Q2_2025_NAM
[2] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/cable-nostalgia-lives-on-as-streaming-gets-more-expensive-fragmented/
Millenials are finally buying houses (Score:2)
Millennials have finally started buying houses and plan on living somewhere long enough to buy a wire-in-the-ground annual cable subscription.
Not me though, I'm ad-free streaming till I die at this point.
Still too much garbage (Score:2)
When I visit family, they have youtube tv. Of the 70 or so channels on the package, maybe I can find 1 or 2 interesting things but normally just settle on something "good enough". Of course there are benefits such as on demand, which I don't really use but for the "live tv" it's a waste of money.
When I cut the cord over a decade ago, rising cost was definitely part of the issue but it was mostly the crap reality tv model that most cable channels had moved to that really turned me away. Even the shows t
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> For that reason, I'll never go back to cable. OTA and 1 or 2 streaming services at a time (at most). Currently paying about $25/mo and have plenty of shows/movies to watch.
I see you are a sensible smart person by keeping the OtA service. Many people forget it existas, and also forget that it is a good way to get things like local news, and programs that debut in the big four and get to the streamers the day after.
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As I have no idea of "Tanked" or "Gold Rush", I looked up Wikipedia, and I found the original Gold Rush that is a silent Chaplin movie and expectedly it's absolutely hilarious. The other day I was watching Plan 9 from Outer Space, Nanook of the North, and Nosferatu, all from Wikipedia. I don't know what other entertainment is needed other than the classicals that you can get this way for free (including ad-free).
To hell with cable (Score:2)
When I moved to my current domicile eleven years ago, I signed up for "Basic Cable", just ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW, Fox, and the "rerun channels". $30 / month. I thought about cable, but at $80 / month, I didn't think I'd get my money's worth.
Today my basic cable's $60 / month, and regular cable is $150. Double the price and half the value in 11 years.
Don't forget, the same companies are trying to control both cable and streaming. They're all working hard to consolidate the market as much as possible to d
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If you're not too far out from the major city, the 'basic' channels can usually be had for free via the antenna.
Sequential is the way to go. (Score:4, Interesting)
Look, in my mind you have to be an idiot to have more than one service at any time.
Buy a years worth of Netflix. Watch everything you want on it. Come January, cancel and buy Amazon Prime.
Next January cancel and buy Hulu
Then Apple TV + ... repeat
The crap ain't going anywhere. The things you miss on Hulu because you have Prime will be there waiting for you NEXT year. You pay literally 1/4 the price for getting the exact same stuff, just a bit time shifted.
I see no reason at all to pay for all the channels at the same time.
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> The crap ain't going anywhere.
[1]Oh really? [independent.co.uk]
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/leaving-netflix-october-movies-tv-shows-b2836463.html
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Mostly true, although they have been pulling more off of the services than they used to to get out of paying royalties. But missing out on one show here and there is worth the savings.
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Not everyone is as cheap as you.
They don't want to live like you either.
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Nope, some of us are even cheaper. I won't even buy a "year's worth" of a streaming service, just one month at a time. I can watch everything I want on a service in a couple of months, because 95% of it is garbage.
You go ahead and spend $200 a month to keep all the services active, I'll use the extra $180 for other things I want.
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I go even further. I have one per month at most. I renew one when I want to watch something and then immediately cancel it. It will prompt me if I go to watch something and its expired. I find some months I don't even a subscription... except for YouTube premium, but that's because YouTube ads are so bad and you get YouTube music.
Streaming Cable Alternatives aren't really cheaper (Score:4, Interesting)
We're now at the point where YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV both cost over $80 a month. We've gotten to the point where you might be able to get a triple play (Cable, Internet, Cell phone) bundle for cheaper than a streaming plus fiber service plan.
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Makes sense.
Distributing live TV is cheaper over cable (Or has this changed?).
Cable got really bad with ads for a long time (Score:2)
Nostalgia or collective amnesia? 18 out 60 minutes watching blaring ads?
Frak the content providers! (Score:2)
I long ago decided content providers could lick my salty balls. I'm old enough to have suffered thru cable company monopoly abuse. I switched to DishNetwork and had them for years, until the native DirecTV TiVos were released, providing higher quality recording because they captured and saved native MPEG2 streams to disk, instead of a TiVo external to the satellite receiver recompressing the content and storing to disk. Soon after switching to DirecTV I got a call from Dish's anti-piracy dept basically accu
I have several streaming services (Score:2)
I've got the Disney Hulu bundle, I've got HBO and I've got Netflix and a Crunchyroll subscription. One of my credit cards does give me the Disney stuff for free but I still have to pay for the Hulu side of it.
Even if I ignore the free Disney that's 80 bucks a month.
The closest equivalent cable package I could get with access to that content would be about $150 a month if I had internet through the cable company bundled. This assumes I don't want sports which I don't which helps but God help you if y
lol, limewire (Score:2)
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th6PW5VwDFI
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Yes. I pirate like a mother fucker. I have a 12 bay 20TB NAS in my house that houses a collection of BluRay rips that im particularly proud of. I have auto-subtitle additions from subler, and a VPN solution so I can access my media from just about anywhere on Earth (no region blocks). My content cant change because of political correctness of the day, it doesnt disappear off my library one random day, and I give access to some of my closest friends and family. Cover art, etc.. all of it wildly great. I even