CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself • Hacker News Board

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#21

Post by eastbayjake » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:08 PM UTC

ryanhuff wrote: post #20

californian wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is streaming broadcast shows, not cable (unless I missed something). This wouldn't really help cutting the cord... you could already get rid of cable and just use an antenna for CBS.

Antennas won't work for many people.

Which people? I've lived in one place where my antenna didn't work, and it was so in the middle of nowhere that slow DSL speeds would have made streaming TV content pretty unpleasant. I'd imagine many of those people already have satellite for TV and internet.

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#22

Post by ansible » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:08 PM UTC

ryanhuff wrote: post #20

californian wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is streaming broadcast shows, not cable (unless I missed something). This wouldn't really help cutting the cord... you could already get rid of cable and just use an antenna for CBS.

Antennas won't work for many people.

* Antennas won't work for many people.*

Heh. Especially so in the Chicago market. CBS 2 Chicago (WBBM) is the only remaining VHF transmitter in the area. I can easily pull in the other UHF stations, but CBS has continued to be a problem. Reception was poor, but since February I can't get them at all. At one point during the DTV transition period, they weren't allowed (permitted?) to transmit at full power. I wonder if something similar is going on now. That, or a new building has gone up between me and downtown.

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#23

Post by baddox » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:09 PM UTC

californian wrote: post #17

tedivm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have cable? My guess is they're targeting existing cable customers who are considering cutting the cord- those people are already paying for a service that gives them advertisements, so for them this isn't much different (in fact it's 25% less ads and potentially a much smaller cable bill).

Except this is streaming broadcast shows, not cable (unless I missed something). This wouldn't really help cutting the cord... you could already get rid of cable and just use an antenna for CBS.

You can think of this as just another physical medium for transmitting the same content. We already have cable and satellite, and now there's the Internet. Of course, it does have the advantage of being available without an entire cable or satellite bundle.

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#24

Post by bitJericho » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:09 PM UTC

tedivm wrote: post #8

ansible wrote: post #6

For the live stream, the ads will be the same as those on the traditional television broadcast. For the on-demand programming, the typical 12 to 16 minutes of ads an hour will be reduced 25 percent. I guess I'm not their intended customer. I'm not going to pay for a service to give me ads. If I'm watching a live show, I want the ability to pause it, walk away for a few minutes, and then skip commercials. For on-deman…

Do you have cable? My guess is they're targeting existing cable customers who are considering cutting the cord- those people are already paying for a service that gives them advertisements, so for them this isn't much different (in fact it's 25% less ads and potentially a much smaller cable bill).

I don't buy cable because of the commercials and I sure as hell would never pay to get commercials streamed to my tv via my internet connection.

15 bucks is probably way too high as well, considering the average cable bill is $100/mo, and that's few more channels than 1.

If this were something like 4.99/mo with no commercials I'd consider it. As it is now, I can just buy the best CBS shows on blu-ray for a lot less than $180/year.

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#25

Post by ryanhuff » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:13 PM UTC

eastbayjake wrote: post #21

ryanhuff wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Antennas won't work for many people.

Which people? I've lived in one place where my antenna didn't work, and it was so in the middle of nowhere that slow DSL speeds would have made streaming TV content pretty unpleasant. I'd imagine many of those people already have satellite for TV and internet.

I hear downtown areas are particularly bad for OTA. I live in southern California, but far from the transmitters, and its hard to get a clean OTA signal.

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#26

Post by Animats » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

This probably means CBS will be disabling their existing system for allowing free viewing of their shows, delayed by a day or so. That was a nice service.

CBS - The Police Procedural Network

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#27

Post by andor436 » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:18 PM UTC

bitJericho wrote: post #24

tedivm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have cable? My guess is they're targeting existing cable customers who are considering cutting the cord- those people are already paying for a service that gives them advertisements, so for them this isn't much different (in fact it's 25% less ads and potentially a much smaller cable bill).

I don't buy cable because of the commercials and I sure as hell would never pay to get commercials streamed to my tv via my internet connection. 15 bucks is probably way too high as well, considering the average cable bill is $100/mo, and that's few more channels than 1. If this were something like 4.99/mo with no commercials I'd consider it. As it is now, I can just buy the best CBS shows on blu-ray for a lot less t…

It looks like it's $6/month, not $15. Did I miss something?

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#28

Post by bitJericho » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:22 PM UTC

andor436 wrote: post #27

bitJericho wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy cable because of the commercials and I sure as hell would never pay to get commercials streamed to my tv via my internet connection. 15 bucks is probably way too high as well, considering the average cable bill is $100/mo, and that's few more channels than 1. If this were something like 4.99/mo with no commercials I'd consider it. As it is now, I can just buy the best CBS shows on blu-ray for a lot less t…

It looks like it's $6/month, not $15. Did I miss something?

Woah... I could have sworn it said 15!

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#29

Post by dchuk » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:32 PM UTC

dsl wrote: post #14

dchuk wrote: post #9

While I'm excited that more Big Networks are realizing that offering streaming only packages to consumers is a Good Idea, I'm really worried about how the cable internet companies will retaliate. We've already seen them blame Netflix for its own popularity, what's stopping them from doing this to companies like HBO and CBS that are now willing to offer a package that circumvents TV entirely?

The cable companies can't retaliate against the likes of CBS and HBO, because they risk losing the content for their service. So they pick on Netflix instead...

Well, that's supposing that the big cable companies are rational. They tend to act counter to that in a lot of situations though...

Re: CBS Offers Web Service as TV Unbundles Itself

#30

Post by jerf » Thu, Oct 16, 2014, 7:33 PM UTC

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5639327 s/Warner Brothers/CBS & HBO/g

I suppose I've got three more major networks I can look forward to reposting this for (ABC NBC Fox), and who knows how many of the cable-only networks will think this is a good idea....