Earlier quoted context omitted.
You aren't going to be able to spend less money though. Since there's zero marginal cost to adding extra channels, you should assume that the price you're getting charged isn't actually based on the number of channels you subscribe to. A better way to think about bundle pricing is that the channels you really want cost $50, and they throw in a whole bunch of other crap for free. Why turn down free stuff?
Except this article is about YouTube TV adding more channels and charging everyone more.
YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
411–420 of 466 posts
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#412Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#413I love YoutubeTV, and I've been using it for years. This is probably enough to get me to cancel, though. It started at $40 when I signed up a couple years ago, they raised it to $50 last year, and now $65 for just a few more channels (and among them, only one I even want). I wish they'd offer a more a la carte option. I'd be willing to pay $10-15 per major broadcaster's channel collection, or $2-7 for individual chan…
Now they're doing the exact thing that drove everyone away from their cable company to them in the first place. It's clear misunderstanding of their customers. I'm sure most of the HN demographic would have no real trouble affording this 30% rate hike, but it's not about the actual money, it's about the principle.
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#414Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
10 dollars felt too much compared to free youtube, and now they want 65 for whatever they are selling.
I pay for YouTube Red because I can skip through ads. It's worth it. In YouTube TV you get to see unavoidable ads, unlike in TV where you can switch the channel while those ads are running.
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're maybe trying to use the same law that Locast[1] is: there's a specific carve-out in the law about rebroadcasting for nonprofits: "an exception in U.S. copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 111) for retransmission of television programming by non-profits without charge or any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage (besides the costs needed to cover the operations and maintenance of the retransmitter), which w…
> direct or indirect commercial advantage So none of the research results will be licensed, patented, or used to bolster the universities reputation?
And they aren't doing it to become world renowned for their rebroadcasting, they're doing research and publishing results first and foremost. Big difference. Unless you want to start couching every type of university research as commercial advantage now, which seems pretty harmful to the university research landscape to me.
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
The argument is not about your buying preferences as a consumer. Of course if you had a choice between (a) paying X for watching stuff, or (b) paying Y for the ability to watch exactly the same thing, but Y is overall less money because it is somehow dependent of the amount that you consume, that is the better choice. However, the economic equilibrium of a perfectly unbundled system is not that you get to watch the s…
> You do not have content like History channel because it lies in that tier of things that many people are kind of interested in watching, but only if it comes with something else more valuable that they already paid for. This seems like you're saying "bundling mis-serves the customer." If the History Channel would not exist if people could pay for it directly, then why should it ought to exist?
Whether or not it is "mis-serving customers" depends a bit on whether there's abuse of monopoly power, which is an argument one can make about the cable companies, but not so much about the over-the-top services like HBO Go, Disney+, Netflix, or Prime, all of which are structured as a bundle. I'm not sure Prime customers, for example, are unhappy or feel mis-served by being able to watch TV shows on top of being able to order items with fast, free shipping. Bundling can be used for nefarious value-extraction in a monopolistic market, but it can also bring consumers value, so we shouldn't conflate the two.
In many competitive markets, bundling is often a consumer's preference that does serve customers well. For example, most coffee shops don't charge for sugar, creamer, and other condiments, and you maybe have some aggrieved consumers complaining that they should get a discount for drinking only black coffee. It's likely that coffee creamer companies would go bankrupt if people had to pay for condiments at every coffee shop, and we can debate whether it's even a good idea then. But on the whole, I don't think that turns into an argument that coffee shops are mis-serving customers by providing condiments that are free of charge, that is to say, bundled with the price of coffee.
Personally I live in an almost perfectly unbundled world of content already, because I tend to buy or rent the TV shows that I'm personally interested in. This works for me because I have little time to watch, don't like ads, and have enough disposable income that I'm not thinking twice about cost, but I'm not sure that many other consumers would be satisfied with the kind of entertainment experience where they have to pay $2 per episode of their favorite show.
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t it true that in all cases of copyright violation the party who believe their rights are being infringed has to first ask the other party to stop, usually called a cease and desist notice.
No... One can still pursue in court for damages that occurred before the cease and desist letter was sent.
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#419Key question: why would you watch broadcast TV?
Re: YouTube TV sharply increases monthly subscription to $64.99
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
The argument is not about your buying preferences as a consumer. Of course if you had a choice between (a) paying X for watching stuff, or (b) paying Y for the ability to watch exactly the same thing, but Y is overall less money because it is somehow dependent of the amount that you consume, that is the better choice. However, the economic equilibrium of a perfectly unbundled system is not that you get to watch the s…
This misunderstands the market. I would pay for the History Channel but I wouldn't pay for ESPN. And I won't pay for a bundle because then 'analysts' will think I'm getting it for ESPN. History Channel is cheap to make compared to sports, would definitely be able to pay for itself with cheap subscriptions. Cable TV with bundling is just a local maxima established decades ago. The long tail of interest that drives reg…