cable TV

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McCain's New Crusade: 'A La Carte' Cable TV

Arizona Republican wants consumers to be able to pick their channels

(Newser) - John McCain is taking on a new foe: the cable TV industry. The Arizona senator is pushing a bill that would pressure cable and satellite providers to offer channels "a la carte," allowing customers to pick which channels they get and pay for instead of buying by the...

A TV Critic&#39;s Lament: There&#39;s Too Much to Watch
A TV Critic's Lament:
There's Too Much to Watch
OPINION

A TV Critic's Lament: There's Too Much to Watch

Alan Sepinwall can't keep up

(Newser) - Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix is a respected TV critic who loves his job. He's just not sure you can entirely trust his judgment anymore because of the crazy amount of shows out there. He pulls some stats from FX to make the point: In 2002, 28 original scripted dramas...

Netflix More Now Biggest &#39;Cable Network&#39;
 Netflix Now Biggest 
 'Cable Network' 
says report

Netflix Now Biggest 'Cable Network'

With 4B minutes watched in 1Q, Netflix surges

(Newser) - Netflix customers watched more than 4 billion hours of programming in the first quarter of 2013, said CEO Reed Hastings in a Facebook post last night, a number that could make the online streaming service more popular than cable, reports the Huffington Post . With 28 million users, mostly in the...

Verizon Only Wants to Pay the Channels You Watch

Cable provider envisions radical shakeup

(Newser) - Verizon wants to radically change the way the cable business works, with a new system in which it would only pay channels if viewers actually watch them, the company tells the Wall Street Journal . Right now, cable companies pay networks a fee for every subscriber who has access to the...

Face It, Cable: You&#39;re on the Way Out
 Face It, Cable: 
 You're on the 
 Way Out 
michael wolff

Face It, Cable: You're on the Way Out

Michael Wolff: Execs haven't wised up to industry's demise

(Newser) - Cable TV is "on the fast train to oblivion," but you won't hear that from its executives. The latest financial results from Time Warner and News Corp are upbeat, and Comcast has decided to snap up the rest of NBCUniversal ahead of schedule. But the disastrous future...

TV Is In an Upward Spiral
 TV Is In an Upward Spiral 
OPINION

TV Is In an Upward Spiral

Netflix's House of Cards the latest evolution in the golden age of TV

(Newser) - Forget, for a second, that Netflix's House of Cards represents a bold challenge to HBO, a salvo in the war on cable. Instead, focus on this simple fact, writes Derek Thompson at the Atlantic : "The market for super-deluxe-high-quality TV programming is getting deeper." This is, as has...

Boring Current TV Won&#39;t Help Boring Al Jazeera
Boring Current TV Won't
Help Boring Al Jazeera
Michael Wolff

Boring Current TV Won't Help Boring Al Jazeera

Michael Wolff thinks the Qatari network is too dull to defend

(Newser) - What to do if your cable network has all the money in the world, but pretty much no ability to draw American eyeballs? If you're Al Jazeera, apparently you buy Al Gore's crappy cable network . Sure, Current TV hasn't made much of an impression on viewers either,...

Weird Math Fuels Great TV —for Now

TV's current 'golden age' may not last: Adam Davidson

(Newser) - The cable industry is raking it in: With NBC Universal and Viacom set to each score profit margins of around 50% this year, it's "arguably America's single-most-profitable big business," writes Adam Davidson in the New York Times —for now. The co-founder of NPR's "...

Apple Eyes Biggest TV Move Yet

Wants to sell set-top box that would carry live TV

(Newser) - Today's Apple TV box is mainly used to play Internet downloads and stream content—but the next Apple set-top box could play live television. Apple is currently in talks with top US cable providers to that end, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . Customers would get to own the...

Dish Network Scraps AMC Channels

Says too few people are watching, at least via cable

(Newser) - Dish Network is removing all four of AMC's cable channels because it says too few people are watching. Part of the problem, it says, is that the "very limited popular programming" on AMC is "available to our customers through multiple other outlets such as Amazon.com, iTunes,...

How HBO Became Uncool

 How HBO Became Uncool 
Michael Wolff

How HBO Became Uncool

We don't care about platforms, Michael Wolff argues, we care about shows

(Newser) - Sunday should have been a banner night for HBO, with Game of Thrones and the premiere of its latest "zeitgeist-courting" show Girls. But Michael Wolff didn't tune in—though not for lack of trying. Wolff and his companion "don't have HBO. And, it turns out, after...

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills
 Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills 

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills

Industry to hit that mark by 2020, and that doesn't count Internet, phone service

(Newser) - Unless something changes, cable TV prices are headed for the stratosphere, according to an industry forecast released yesterday. At the rate cable prices have been increasing—about 6% per year—analysts see them hitting $200 a month by 2020, which, the New York Post quips, might be enough to displace...

Netflix Was Supposed to Beat Cable, Not Join It

Atlantic blogger hopes service doesn't join the dark side

(Newser) - Netflix's rumored attempt to bring its content to cable on-demand boxes isn't sitting well with Rebecca Greenfield of the Atlantic , who reads the report thusly: "The streaming service 'of the future' would join forces with the established companies we'd hoped it would help us get...

Soon: Order Cable, Get Netflix?
 Soon: Order Cable, Get Netflix? 

Soon: Order Cable, Get Netflix?

Reed Hastings meeting with cable company execs about proposal

(Newser) - In its latest bid to stay ahead of the competition, Netflix is looking to team up with cable companies. The proposal? Add its online streaming services as another "on-demand" option that cable subscribers could access through their set-top boxes. CEO Reed Hastings has quietly met with senior executives at...

Have Cable or Dish? You Pay $100 'Sports Tax'

... even if you hate sports: NYT analysis

(Newser) - The NFL's hefty new contract with TV networks—as in $27 billion over nine years—prompts the New York Times to look into the booming business of sports on TV. The takeaway stat: Anyone with cable or satellite is paying what amounts to an annual "sports tax" of...

Verizon Plans Netflix Rival

Could be available sometime next year

(Newser) - As if Netflix's year hasn't been tough enough. The streaming movie company may soon face a new rival in the form of a Verizon online video service, Reuters reports. The service would be available to 85 million households outside Verizon's current FIOS broadband and cable markets, and...

Your Next Cable Box: Xbox Live

Microsoft revamping service

(Newser) - The latest competition aiming to replace your cable box: Xbox Live. Microsoft is ramping up its online entertainment service starting tomorrow, allowing subscribers to watch a variety of television from their Xbox 360. In addition, rather than the tedious process of using a remote control to search for shows listed...

Verizon Deal With Cable TV Could Be Game-Changer

... if regulators approve pact with Time-Warner, Comcast

(Newser) - A new $3.6 billion deal between Verizon and three major cable TV companies is threatening to change a fierce rivalry between competitors into a partnership that critics fear would restrict consumer choice, reports the Washington Post . Mobile service, Internet, and cable TV providers have been locked in an intense...

Google's New Plan: Be Your Cable TV Provider?

Search giant may offer TV channels within video, phone, Internet service

(Newser) - Watch out, Comcast: Google is discussing a plan that could turn traditional cable on its head. The search giant is looking into providing video and phone services along with an already-announced high-speed Internet service in Kansas City, the Wall Street Journal reports—and the video service could include TV channels...

Satellite, Cable TV Customers Flee in Record Numbers

Combined figure hits 580K in second quarter

(Newser) - Sign of the times: The six biggest satellite and cable TV companies lost a combined 580,000 customers in the second quarter, which Bloomberg calls a record high. Take your pick of reasons: rising prices, increased online competition from the likes of Netflix, a lousy economy, the slump in home...

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