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Stuart G

(38,365 posts)
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 04:52 PM Apr 2013

Boadcasters Worry about Zero TV Homes : Yahoo News

Last edited Sun Apr 7, 2013, 09:01 PM - Edit history (1)

http://news.yahoo.com/broadcasters-worry-zero-tv-homes-154357101--finance.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.

A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.

Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.

While show creators and networks make money from this group's viewing habits through deals with online video providers and from advertising on their own websites and apps, broadcasters only get paid when they relay such programming in traditional ways. Unless broadcasters can adapt to modern platforms, their revenue from Zero TV viewers will be zero.

"Getting broadcast programing on all the gizmos and gadgets — like tablets, the backseats of cars, and laptops — is hugely important," says Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

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I have a TV and use it for broadcast stuff, very rarely..Occasionally for some news. I do not have cable, I have never had it, have a free antenna and don't know crap about the shows. I really lost interest when they took off, Star Trek Enterprise..and that was not last week. I catch a lot of the stuff that is important right here at DU and on the net..




22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Boadcasters Worry about Zero TV Homes : Yahoo News (Original Post) Stuart G Apr 2013 OP
Five million and one Sedona Apr 2013 #1
90% of our television viewing is internet-based... Earth_First Apr 2013 #2
I turned off the noise box twenty years ago and have never regretted it.... mike_c Apr 2013 #3
Over a decade here; preceded by another decade with a break watching. Ain't worth it. freshwest Apr 2013 #10
GIGO all the way tavalon Apr 2013 #13
One thing I did notice when I watched some shows with friends.. Stuart G Apr 2013 #4
When I get DVD's from netflix, a 1 hour show is only 42-44 minutes long. That tells you SharonAnn Apr 2013 #9
Most seem to be 42 minutes now. Heywood J Apr 2013 #17
I got along for twenty-five years without TV before I got it Downwinder Apr 2013 #5
I will never pay another cable bill. Ever. geckosfeet Apr 2013 #6
There ARE some interesting and wonderful educational shows on TV. BlueJazz Apr 2013 #7
We're on Social Security. We are careful how we spend money. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #8
Most of our viewing is internet based supernova Apr 2013 #11
Well, I left TV over 15 years ago, so I suspect I'm not even on their radar tavalon Apr 2013 #12
Carl Sagan's opinion on media: freshwest Apr 2013 #14
Thank you. Heywood J Apr 2013 #18
we watch local news and weather. and that is about it. nt littlewolf Apr 2013 #15
They would do well to let people decide what channels they want Marrah_G Apr 2013 #16
Cable T.V would last longer if they went A la carte Uncle Joe Apr 2013 #19
I don't watch a lot of broadcast TV, either. AverageJoe90 Apr 2013 #20
Over a period of ten years, I gradually went from full cable to no cable Lydia Leftcoast Apr 2013 #21
I ditched my old, malfucntioning TV set about six years ago... Jasana Apr 2013 #22

Earth_First

(14,910 posts)
2. 90% of our television viewing is internet-based...
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:03 PM
Apr 2013

Eithet through services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon.

We have never had cable television for the reasons mentioned in the article, we can control what we watch, when; for what could amount to a hundred dollars per month.

Our television broadcast viewing consists of PBS.

Rarely do we even watch the local news broadcast, all of our current events come from internet browsing...

I bet there are way more 'zero homes' than 5 million...

mike_c

(36,214 posts)
3. I turned off the noise box twenty years ago and have never regretted it....
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:08 PM
Apr 2013

Whenever I see television programming now, which is rare, I'm struck by how vapid and silly most of it seems. News reporting is embarrassing to watch. No thanks.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
10. Over a decade here; preceded by another decade with a break watching. Ain't worth it.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 07:01 PM
Apr 2013

They'll never get me back. Garbage in makes garbage flow back out. No way.

Stuart G

(38,365 posts)
4. One thing I did notice when I watched some shows with friends..
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:11 PM
Apr 2013

Is the number of commercials on broadcast TV have greatly increased. I would guess 30 percent more than say 15 years ago when I watched more. So, what is the use? I did visit with a friend and watched a number of "Dancing With the Stars" at her place, more for the costumes and sets..than anything else...I cannot imagine how much was spent on that theater that was used for the show..

SharonAnn

(13,767 posts)
9. When I get DVD's from netflix, a 1 hour show is only 42-44 minutes long. That tells you
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 06:58 PM
Apr 2013

how many commercials there are in a 1 hour show.

Heywood J

(2,515 posts)
17. Most seem to be 42 minutes now.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 08:28 AM
Apr 2013

When I watched older shows a while ago, I noticed that it used to be 46 minutes. That's a 30% increase in ad time.

Downwinder

(12,869 posts)
5. I got along for twenty-five years without TV before I got it
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:15 PM
Apr 2013

and have not missed it for the last ten years since I turned it off.

geckosfeet

(9,644 posts)
6. I will never pay another cable bill. Ever.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:33 PM
Apr 2013

It's all I can stomach to pay my internet provider bill every month.

 

BlueJazz

(25,348 posts)
7. There ARE some interesting and wonderful educational shows on TV.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:55 PM
Apr 2013

One of the problems is this: (for me) I have satellite TV...Dishnetwork. I pay for and watch perhaps 15-20 channels but PAY for 250 channels. The channels I don't watch (but pay for include:
Praise the Lord and send me money (approx 15-20 channels)
Buy this Crap from us. 'bout 25-30 channels
Cheap-ass "stick figure" Cartoons: 14 channels
very old TV shows...some OK..some suckola: 40 channels
News programs : 20
Fox (what-ever-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it) 5 channels
assorted other childish stuff: 60-100 channels

And they wonder why people are giving up on TV ???

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)
8. We're on Social Security. We are careful how we spend money.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 06:47 PM
Apr 2013

The internet and Netflix makes better financial sense than TV.

I hate Fox News and don't want to support the right-wing news there or on other channels on TV.

I don't like reality shows. The sitcoms are annoying. The History Channel is too right-wing (used to be good). Even PBS is incredibly corporate.

So, I've always been a bit of a nonconformist. And I really can't afford channels like HBO or some of the other premiums channels.

I don't think I will ever go TV again. It's just too expensive, too boring and I would never watch their junk.

Tried it. Didn't work for me. Not at all.

Maybe if they had more Democrats in the shows on Sunday morning they could hook me. But I can't stand the number of idiotic, poorly educated conservatives on TV.

I'd rather read a book (especially a history book or a good mystery) than watch celebrity news. Celebrities -- overgrown adolescents.

supernova

(39,345 posts)
11. Most of our viewing is internet based
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 07:02 PM
Apr 2013

Netflix, some hulu, youtube and so forth.

We do have the most basic Directv package, when it's up, it's gone. I don't want another one.

I use the local PBS channels and one local news channel for weather. I'd rather have the money/

Subscription TV is truly a ripoff deal for the consumer.

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
12. Well, I left TV over 15 years ago, so I suspect I'm not even on their radar
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 08:30 PM
Apr 2013

I'm happy to be joined by anyone who decides to kill their TV.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
14. Carl Sagan's opinion on media:
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 10:05 PM
Apr 2013

Last edited Sun Apr 7, 2013, 11:17 PM - Edit history (1)

...The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance...

An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity, and consumerism.

We keep at it, and through constant repetition many of them finally get it. What kind of society could we create if, instead, we drummed into them science and a sense of hope?

~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Heywood J

(2,515 posts)
18. Thank you.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 08:30 AM
Apr 2013

Discovery and other similar channels have become a big mash of Bigfoot, alien autopsies, and hillbilly moonshine. I don't even bother with the networks.

Marrah_G

(28,581 posts)
16. They would do well to let people decide what channels they want
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:45 AM
Apr 2013

Most people watch the same channels on a regular basis, yet have to pay big money for loads of channels they never use.

I would turn my cable back on if I only had to pay for the channels I chose to have.

Uncle Joe

(58,112 posts)
19. Cable T.V would last longer if they went A la carte
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 11:24 AM
Apr 2013

If anything excessive commercials (aka; meth or crack, take your pick) have destroyed television, in both viewing quality and corruption of programming.

The people are sick of it and we're not taking it anymore.

Thanks for the thread, Stuart G.

Lydia Leftcoast

(48,217 posts)
21. Over a period of ten years, I gradually went from full cable to no cable
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 01:33 AM
Apr 2013

When A&E started going all true crime and BBC America started showing endless episodes of Top Gear and Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares along with Star Trek: The Next Generation, when Al Gore bought out Newsworld International and turned it into the Current, when Ovation and Trio disappeared from the line-up, I started to resent paying for 200 channels of steadily deteriorating crap.

The intermediate step was local channels plus public access only, connected to my old analog TV.

When I got a new HD TV, I tested it to see what it would bring in over the air. The answer: All local channels, including some that cable doesn't have.

I was concerned about not getting MHz Worldview, but then I saw that they have a Roku channel (I was already streaming Netflix and Hulu through it), so I added it and Acorn TV. I still have to pay for Internet, but instead of paying the cable company for a zillion junk channels, I'm paying a total of $19 a month for my Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Acorn TV subscriptions. (MHz Worldview is a free channel on the Roku.)

Jasana

(490 posts)
22. I ditched my old, malfucntioning TV set about six years ago...
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 04:53 AM
Apr 2013

and I can honestly say I'm the better for it. Of course, this extreme strategy is not for everyone but the cable bill was getting too high and it's a lie to say we have choice.

In Boston the only real choice is Comcast and the obscenities I could rail about Comcast would make your head spin like Reagan in The Exorcist. I won't ever be going back to cable TV unless the pricing comes down, down, down. A little ala cart might help too. Right now, I get all my entertainment from the Internet... one way or the other.

Even my local weather news is online now. I just have to remember to check it. It's the only way I find out about weather emergencies.

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