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How pay-TV providers plan to win back cord-cutters
As a consumer, you might be able to reap the rewards of pay-TV companies trying to lure cord-cutters back.
With the popularity of streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, pay-TV providers know that people are "cutting the cord" on them. But these companies are not giving up customers like you without a fight.
"Pay-TV companies are looking to remain relevant to its current customers and to attract an audience - the younger generation - that isn't inclined to be a traditional cable and satellite customer,” says Jim Willcox, senior editor of electronics at Consumer Reports.
Keep reading to see the deals that pay-TV companies are offering to keep you from cutting the cord.
Virtual Cable
College kids and those just starting out in their careers don't have a lot of disposable cash. But Dish Network is targeting this demographic with one of their newest services.
According to CNNMoney, the satellite TV company could soon unveil a service aimed at Millennials, members of the generation born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. This new package would offer consumers a few cable channels streamed over the internet at a cheaper price. The company would charge about $30 a month for the streaming service, a price lower than most TV bundles being offered, the report says.
Dish hasn't given out many details about what channels will be included, but you might not have to wait long to find out. This small and inexpensive bundle of cable channels could be available by the end of 2014, according to Dish's chairman Charlie Ergen, who spoke during the company's quarterly earnings meeting this summer. Ergen is focusing the offer to young people in dorms and apartments who move a lot, says CNNMoney.
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The concept is called "virtual cable" or "over the top TV," said Doug Brake, telecommunications policy analyst at The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation in Washington, D.C.
There are two ways that pay-TV providers can send out cable shows - over the internet and through traditional cable lines, Brake says. Shows delivered through the internet are much more versatile and easier to change or add to, which makes it a better service, he says.
Plus, you can also use voice command to find or change a channel or find particular actors whose shows might be showing at that particular time, he says.
How will Dish accomplish this feat when no one else has?
"They need to sign agreements with major program providers,” said Willcox. So far, Dish has signed up The Walt Disney Company and A&E Networks, according to CNNMoney.
Free Money and Access to Shows Everywhere
Two heads are better than one, so the saying goes. But are two companies together better than one? Well, Comcast Xfinity and Verizon have paired up to create a joint package for customers.
A recent letter to "valued” Xfinity subscribers says you can call Comcast to purchase and activate a new Verizon Wireless tablet or a new smartphone with a 2-year activation and then choose your bonus. You can either get up to $120 on a Visa card or get $10 off your Comcast services each month for a year.
The letter went on to say that you can "download TV shows and movies from SHOWTIME, Streampix, Starz, Encore and MoviePlex and watch them when you're offline.”
HBO is also offering an on-the go option with the HBO GO app for your Android smartphone, Kindle Fire, Apply TV, X-Box 360, and other devices, according to the HBO Go website.
It provides unlimited streaming access to HBO shows and movies free with your HBO subscription through your cable or satellite-TV company.
"Watching TV everywhere is a big initiative and has been rolling out for a few years now,” Willcox says. "You are already paying for these channels, so the companies want you to have access to view them wherever you are and whenever you want.”
A La Carte Cable
A la carte menus in restaurants allow you to pick and choose items on the menu without any extra sides. Pay-TV companies (cable or satellite TV providers) have picked up this idea themselves in an attempt to keep customers from cutting the cord completely.
While the trend in pay-TV has long been offering bundles of channels, companies are offering you the chance to pick and pay for the stations you want and forgoing the channels you never watch.
According to Willcox, a la carte is a way to downsize the number of your pay-TV channels, rather than cutting the cord completely. For instance, if you don't care about sports, a company might offer you a package without ESPN and other sports channels.
So when will a true a la carte menu be available in pay-TV?
Legislation is still pending on whether a complete a la carte menu will ever be offered to pay-TV customers, says Brake. Senator John McCain introduced Bill S. 912, the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013, which is written to curb channel bundling to consumers in favor of an "à la carte" model. Under such a model, television customers could choose to pay for individual channels rather than a larger grouping, according to the New York Law Journal.
"There is a lot of consumer interest in it. But the economics of the pay-TV market is so complicated that it is not clear how an a la carte service would be price competitive compared with the bundle service that has been around a long time,” Brake says.
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Offering Popular HBO with Basic Channels
You can't live without seeing Game of Thrones the night it is airing. Before now, you would have had to pay a premium price to subscribe to HBO to get the show along with all of its other shows and movies. That would have cost you about $100 or more a month with a lot of channels you wouldn't have watched anyways, says Willcox. But now you have another option.
According to a Bloomberg report, Time Warner Inc. started offering last year through Comcast a $49-a-month Internet Plus trial package that offered internet service, a limited number of TV channels, and the HBO network. The report said it was aimed at the 10 million U.S. broadband customers, especially the younger generation, who just don't buy cable TV.
The report also said that Time Warner might start offering similar plans through other cable and internet providers.
"The demand for HBO and its content is huge. It hasn't offered a streaming-only option yet,” Willcox says. However, HBO GO does offer unlimited streaming on all different kinds of devices from Android phones and tablets to X-Box 360 systems for HBO subscribers.
How can you get such a deal if you don't see it on your pay-TV's website or advertisements?
Sometimes, the best things aren't advertised, Brake says.
"Call your cable or satellite company and make it clear that you just want internet and HBO. Sometimes, they will make it happen for you with a basic tier of cable channels,” he says.
Free Football and a Free Genie Upgrade
You eat, breathe, and live for your Chicago Bears team. But paying for special sports channels on cable is almost as much as paying for season tickets to actually go to the games.
DirecTV wants to keep its customers happy during the fall football season. So, the satellite company is offering its exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket package, which allows you to see every game, every Sunday at no extra charge, notes the DirecTV website.
According to DirecTV, the NFL package it offers is valued at $329. Additionally, you also get a free upgrade with its Genie - a state-of-the-art HD DVR that lets subscribers record any five shows at the same time and works in every room of the house, according to the DirecTV's website. That's about a $299 value.
So how much do you have to pay? Well, the catch is that you have to sign up for the company's Choice package or above, and you can only see out-of market games. That means if a sporting event is not being broadcast by some other cable or broadcast station in your local area, then it can be aired by your particular cable company and viewed by you.
The good news is that a Choice program will cost only $29.99 a month for the first 12 months and includes over 150 channels plus local channels. It jumps to $66.99 a month after the promotion.
"The NFL ticket is expensive for DirecTV. So that cost will be passed on eventually,” says Willcox. When you sign up for any of these packages, they are hoping you get hooked on certain channels and shows, and that you will become a subscriber paying the higher price,” he says.
After the promotional time, you will end up paying that higher price automatically if you don't cancel it. So, it becomes incumbent that you mark on your calendar when to cancel that certain part of your package so you don't end up paying more, Willcox says.
