Why I canceled Time Warner Cable.
My Girlfriend Ryann and I watch a modest amount of television. By modest I would say we certainly don't fall into the American average of 4-5hrs/day. If we did this model would completely fall apart. For those that are watching that much television, I have two things to say. 1) Get a life. 2) This write up is not for you.
I have compiled a list of shows that we enjoy watching. Some of these we really enjoy, others could probably be excluded at this point. I hesitate sharing the list because of the responses I can only imagine I will receive regarding the list. So let me toss this out now. This sharing of the list is for discussion of the economics of cable and not our viewing habits. Think we watch crappy television? Believe me it could be far far worse.
So here goes,
Castle
Daily Show
Defying Gravity (canceled)
Dexter
Doctor Who
Entourage
Eureka
Family Guy
FlashForward
Fringe
Heroes
Leverage
LOST
Mad Men
MythBusters
The Tudors
Top Gear
Torchwood
True Blood
Weeds
White Collar
First up the cable providers solution. I am in Rochester, NY so my single and only choice is Time Warner Cable. I suppose I could go with Dish or DirectTV as well, but seeing as how I rent in a condo building, I really don't want to deal with the hassle. I suspect satellite would be cheaper then cable, but if you believe the FUD that Time Warner feeds you, then satellite will never be viable. :) Basic Digital(HD) Cable would cost ~$85/mo. That was the "new" customer quote. This is also based on being bundled with RoadRunner which is their Internet Access offering. I actually do have that and pay $34.95/mo for it. This is an unavoidable cost. I need my Intertubes. At $85/mo I would get pretty much every channel except premiums. This also includes a DVR. A DVR is essential. Premium channels not included are those such as HBO, Showtime, etc. Referring back to the list, this means no, Dexter, True Blood, The Tudors or Weeds. Also because of distribution rights it also means that the BBC shows are removed or greatly delayed as well. This includes Doctor Who, Top Gear and Torchwood.
So for $85/mo or $1020/yr I am going to have Cable TV and access to 14 out of the 21 shows we enjoy watching. Series have varying number of episodes but for the most part this is working out to a cost of $72/show. I derived this by dividing the $1020/14. $72/show seems quite expensive. Granted there are benefits to cable television. I can channel surf when I want and pick up an extra random show or two, and I can also watch the news, sports, etc. Most of this doesn't fit our viewing habits. Keep in mind though this doesn't even include 7 of my original 21 shows. What about those?
Now to my solution. It actually is quite simple. I own an AppleTV, have for a while. I enjoy it and have used it in the past to watch the 7 shows that we can't get from cable. But for sake of argument lets include its cost in this discussion. That would mean $229. Thats for a new 160GB version. Refurbished 40GB are only $149. Its what I have and is more then enough. This little device has HDMI out, connects straight to iTunes Store, Syncs with your computer and acts like an iPod for the living room. Granted it only does 720p, but believe me when I say this looks far better then the overly compressed crap coming from Time Warner.
So by pure luck, and I mean that in every sense of the way. Every show that we watch is available from Apple. I was shocked and surprised as well. I expected at least a few to be missing, but they have us covered. Apple has continued to add shows since they began offering them only a few short years ago, so it stands to reason that they would eventually have us covered. But even if they hadn't, it wasn't like I was getting all of my shows from Cable either.
Now costs, most shows are available in HD. In fact some of the shows that we typically can't get in HD are available in HD, so its a benefit right away. Apple gives us the choice and I will always choose HD. SD is 1.99/episode while HD is $2.99/episode. Initially this seems quite expensive, but most shows can be bought as a full season for $34.95. Some shows that have more episodes will vary a bit, Heros for instance is $52.99. Might have to review whether that jumped the shark or not. Others like Top Gear which is only available in SD and has only 8 episodes is $9.99. So there is a range, but ~$35 as an average is pretty fair. Well 21 shows x $35 = $735. Add in the $229 up front Apple TV cost and I am at $964. It would be unfair to say its cheaper quite yet, Daily Show has far more episodes then most seasons but bought by season episodes drop to only around $1 each. So while it is higher then most other shows, it shouldn't be more then maybe $100-$150. Would love to know exactly how many episodes Jon does each year. This could push the cost higher then Cable. Keep in mind though I already owned the AppleTV which I included.
Anyways, so the costs even with the up front box are less. Ah but I am not watching commercials, I can fast forward them on Cable with DVR, but with AppleTV I don't even have to do that. More shows are available, and more are available in higher quality. Cable lets me find random shows, but so does Apple. Most pilots are free downloads. It actually is how I discovered White Collar. But the greatest benefit is that the AppleTV auto downloads them. They also sync back to my laptop and to my iPhone. So the shows are available at my leisure.
The benefits continue though. I have a single box that also plays my music and movies. I can even purchase the movies and music through AppleTV, and yes the same syncing works as well. Movies I still get from NetFlix, although lately since movie viewing has been slowing down for us, pricing is becoming closer and is beginning to favor the AppleTV.
Going even further, you will note that I followed all of the rules. But as many of you are aware, services like HULU exist and software like Boxee. Many of the shows we watch are available through those channels. Hacking an AppleTV to have Boxee is quite easy. Or going a different route with a Mac Mini is also a possibility. I am working with what I have, and want this to be as hassle free as possible. This seems to work out, and I am happy for it.
So if this fits us now, what happens when the rumors that Apple is going to add streaming come true. What happens when live news and/or sports become available? How many people will this model favor then? Cable isn't going away yet, as this certainly doesn't work for everyone. Heck it doesn't work for the vast majority. But 10%? 20%? How many could cancel cable and move towards a model like this?
