YACTVT: Will the economy/DTV conversion affect cable prices?
 

With folks able to pick up local channels in digital formats now with a DTV converter box and from hearing in the news that premium cable is taking a HUGE hit in today's economy as people cut back, I have to wonder when/if we will see a deflation in cable package prices?

Because as much as I would LOVE to have digital cable, I cannot afford it at the exorbitant prices Comcast charges. And U-Verse isn't much better...some but not much. So I got my coupons for the DTV converter boxes and am preparing to call the cable company before my next billing cycle kicks in and tell them to turn it off.

With everything else seemingly dropping in price, when will the cable companies follow suit?

I suspect they will raise prices on the customers they keep to try and offset the losses on the customers they lose. When that fails they will then approach the government for a bailout. :)

I think they're preparing for a la carte within the next couple of years. If/when it happens, it's going to be very bad news for ESPN (or, rather, those who want ESPN better expect to pay $10-15 a month just for it).

I think they're planning to get the package prices while they can and will worry about customer erosion when they can advertise 50 channels for $19.99 (Hallmark, E, Style, Discovery/TLC channels, HGTV, Travel, whatever else is cheap).

I know this has been said before in another thread- but what does premium cable or standard cable have anything to do with the digital transition?

That's what I was wondering. However, reading the OP again, perhaps he's suggesting that some people are dropping cable because now they can get local channels OTA with a digital (better) signal?

That's it exactly. And maybe not a better signal than cable, but a better signal than rabbit ears. For people on the edge, such as myself, who could just as easily find plenty of DVDs to watch and watch material online for some stuff missed, premium cable lost its value to me years ago. And I know I am not the only one. I hear from time to time in the news of people dumping their premium cable because of the economy and I know people I work with are going to get those conversion boxes and just do away with cable all together. Sure, they sacrifice a few expanded basic channels for that, but when money is tight you gotta do what you gotta do.

Just got a notice in the mail the other day from Comcast announcing that they're raising their prices. Pretty much everything went up except internet...thankfully, that's all I have from them.

I dropped cable because the content's not worth it for me, HD or nonHD.
I definitely think they'll raise prices on the people who stick with cable before they lower prices. And I think the 'conventional wisdom' on a la carte says that will increase prices as well.

I would think that more consumers would think that they're going to need to switch to Cable because of the DTV transition.

Re: YACTVT: Will the economy/DTV conversion affect cable prices?
 

Comcast has a new tier of service called "Digital Economy." It's $40 a month, and includes a lot of great channels like Discovery, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Disney, USA, and Spike, but doesn't have MTV, Nickelodeon, ESPN, on demand, pay per view, and a few other things.

On edit: I think I better start a new thread with a different heading, because otherwise a lot of people could miss out on this information.

Re: YACTVT: Will the economy/DTV conversion affect cable prices?
 

The only effective inducement for me to watch more OTA network TV would be for them to increase the quality of their shows. I have no interest in crap like <i>Deal or No Deal</i> or <i>Dancing With the Stars</i>, no matter how good the signal quality.