Tried Netflix in the early days when it was just a mail order DVD service and wasn't impressed. I would think a much bigger threat would be Redbox. I know of at least three of them within walking distance of my house. And when I can go online, find out what's at each location and pick up a movie for .99, why would I pay $15 a month to a movie service to see those same titles months later? I do subscribe to HBO but, as I said, that's more for their original programming than for the movies. ----- Original Message ----- From: PGage To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 1:20 PM Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] MacWorld's "Hulu Plus" review
On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 11:12 AM, Bradford <[email protected]> wrote: I have DirecTV and have had similar offers for years. It seems they use the movie services as bargaining chips any time they need to make amends with subscribers. More than once I have called to complain about something they had messed up (usually on my billing) and I was offered X number of months of Showtime for free as an apology. (The only movie service I pay for is HBO - mostly for the original programming.) I wouldn't be surprised if their offer of a discount on your pay services doesn't cost them a thing. I worked in television production for the local cable company for 17 years and know that (at that time anyway) the subscriber audit for the movie services was only taken once a year, usually at the end of the calendar year. So there were all sorts of offers of free pay services for a certain number of months to entice new subscribers since all it cost the cable company was the labor to hook it up. That is, unless it extended to the audit date. Which it never did. Back then they had to send a techie out to your house to remove a filter at the pole. Now all it takes is a computer stroke. So how much are they really losing to give somebody a couple of months of a pay channel for free? I don't think it cost them anything to give me the offer, but if say, 25% of subscribers with max premium subscriptions cancel because of something like netflix cancel over a couple of years, it seems like they might notice that, and want to respond in a more systematic way. I am a pretty slow adopter of new technology, but not the slowest. I assume a lot of people figured out netflix a long time ago, and if I am figuring it out now I would assume a lot more have with the last 6 and next 6 months. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
