1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,560
Is there anything worse than dealing with a cable company? Bad service, expensive bills,

2
00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:08,880
and tons of channels that you don't want have left many people looking for ways to just cut

3
00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:14,960
the cord and rely on streaming exclusively. So why is cable TV so expensive for what you get?

4
00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,920
Well, one big thing to keep in mind is that although it seems like your local cable company is an

5
00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,840
evil, money-grabbing organization, they also are getting a little screwed with their own costs.

6
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:30,880
You see, as opposed to streaming services like Netflix, which get to pick and choose specific

7
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:36,400
shows and movies to buy, cable companies have to buy the rights to carry entire channels from

8
00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:42,000
content providers. And not only that, they also usually have to purchase channels in bundles.

9
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,760
So let's say that cable company wants to buy an extremely popular channel like ESPN. That's

10
00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:52,480
owned by Disney. Disney will come back and say, sure, we'll sell you the rights to carry ESPN,

11
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:57,360
but you also have to buy ESPN Classic and a bunch of other channels that nobody cares about,

12
00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:03,120
like Nat Geo Wild. No offense, animal lovers. Not only is this why cable TV comes with so many

13
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:08,480
channels you never watch, but it also results in higher cable bills, since your provider has to

14
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,800
end up passing the cost of those unwanted channels down to you. Yeah, you're actually paying for

15
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:17,360
them. And the content providers can get away with this because of how valuable some of their

16
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:24,560
flagship properties are. For example, Fox Sports paid $3 billion to the NFL for a five-year deal

17
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:30,880
just to broadcast one game a week. But you gotta see that game. Cable companies aren't any happier

18
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,280
about these high costs than you are. So they've actually tried to change the system to force

19
00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:40,560
content providers to unbundle popular channels. Cablevision, which serves much of the New York

20
00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:46,320
City area, actually sued Viacom several years ago for exactly this reason. And although cable

21
00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:51,840
companies have lobbied the FCC to require Alucard sales of popular channels, they haven't been

22
00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:57,120
successful. And to make matters even worse, some of the contracts between content providers and

23
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:03,360
cable companies also require that the most popular channels have to be offered in multiple

24
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:08,000
service tiers, which further limits a customer's ability to get out of paying for channels that

25
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:13,520
they don't care about. And because cable TV infrastructure is so extensive and therefore

26
00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:18,560
expensive to maintain, plus the fact that refusing to carry a popular channel could

27
00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,560
cause a mass exodus of customers, the cable companies have to deal with both trying to

28
00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:28,000
satisfy a huge customer base while also recouping the huge investment it takes to keep themselves

29
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:33,440
running. Of course, I'm not trying to paint the cable companies as completely innocent victims.

30
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:38,000
They're still responsible for consistently poor customer service and also finding ways to

31
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,360
unnecessarily squeeze money out of us, such as with data caps for bundled internet services

32
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,760
and monthly fees for cable boxes, despite the technology existing to eliminate them,

33
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:52,960
which you can learn much more about up here. So are there any alternatives if you want to

34
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:58,560
watch your favorite channels without paying through the nose? Well, services like YouTube TV

35
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:04,400
and Hulu Plus Live TV offer a smaller lineup of the most popular channels for a cheaper rate,

36
00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:09,760
typically between $45 and $50 a month. And Hulu also includes its streaming library

37
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:14,560
in that cost. Not a bad deal. Of course, you then have to deal with the issues inherent to

38
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:19,280
over-the-top streaming, like competing with other internet traffic. That can be particularly

39
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,920
problematic if you're engrossed in a live event like a ballgame or an awards show. And you can

40
00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,280
learn more about how that all works right there. So while you might be giving up something regardless

41
00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:34,960
of which option you go with, I promise you that here at Techquickie, we will never try to price

42
00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,840
gouge you guys. But do please buy our merch. So thanks for watching, guys. Give this video a

43
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,120
like if you liked it, subscribe to the channel, and be sure to hit us up in the comments with

44
00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,160
suggestions for what you want to see in future videos.