Is there anything worse than dealing with a cable company? Bad service, expensive bills,
and tons of channels that you don't want have left many people looking for ways to just cut
the cord and rely on streaming exclusively. So why is cable TV so expensive for what you get?
Well, one big thing to keep in mind is that although it seems like your local cable company is an
evil, money-grabbing organization, they also are getting a little screwed with their own costs.
You see, as opposed to streaming services like Netflix, which get to pick and choose specific
shows and movies to buy, cable companies have to buy the rights to carry entire channels from
content providers. And not only that, they also usually have to purchase channels in bundles.
So let's say that cable company wants to buy an extremely popular channel like ESPN. That's
owned by Disney. Disney will come back and say, sure, we'll sell you the rights to carry ESPN,
but you also have to buy ESPN Classic and a bunch of other channels that nobody cares about,
like Nat Geo Wild. No offense, animal lovers. Not only is this why cable TV comes with so many
channels you never watch, but it also results in higher cable bills, since your provider has to
end up passing the cost of those unwanted channels down to you. Yeah, you're actually paying for
them. And the content providers can get away with this because of how valuable some of their
flagship properties are. For example, Fox Sports paid $3 billion to the NFL for a five-year deal
just to broadcast one game a week. But you gotta see that game. Cable companies aren't any happier
about these high costs than you are. So they've actually tried to change the system to force
content providers to unbundle popular channels. Cablevision, which serves much of the New York
City area, actually sued Viacom several years ago for exactly this reason. And although cable
companies have lobbied the FCC to require Alucard sales of popular channels, they haven't been
successful. And to make matters even worse, some of the contracts between content providers and
cable companies also require that the most popular channels have to be offered in multiple
service tiers, which further limits a customer's ability to get out of paying for channels that
they don't care about. And because cable TV infrastructure is so extensive and therefore
expensive to maintain, plus the fact that refusing to carry a popular channel could
cause a mass exodus of customers, the cable companies have to deal with both trying to
satisfy a huge customer base while also recouping the huge investment it takes to keep themselves
running. Of course, I'm not trying to paint the cable companies as completely innocent victims.
They're still responsible for consistently poor customer service and also finding ways to
unnecessarily squeeze money out of us, such as with data caps for bundled internet services
and monthly fees for cable boxes, despite the technology existing to eliminate them,
which you can learn much more about up here. So are there any alternatives if you want to
watch your favorite channels without paying through the nose? Well, services like YouTube TV
and Hulu Plus Live TV offer a smaller lineup of the most popular channels for a cheaper rate,
typically between $45 and $50 a month. And Hulu also includes its streaming library
in that cost. Not a bad deal. Of course, you then have to deal with the issues inherent to
over-the-top streaming, like competing with other internet traffic. That can be particularly
problematic if you're engrossed in a live event like a ballgame or an awards show. And you can
learn more about how that all works right there. So while you might be giving up something regardless
of which option you go with, I promise you that here at Techquickie, we will never try to price
gouge you guys. But do please buy our merch. So thanks for watching, guys. Give this video a
like if you liked it, subscribe to the channel, and be sure to hit us up in the comments with
suggestions for what you want to see in future videos.