12-05-2012, 09:41 AM
Sports might be one good reason to keep cable. (Although for the cost of watching sports on cable you could buy a new game-and-a-half every month for PC or console and probably get more entertainment value.)
I haven't looked into streaming/pay-per-view sports alternatives.
A few years ago I might have missed channels like Discovery or History but these days they do so much stupid shit that I don't miss them either. "Moonshiners"? "American Choppers"? "Pawn Stars"? All the channels are going the way of original MTV: started off focused and good then meandered off into unrelated offerings that just took up air time previously used by things I at least found interesting. Moonshiners might actually be a good show for all I know but it's not really what I had in mind if I switch to Discovery.
If the FCC let cable operators go full ala carte (not even requiring the basic local channels, like today), I might consider picking up a few channels again, but I don't see that requirement being lifted until cable companies simply start failing due to superior online offerings.
For NFLX as a stock, my feeling is that nobody is going to buy them so long as they continue to do well. I think that Microsoft and Amazon both see value in the company but not enough to want to own them. However, if Netflix ever started to fail, I think you'd see them get snatched up because they are too important of a component to both Amazon and Microsoft.
I haven't looked into streaming/pay-per-view sports alternatives.
A few years ago I might have missed channels like Discovery or History but these days they do so much stupid shit that I don't miss them either. "Moonshiners"? "American Choppers"? "Pawn Stars"? All the channels are going the way of original MTV: started off focused and good then meandered off into unrelated offerings that just took up air time previously used by things I at least found interesting. Moonshiners might actually be a good show for all I know but it's not really what I had in mind if I switch to Discovery.
If the FCC let cable operators go full ala carte (not even requiring the basic local channels, like today), I might consider picking up a few channels again, but I don't see that requirement being lifted until cable companies simply start failing due to superior online offerings.
For NFLX as a stock, my feeling is that nobody is going to buy them so long as they continue to do well. I think that Microsoft and Amazon both see value in the company but not enough to want to own them. However, if Netflix ever started to fail, I think you'd see them get snatched up because they are too important of a component to both Amazon and Microsoft.