Cutting the Cord

We have been plotting to dump Direct TV for a few months now and the end is near. The end of Nickelodeon, Disney, ESPN, Discovery, History, and even BBC America is very near.

We will replace a lot of content by subscribing to Netflix and Hulu+ at the time that we cut the cord. Even paying for two new services will cost us only a fraction of the monthly Direct TV bill.

There is content that we will have to live without after the change. Most of what will be missing is live sporting events on ESPN. I think we will survive. The one thing that I will miss the most is new episodes of Game of Thrones on HBO.

What I would love more than anything is a model of subscription that allows me to pay HBO directly and not have to pay for all the junk I won't watch in an expensive cable package. This desire is being expressed more and more lately in the media and I believe the announcement by Netflix of 2 million new subscribers in the last 90 days is even further evidence that what I'm getting ready to do is common.

HBO says the subscription model I am suggesting can't happen yet and they are aware of the growing crowd asking for it. The fact is that HBO collects much more money through cable operators than they can get from individual subscribers at this time.

The cable companies see no reason to change a business model that has worked for them for decades.

Now that Hulu+ and Netflix are adding more content to their lineup there are alternatives to the old-school cable operators. I don't think these cable guys are willing to see this as the beginning of the end. They (the cable operators) don't see any reason to change.

The newspaper / book / music industries didn't want to see their business model change either.  

But it did. The end is near.