Tonight the 66th annual Emmys will air on NBC. Among the nominations for the awards are cable-TV-only shows like Breaking Bad, True Detective and Mad Men.
So what do you do if you don’t have cable?
More Americans are deciding that good TV is not worth the hassle and expense of cable service. These 7.6m Americans -- only 6.5% of the population so far -- are proud to be “cord-cutters,” moving to online-only options or getting their TV fix some other way. TiVo, that recording stalwart of the early aughts, has even created a device to help viewers record shows without cable service.
We asked 300 Guardian readers why they keep leaving their cable services. Our informal survey found that most of the cord-cutters cancelled their cable service in the last five years.
What we learned: Cutting the cord isn’t just about the cable bill -- which can take a decent bite out of any working family’s income. It’s about service and consumer choice. Cord-cutters are consumer activists, though they may not know it, forcing cable providers to respond to new market dynamics.
The company that lost the most customers among our respondents? Comcast. When asked to identify the provider that drove them to cut the cable cord, 89 Guardian readers named Comcast. Time Warner Cable came in second with 58 responses, followed by DirecTV with 25.
The Emmys, at least, are embracing the new reality of TV programming.
Last year, Netflix’s House of Cards made history as the first online-only program to be nominated for the prestigious Emmy award. The show went on to win an Emmy and four Golden Globes, paving the way for other online-only programming. This year, Orange is the New Black is nominated for major Emmys.
The defensiveness is revealing, particularly since the merger talks between Comcast and Time Warner was announced this year.
“We just want to find out what’s causing a customer that’s been with us for a long time to leave,” a Comcast representative infamously told Ryan Block in a customer-service call that went viral. “That is our business, to know why our customers are leaving.”
Isn’t it, though. We provided the responses from readers, below, in the context of Ryan Block’s infamous Comcast call. Respondents are identified by their location and cable provider.
Q: I am just trying to figure out what it is about Comcast’s services you’re not liking?
Location: Marysville, California
Previous Provider: Comcast
After a traumatizing series of bad customer service experiences, I decided I’d rather sit in a dark cave than give them another dime. Not one regret.
Location: Salem, Massachusetts
Previous Provider: Comcast
Awful customer service. I hated doing business with Comcast so much that I preferred to go without. And this was long before the widespread availability of watching online [in 2007].
Q: What is it you’re not wanting to keep?
Location: Denver, Colorado
Previous Provider: Comcast
Our cable bill went up by $50 in one month without warning or explanation. We were both frustrated with the quality of service we were getting from Comcast. It seems like you pay all that money just to watch commercials. In addition, my husband and I want to lose weight. We decided to go without cable and life couldn’t be better.
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Previous Provider: Shaw
I didn’t want to be the person who stayed up until 2am watching the magic bullet blender commercial over and over and over again.
Location: St Louis, Missouri
Previous Provider: Don’t remember.
I have a busy life and sitting through commercials is something I am not interested in.
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Previous Provider: DirecTV
I wasn’t watching a whole lot of live TV, and [was] becoming more and more disillusioned with what was available (I never had HBO). The stuff popping up on my DVR just got more and more awful – History Channel shows weren’t historic, Discovery and Science Network shows were fearmongering. And let’s not discuss the three networks …
Q: Why not keep with what you know works?
Location: Riverside, California
Previous Provider: None
Pay for a censored service? Don’t make me laugh.
Location: Mountaintop, Pennsylvania
Previous Provider: Comcast
Why should I pay $134 to watch maybe 10 channels at most? I keep hearing how I have all these choices when really it’s all the same garbage reality TV that I never want to watch … If I walk into a restaurant, I am presented with a menu and I purchase what I actually want. I am not charged the entire cost of the menu whether or not I purchase all items. [With cable], it’s either everything or nothing.
About 3% of those surveyed said they might come back to cable if it offered a la carte programming.
Location: Elk Grove, California
Previous Provider: DirecTV
I’d rather pay a la carte for content that I know I’m going to watch and enjoy than paying just to browse a lot of content.
Location: Austin, Texas
Previous Provider: AT&T Uverse
We are ready for the a la carte option. Won’t be back until then, if ever.
Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Previous Provider: Comcast
I’ve said it a hundred times - if cable would go a la carte and I could pay for only the few specific channels that I watch, it would be a different story.
