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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

iTunes vs Cable vs OTA

Might this be the end of cable TV and the resurgence of the broadcast networks?

I’ve been reading that Apple wants to start a $30/month subscription TV service through its iTunes store.  I have no inside knowledge what that might mean and how it would work, but it does make me want to juggle some numbers around right now.

I just made a list of all the shows I watch regularly.  I took this list from the DVR list I’ve got on my cable box.  It comes to about 12 shows that I watch regularly.  So I went to the iTunes store to see if these 12 shows were available.  They were.  I can purchase almost of them in individual episodes and most in high definition.  I can also purchase a ‘season pass’ which automatically downloads the next available episode for me.

So I put together a little spreadsheet for costs.  If I purchase the season pass for each show in HD when available and SD when not (which comes out a little cheaper than individual episodes), it will cost me $357.73 for everything for a year which averages to almost $30/month.

My current cable bill (which includes my internet service and all the sundry set top boxes I need plus some movie channels that I almost never watch) is almost $186.00/month.  I can save over $100 a month, or $1,200 a year by dumping the TV portion of cable, buying the shows I want, and using the free over-the-air (OTA) to watch local programs and sports (go Cardinals – Suns – Diamondbacks - Coyotes) and just channel surfing.

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