Cordcutter News Brief - Broadband prices predicted to double, Google Fiber drops traditional TV, PGA Tour returns to Twitter, and more

October 6, 2017 - 18:20 -- RokuGuide

Cordcutter News BriefsIn this week's rundown of recent news items for cord cutters: Netflix increasing subscription fees, Broadband prices predicted to double, Google Fiber drops traditional TV, PGA Tour returns to Twitter, Nvidia TV Shield called "almost perfect," and more.

Many U.S. Netflix subscribers will soon see an increase in the monthly fee starting in November. Mashable reports that "Subscribers who currently pay for the standard $9.99 service will be charged $10.99. The price of the premium tier will rise from $11.99 to $13.99." There is no increase in the price of the basic $7.99 plan - for now.



Google Fiber will not offer traditional live TV in Louisville and San Antonio. According to a recent Google Fiber blog post, this decision in response to the growing number of people who use superfast Internet connections for streaming TV services rather than traditional cable-type TV.

TiVo’s latest Online Video and Pay-TV Trends study concluded that "the vast majority of consumers desire an a la carte model that allows them to pick and choose which channels they pay for," reports Multichannel News. Survey participants would spend, on average, $28.79 per month for a package of 19 self-selected channels. The top five channels they would pay for, and the average price they would be willing to pay, are HBO ($2.58), Tennis Channel ($2.45), Fusion ($2.38), Telemundo ($2.31) and Showtime ($2.21).

FierceCable reports that "Comcast to lead doubling of consumer broadband pricing" according to a report from New Street Research. The reports states that "We have argued that broadband is underpriced, given that pricing has barely increased over the past decade while broadband utility has exploded." New Street predicts that "broadband pricing could double from current levels."

As we enter the baseball post-season, Fortune offers an explanation of "Why You Can't (Easily) Stream the MLB Playoffs Without Cable." John Patrick Pullen writes that it is primarily "because of MLB’s blackout policy, which makes it hard to watch MLB playoff games via streaming." He says that "if you’re a cord-cutter, MLB.TV, baseball’s paid streaming service, isn’t actually the best bet—the league has simply made it too complex to catch a game via its MLB At Bat app." His recommendation is to subscribe to Sling TV, which will allow you to watch many playoff games on the broadcast networks carried by Sling.

"The PGA Tour will tee up its livestreaming pact with Twitter for another season," says David Cohen, writing for AdWeek. "More than 70 hours of live golf competition from 31 tournaments during the 2017-18 PGA Tour season will be livestreamed on Twitter, along with live 360-degree video coverage of select holes at top-tier events."

You're probably familiar with streaming media players from Roku, Amazon, Google and Apple, but Variety reports that "Nvidia Built an Almost-Perfect Streaming Device for Cord Cutters." Janko Roettgers writes that "a small but growing group of cord cutters and digital media enthusiasts is instead swearing on a device produced by an unlikely competitor: Graphics card maker Nvidia and its Shield TV set-top." The Shield TV was recently updated to add support for Google Assistant and Smartthings Hub.

Nearly 2 million people watched Amazon's first livestream of Thursday Night Football, Reuters reports. Amazon Prime members can watch Thursday Night Football for free as part of their membership.

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