Commentary
If you subscribe to Sling TV or DIRECTV Now, are you really cutting the cord?
Click Amazon: Today’s 1-Day-Only Deals!
After all, the two live streaming services are owned respectively by Dish Network and AT&T/DIRECTV. They are just different versions of the pay TV services that cord-cutters claim to loath so much.
Sure, you can make the case that you are paying less to subscribe to Sling or DIRECTV Now, particularly if you get their lower-tiered programming packages, which start at $20-a-month for Sling TV and $35-a-month for DIRECTV Now.
You can also say that you are jettisoning that clunky cable/satellite box and dish (and its seemingly endless cords) from your life forever.
But while you may literally be removing some cords, you are still tying yourself to AT&T and Dish. If you want your daily television fix, you will still pay the telco or satcaster.
The concept of ‘cutting the cord’ — walking away from the pay TV companies that you love to hate — is really a fallacy when it comes to Sling TV and DIRECTV Now. You are still in their grubby, greedy (and not so) little mitts.
Now you might be a subscriber to PlayStation Vue, which is not owned by a pay TV operator. That’s right. Not a pay TV operator. Just Sony, one of the world’s largest multinational companies.
Or, you might now get Hulu Live, again not owned entirely by a pay TV operator. Just a consortium consisting of Comcast, Disney, Fox and Time Warner.
Yeah, subscribing to a company owned by Comcast, Disney, Fox and Time Warner is a real act of revolution.
And don’t get me started on YouTube TV, which is owned by Google whose enormous reach and size can hardly be measured.
Click Amazon: Today’s Top-Selling TVs!
My point is that the so-called cord-cutting service is just another way for the big companies that have ruled your life to continue ruling your life. There’s nothing wrong with that. You are probably paying less money for your programming, albeit with fewer channels and less consistent service and picture performance.
But just don’t call it cord-cutting.
Click Amazon: HDTV Indoor Antenna: $29.99.
— Phillip Swann