2018 seems like a lifetime ago.
The covid-19 pandemic was still three years away and we were still getting used to having a former reality television show host be the leader of the free world.
And Americans were cancelling their cable subscriptions at an alarming rate.
DON'T MISS: Comcast customers hit with a sneaky price increase
Cord cutting was all the rage a few years ago, as the U.S., seemingly fed up with ever increasing costs and poor customer service, abandoned the cable apparatus that had dominated entertainment for the previous three decades.
Major cable providers lost about six million paid TV subscribers each year from 2019 to 2022, and the trend isn't slowing down. More than 2.3 million people cut the cord in the first quarter of 2023 alone, according to some estimates.
As of the end of the first quarter, U.S. pay TV services had 75.5 million , a 7% decline on an annual basis.
But while cost played a huge factor in the movement towards moving away from cable companies like Comcast (CMCSA) -) and Charter Communications (CHTR) -), a chart is recirculating on social media showing that the whole movement may have started on the false pretense that direct-to-consumer was a better value.
DTC is getting more expensive.
Hear me out: We bundle them all together, offer a discounted price, and call it cable. pic.twitter.com/P3DzHrz6aJ
— Ramp Capital Guy (@RampCapitalLLC) August 16, 2023
More Jim Cramer:
- Jim Cramer thinks this meme stock is about to go bust
- Jim Cramer reveals why one popular investing method is a ‘sucker’s game’
- Jim Cramer says Cathie Wood doesn’t understand one basic investing rule
This chart is clearly old because Netflix's (NFLX) -) top tier now costs $19.99 per month. Disney+ (DIS) -) will raise its price by nearly 40% to $13.99 per month in October. Amazon Prime (AMZN) -), hiked its subscription to $9.99 per month from $6.99 per month earlier this year.
If you thought one cable bill charging you over $100 for a bunch of channels (that may or may not have been bundled with your internet and telephone services) was expensive, wait until you get a load of the eight different bills you get from eight different content providers with zero perks and a less robust customer service apparatus.
Get investment guidance from trusted portfolio managers without the management fees. Sign up for Action Alerts PLUS now.
