OT: Felger and Murray Cutoff While Complaining About Layoffs at 98.5

[JarOfMayo51]

Wasn’t so long ago, the move was « dump cable, get Netflix ». Next thing you know, Netflix was one of X.

I agree, all of the streaming services together do NOT represent savings.

Im paying $50/month now for all of the major networks that air NFL Football with exception of Thursday Night Football which I get from my Amazon Prime subscription (which my wife and I had anyways, we didnt get it for the Prime Video)

My Comcast bill was $290/month with all the packages I needed to get NFL Network, etc. I cord cut, now pay $105/month for 1GB internet and $50 for Hulu Live TV (which ill be canceling once NFL season ends), Netflix for like $12, and HBO Max for $15 (which im now canceling because House of Dragon season ended)

Im no mathematician, but I'm saving over $100 a month after cord cutting, with more room for savings by cutting HBO and Hulu in February

 

[203Pat]

while I certainly understand your take on Felger, Iike @Ian, I have a soft spot for him for 2 reasons. He was a decent beat writer when he was at the Herald, and 2nd because he's been VERY honest as he's developed his "hot take" style. He doesn't try to pretend that his "hot takes" are anything more that entertainment, to get a discussion going, or even to piss people off.

Its a shtick that I personally get tired of in about 5 minutes, but it works for him, given his show is one of the highest rated and grossing shows in the nation. And btw- Mazzarotti makes me ashamed to be a Tufts grad.

As for they rest of the mediots way too many try to emulate Felgar, but aren't honest about what they are doing and why. Adam Jones is an odious example of someone who just takes a negative take on any home team he is discussing. He is unlistenable.

People seem to take Felger too seriously even when he says his takes are for the sake of the show. Paul Perillo has known him for years and he said Felger is as invested as anyone in the Boston teams winning because he is scared if the teams suck then no one will listen to his show. Yes the negativity sells but I do think Felger is right that if Boston sports ended up like it did in the early to mid 90's where all the teams were mediocre to bad then people aren't watching the games so they aren't listing to people talk about the games either. I think sports radio in the northeast has changed the landscape for sports media as a whole and I wouldn't really say for the better. Guys like Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, and Stephen A Smith are all very rich now basically recreating the sports radio act on TV.

 

[BTTA]

Im paying $50/month now for all of the major networks that air NFL Football with exception of Thursday Night Football which I get from my Amazon Prime subscription (which my wife and I had anyways, we didnt get it for the Prime Video)

My Comcast bill was $290/month with all the packages I needed to get NFL Network, etc. I cord cut, now pay $105/month for 1GB internet and $50 for Hulu Live TV (which ill be canceling once NFL season ends), Netflix for like $12, and HBO Max for $15 (which im now canceling because House of Dragon season ended)

Im no mathematician, but I'm saving over $100 a month after cord cutting, with more room for savings by cutting HBO and Hulu in February

Help an old man out here. How do you get 1GB internet through the air? Are you right next to a cell tower? Some kind of booster?

 

[Nunchucks]

Wasn’t so long ago, the move was « dump cable, get Netflix ». Next thing you know, Netflix was one of X.

I agree, all of the streaming services together do NOT represent savings.

I pay for
internet $50
Netflix $18
Disney $8
Hbomax $15
Total $91

I share disney and Netflix with my parents, so they get it for free.

I watch what I want, pay for what I want.

Comparison my parents pat o er $200 for their cable package and that is common.

 

[1960Pats]

HEH...AIN'T IT?... how about that commercial Wiggy constantly pimps, QC Kinetix using the same non-existent word
"regenative"...he literally cannot pronounce regenerative. I would find that embarrassing if that was my company...

You know who should really be embarrassed by Wiggy? The East Boston school system, if that's where he went. Nobody butcher's the english language more.

 

[RobertWeathers]

You know who should really be embarrassed by Wiggy? The East Boston school system, if that's where he went. Nobody butcher's the english language more.

Syntax is not intelligence but man he sounds like an idiot.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Help an old man out here. How do you get 1GB internet through the air? Are you right next to a cell tower? Some kind of booster?

I cut the "cable" cord, but i still get my high speed fiber internet from Comcast haha

If there was an alternative I would go with them, Starlink would solve Streaming needs but im a gamer and also work remotely, so upload speeds are important to me

 

[203Pat]

Every time I look into cutting the cord I find out how much Comcast wants to charge me for just internet without cable and when I piece together the streaming services it doesn't seem to make it worth it. I am kind of screwed in my area since Comcast is the only ISP that offers any halfway decent speeds.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

People seem to take Felger too seriously even when he says his takes are for the sake of the show. Paul Perillo has known him for years and he said Felger is as invested as anyone in the Boston teams winning because he is scared if the teams suck then no one will listen to his show. Yes the negativity sells but I do think Felger is right that if Boston sports ended up like it did in the early to mid 90's where all the teams were mediocre to bad then people aren't watching the games so they aren't listing to people talk about the games either. I think sports radio in the northeast has changed the landscape for sports media as a whole and I wouldn't really say for the better. Guys like Skip Bayless, Colin Cowherd, and Stephen A Smith are all very rich now basically recreating the sports radio act on TV.

have to go ahead and disagree there, i stopped listening to him ever since the Seattle SB.. and the nail in the coffin moment was the postgame where he was on with like troy brown and some others

everyone was pumped, as anyone who is a patriot fan would be after that epic comeback and ending to that SB. Down the line everyone was smiles and talking football, everyone except for 1 person... Felger looked like someone stomped his dog to death in front of him, he was absolutely miserable. His whole schtick is to crap all every decision that is made, every game, etc but that becomes more difficult to do when the Pats are defending SB champs

 

[Tunescribe]

I often wish Boston sports radio was like New York sports radio, where the hosts are knowledgeable AND more mature. Less overt pot-stirring in New York, more substance.

 

[goheels22002]

LOL, fingers crossed. I want this dish off my roof and all this equipment gone so bad in ways I can't even express. Paying the amount per month when that re-starts ($200+) for channels I don't watch is just ridiculous, and I've been counting down the months since I first found out that DirecTV was finally going to be not renewing.

Needless to say, I really hope the deal doesn't fall through and that we don't end up stuck with having to sign up for a streaming service that's somehow tied to a cable company I/we have to also subscribe to.

Ian! Cut the cord, man! Life after cable and satellite is so much better. I watch more "TV" on my tablet than on anything that needs to be plugged in to work.

This is also why radio doesn't work for the investor/conglomerate who don't care about the work, just the money. Who needs gas lighters like Felger and Mazz when there are great podcasts from every market with informed takes on sports?

 

[signbabybrady]

LOL, fingers crossed. I want this dish off my roof and all this equipment gone so bad in ways I can't even express. Paying the amount per month when that re-starts ($200+) for channels I don't watch is just ridiculous, and I've been counting down the months since I first found out that DirecTV was finally going to be not renewing.

Needless to say, I really hope the deal doesn't fall through and that we don't end up stuck with having to sign up for a streaming service that's somehow tied to a cable company I/we have to also subscribe to.

If you know any one in college then you can purchase a streaming version of the ticket.

 

[Thelonious]

while I certainly understand your take on Felger, Iike @Ian, I have a soft spot for him for 2 reasons. He was a decent beat writer when he was at the Herald, and 2nd because he's been VERY honest as he's developed his "hot take" style. He doesn't try to pretend that his "hot takes" are anything more that entertainment, to get a discussion going, or even to piss people off.

Its a shtick that I personally get tired of in about 5 minutes, but it works for him, given his show is one of the highest rated and grossing shows in the nation. And btw- Mazzarotti makes me ashamed to be a Tufts grad.

As for they rest of the mediots way too many try to emulate Felgar, but aren't honest about what they are doing and why. Adam Jones is an odious example of someone who just takes a negative take on any home team he is discussing. He is unlistenable.

I probably came off more harshly than I intended. I would miss Felger if he were gone. Sometimes maybe when people run schtick for too long, when it gets too easy to do what they do, to be who they allegedly are, they fall into self-parody. I think I may have been guilty of that toward the end of my teaching career. The schtick is still viable, but the onlookers know too well what's coming. I also think that without all its wildly variable imperfections, the world would be deadly dull. In a world filled with dreary pre-fab dreck, an annoying odd duck like Felger is sort of a relief.

 

[BTTA]

I cut the "cable" cord, but i still get my high speed fiber internet from Comcast haha

If there was an alternative I would go with them, Starlink would solve Streaming needs but im a gamer and also work remotely, so upload speeds are important to me

Ah, got it. It's a syntax thing. I've always interpreted "cable cutting" literally, but really it means "content cutting" while keeping the cable. Up to speed now, thanks.

 

[notex]

Im paying $50/month now for all of the major networks that air NFL Football with exception of Thursday Night Football which I get from my Amazon Prime subscription (which my wife and I had anyways, we didnt get it for the Prime Video)

My Comcast bill was $290/month with all the packages I needed to get NFL Network, etc. I cord cut, now pay $105/month for 1GB internet and $50 for Hulu Live TV (which ill be canceling once NFL season ends), Netflix for like $12, and HBO Max for $15 (which im now canceling because House of Dragon season ended)

Im no mathematician, but I'm saving over $100 a month after cord cutting, with more room for savings by cutting HBO and Hulu in February

Simlar here...

thing is, I'd also be paying for Netflix/HBO/Amazon anyways even if I had a cable box...

 

[BTTA]

My hot take: podcasts are dying. They're killing the goose laying the golden eggs with too many ads. Sure, you can skip them, but that just kills the flow of whatever you are doing.

So far I'm "downgrading" to lesser known podcasts with fewer/no ads, but as soon as those get popular enough they too get over-burdened with ads.

The monetization decision for podcasts is interesting. The one that I'm involved with has had huge success without ads, rising to #1 globally in its category. The perpetual question we chew on is about how much of that success is due to no ads? If it had less success, and that drove a need to monetize it, and we changed to an advertising model, would that create a death spiral because ads are a disincentive to listen? Or would that stabilize the finances? We can study others, but not really know until we try the experiment (which hopefully we'll not have to do).

 

[Bill Lee]

Im paying $50/month now for all of the major networks that air NFL Football with exception of Thursday Night Football which I get from my Amazon Prime subscription (which my wife and I had anyways, we didnt get it for the Prime Video)

My Comcast bill was $290/month with all the packages I needed to get NFL Network, etc. I cord cut, now pay $105/month for 1GB internet and $50 for Hulu Live TV (which ill be canceling once NFL season ends), Netflix for like $12, and HBO Max for $15 (which im now canceling because House of Dragon season ended)

Im no mathematician, but I'm saving over $100 a month after cord cutting, with more room for savings by cutting HBO and Hulu in February

It's pretty clear home internet is now a basic need, even before TV is considered. Given how much personal and professional stuff is done on the internet, most of us would cut TV before we'd cut internet. Thus I consider it a mandatory expense, but still, when comparing bills if you are getting internet via cable you should subtract that off when making comparisons.

IIRC the last cable bill I paid was hitting like $190 which was like basic cable + 'premium cable' to get sports content + 'hd package' to get it in HD + internet. $50 of that was for internet, since I do the math and for me I can do everything i need to do with the cheapest internet package.

Keep in mind an individual HD video stream is like 6 Mbits/sec. After I cut the cord the cheapest package they had was for 15 Mbits/sec and it was more than adequate. They bumped it up to 30 Mbits/sec without me even asking. I would have preferred they cut the price, but nope, that's never on offer. Now I'm using fiber and they have 60 Mbits/sec for $45 on an introductory rate that goes up to $60 when the intro is done. That's OK since the cable had already bumped up to $55/month.

I purchased an over-the-air antenna and preamp for less than $200 and installed it in my attic myself. It has saved me at least $190-50 = $140 a month ever since I did that. Since I live in the Boston media market I can get everything I need to follow the Patriots over the air for free. I did this seven years ago, so if you do the math, I've saved $12,000, even more if you consider how much cable TV has gone up over the last seven years.

I purchased a TiVo DVR with lifetime service for $500, but I had TiVo even when I was on cable. Between the main channels and the 'sub-channels' you get on HDTV, that TiVo is always recording something I'm interested in watching, yet still, I spend most of my TV time watching stuff on YouTube. I've also had Amazon Prime ever since it was introduced in the early 2000s so that's not a new expense. To be honest, I haven't watched any TNF at all this year. It just hasn't been worth my time. Once I get through the three NFL games on Sunday, I'm pretty saturated when it comes to football. If I'm being honest I rarely even watch all three games on Sunday. I find myself skipping forward entire quarters at a time.

 

[Ian]

Ian! Cut the cord, man! Life after cable and satellite is so much better. I watch more "TV" on my tablet than on anything that needs to be plugged in to work.

This is also why radio doesn't work for the investor/conglomerate who don't care about the work, just the money. Who needs gas lighters like Felger and Mazz when there are great podcasts from every market with informed takes on sports?

LOL, I'm already on board. If it wasn't for Sunday Ticket, I wouldn't have it. The loophole they have of being able to suspend the service at no cost/penalty for six months is a luxury I've been taking advantage of. Comes back on August 15th, I suspend it every February.

As soon as Sunday Ticket is no longer attached to them - I'm out. I have Netflix, HBO Max and Paramount. I'm good

 

[FCB02062]

I often wish Boston sports radio was like New York sports radio, where the hosts are knowledgeable AND more mature. Less overt pot-stirring in New York, more substance.

yup, loaded w knowledgeable and mature guys like Craig Carton

 

[IcyPatriot]

I pay:
$25/month Verizon internet which is a necessity anyways.
$20/month Netflix. and $13/YouTube ...
Use antenna for news and use StreamEast
for sports if I have time to watch ... which is not often.
Brutal Patriots this past game ... frigging Mannings and a former POTUS.
But Cox cable went to $300 month and internet sucked ... later ... C U later.

So $33/month ... new wife loves Netflix ... I need Youtube to sleep good so all is well.