I have been fairly supportive of RCN prices in my post. In December 2005 Triple Play cost us $158. Today, the triple play costs $163 but includes $5 for Starz. So they have managed to keep costs the same while we only had to reduce from 5 TVs to 4 TVs. In the meantime we have 10x faster internet, a DVR, and lots of Video on Demand (and slow Netflix and Youtube access).
So while I have been positive, I think that RCN will drop the price to under $80 (including taxes and fees) if we just have phone and 50 Mbps internet . This Direct TV Now will presumably be priced at $35 and include 100+ channels. There will obviously be some investment in Fire TVs or Rokus, or something else, but that should be a minimal one time charge. It is also not clear how many TV's can be operated for $35 (my guess is two since that is what Netflix). But it might be $35 per person which will make it less attractive.
Do you think RCN will have to come up with new options? How will cable in general react to this new product? As I understand it the so called "skinny bundles" offered as Sling TV for $20 and $25 have not been extremely popular. But I think ATT&T hopes to sell tens of millions of subscriptions to "Direct TV Now"
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