The discount that a SF member turned us on to has expired and that plus the AT&T takeover means my bill goes back into the freakin' stratosphere.

Pulled up their package comparison matrix and listed all the channels we'd lose if I went from our current "Xtra" package to the cheapest package.

We'd "lose" 90-ish channels, and not surprisingly 80 of them we (she, I almost never watch TV at all, I stream Netflix and Prime) never watch in the first place.

But, devious bastiges that they are, there are 4 or 5 that are deal breakers and ONLY available in the Xtra package.

Plus, even biting the bullet and going with the cheapest package, we'd only save about $40 a month. I'd need to save WAY more than that to put up with the bitching.

FML...

If you are already streaming a lot, why not just ditch the DTV dish and go with DTV Now or Sling?

What about Dish? My discount also ran out, however I have another issue with Direct that will cause me to look elsewhere. If you call back to the DTV folks they will probably re-instate the discount for another year.

Dish has a decent entry level package. I think that's what I am going to go with.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
If you are already streaming a lot, why not just ditch the DTV dish and go with DTV Now or Sling?

Two reasons:

1. My DSL handles one person streaming reasonably well. (I'm the only one that does internet in the house). Trying to stream to two separate devices simultaneously would cause serious lag, if not crash it entirely.

2. Trying to teach Mrs. PHPaul to deal with streaming/internet/a new remote would be...interesting.

My Dish bill is almost back to $70/month for barely above basic. So close to convincing the wife to cancel it....

As a DishTV subscriber, just be aware that Dish is in an on-going disagreement with Time-Warner/AT&T which owns HBO and Cinemax, and which is DirectTV. This continuing disagreement centers around the on-line streaming capabilities of other companies offering viewing services over the Internet.

Dish refuses to be forced into charging customers for services that are not wanted or not used by their subscribers. As such, HBO & Cinemax (AT&T) have pulled their channels from DishTV on November 1, 2018 and there has been no movement forward to resolve this impasse that I am aware of. As such, if this disagreement continues, then viewing the last season of Game of Thrones might become critical.

The DishTV offering of replacement channels instead of HBO & Cinemax has been less than satisfactory to me as a subscriber, and this “viewing war” is getting really old.

Yeah. As a Dish subscriber I miss the HBO on demand offerings. HBO series from the past like The Wire, Deadwood, Generation Kill etc. always fill in the gaps when looking for something to watch. I wish this could get worked out.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
viewing the last season of Game of Thrones might become critical.

If that's how it goes down, there are alternatives.

HBO Now is how I've been watching GoT. I wait till the season is done, sign up for HBO Now, watch the season via streaming, then cancel. I think that nets out to about $15 for the one month minimum account.

Screen addiction.

That's what current society suffers from. If it isn't our phones, it's our tablets, computers or televisions.

I "cut the cord" on the premium channels (HBO, Starz, Cinemax, etc.) two years ago. And I don't miss 'em.

If there's something I want to see, I'll wait till I can get it from RedBox or Amazon Prime. I have Netflix, but find I go up and down with finding content there I like.

I do a lot more walking, photo taking and guitar playing these days than I used to.

I left Direct TV when my bill went nuts and moved to DISH. After my rate was locked in for two years I moved back to Direct TV. I hated that I could only record two programs at once, but figured I could handle it for a year. Moved to a new house and my neighbors 30 foot tall tree blocked my signal for Direct and they let me out of my contract and so I had to go with Spectrum Cable. Cable has still had a few outages, but isn't that bad.

Can't you get OTA channels? Get an HD antenna for your attic...?

Also, you can rent (free) DVD movies from the local library. Our small library has hundreds of DVDs.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
Can't you get OTA channels? Get an HD antenna for your attic...?

Nope. Nearest transmitter is 70-ish miles away, over nasty terrain.