So I cut the cord a few years back and have almost run the gamut of the cord cutter internet TV services....the only requirement was that it have ACC Network access

- ATT Direct TV Now or whatever they call it

- YouTube TV

- Sling

Currently have Hulu+ Live TV. They keep raising the price and now are forcing you to subscribe to Disney + and ESPN +. Dont want ESPN + and I already have a free sub to Disney + with Verizon cell phone for work. They will soon start charging for the Disney + and its already like $70 before the extra $8 for D+

I used to have Spectrum TV and internet back in TX and I like that you could record shows and FF through the commercials. Seriously considering going to the local Spectrum store and picking up a cable box.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

Recently dropped Netflix, but mainly because I added Sling. Also paying for Prime, but we get Disney and Hulu basic for free from my female's mobile plan.

Yes, the math is indicating that there isn't much difference between Ala carte and "cable" again.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Yes, the math is indicating that there isn't much difference between Ala carte and "cable" again.

Only if one insists on having it all and particularly if one insists on having sports coverage.

We have OTA TV plus an OTA TV DVR subscription, NetFlix, HBO Max, PBS Passport, and One America News. $46/month.

It's very, very rare we run out of entertaining things to watch. Then we resort to our relatively extensive DVD/BD library.

The only significant price increase we've had was $5/mo. when we dropped Amazon Prime and replaced it with HBO Max. Our aggregate cost, beyond that, has increased less than $5/mo. in the ±four years we've had a similar "package."

Yes, there's a lot of stuff we don't get to see. Too bad, so sad. The alternative is to pay cable/satellite rates. TV just plain ain't worth that much to us.

Luckily, we don't care about watching sports. I've noted it, here, before: Sports coverage is the single most expensive broadcast coverage of any kind, bar none. If you want it, you're going to have to be willing to pay for it.

The reason Disney is forcing people to pay for stuff they don't want is to subsidize sports coverage. That's exactly the same model used by cable and satellite. À la carte sports coverage would be prohibitively expensive. Only the most die-hard of watching sports fans would pay for it, and that wouldn't provide enough income to sustain it.

The other big cost to cable/satellite and streaming services is local TV retransmission fees. The broadcasters keep jacking them up. The services then increase their fees to cover their costs. As with sports: If you insist on having local and network broadcast TV, and you're unwilling or unable to receive it OTA: You're going to have to pay for it.

I found YouTubeTV far superior to Hulu + Live. However, the price went from $50 to $65 some time ago, and I have suspended the service for a while. I cancelled a few Apple service fees, and with YouTubeTV being off, I can save $100 a month. That money goes directly to my new used truck.

I've learned to live with free TV, I only watch a few programs anyway since much of what's on TV isn't worth watching anyway in my opinion so why pay for it. The money I save not paying a cable bill goes to other and more practical things like motorcycle trips out west.

This is a very timely discussion.
I am in the market for something/anything to subscribe to so I can add a little variety in my life.

For the past couple of years we have had rabbit ears and they usually do the job but every once in a while (like last night) i could not find a thing to watch.

We have amazon and netflix but I am less than impressed the last year or so with both of those.

ensigmatic
What OTA DVR subscription do you have.

That is a new world to me and I am trying to get an understanding of it on cnet.

If I had nothing to watch but OTA, I wouldn't watch anything as there's little to nothing on the air these days worth watching for me at least.

That's why I use Satellite. I want movies and old shows that used to be on.

quote:

Originally posted by mrapteam666:
ensigmatic
What OTA DVR subscription do you have.

There's a bit >< more to it than just the DVR subscription

There's a four-channel networked OTA tuner hooked to a rooftop antenna. There are streaming devices (mostly Apple TVs) on all the TVs. There are apps for the streaming devices that allow them to stream from the networked OTA tuner.

Then there is DVR software, that will run on a variety of platforms (I'm running ours on a Synology NAS), that can record off the networked OTA tuner, and the aforementioned apps can stream from the networked DVR.

What we're paying for is essentially the guide data. And continued developments/improvements to the DVR and app software.

The initial investment was quite substantial. I don't include it in my monthly costs because it has essentially paid for itself in cable/satellite subscription savings.

Thank you sir
I am glad there is more to it, and that I am not becoming a twit who cannot understand a basic setup.

Flash B
Within the last year OTA has really supplemented the channel selection. For example I have GRIT, Charge, METV and Antenna TV

I also just realized that I have the Heroes and Icon channel:
This is great because on Saturdays it is a night of:
Tour of Duty
Black Sheep Squadron
Rat Patrol
Twelve O Clock High and--->
Combat with Vic Morrow

Just recently did the slice.

I put up an OTA antenna for OTA channels. (News and sports only as I loathe commercials). And I watch the “antenna” very little.

I get HBO Max for free with my ISP. And even if I didn’t get it for free I’d pay for it as I’ve always had HBO and view them as numero uno. Content is great, outstanding. Their episodic stuff is best there is (Succession being the best show out there to me right now).

I do showtime/paramount+, $12.99 a month for no commercials. Solid too, I’ve always had SHO, and like HBO, I’d call them #2. They’ve always had great series and like HBO get a bunch of great films. Paramount+ isn’t anything I’m real interested in but Paramount does release brand new films (in theater) that also stream. This was a bundle and a deal or I would have just bought showtime by itself.

Starz (and Encore as they own them) for $20 for 6 months. #3, behind HBO and SHO, lots of great films, and they have their own series too.

Epix $5.99 via Amazon. I’ll give this a few more months but I could do without it. It’s just the same price I paid with Dish although a la carte. There are a number of films and they have their own shows too.

That covers all the movie channels I had with Dish. Temporary stuff I’m trying is Apple’s streaming service, and Disney +. Both of which are about to get cut off. I can see myself subscribing to each of these services for 1-2 months out of the year only to grab their films then shut them off after a month. I hate Disney anyways. Only turned it on to see the Star Wars series then it’s getting cut off.

Once I cut Apple and Disney off I’ll enable Netflix 4k for a few months until I’m done with that.

And I’d suggest Pluto. It’s free, and someone on here suggested it to me. There are a number of movie channels on it. Decent little selection and they don’t edit tits, or cussing so you get the full movie. The caveat is they do show commercials during them but they are very short breaks compared to commercial tv. That and it’s stereo only, no surround sound, but I don’t care as I use the app for background fodder like I used to do with Satellite service. I’ll have a movie on in the background while I cook, clean, or surf Sigforum.

YouTube TV or Hulu, anything with an assortment of channels like basic cable type stuff I’m not interested in. As you found out that shit is now as expensive as having cable. Dish’s basic cable service (lowest you can go) is $40 a month now. Then you have to pay the monthly equipment fees which for me was $22 a month. That’s $62 a month for that and out of that $62 all I watched was local channels a little bit on the weekends. Fuck that. I only had it for the movie channels (all of them) and kept all of those movie channels on promotional rates but the basic programming cost just became too expensive. For many many years it was $70-80 a month all in and I was happy to pay it. Once it went up to $97 they could hug a nut.

It sucks, but you may need to go to OTA, and keep mixing and matching shit until you get your gumbo the way you want it. I’d cut off any packages stuff like you have now. Go a la carte with some movie channels etc. The showtime app has their showtime east and west channels, live all the time. Between those two and Pluto I can always have something in the background. Once I cut the cord, I figured out the important piece for me was having background stuff working. I don’t always want to be locked into whatever is on.

I’m at $35 a month right now with all my shit. As long as I keep at $50 or under I’m gonna keep mixing and matching. Also consider Netflix blu ray mail program for latest releases to disc. You can get 1, 2, or 3 at a time.

quote:

Originally posted by mrapteam666:

What OTA DVR subscription do you have.

That is a new world to me and I am trying to get an understanding of it on cnet.

TiVo has DVRs for OTA channels. The current series of TiVo devices are for OTA only or cable input only.

You can still find an older model, the Premier series, that has two co-ax inputs, one for OTA and one for cable. We have one of these and it works just fine; the program guide and the tuning via the TiVo remote integrate the OTA channels and the cable channels seamlessly.

You need a TiVo subscription, either monthly or a lifetime (lifetime of the specific device), to get the channel guide.

There is a company with the strange name of weaknees that specializes in new and re-furbished TiVo DVRs and accessories. I have purchased several things from them and always had a good experience.

Take a look at theurwebsite (link is in preceding paragraph) -- you'll find some good deals, including some DVRs that do come with the lifetime subscription.

If you have questions about DVRs, weakness is probably the best place to ask.

I canceled Hulu+ just an hour ago. There is just absolutely nothing worth watching. Most of our viewing time was spent trying to find something interesting.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark123,

I use Apollo group tv. It’s 160.00 a year you download it on a firestick has pretty much all the sports showtime etc regular tv

quote:

Seriously considering going to the local Spectrum store and picking up a cable box.

Yep, have DTV, may move to cable to reduce costs, or play it on DTV, they usually will lower the cost.

Tried the "streaming life" it's ok, but a pia to have multiple services for different shows or series and by the time you pay for it all, you really save nothing since you have to pay for internet service anyway.

Subject line

OP, I cut the cord to Hulu+ as well and what was initially a good decision is becoming worse and worse. It was $42.48 when I subscribed Sept '18 and it's $70.38 now.

I chose Hulu over the others because of the Big Ten Network. However, they keep fucking up sports and here are a few examples:

texting back and forth with buddies during the Astros playoff run, Hulu kept getting further and further behind in the game. They interject more commercials than broadcast TV.

Purdue played one of the most exciting bowl games I have ever seen a few weeks back. The game is in overtime and there is a key goal line play being reviewed and the MF'ers injected a 2.5 minute commercial. When they came back from commercial, the next bowl game was on not the Purdue overtime. 2nd time this has happened with Hulu.

I see that Sling has an option where you get both orange and blue which would give me what I want (e.g. Big Ten Netowrk) and save $5 over Hulu. However, I don't know any sports fans with Sling to find out if it's the same BS as Hulu.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

quote:

Originally posted by mrapteam666:
Thank you sir
I am glad there is more to it, and that I am not becoming a twit who cannot understand a basic setup.

Flash B
Within the last year OTA has really supplemented the channel selection. For example I have GRIT, Charge, METV and Antenna TV

I also just realized that I have the Heroes and Icon channel:
This is great because on Saturdays it is a night of:
Tour of Duty
Black Sheep Squadron
Rat Patrol
Twelve O Clock High and--->
Combat with Vic Morrow

Same here.
I get 82 channels OTA and have this setup in the attic since 1987 when I only got about 20 channels.
ALONE is now on Channel 66 on Saturdays.