I've been watching this phenomenon for a while now, and as streaming providers get better and better at delivering the content people want, more and more people are exiting traditional cable/satellite TV contracts.

Forbes Article

And one of the most interesting aspects of the linked article is one of the primary reasons people are cutting the cord...."Original Content". Regular TV has gotten so stale and boring that these upstarts, who've been paying attention to what people are looking for, are offering content regular TV can't (or won't provide).

I haven't cut our cord yet, primarily due to my wife's refusal to "...learn how to work anything new", but I'm sure its coming. I just finished a one week test drive of YouTube TV and really liked it. Unfortunately, it doesn't play nice with all my Fire TV sticks, so some changes would have to be made to accommodate that subscription.

As internet speeds continue to improve, I think cable providers are going to see an even bigger exodus to streaming. Can't say as I feel for them much, given the size of my current cable bill.

I switched to Hulu Live just as college football began. As I said in the thread I linked, college football was the reason I waited so long. We're 10 weeks into the season, and I'm glad I made the switch.

I have local channels for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC so I get local news. Last night a tornado warning came out so the local CBS affiliate cut-off the last 10 minutes of CBS' SEAL Team. Surprisingly, my iPhone didn't give its annoying warning so it was the only way I knew. Besides, I can catch the last 10 minutes today (could also buy CBS' streaming package and have it same day, but I'm patient/cheap enough to wait a day).

College football has been as reliable or more reliable than cable.

Watching the Houston Astros in the play-offs worked out well too.

Got rid of our DirecTV last month and went to DirecTV NOW. We have that along with Netflix and Amazon Prime. Gives us our local channels and the cable channels we watched. Don't miss the other channels, nor the bill at all.

I went to YouTubeTV a little while ago and am very happy. Seems like some of big players are making cheaper streaming options, so some of the cable providers will probably slowly transition, or just offer both. Be interesting to see what it's like in 5 or 10 years.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I switched to Hulu Live just as college football began[/url]. As I said in the thread I linked, college football was the reason I waited so long. We're 10 weeks into the season, and I'm glad I made the switch.

I have local channels for ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC so I get local news. {snip}

College football has been as reliable or more reliable than cable.

I can echo all of that, except for getting ABC. So far, I don't think it's a major loss.
There's some DVR capability with Hulu, too, and that's a nice thing.

I just fired my cable provider a week ago. I went with ATT W/Directvnow service, it seems to work great.

I am a bit curious about the amount of data used to stream tv. I have 1TB provided, and hope it will handle my needs at this time.

Something else I forgot to mention in my initial post. When testing YouTubeTV I noticed the picture quality seemed a bit better than what I'm getting through my Spectrum cable subscription. I also notice picture quality also seems better when streaming via Amazon Prime. And that's on my five year old 1080p TV. I would have loved to see what picture quality would have looked like in 4K or UHD.

Regardless, I think everything will eventually stream and cable will slowly disappear as time moves forward.

Don’t forget PlayStation Vue for streaming locals and cable, it’s the best method IMO.

Amazon does an amazing job with the 4K stuff, if your pipeline can handle it.

I recently got divorced and moved back to the DFW area (hooray for me!)

I've got a great internet connection and I've only got Netflix and Amazon Prime. Well, I do pay for the OAN App, which is worth it.

I got an over the air HD antenna from Amazon for about $15. It looks like a mouse pad, and I stuck it on the wall and I get all the local channels for free. Heck, my Samsung TV even scans the channels and gives me a channel guide to see what is on! Which is either soap operas or Gunsmoke, but I know which I will be watching!

I was an early DirecTV adopter but I am done with them. Streaming and free, old-school over the air TV is where it is at.

And as dry-fly mentioned, PSVue seems to be one of the best all-in-one solutions.

Doesn't "streaming" use the Internet? My Internet connection is on the same cable as my TV reception, provided by the same company (Spectrum). If people leave cable TV, won't the companies just raise the price of the Internet?

I don't watch "local" TV at all unless I'm informed by Fox that something is happening here. Then I'll flip to one of the local stations. Otherwise, it's all cable TV.

flashguy

Question for those with DirectTV Now.

Can you sign up and get support at your local AT&T store? What streaming device would you recommend?

Thanks so much

quote:

Originally posted by SigSauerP226:
I went to YouTubeTV a little while ago and am very happy. Seems like some of big players are making cheaper streaming options, so some of the cable providers will probably slowly transition, or just offer both. Be interesting to see what it's like in 5 or 10 years.

This.

I moved to Youtube TV within a week of it being available in Charlotte, and could not be happier. At $37/ month for a decent Channel lineup how could you go wrong? My combined Tv and internet cost is just shy of $95/ month, and it used to be ell over $150. Direct TV was garbage. 225 channels, but over 100 of them were marketing, advertisements, and general crap.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Doesn't "streaming" use the Internet? My Internet connection is on the same cable as my TV reception, provided by the same company (Spectrum). If people leave cable TV, won't the companies just raise the price of the Internet?

I have DSL through my local phone company, Centurylink and the price is locked in for life as long as I don't make any changes to my account. I have 25Mb/s internet and unlimited long distance.

2 Roku TVs, 2 computers, 2 Amazon Echo Dots, 4 WiFi speakers, a printer and occasionally an iPad or an Amazon Fire HD10 or an Amazon Kindle Voyager on my wireless network and 25Mb/s is fine.

On the Roku TVs I get 22 OTA broadcast channels and have Amazon Prime, Sling TV (for ESPN during college football season) and a couple of Roku channels. I did have Netflix until they signed on the Obama's last year although they said it was nothing political. I canceled Netflix ... nothing political.

I have a love / hate relationship with the cord cutting. We were early adopters and did it about six years ago. We have two Firesticks hooked up to modern 4k TVs. We pay for Netflix, Prime, and HBO, and piggyback off of our friends on others. Maybe I'm getting old and cranky, but the constant fluctuations in sound and picture quality combined with the need to sign in to certain apps constantly has driven me round the bend. Nothing beats cable for picture quality and reliability. I am about to just give it all up and read more.

I'm also a cord cutter who went to PlayStation Vue. I use my Apple TV 4K to access PSVue, and we also have Amazon Prime and Netflix. The main network channels of the San Antonio viewing area come through PSVue, but I still have bunny ears for the other local channels.

quote:

Originally posted by Loaded Round:
Question for those with DirectTV Now.

Can you sign up and get support at your local AT&T store? What streaming device would you recommend?

Thanks so much

I called the 800# on one of the mailers sent to my house. It was all done over the phone, including installation date (they had to run a new line). I bought a Roku Ultra because I have a 4K UHD TV. It works great, and is $90 less per month than what I was spending with WOWWAY.

Is it cutting the cord, or just trading one cord for another?

I was one of the last holdouts to buy a flat screen TV. I did that a year ago (Black Friday). 2 1/2 years ago I dropped Frontier cable and bought a Roku box. I tried several services and settled on a combination of Amazon Prime and Netflix. With an OTA antenna I get all the traditional networks plus 30 or 40 other channels (most of which are either religious, Spanish, or home shopping, but there are a few good ones in there). When football season starts I add Sling TV to get ESPN, and then cancel it after Christmas. My Frontier bill dropped $100 when I cut off the cable, and now I pay $16/mo for Amazon + Netflix (+ $25/mo for Sling, but that's only for 4 months each year). But the best thing about streaming is No Commercials, and especially this time of year, No F***ing Political Ads.

4 years and counting... if not for the little one, we would probably not even have a Netflix service. OTA and free streaming through a smart tv is more programming than my wife and I will ever watch.

I find it insane that people pay for TV shows when there is so much unique content on youtube. Every kind of fishing, hunting, cooking, firearm content you could dream of. Learn how to fix a car problem, forge a knife, or build a cabin. The race for views has pushed the creators to use good cameras and techniques.