Thanks to a couple members who have advised me off board. Especially the LA. member who called me.

It is looking more like Amazon is the gorilla getting into the sports broadcasting. Taking over rights for football and baseball teams who have major RSN issues.

So having no knowledge of Amazon at all.

What do I need to know?

Do I need an Amazon account and then buy prime video? I really have no idea.

Thought about Youtube TV But do not think I will get the regional sports I want.

I currently have Direct TV. No streaming. It is over $150 a month. Which is too much. And it sounds like our RSN may not be included this year.

Any thoughts?

We dropped DTV a couple years ago, after having been a subscriber for 20 years. Following my brother’s lead, we went to YouTube TV. $150/month?!? Sorry, that’s crazy. Our YT TV subscription is $75.84/month. My wife points out that the price doesn’t change, no matter how many TVs you have—unlike DTV. I can’t think of anything I’m missing on YT, including regional sports. Yeah, we have a Prime membership, I think that’s always necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Thanks to a couple members who have advised me off board. Especially the LA. member who called me.

It is looking more like Amazon is the gorilla getting into the sports broadcasting. Taking over rights for football and baseball teams who have major RSN issues.

So having no knowledge of Amazon at all.

What do I need to know?

Do I need an Amazon account and then buy prime video? I really have no idea.

Thought about Youtube TV But do not think I will get the regional sports I want.

I currently have Direct TV. No streaming. It is over $150 a month. Which is too much. And it sounds like our RSN may not be included this year.

Any thoughts?

I don't know if Prime requires a standard Amazon account, but I suspect it does. Prime is now either $119 or $129 per year.


We've had an Amazon Account and Prime for many years and it works for us. I don't know if Prime is required for YouTube TV, but I intend to investigate very soon. Dish Network here and they are hitting me for $160 a month. Ridiculous for forty channels of buy this crap and then the little variety on other channels.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:

Prime is now either $119 or $129 per year.

It's gone up to $139 now. My renewal this year was $140.28, with some sort of tax or fee added.

I have had Prime for years. I was happy to hear Amazon became a minority investor in Bally Sports who broadcasts our local NHL games. I ditched Direct TV streaming a few years back which carried Bally Sports. I then purchased the Bally Sports app for $20 month so I get the local NHL team. Their app is really sketchy for some games with buffering so bad I have murderous thoughts. I would love for Prime to broadcast the local games which sounds like the direction things are going. But will it be an extra charge? Prime is the best option out there at roughly $14 a month you get a lot of content with both tv and music.

You will need to subscribe to Amazon Prime and you get access to most of it. You can upgrade the music portion of it to unleash like 10 million songs.

Mine was $149.99 last week... I just looked its $139 and tax.

Honestly, if you want it for streaming then it might be worth it. The prime benefits for ordering and such are being pushed back a lot. Very few things are 2 days anymore, at least in my experience. Prime also has access to streaming music (with commercials unless you want to pay extra there too), photo hosting and possibly kindle books as well. I don't use any of that so, I don't know much about it. Occasionally there is prime only price deals as well.

Thanks guys. So let me see if I have this right.
Amazon Prime is $14.99 a month. Which allows you to order items from the Amazon website, correct.
Does the Prime membership also get you you streaming to your TV via the internet? Or do you have to have the Prime Video too at an additional $8.99 a month?

To get streaming to your TV you need an internet connection. Do you also have to have a specific remote to stream it? How do you determine if your TV can do it?

If I understand correctly:

quote:

Amazon Prime is $14.99 a month. Which allows you to order items from the Amazon website, correct.

Prime membership is not needed to simply order merchandise. It does give you generally free/expedited shipping on most items, however.

I have a bunch of streaming services. The main downside to Amazon is the that a subscription doesn’t get you access to everything they offer. Many shows and movies are STILL pay per episode, rental, or viewing. Bullshit.

$149 a year translates to $12.50 a month, not 14.99. A Prime account gives you access to a bunch of stuff beyond video (music, free shipping, Kindle books, etc.). Some things are included with the Prime account, others are an add-on charge. You do not have to have a Prime account to make purchases from Amazon.

Beginning later this month Prime is going to start inserting ads into at least some of its streamed programs that up to now are commercial-free. I paid $140 last year for Prime and $120 the year before. If it's going up to $150 this year AND they're adding the commercials, I think that for me at least, Prime is losing most of its value and I'll probably drop it and go to some other streaming service instead. YoutubeTV, Hulu+, or NetFlix, maybe.

At its most basic level (some streaming services are free, others are by paid subscription), any streaming requires an internet connection to your TV set. It can be wired or wireless, depending on how the TV is equipped (some have only a wireless connection, some have a hard-wired connection and some offer both); you'd have to check your TV's manual to determine that. Your regular remote control should work for all your streaming activity. You'll pay your internet service provider (ISP) a monthly fee. Streaming subscriptions are separate from the ISP fee. So if your ISP charges you $20/month for internet service, your total would be $20 for the connection plus $12.50 for Prime, or $32.50 per month. If you choose to subscribe to other streaming services (e.g., Netflix) in addition to Prime, it's still a single ISP fee.

The other thing that comes with a Prime account is their credit card. It has a points system where when you buy stuff on Amazon you accumulate "points". Those points can be used to reduce the price of Amazon items on future purchases. I think they can also be used to reduce the price of pay-per-view movies or series episodes. I've been able to rent movies for like $1 that normally rent for $4.99. It's not a huge difference, but every little bit helps. Of course you're free to stick the card in the safe and not use it at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
Beginning later this month Prime is going to start inserting ads into at least some of its streamed programs that up to now are commercial-free. ... If it's going up to $150 this year AND they're adding the commercials, I think that for me at least, Prime is losing most of its value and I'll probably drop it ...

We already did. I'm not gonna pay $12.50/mo. and have to sit through adverts. Period.

They might be sweating a bit. Placed an order a few days ago and they were offering a week of Prime membership for $1.99. I've never seen that before.

I declined.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

Placed an order a few days ago and they were offering a week of Prime membership for $1.99. I've never seen that before

Yeah, I saw that recently. I'm trying to remember -- I think that they used to offer a short trial membership for free; it appears that the trial is now $1.99 instead of free.

Jeff's super-yacht burns a lot of fuel, gotta pay for it somehow.

I have YouTube TV and it’s got a ton of sports of every kind. Between that and an OTA antenna I think you’d be all set.

There are many many threads on this forum about cutting the cord. A search for "cord cut" may find them.

In these threads you will find opinions on the best solution. There is, in my view, no best. For each of us, the streaming service needed differs.

For me, YouTube TV. $70 per month.

Amazon Prime, I have also. But, it is not my favorite source. Having Amazon series, such as Bosch or Reacher, I must use Prime. But, I would not otherwise.

Amazon Prime is the only streaming I have. The Amazon Chase Signature Visa is the only card I use. No Alexa crap and I don't talk to my TV. I suppose Amazon Prime has me by the short hairs to a certain extent but usually the free shipping ( although the price can be higher to reflect that) will make up most or some of the annual fee. I use YouTube/Rumble predominantly and works well with Fire TV. I watched OTA TV and the commercials seem to be similar (pharma mostly, Liberty Insurance etc.) but YouTube can be more personalized. Freevee has commercials but heck, it's free too). I seems a lot of movies end up on Amazon eventually (Sound of Freedom). I was paying for Amazon Music Unlimited for several months without realizing it. I stopped that ($10/m). Amazon even has some Gaming features. So, I would say Amazon is decent unless you are also subscribed to others like Hulu, Paramount+, Netflix etc., then you have to figure where the money is going and is it worth it.

Edit: Sports and Live Sports probably have unique streaming/app requirements separate from entertainment, always, it seems, with additional cost, but Amazon could be working deals to make that worthwhile.