Cutting the Cord: Streaming Instead of Cable TV Means Complicated Choices, and Some Trade-Offs

[Elan]

All this streaming stuff if too much for me (too old I guess) so I'm sticking with cable. When I go over to my Son's house to watch his dogs I am in TV Hell. He has a remote that you use to connect to 5 different services. I have no Idea what they are or how to use them. So I end up watching the local DFW over the air channels while I am there...

George

I'm pretty technically competent (electrical engineer), but this is what I was referring to upstream. I don't want to have to have 3 remotes to toggle between my ota antenna and 3 streaming services just to watch TV -- game I'm watching is on local TV or Fubo or PS Vue, but I want to toggle, during commercials, to a game on Sling. How convenient and intuitive and fast is that, cuz that's me during college football season?

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[bbodb1]

It can be tricky to figure out for anyone who is used to cable. But it's not actually very tricky. The reality is that no cable bundle is going to provide everything you want, anyway, so if you really want to watch what you want to watch then you have to find the ways.

I cut the cord about 10 years ago. I started with Roku. Since then I have tried Amazon Fire Stick and ChromeCast as well as Xbox. Right now my preference is Chromecast combined with special apps on my phone.

The apps I have are a LOT! I just need them all to be able to watch all the stuff I like:
Hulu - for sitcoms like Modern Family and Blackish, dramas like This Is Us and Handmaid's Tale
Netflix - mostly for standup comedy specials and kids movies as well as a few favorite shows like Kimmie Schmidt
Amazon Prime - mostly for things like Orphan Black
WNBA League Pass - to watch our new Las Vegas Aces
NBC Sports Gold - they took over IceNetwork so this is now where I will watch figure skating
CBS All Access - The Good Fight and Madame Secretary
Movies Everywhere - they took over Disney Movies Everywhere so all the Disney movies I own are there

And where is your NHL pass?

 

[VegasBella]

And where is your NHL pass?

haha, well actually it's not necessary since all the restaurants and bars in town broadcast the VGK games

 

[MULTIZ321]

What You Missed This Week on CordCutters.com
CordCutters/ cordcutters.com

Many articles and categories on their site.


Richard

 

[Bucky]

Bucky,

At that price, did you also have some of the premium movie channels as well?

Nope. I had the America’s top 200 pkg with the Heartland pkg ($6), Hopper3 and two Joeys. Add taxes and various other non controllable fees and I was well over $140 a month. Needed the Top 200 package to get a couple of channels not on the lower tiers. Now I’ve got the same thing at Vue and Sling for much less!

 

[MULTIZ321]

As Cord-Cutting Prices Rise, Here's What You Can Do to Keep Costs Down
By Rob Pegoraro/ Special to USA Today/ Tech/ usatoday.com

"For the growing ranks of cord-cutters who fled cable- and satellite-TV services for cheaper streaming options, recent weeks have brought an unsettling run: rate increases that look too much like the price hikes that plagued traditional pay TV for years.

First, the Dish Network-owned Sling TV announced at the end of June that its entry-level Sling Orange service would increase by $5 to $25. Days later, AT&T was notifying subscribers to its DirecTV Now that its three tiers of service would also go up by $5 a month, raising its starter rate to $40. And Sony PlayStation Vue said it, too, would increase rates by $5 a month to bring its cheapest plan to $40.

Google’s YouTube TV, in turn, had led off this mini-trend in March with a $5 increase that brought its standard rate to, yup, $40.

It’s true that online streaming operations face the same underlying inflation from studios and networks as cable and satellite...."

(Photo: Sling TV)


Richard

 

[puppymommo]

I'm pretty technically competent (electrical engineer), but this is what I was referring to upstream. I don't want to have to have 3 remotes to toggle between my ota antenna and 3 streaming services just to watch TV -- game I'm watching is on local TV or Fubo or PS Vue, but I want to toggle, during commercials, to a game on Sling. How convenient and intuitive and fast is that, cuz that's me during college football season? ]

Here's how it works with my LG smart TV. It came with a dedicated button for Amazon and Netflix. Sling and Hulu are already installed and accessed through the main menu, as is live TV (required me to add a $10 antenna). It also has YouTube TV installed, also a subscription service. I don't know how you would add Fubo or PS Vue though. It takes a few clicks of the remote to toggle between apps. I had a low tier cable package and still it is saving me about $85 a month, so the money I spent on a smart TV will be recouped in about 5 months. But I agree with those who previously said that it really depends on one's viewing habits.

 

[SueDonJ]

I am so confused about all of this but with two homes we just have to stop wasting so much money on cable! The problems we're having, though, are with live streaming of out-of-market pro games.

In both MA and SC we want to be able to pick up local-to-each ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS affiliates plus live RedSox and Bruins (on NESN,) Patriots (WBZ-TV-Boston) and Celtics (NBCSports-Boston) games no matter which home we're in at the time. In SC we've already switched the triple-play cable to just internet from Spectrum with FireStick equipment; in MA we have the FireSticks but haven't yet connected them or changed the Comcast service. So far in SC we've tested Hulu with FUBO (for NESN) but learned the hard way that the NESN live games are blacked out in out-of-market areas. We also want things like HGTV, FoodNetwork, just simple basic cable stuff. Movies, eh other than the completely stupid Hallmark Christmas stuff that has me hooked, but for anything else I already have Prime and Netflix anyway.

Honest to God, it sounds like we're total TV junkies but it's just that we each have favorites that we don't want to give up!

So as near as I can figure, we need the FireSticks and network antennas connected to each tv, plus a basic streaming package from something like HULU (that must be compatible with FireStick,) plus whatever is going to get us all four major Boston sports programming at both homes. Does that sound right? And, can anybody just tell me what I need so that I don't have to THINK about this anymore?!?! I'll be in your debt forever.

 

[bnoble]

In both MA and SC we want to be able to pick up local-to-each ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS affiliates plus live RedSox and Bruins (on NESN,) Patriots (WBZ-TV-Boston) and Celtics (NBCSports-Boston) games no matter which home we're in at the time.

You might get the best option by subscribing to the appropriate sports tier in the MA home, and then using Slingbox to watch the MA provider remotely.
https://www.lifewire.com/slingbox-remote-access-1130732

 

[ausman]

Comcast in the Boston area also has viewing using a Roku (in beta), there is an xfinity channel. I'm using it for a second TV in the den. I'd investigate that option if in your position. I don't know if there is a geographic restriction for the sports however.

 

[Bucky]

You might get the best option by subscribing to the appropriate sports tier in the MA home, and then using Slingbox to watch the MA provider remotely.
https://www.lifewire.com/slingbox-remote-access-1130732

Probably the only way it’s going to work except I would put a Tablo in the MA location instead of a Slingbox. I had the slingbox in the past but prefer the Tablo over it. Just my opinion.

Sometimes there are just no cheap alternatives when you have specific needs. While we enjoy the flexibility of streaming the wide range of different channels on each service makes it mind boggling when trying to select one. If we didn’t have “musts” we would have been best off going with Philo. But, my wife “needed” the Hallmark channels and I “demanded” the golf channel and we both “wanted” the cooking channel and a functional DVR. That left only two choices, either SlingTV or PSVue. The problem with Sling is that it has only limited amount of channels at 60fps. So, we ended up with PSVue because it met all of our requirements and all channels are at 60fps. While DTVN does now have a DVR, it’s got bugs and only allows 20 hrs of storage. PSVue has unlimited storage for 28 days.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Cut most of the cable bill KNOWING I was going to have to downsize my "TV addiction" several years ago. USED to miss watching the HGTV and SciFi channels. NOT now. And no more AMC either. An ABC news program is running in the background ... dumped the Today Show (even had done several visits to the Plaza on NYC stays with my pictures with the hosts .. .before the Matt Lauder issues ... less news HAD warped into more fluff).

And then, the large cable company raised all its rates. A longtime co-worker has DishTV ... he definitely watches MORE sports than I.

Cable TV should collect (MORE) commerical fees and broadcast fees from the channels they broadcasted ... and cut the subscribes invoices to be LESS of what they are now.

JUST looked up my current CableTV bill .. has grown to $97 last month ... and I again will CALLED the CableTV company and WHINED and threaten and get another 'promo' offering. YOU must be absolutely solid in your threat to CUT OUT their service .. my line has been DISHTV and FIOS internet are looking better.

PS Senior and low income families are GIVEN just about FREE basic TV service (and likely internet also) via monopoly services ... first be CLEAR in you can't afford it ANY more ... whine about being retired due to age (over 65 or 70+ honestly) or disablity. Or hardship like unemployed or cut hours or less INCOME due to the economy or illness, etc. AND you must be willing to CUT the cord ... then, the call center employee with pull in a supervisor or (retention agent) who can work other options.

 

[WinniWoman]

Cut most of the cable bill KNOWING I was going to have to downsize my "TV addiction" several years ago. USED to miss watching the HGTV and SciFi channels. NOT now. And no more AMC either. An ABC news program is running in the background ... dumped the Today Show (even had done several visits to the Plaza on NYC stays with my pictures with the hosts .. .before the Matt Lauder issues ... less news HAD warped into more fluff).

And then, the large cable company raised all its rates. A longtime co-worker has DishTV ... he definitely watches MORE sports than I.

Cable TV should collect (MORE) commerical fees and broadcast fees from the channels they broadcasted ... and cut the subscribes invoices to be LESS of what they are now.

JUST looked up my current CableTV bill .. has grown to $97 last month ... and I again will CALLED the CableTV company and WHINED and threaten and get another 'promo' offering. YOU must be absolutely solid in your threat to CUT OUT their service .. my line has been DISHTV and FIOS internet are looking better.

PS Senior and low income families are GIVEN just about FREE basic TV service (and likely internet also) via monopoly services ... first be CLEAR in you can't afford it ANY more ... whine about being retired due to age (over 65 or 70+ honestly) or disablity. Or hardship like unemployed or cut hours or less INCOME due to the economy or illness, etc. AND you must be willing to CUT the cord ... then, the call center employee with pull in a supervisor or (retention agent) who can work other options.

If it weren't for my husband I would ditch DirecTV. We have Amazon Prime and 2 subscriptions to internet only networks and I could care less about anything else.He is so into watching one particular news network- so we have to pay all this money because of that- though we have the most basic package they have- they don't even offer it anymore- we were grandfathered in and the rate still goes up each year. I am na big TV watcher. Could live without it. Such a waste of money. It kills me.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

. ..

In both MA and SC we want to be able to pick up local-to-each ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS affiliates plus live RedSox and Bruins (on NESN,) Patriots (WBZ-TV-Boston) and Celtics (NBCSports-Boston) games no matter which home we're in .........

Hi SueDonJ,
I will limit this to the OTA ( over the air TV ) part of your question.

If your houses are more than 30 miles from the broadcast tower(s) you should buy a decent outdoor antenna such as a Channel Master * 8 bay . These are the square ones with the “ bow ties” .

If you are more than 50 + miles you may need to add an amplifier .

You should also get better than the cheapest G-6 cable and make sure it is grounded at some point ( lightning / power surges - There are grounding blocks that you then tie into the grounding of your home wiring )

* Channel Master also sells a DVR that can record one OTA channel / while you watch another . ( I don’ t have one )

Today - many of the network OTA stations also broadcast sub channels with names like :
Laff TV - Grit - Bounce - The Justice Network - Antenna TV - Create - etc .
This greatly adds to your selection of free TV .

******
We live about 60- 70 miles from the Buffalo broadcast towers and 35 miles from the CN Toronto tower .
We get a total of 32 different channels ( 10 Cdn. + 7 US + 15 subchannels ) . Our Antenna is about 40 feet up ( about 8 feet above the roofline of a 2 story / height matters for more distant stations) - ALL FREE .

We also have Ruku for Netflix ( $ 10.99 Cdn / month )

Live sports is trickier .We get free weekly winter NHL Hockey ( CBC )
NFL & college football - lots of games .
No Bluejays or Raptors ( except on radio)

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Having recently relocated to Palm Springs area, I arrived fully intending to use internet alone for all of my tv needs. The problem was the cost for said service from the only internet provider, Spectrum. Their bundled package was just a few dollars more than internet alone. The price will go up after 12 months, so I will revisit costs at that time.

That's kind of an issue here as well. Very little competition for internet service.

This has been my problem. There is only one company that provides internet service, for me they still have me

 

[Ironwood]

We've decided to give this a try. So far, so good. I look at it this way. We have gone from having way, way too much content to watch to having way too much content to watch.

I do, however miss the Canadian sports channel TSN.

I'm in Ontario and cut the cord for 6 months when we moved almost 5 years ago, but went back with a slightly stripped down package. Thought I could manage with Roku streaming and Netflix, and watch news and sports on my tablet. Missed live breaking news when something was really happening and sports has to be watched live. Considered various antenas, but online sites were telling me I might get 7/8 channels clear, another half dozen somewhat clear and the rest fuzzy. Streaming or antenna viewing is just not quite there for me where I am.

 

[Elan]

With college football upon us (finally! ), I signed up for the 7 day free trial of Sling. I played with it a little last night and I think I'd be fairly satisfied with the content, but I wasnt thrilled with the interface. I have the app on my phone and was casting via Chromecast. For others with Sling, how do you interface? In particular, I wasn't thrilled with the search function, as in finding what cfb games would be available on all Sling channels today.

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[Ken555]

I'm in Ontario and cut the cord for 6 months when we moved almost 5 years ago, but went back with a slightly stripped down package. Thought I could manage with Roku streaming and Netflix, and watch news and sports on my tablet. Missed live breaking news when something was really happening and sports has to be watched live. Considered various antenas, but online sites were telling me I might get 7/8 channels clear, another half dozen somewhat clear and the rest fuzzy. Streaming or antenna viewing is just not quite there for me where I am.

For breaking news, I watch CBSN or other news apps on Roku or Apple TV (I also have an indoor antenna but only use it once a year or so when I remember to test if it’s still working...). I believe it’s now almost four years since I canceled cable and haven’t missed it at all.


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[x3 skier]

“Live breaking news” isn’t worth watching to me. Unless it’s a tornado coming down my street or a running gun battle in the neighborhood, there’s nothing I can or should do about it. So the interruption to regular programs is just an annoyance I certainly don’t miss. One of the benefits of dropping cable

Cheerd

 

[bbodb1]

“Live breaking news” isn’t worth watching to me. Unless it’s a tornado coming down my street or a running gun battle in the neighborhood, there’s nothing I can or should do about it. So the interruption to regular programs is just an annoyance I certainly don’t miss. One of the benefits of dropping cable

Cheerd

To add to this point, in our area there has been a substantial drop in the quality and quantity of local coverage. Our local TV affiliates are nothing more than repeater channels for the networks as they offer far too little local coverage to be of any practical use. The point here is not so much to complain about the local networks as much as it is to state that local coverage is dead or dying.

 

[bnoble]

FWIW: Sling did not carry the Texas @ Maryland game on FS1 for some reason; they claim rights issues. Fubo did have it. I know this because I cancelled Sling Blue and subbed to Fubo instead. I still have Sling Orange, and will probably keep both through the end of college football season. I may end up dropping Sling (and ESPN) when winter hits, and just keep Fubo.

 

[Bucky]

With college football upon us (finally! ), I signed up for the 7 day free trial of Sling. I played with it a little last night and I think I'd be fairly satisfied with the content, but I wasnt thrilled with the interface. I have the app on my phone and was casting via Chromecast. For others with Sling, how do you interface? In particular, I wasn't thrilled with the search function, as in finding what cfb games would be available on all Sling channels today.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

This is what I use for finding all the games.
http://506sports.com/ncaaf.php

We had Sling and weren’t particularly impressed with the pic quality. Not all of their stations are in 60fps.

Switched to PS Vue and get a better pic quality with all stations in 60fps. Also love their DVR for football. Select “College Football” and “NCAA Football” and it will record every game on and keep them for up to 28 days!

We use a couple Roku Streaming Sticks while at home and with the PS Vue app we can watch anywhere and on any device that has the app installed. Sling has the same setup.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I brought a digital antenna ... so as to GET "over the air" TV channels for a 2nd home. I believe the last count was 10 viewable channels out in the boonies .. verses ZERO with normal rabbit ears.

My DVD player is being used less ... but I buy/brought a number of DVDs as the rentals stores downsized (byb-bye Blockbuster but thanks for my future viewing).

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I brought a digital antenna ... so as to GET "over the air" TV channels for a 2nd home. I believe the last count was 10 viewable channels out in the boonies .. verses ZERO with normal rabbit ears.).

Hi Linda ,
Congratulations - 10 FREE channels is likely plenty .

You may be able to get more ; depending on the distance to broadcast towers etc.
Did you add an amplifier ?

As per my earlier post in this thread - We get Buffalo ( 60-75 mile to towers ) with an amplifier .
without it - only Toronto at 35 miles . ( It helps that both are across water ; so no obstructions)

Channel Count. (including sub channels) - 32 .
( and still sometimes “ nothing “ worth watching )

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I got cured of my "TV addiction" decades ago. I was in a situation with no TV for a year. When I got one, I found I couldn't watch it any more. (Too banal).

With the advent of DVD's, I spent my "cable" money on DVDs instead. After 20 years, my library is up to 2000 discs, many of which are TV shows from the past I got as complete sets for a song. (I won't say this cost less money than cable, but what price no commercials? Think of it like a timeshare, no commercials are a luxury good.) Yes, I watch some live sports (but only OTA), that is my only source of commercials. . . .

But each to their own tastes. . .

(Oh yes, my antenna get around 50 OTA channels, including sub channels.)