pb4uski
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Look harder.
Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020
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Look harder.
SmallCityDave
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How much are you paying now?
As mentioned here if those are your primary channels all you need is Philo for $20 (and a Roku or 2) the "dvr" is built in. I rtried them earlier this month and I'm pleasantly surprised.
SmallCityDave
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Is anyone using sling for $15 or $25 they look hard to beat.
ExFlyBoy5
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We have been using Sling and Directv Now for about the same amount of time (18 months, perhaps?) and I prefer Sling to DTV. It's less glitchy and I rarely have to re-boot the app...whereas we have to do this with DTV constantly. Will probably cancel DTV now that we are pulling locals in with the Amazon Recast.
Thanks for the links. That's helpful. But how does one find actual pricing information, including tax and broadcast fees? I've heard the real price is $30-35 all-in. What platforms are supported? It appears Fire TV is not, which would be a showstopper for me. DVR options and price? Cloud DVR? Regional sports add-on options and price? I've found some info on tech/news websites, but much of it appears dated, incomplete, and contradictory. I just can't find anything authoritative directly from Spectrum aside from your two links, which address some, but not all, of my questions.
I suppose this offering is really intended more to provide an option to current Spectrum customers who are thinking of cutting the cord. If they actually wanted to sell this service to the general public, they sure do make it difficult to find information. Is this even available to anyone? Or just existing Spectrum TV customers?
Midpack
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Sling is $25 to $40/mo after the 3 month intro period, and it does not include any live local major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) - that's a deal breaker for us. That's why Sling is cheaper than other live broadcast streaming packages, it's simple. We don't want to fuss with OTA. YMMV
And the basic Sling TV Orange package only allows 1 stream, so it wouldn't work for a couple or family who want to watch more than one TV simultaneously. Even if you buy Sling Blue + Orange, you can only stream Orange channels on 1 TV (seems odd to me).
You get what you pay for as usual...
When I signed up a year age for Spectrum Choice, it was first quoted at 21.99 plus 3 local channel fee. After entering it into system they said since I was an existing TV customer it would be 29.99 plus $3 local. It also allowed me to get my internet for $10 less a month. The 21.99 was new TV customers only. So my net cost was $22.99 for 1st year and maybe longer. I would advise going into a local office and ask away, if no local, call. For the price , it is OK. The app was hitchy the first 8 months, and has gotten better, but not 100% like Amazon Prime is. I have 60-70 mbps internet, so that is not a problem. Also, this is only available to Spectrum Internet customers.The local fee fee just went up to $5 last month. HTH
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@Midpack - HuluTV offers quite a few cable networks PLUS local stations w/DVR service in our area (27513). But they just raised their rates to $44.99
https://www.hulu.com/live-tv
https://www.hulu.com/live-tv
...which is why Sling sells their Air TV ($88 at Walmart), which will pick up and integrate the local OTA channels into their guide. A nice solution to keep their price down.
ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
Yes, but of course that means you need to have an OTA antenna. If you have one that is sufficient, great. If you don't have one but can pick up locals with a set top indoor antenna, almost as great (a good indoor antenna is less than $50). But a lot of people don't have outdoor OTA antennas any more, and if they are in a place where that is required to pick up locals, it becomes quite costly.
For example, we have rabbit ears that can pick up PBS and ABC. For more than that looks like we have to throw up an outdoor antenna. But about 75% of our OTA viewing is CBS, and we can't get that one. And it hardly seems worth it from a money and effort standpoint to erect an outdoor antenna here.
TVFool is a good place to get an idea about what OTA you can expect to pick up from your location, and how much antenna you can expect to need.
TV Fool
Midpack
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It is a nice solution if you’re willing to install an antenna AND you have a decent signal where you live. Not everyone does...
Midpack
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We have PS Vue, comparable approach (at our address at least).
I’ve used PSVue and DirecTV Now - both are great options for part year residents. Is there a lower cost streaming option that includes the main broadcast channels, even if there are fewer or no other cable channels included?
Sojourner
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Just thought I'd share a quick anecdote about my latest experience with DirecTV's "customer retention" pricing.
I noticed recently that my bill (including HSI) had crept up to around $170/month, so I decided to give DTV a call to complain and threaten to cancel my service if they couldn't offer a substantial discount. When I called, I explained that I was a long time, loyal customer and that, even though I like the DirecTV service, I was giving serious thought to canceling due to the high pricing. I mentioned that I could get all my favorite channels for less than $80 from YouTube TV (plus a few other low-cost streaming services), so in order to stay with DTV I would need to get some considerable discounts.
After explaining all this, the customer service rep (a very pleasant lady "from the Arizona office") put me on hold for a few minutes, then came back and said she would be able to offer me a $75/month discount for the next 12 months. This would lower my bill to under $100/month, with no contract and no changes/downgrades to my programming. Needless to say, I happily agreed to this. I've never, in all my years with DirecTV, been offered such a large discount. The most they usually do is something like free HBO for six months and maybe $25 off the basic service for 6-12 months.
Maybe I just got lucky, but I suppose this could be taken as anecdotal evidence for how much the traditional TV providers are willing to bend to retain loyal customers who are contemplating "cutting the cord".
(Oh, and I also got upgraded for free to the next higher AT&T Uverse Internet speed tier. Only 6 Mbps faster, but for free, I'll take it!)
I noticed recently that my bill (including HSI) had crept up to around $170/month, so I decided to give DTV a call to complain and threaten to cancel my service if they couldn't offer a substantial discount. When I called, I explained that I was a long time, loyal customer and that, even though I like the DirecTV service, I was giving serious thought to canceling due to the high pricing. I mentioned that I could get all my favorite channels for less than $80 from YouTube TV (plus a few other low-cost streaming services), so in order to stay with DTV I would need to get some considerable discounts.
After explaining all this, the customer service rep (a very pleasant lady "from the Arizona office") put me on hold for a few minutes, then came back and said she would be able to offer me a $75/month discount for the next 12 months. This would lower my bill to under $100/month, with no contract and no changes/downgrades to my programming. Needless to say, I happily agreed to this. I've never, in all my years with DirecTV, been offered such a large discount. The most they usually do is something like free HBO for six months and maybe $25 off the basic service for 6-12 months.
Maybe I just got lucky, but I suppose this could be taken as anecdotal evidence for how much the traditional TV providers are willing to bend to retain loyal customers who are contemplating "cutting the cord".
(Oh, and I also got upgraded for free to the next higher AT&T Uverse Internet speed tier. Only 6 Mbps faster, but for free, I'll take it!)
REWahoo
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The two statements above are why I detest doing business with cable and satellite tv companies. Their pricing policy is to quietly jack up monthly rates and fees and see how long they can get by with it until someone complains. Perfectly legal, of course - taking advantage of the inattentive and unaware has always been a great way to make money.
ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
+1
I hate haggling, but I hate being a chump even more. Apparently, giving customers the best no-nonsense deal without having to play "CSR Roulette" every 1-2 years until you get what you want is not a good business strategy, or someone would have done it by now. They're even starting to do that with buying cars, but not this....
RunningBum
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This method is the worst of both worlds. You're a chump for awhile until you've had enough and have to haggle, and even if successful you feel like you've been a chump before then.
Sojourner
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Yep, it's an unpleasant annual ritual, to be sure, but in my experience it's not limited just to cable/satellite companies. I have to do the same thing with natural gas providers and with insurance companies every 1-2 years. If you're too complacent, they are more than happy to quietly and steadily raise your rates year after year. And I have no doubt this will turn out to be the case with the streaming TV providers one day soon, as well.
Sojourner
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Hmmm... in theory, yes, but in practice, not sure how you could do better overall. In my case, I had noticed my DTV bill going up a few dollars here and there for several months, but then all the sudden it went up like $35 in one month. That was because a previous monthly discount had ended, and this happened to coincide with new, higher pricing for the basic DTV programming packages. If I had called much earlier to complain, I may have ended up with a smaller monthly discount than what I got, since my bill was lower then. Who knows? Since I don't have perfect information, I can't know exactly when to call in for the best possible discount. And if I don't call in at all, I'll never get any discount. So I usually just call within a few months of my last round of discounts coming to an end. I'd be happy to consider a better strategy, if you have any suggestions.
RunningBum
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Sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't mean to be critical of you, but rather me. I'm a Dish chump. Still haven't hit the breaking point. The best I've done is get half price on the sports package during football, but I have to keep it 6 months so basically I get 3 months free that I don't really care about. I'm about to downgrade to the Welcome package after March Madness, then come fall I'll see if I can swing a deal and investigate other sources again. I still don't have good enough internet for good streaming. It's one thing to have all the same channels, it's another to view the sports channels at about 5 frames per second. Maybe an exaggeration but it is choppy.
I just don't like that I could be getting a better price by wasting my time and theirs pleading for a better deal. And I (and you) shouldn't have to know all the tricks and when to call for the best deals.
Looking harder would have no impact on finding unpublished offers.
zinger1457
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Anyone have more details on Apple's plans for streaming? Not many details in this article.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/app...00-million-users-in-3-years-wedbush-says.html
ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I've heard they are getting big into it, haven't heard much in the way of details. I've only heard it is supposed to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime. More details are expected on March 25.
If they are going to get as many customers as they are saying, I think their Apple TV offering needs to be a little more cost competitive relative to, say, the Roku (unless they will get their app on the Roku, I doubt it would be on Amazon Fire Sticks since it will apparently compete with Prime). Not everyone likes watching TV on a tablet or a phone.
SoReady
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I've been trying Sling Blue for almost 2 months now along with the TVAir. In order to use TVAir I bought an antenna for $5 at Goodwill. So far it has been great. Occasionally I need to move it a few inches to get PBS, but otherwise surprisingly well. I also hooked up a hard drive to TVAir and can record the OTA channels.
I did pay extra for Sling cloud DVR and the news stations (CNBC, etc). This brought it up to $35/mo.
The guide integrates both OTA and Sling.
I plan on dropping cable this week!
I did pay extra for Sling cloud DVR and the news stations (CNBC, etc). This brought it up to $35/mo.
The guide integrates both OTA and Sling.
I plan on dropping cable this week!
REWahoo
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I agree, but this approach is not the historical Apple business model. Following that would have them charge a premium for their streaming package and require proprietary hardware/software to access it.
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