Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

Exchme said:
Just make sure you have an HDMI connection on the TV for the Roku to plug into, some very TV's don't. There are several Roku device price points, we bought one of the cheaper ones, one near the top and one at the top of the line. Can't tell the difference between the resulting picture, all are great.
Click to expand...

When cutting the cord, we found a huge increase in quality just in using roku. I agree, not much difference across the roku platforms. It was shocking how much better the picture quality was vs cable and made me feel even more like we’d been getting ripped off for the last several years!!
 
https://apnews.com/article/att-discovery-warnermedia-hbo-d7259d1e50f24f12de3edcf9fb7ee33a

I wonder what this will mean for existing AT&T TV and Uverse customers, in addition to those signed up with Discovery+.

With the agreement Monday, AT&T is pulling back from a yearslong campaign to break into the streaming and entertainment sector, where big players are slugging it out with increasingly large war chests dedicated to premium and original content.
Click to expand...
It’s not immediately clear what the new company would mean for customers, but it will likely allow the bundling of streaming services. For example, Disney offers its viewers Disney+, Hulu and ESPN. A standalone streaming service for CNN is also a possibility.
Click to expand...
 
AT&T’s “strategy” in the cable-satellite-streaming TV sector has left people scratching their heads many times in the last few years. From questionable acquisitions, to cannibalizing their own services, to non-competitive pricing. But maybe they have a grand strategy the rest of us don’t understand…
 
Although we're paying more now for streaming than a few years ago ($40/mo for PSV, now $65/mo for Hulu+Live), we are still saving substantially by cord cutting when comparing apples to apples channel lineups & features (DVR, # of TV's etc.).

Here's a current comparison that suggests cord cutters are still saving money. Yes there are lower cost cable packages, but there are lower cost streaming packages as well - the reviewer just chose the average for all cable/satellite customers and tried to build a comparable cord cutters equivalent. If you use comparable channels/features, it would still be virtually impossible to spend less using traditional cable/satellite TV. This one includes internet in the cost for cable and streaming, though we'd have internet even if we didn't have any TV.

Prices will continue to converge, I can only imagine what the TV viewing landscape will be like in 2030. Some say we're moving toward unbundling, where users can buy the channels they want. But it seems with the proliferation of streaming services, libraries are being diluted, forcing us to subscribe to more streaming services IF we want all "our channels." Who knows?

 
Last edited:
Midpack said:
Although we're paying more now for streaming than a few years ago ($40/mo for PSV, now $65/mo for Hulu+Live), we are still saving substantially by cord cutting when comparing apples to apples channel lineups & features (DVR, # of TV's etc.).

Here's a current comparison that suggests cord cutters are still saving money. Yes there are lower cost cable packages, but there are lower cost streaming packages as well - the reviewer just chose the average for all cable/satellite customers and tried to build a comparable cord cutters equivalent. If you use comparable channels/features, it would still be virtually impossible to spend less using traditional cable/satellite TV. This one includes internet in the cost for cable and streaming, though we'd have internet even if we didn't have any TV.

Prices will continue to converge, I can only imagine what the TV viewing landscape will be like in 2030. Some say we're moving toward unbundling, where users can buy the channels they want. But it seems with the proliferation of streaming services, libraries are being diluted, forcing us to subscribe to more streaming services IF we want all "our channels." Who knows?

Click to expand...




Sadly you have to consider that even considering every live streaming option has raised their prices at least once in the last 12 months, that live local sports have disappeared from the streamers.


So they are not nearly as good a value as they used to be, even though they are somewhat cheaper then cable in some cases.


OTOH we are paying for no live streaming service right now, so we are saving money.
 
Right now, paying ~$35/month for Xfinity basic cable at our winter condo... no choice as it is included in our condo fee.

At our summer home, $0/month.... we get CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, CW via antenna (but not Fox) and then use NBC Sports, HGTV, et al apps with our winter condo credentials for a little cable content.

In addition, have Prime ($10/month) and Britbox ($7/month) that we can view at both locations.

So total cost for two places is $52/month and we're pretty happy with that. When we are at the winter condo we ad DVR service for an additional $10/month.

May add anothe streaming service or swap out Britbox for something else at some point but anything under $75/month is fine with me.
 
I decided to give Hulu Live another go. I hated the lack of a cable-tv-like grid guide, and now they have added that. I'm on my 1-week trial period and trying to decide whether to switch from YouTube TV, at approximately the same cost. Hulu will be six bucks more per month if I include the no-ads option.

However, I'm having an issue with the Hulu live guide. I've tried contacting Hulu but all I've found so far is a user discussion forum, which doesn't appear to be very active.

When I open the live guide and navigate to other channels or later times, the cursor will jump back to the currently-playing show. This is extremely frustrating! It happens regardless of whether I'm browsing recently viewed channels, favorite channels, or all channels. It also happens on both of my Apple TV devices, which are gen 4 and running the latest versions of the Hulu app and tvOS. I've tried force quitting the app and restarting, to no avail.

I'll keep trying to solicit help from Hulu but I know there are some folks here who are very knowledgable on these things. Thanks ER.org!
 
GalaxyBoy said:
However, I'm having an issue with the Hulu live guide. I've tried contacting Hulu but all I've found so far is a user discussion forum, which doesn't appear to be very active.
Click to expand...

You may have more luck in the Hulu forum at Reddit, here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hulu/

I've gotten help with lots of different things—primarily technology/gadget-related—over the years by searching Reddit's forums (they call them "subreddits").
 
GalaxyBoy said:
However, I'm having an issue with the Hulu live guide. I've tried contacting Hulu but all I've found so far is a user discussion forum, which doesn't appear to be very active.

When I open the live guide and navigate to other channels or later times, the cursor will jump back to the currently-playing show. This is extremely frustrating! It happens regardless of whether I'm browsing recently viewed channels, favorite channels, or all channels. It also happens on both of my Apple TV devices, which are gen 4 and running the latest versions of the Hulu app and tvOS. I've tried force quitting the app and restarting, to no avail.
Click to expand...
Wish I could help. We've been happy with Hulu+Live since PSV shut down Jan 2020, and we've never seen that happen on the grid guide (which is what we use 98% of the time). We have Roku's on all three TVs. It could be your hardware or the Hulu app for that hardware. Other than a Chromecast briefly, we've never tried Amazon Fire, Apple TV or any other hardware. Best of luck, and I agree you'll probably have better luck on a forum, you probably won't even have to join. All the streaming hardware and content apps are low cost, so I never expected much customer service, I've always done better with users on forums.
 
GalaxyBoy said:
I'll keep trying to solicit help from Hulu but I know there are some folks here who are very knowledgable on these things. Thanks ER.org!
Click to expand...

I found the chat function on their web page. They claim this is a known issue but quoted an existing ticket titled “video will not start for some Apple TV users” (or similar) so I don’t have much confidence in their answer. They also said no estimate as to when that would be fixed. Meh.
 
It's been 8 years this month since I cut the cord. I had already been using a software package called SageTV since 2004 with cable and kept using that for OTA tuning and DVR, and I continue to use it to this day. No subscription fees, and I've never subscribed to any streaming services. I have an Xfinity Flex box provided for free with my internet service, which I occasionally use to watch free content. I can hardly keep up on my OTA recordings with only 2 tuners in my SageTV system.

My cable TV bill was under $15/mo when I cut the cord because they stopped broadcasting in ClearQAM. I lost a few channels that I didn't care much about and still get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, PBS, and a couple others with OTA. I can't see subscribing to any content when I get enough for free and don't like to waste too much time watching TV.
 
GenXguy said:
I had already been using a software package called SageTV since 2004 with cable and kept using that for OTA tuning and DVR, and I continue to use it to this day. No subscription fees, and I've never subscribed to any streaming services.
Click to expand...

I, too, have used SageTV (actually since before 2004) and have posted many (too many) compliments for that software on this forum over the years. And I still keep it active. However, SageTV has not kept up with technology. (There is a group of folks working on that.) I currently, find that FireTV Cube with Recast has replaced my use of SageTV. SageTV is now a backup system for OTA recordings.

Tablo is my current software for recording OTA programming -- the commercial skip is comparable to Comskip in SageTV. (Both Tablo and SageTV are available in FireTV.)

FWIW, the advantage to FireTV is that Home security (Ring, for example), video/cell phone calls, voice control of all subscribed services, etc., are all live.

BTW, I also have ROKU, Shield, and Channel Master devices. In addition, I have ATT TV but in a unique situation -- I have 65 networks for $35 a month (grandfathered in). However, I use it mainly only to get access to VOD on individual networks for PlayOn recording. We rarely (if ever), other than sports, watch live TV.
 
RonBoyd said:
I, too, have used SageTV (actually since before 2004) and have posted many (too many) compliments for that software on this forum over the years. And I still keep it active. However, SageTV has not kept up with technology. (There is a group of folks working on that.) I currently, find that FireTV Cube with Recast has replaced my use of SageTV. SageTV is now a backup system for OTA recordings.

Tablo is my current software for recording OTA programming -- the commercial skip is comparable to Comskip in SageTV. (Both Tablo and SageTV are available in FireTV.)

FWIW, the advantage to FireTV is that Home security (Ring, for example), video/cell phone calls, voice control of all subscribed services, etc., are all live.

BTW, I also have ROKU, Shield, and Channel Master devices. In addition, I have ATT TV but in a unique situation -- I have 65 networks for $35 a month (grandfathered in). However, I use it mainly only to get access to VOD on individual networks for PlayOn recording. We rarely (if ever), other than sports, watch live TV.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info. I still pop in on the SageTV forum once in a while. I figure at some point I will make a change, but it still does everything I need for OTA at the moment. I'm not in a market that is on the leading edge of technical changes in broadcast television and not all that many channels, but it's enough for my limited TV watching as a single person living alone not yet retired.
 
For any cord cutters considering a Fire TV Recast setup, totay is the day! Prime Day has Fire TV Recast marked down to $130 (2-tuner) and $180 (4-tuner) and 4k Fire TV Sticks are $25.
 
pb4uski said:
For any cord cutters considering a Fire TV Recast setup, totay is the day! Prime Day has Fire TV Recast marked down to $130 (2-tuner) and $180 (4-tuner) and 4k Fire TV Sticks are $25.
Click to expand...
I'm not as gungho on the Firestick as I used to be. For love or money could not get paramount app to stream on my stick. Also wanted Peacock for some sports and they don't even have a firestick app. Of course all our tvs have Firesticks.:facepalm:
 
I am late to this thread but we just switched cable providers for the new customer rates, dropped the local channels for Locast and saved over $50 a month compared to the non-new subscriber rates from Comcast with local channels added in. This is the first time we could find Internet only services without the local channels being thrown in. There are so many free apps these days we have some back up apps for local news if Locast loses its court cases.

I didn't read all the posts in this thread since there are 21 pages, so apologies if this has been posted already, but our local public library has Kanopy for free streaming with movies and Great Courses.
 
ivinsfan said:
I'm not as gungho on the Firestick as I used to be. For love or money could not get paramount app to stream on my stick. Also wanted Peacock for some sports and they don't even have a firestick app. Of course all our tvs have Firesticks.:facepalm:
Click to expand...

Actually, you can sideload Peacock onto the Firestick... that is how I watch Peacock. https://www.techhive.com/article/3613108/how-to-watch-peacock-on-fire-tv.html

I also used to have CBS All-Access app for the Fire Stick and that worked fine. Don't kow about Paramount + since we don't subscribe to it.
 
pb4uski said:
For any cord cutters considering a Fire TV Recast setup, totay is the day! Prime Day has Fire TV Recast marked down to $130 (2-tuner) and $180 (4-tuner) and 4k Fire TV Sticks are $25.
Click to expand...


I just ordered the 4 tuner version, not sure I need 4 tuners, although we have 3 TVs and three phones, so might come in handy. I also order a new antenna Clearstream 4V TV antenna. Prime Day deal.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SVNKT86/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


My existing DIY antenna broke two days ago in the wind. Then yesterday it fell 20 ft. I did repair it, but this is the second repair, it fell during hurricane Michael. I'll give it back to my buddy that gave it to me over 5 years ago.
 
ivinsfan said:
I'm not as gungho on the Firestick as I used to be. For love or money could not get paramount app to stream on my stick. Also wanted Peacock for some sports and they don't even have a firestick app. Of course all our tvs have Firesticks.:facepalm:
Click to expand...

I have no problem with Paramount+. Do you have a subscription? I do (thanks ATT TV) but had never used it... until this experiment.

Peacock does present a problem. (I can watch it with ROKU or Shield but not with FireTV) There is a workaround, however. I haven't tried it since I am not that interested but here is a Google search that my help you out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pea...10j0i390l3.13560j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
 
Last edited:
pb4uski said:
Actually, you can sideload Peacock onto the Firestick... that is how I watch Peacock. https://www.techhive.com/article/3613108/how-to-watch-peacock-on-fire-tv.html

I also used to have CBS All-Access app for the Fire Stick and that worked fine. Don't kow about Paramount + since we don't subscribe to it.
Click to expand...


Well I had a 7 free trial which I cancelled before renewal and told them they weren't supporting my streaming device..maybe NBC and Amazon can settle their pi%%ing contest. sideload, jailbreak I know but come on man...to quote you know who.
 
RonBoyd said:
I have no problem with Paramount+. Do you have a subscription? I do (thanks ATT TV) but had never used it... until this experiment.

Peacock does present a problem. (I can watch it with ROKU or Shield but not with FireTV) There is a workaround, however. I haven't tried it since I am not that interested but here is a Google search that my help you out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pea...10j0i390l3.13560j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Click to expand...




I do have one and I've tinkered with it a few times...until I get mad. I got the year for 30 and when contacted the help desk, they very kindly turned off the auto renewal but wouldn't refund my money...



We don't have the fastest internet but I can stream everything but Paramount+
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Gumby
  • Sticky
Best CD, MM Rates & Bank Special Deals Thread 2024 - Please post updates here
9 10 11
Replies
267
Views
33K
copyright1997reloaded
C
Midpack
  • Poll
Poll: When Did You Cut the Cord (Cable and/or Satellite)?
3 4 5
Replies
106
Views
7K
Skitso999
S
SecondCor521
User CP not working right with E-R mailbag post
Replies
8
Views
672
Dtail
D
M
Fixed Income Investing II
28 29 30
Replies
737
Views
89K
Texas Proud
T
Ready-4-ER-at-14
  • Poll
Poll about do you like to dance? men vs ladies
2
Replies
47
Views
2K
harllee
H

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom