Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

[braumeister]

Just got an email from Hulu. Their Black Friday deal is $1.99 a month for a year for the version with ads. Deal ends 11/28.

 

[JoeWras]

So the latest bubbling rumor out there is that the corporate owned local stations are transmitting the absolute minimum required.

For example: many ABC affiliates are owned by Disney.
- Transmit only that minimum required for the license.
- Reception is difficult.
- People buy Hulu to watch their shows
- Same could be said for Paramount+ or Peacock for CBS/NBC owned, respectively.

TabloTV sends out a Friday newsletter which just came out and they addressed this saying: "Take off your tinfoil hats." Literally, they said that. Their position is that it is just a rumor.

All I know is my Disney owned ABC affiliate absolutely is the most difficult station to tune in. No wonder we ran out of tinfoil for the turkey yesterday, I have too many hats.

 

[MichaelB]

I signed up for Acorn TV using the Roku promotion, 2 months @$2 each. We use a Amazon Fire TV device, and I was hoping it was compatible. Apparently, it isn’t, and it looks like this Acorn TV offer is specific to Roku devices.

I had a similar situation a year or 2 ago when I signed up for PBS on Amazon. It cost $1 and access to the PBS app was so difficult I gave it up after a month.

This difficulty with devices is an additional level of difficulty for streaming companies. Too many players want a share of the streaming pie, and it isn’t that big.

 

[statsman]

It looks like we're going to be biting the bullet on cutting the cord soon. Been sticking with AT&T's U-Verse TV service (U-300 plan) because (a) it had all of the odd channels DW wanted, and (b) it was easy for DW to use. As some have indicated on this thread, there are certain battles worth fighting about in a marriage, and *this* wasn't one of them.

Well, that was the case until today's notice of our promo expiring. And while I haven't gone the customer loyalty route yet again, currently there aren't any U-Verse promos. I'm surprised AT&T has kept that service running for as long as they have.

So, now we're looking at roughly $182/mo for TV services (that include all taxes and fees). No premium movie channels. And while DW doesn't have a long list of channels she likes, they are an odd assortment that requires at least the U-300 TV service with AT&T to get them all.

DW is a smart person, but tech (smartphones, tablets, etc.) frustrates her easily when they don't run smoothly. Which is why we've stuck with AT&T U-Verse for as long as we have. Nothing more depressing than to hear her yelling across the house at some device that is not working to her satisfaction, knowing I'm going to be called on to rectify it.

We already have one Roku (Wi-Fi) on one TV, and we have another Roku (Ethernet plus Wi-Fi) that will go on the TV she usually watches. Other than that, I fully expect this to be a daunting experience for her, and as such, I'll get to suffer along as I will be playing "customer support" even more than usual.

 

[euro]

I signed up for Acorn TV using the Roku promotion, 2 months @$2 each. We use a Amazon Fire TV device, and I was hoping it was compatible. Apparently, it isn’t, and it looks like this Acorn TV offer is specific to Roku devices.

I assume the incompatibility is just due to the fact that it was a Roku offer, right? I'm asking because I have been considering Acorn also and they specifically say that they are compatible with FireTV. I suppose they could be making false claims, or maybe your FireTV stick is really, really old?
I guess I can always sign up for the free trial and ditch them if FireTV won't work.

 

[Philliefan33]

It looks like we're going to be biting the bullet on cutting the cord soon. Been sticking with AT&T's U-Verse TV service (U-300 plan) because (a) it had all of the odd channels DW wanted, and (b) it was easy for DW to use. As some have indicated on this thread, there are certain battles worth fighting about in a marriage, and *this* wasn't one of them.

Well, that was the case until today's notice of our promo expiring. And while I haven't gone the customer loyalty route yet again, currently there aren't any U-Verse promos. I'm surprised AT&T has kept that service running for as long as they have.

So, now we're looking at roughly $182/mo for TV services (that include all taxes and fees). No premium movie channels. And while DW doesn't have a long list of channels she likes, they are an odd assortment that requires at least the U-300 TV service with AT&T to get them all.

DW is a smart person, but tech (smartphones, tablets, etc.) frustrates her easily when they don't run smoothly. Which is why we've stuck with AT&T U-Verse for as long as we have. Nothing more depressing than to hear her yelling across the house at some device that is not working to her satisfaction, knowing I'm going to be called on to rectify it.

We already have one Roku (Wi-Fi) on one TV, and we have another Roku (Ethernet plus Wi-Fi) that will go on the TV she usually watches. Other than that, I fully expect this to be a daunting experience for her, and as such, I'll get to suffer along as I will be playing "customer support" even more than usual.

I feel your pain. In our case it’s DH that gets frustrated with the TV technology. But in June when we sold the main house and moved temporarily to our vacation house, I signed up for YouTube TV and told him it was our best option for watching tv here. (We previously used a Sling Box to stream cable from our home box but when the home box was no longer there…)

We are six months into our 8-month stay here and he has mostly figured it out. So much so that I don’t plan to get cable tv at the new house, we will just continue with YTTV

 

[gailwinters]

I feel your pain. In our case it’s DH that gets frustrated with the TV technology. But in June when we sold the main house and moved temporarily to our vacation house, I signed up for YouTube TV and told him it was our best option for watching tv here. (We previously used a Sling Box to stream cable from our home box but when the home box was no longer there…)

We are six months into our 8-month stay here and he has mostly figured it out. So much so that I don’t plan to get cable tv at the new house, we will just continue with YTTV

My DH also gets frustrated with any tech changes. However, he’s going to have to live with it, because we got a phone call this morning that our fiber optics boxes will no longer work after Dec. 12. In six days! I was more than a little upset at the short notice, but we had been talking about cutting the cord for a while, so I guess the decision has been made for us.

My DD is using youtube, and is pretty happy, so we’re going to try it out. We have Rokus, so hopefully, it won’t be too much of a learning experience. We could stay with our fiber optics provider, but it would be much more expensive and we would have to use fire sticks or a different device, because the service isn’t compatible with Roku.

I’m sure we will have some interesting experiences as we change over.

 

[RunningBum]

Watch out if you subscribed to AMC+ last year. They will renew the subscription for a full year at more than $80, without notice. I saw it when I got a credit card alert for the renewal. I cancelled, but too late for this year. They are stonewalling me on a refund. I put in a dispute with my CC and they've agreed to pursue it.

I had a calendar reminder to cancel it but it came on Sunday after Thanksgiving when I was traveling, and missed looking at my calendar that day. From now on with those yearly deals I will put in a cancellation immediately, since they usually don't take effect until the end of your billing period.

 

[Cobra9777]

...From now on with those yearly deals I will put in a cancellation immediately, since they usually don't take effect until the end of your billing period.

That's the key. We don't do the yearly deals. But we subscribe to lots of one-off streaming services. Usually just for a month to binge-watch some new series. At the same time we sign up, I cancel. The cancellation always takes place at the end of the month. That way, I don't have to mark my calendar or mess with it ever again.

Our only ongoing streaming services are YTTV and Netflix. We've thought about using Netflix the same way. But so far, we like having it around all the time, mostly for the movies which seem to be updated regularly enough that we can always find something we like.

 

[JoeWras]

Watch out if you subscribed to AMC+ last year. They will renew the subscription for a full year at more than $80, without notice. I saw it when I got a credit card alert for the renewal. I cancelled, but too late for this year. They are stonewalling me on a refund. I put in a dispute with my CC and they've agreed to pursue it.

I had a calendar reminder to cancel it but it came on Sunday after Thanksgiving when I was traveling, and missed looking at my calendar that day. From now on with those yearly deals I will put in a cancellation immediately, since they usually don't take effect until the end of your billing period.

It also took me a while to find the online page to cancel. They didn't make it obvious.

Fortunately, I got in ahead of my renewal.

 

[MichaelB]

The AMC+ auto-renewal is a real PITA and they don’t make it easy. I got an annual subscription last December and cancelled it 2 weeks ago.

When I signed up for the Black Friday special on Acorn TV they made it clear they would not refund any amount if cancelled after the renewal date. Not very consumer friendly,
.

 

[MichaelB]

I assume the incompatibility is just due to the fact that it was a Roku offer, right? I'm asking because I have been considering Acorn also and they specifically say that they are compatible with FireTV. I suppose they could be making false claims, or maybe your FireTV stick is really, really old?
I guess I can always sign up for the free trial and ditch them if FireTV won't work.

Yes, the compatibility issue was because the special offer was only good for “Acorn TV for Roku App”, not Acorn TV. I since found an offer for a 30 day free trial for Acorn TV, I signed up and have had no problem with our Amazon FireTV or our Apple TV. DW is happy because we can watch Doc Martin, and when DW is happy so am I.

 

[JoeWras]

The AMC+ auto-renewal is a real PITA and they don’t make it easy. I got an annual subscription last December and cancelled it 2 weeks ago.

When I signed up for the Black Friday special on Acorn TV they made it clear they would not refund any amount if cancelled after the renewal date. Not very consumer friendly,
.

Their lack of good customer service was the final nail for me. Obscurity on the account maintenance page is a pet peeve of mine, and I'll ding ya.

I only got it for Better Call Saul. I tried to find other stuff that interested me, but failed. I started watching Moonhaven, and lost interest. No problem, it has been cancelled anyway.

Speaking of which: it looks like the plentiful programming streaming money era is over. Everyone is ratcheting back their programming. Good. Focus on quality instead of all this <junk>.

 

[explanade]

My DH also gets frustrated with any tech changes. However, he’s going to have to live with it, because we got a phone call this morning that our fiber optics boxes will no longer work after Dec. 12. In six days! I was more than a little upset at the short notice, but we had been talking about cutting the cord for a while, so I guess the decision has been made for us.

My DD is using youtube, and is pretty happy, so we’re going to try it out. We have Rokus, so hopefully, it won’t be too much of a learning experience. We could stay with our fiber optics provider, but it would be much more expensive and we would have to use fire sticks or a different device, because the service isn’t compatible with Roku.

I’m sure we will have some interesting experiences as we change over.

Why will they no longer work?

Are they making you upgrade or something?

 

[Chuckanut]

Watch out if you subscribed to AMC+ last year. They will renew the subscription for a full year at more than $80, without notice. I saw it when I got a credit card alert for the renewal. I cancelled, but too late for this year. They are stonewalling me on a refund. I put in a dispute with my CC and they've agreed to pursue it.

I had a calendar reminder to cancel it but it came on Sunday after Thanksgiving when I was traveling, and missed looking at my calendar that day. From now on with those yearly deals I will put in a cancellation immediately, since they usually don't take effect until the end of your billing period.

I use my Capital One card, but I generate a virtual card number for use only by the company I am buying the subscription from. One feature of this virtual card is the ability to lock the card and prevent future use. After paying the bill, I lock the card. If I forget to cancel or they fool around, I will get an email telling me how sorry they are because the card is no longer good and they can't renew my subscription. Mission accomplished.

 

[gailwinters]

Why will they no longer work?

Are they making you upgrade or something?

The boxes will no longer be supported. We will have to go with their streaming service, which will pretty much replicate the plan we currently have, or we will need to go with another service like YTTV. There are pros and cons either way we go.

 

[RunningBum]

Watch out if you subscribed to AMC+ last year. They will renew the subscription for a full year at more than $80, without notice. I saw it when I got a credit card alert for the renewal. I cancelled, but too late for this year. They are stonewalling me on a refund. I put in a dispute with my CC and they've agreed to pursue it.

I had a calendar reminder to cancel it but it came on Sunday after Thanksgiving when I was traveling, and missed looking at my calendar that day. From now on with those yearly deals I will put in a cancellation immediately, since they usually don't take effect until the end of your billing period.

I got a full refund from AMC+. Not sure if it was thru my contact with their customer service or disputing the credit card charge with Wells Fargo, but I'm satisfied to see it resolved.

 

[MichaelB]

I got a full refund from AMC+. Not sure if it was thru my contact with their customer service or disputing the credit card charge with Wells Fargo, but I'm satisfied to see it resolved.

Good! This auto-renew / no refund policy is a dealbreaker.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

If you're a Prime member and missed the Thanksgiving 2 months for $1.99 per month Streaming deals, they're back again. It did not work for me since I only have the original Prime family free shipping membership through my son so I'd have to sign up for Prime to get this deal which I think is half price for the first 3 months. In the links below someone also posted a code in the comments for a free month of Paramount+ if interested

https://slickdeals.net/f/16334965-a...l-service-paramount-amc-showtime-more-2-month

 

[CRLLS]

I'm not sure if I should start a 2023 version of this or not. WE have decided to drop Dish satellite service. It will take about a month to get things in place. First, the TV is on at least 12 hours a day. It is used a lot for background noise, something to break the quiet. We currently have 2 Roku TVs and a roku stick on another TV. Over thanksgiving we signed up for Hulu on the 1.99 special. Step 1) We currently have ATT DSL service at 12mb speed. It easily kept up with streaming but has a data limit that I think would easily be broken if we streamed constantly. In preparation, we recently signed up for Xfinity 400mb speed with unlimited data. They installed it this week. We switched all of our devices over to that new WiFi network and things seem good so far. Step 2) Today, I ordered a Tablo to record OTA channels. Possibly use it to feed one TV that seems to have an intermittent antenna cable buried in a wall somewhere. It should be here next week. We plan to use a spare USB HD that is surplus to our current needs. Step 3) as soon as we have confidence in the Xfinity (maybe a week or two) we will drop the ATT internet and kill our landline. Step 4) Once we have confidence in the Tablo setup, (another 2 weeks) we will drop Dish service. Step 5) Decide on which streaming services we will add, if any. We currently get 90+ OTA channels, of which mostly the 5 major networks. We currently have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Looking at Discovery+ and maybe 1 other.

Between dropping Dish, ATT internet and phone, and getting a higher speed internet service via Xfinity, we will save about $170 per month. Navigating the new setup will take some getting used to. DW does not like changes like this but also wanted to control the $ going out the door. We'll see how it works out in a few months.

 

[Midpack]

^^ Sounds like a good plan. We dropped Dish in Feb 2018, and have been streaming only ever since. And like you, I couldn't get DW to agree to go streaming, but Dish did a price increase that made DW mad, so she said she'd give it a try. To her surprise, she mastered the new setup in 2-3 days, and we've never looked back. We have saved thousands over the years, even though our streaming costs have gone from $40/mo in 2018 to $75/mo now.

 

[foxcreek9]

I'm not sure if I should start a 2023 version of this or not. WE have decided to drop Dish satellite service. It will take about a month to get things in place. First, the TV is on at least 12 hours a day. It is used a lot for background noise, something to break the quiet. We currently have 2 Roku TVs and a roku stick on another TV. Over thanksgiving we signed up for Hulu on the 1.99 special. Step 1) We currently have ATT DSL service at 12mb speed. It easily kept up with streaming but has a data limit that I think would easily be broken if we streamed constantly. In preparation, we recently signed up for Xfinity 400mb speed with unlimited data. They installed it this week. We switched all of our devices over to that new WiFi network and things seem good so far. Step 2) Today, I ordered a Tablo to record OTA channels. Possibly use it to feed one TV that seems to have an intermittent antenna cable buried in a wall somewhere. It should be here next week. We plan to use a spare USB HD that is surplus to our current needs. Step 3) as soon as we have confidence in the Xfinity (maybe a week or two) we will drop the ATT internet and kill our landline. Step 4) Once we have confidence in the Tablo setup, (another 2 weeks) we will drop Dish service. Step 5) Decide on which streaming services we will add, if any. We currently get 90+ OTA channels, of which mostly the 5 major networks. We currently have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Looking at Discovery+ and maybe 1 other.

Between dropping Dish, ATT internet and phone, and getting a higher speed internet service via Xfinity, we will save about $170 per month. Navigating the new setup will take some getting used to. DW does not like changes like this but also wanted to control the $ going out the door. We'll see how it works out in a few months.

I suspect you don't need 400mb download speeds, we had xfinity 60mb and could easily stream 2 tvs at a time.

 

[Midpack]

I suspect you don't need 400mb download speeds, we had xfinity 60mb and could easily stream 2 tvs at a time.

+1. You wouldn't need 400mbps even if you were streaming 4K content on 2 TVs. But unlimited data will be useful. We put quite a few hours/day in on 2 TVs and we're usually under 500GB/month (we have a 1TB cap).

 

[CRLLS]

I know it is more than I need speed-wise. Their pricing was very non-linear. They had 75GB ($20), 200 ($40), 400($55), 800 and 1Tb. The lowest 2 were limited data and required a Modem/router at $15-$25, the $25 rental included unlimited data. At 400GB they included the Modem/router. IF I rent their Modem, A wifi extender is free if required. I will need one to get to my garage shop area reliably. If I go over the data limit, It would be an extra 30. I was concerned about the data limit.I went that way for the 1st year. At the time, I'll see how much data we use and decide if I will buy my own router and drop to a lower speed.

 

[SoloDrifter]

I signed up for Acorn TV using the Roku promotion, 2 months @$2 each. We use a Amazon Fire TV device, and I was hoping it was compatible. Apparently, it isn’t, and it looks like this Acorn TV offer is specific to Roku devices.

I had a similar situation a year or 2 ago when I signed up for PBS on Amazon. It cost $1 and access to the PBS app was so difficult I gave it up after a month.

This difficulty with devices is an additional level of difficulty for streaming companies. Too many players want a share of the streaming pie, and it isn’t that big.

I don't watch much TV but do hop around many different pay services one or two at a time. Like Netflix one month, HBO Max another month, Hulu another, Disney, Paramount, etc. Can get the content of many services over a year for the price of just one or two. I cancel as soon as I sign up and it's good for a month. It's really just putting it on hold as they keep your profile typically for at least a year (Netflix keeps library for 9 months but acct much longer). Easy to hop back on whenever, cancel as soon as resubscribing.