Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) 2017 - 2020

[jim584672]

The FCC repack will move some channels in the NYC area tomorrow, so rescan your OTA channels to get them all in.

YTTV @ $65, too rich for me.

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

There's an efficient method called 'nomadic streaming' where you dump LiveTV and rotate around various pay SVOD services, including from standalone cable network services. Like say 2-3 pay services per month and pause the others when not in use. You get the content of about 2-3 dozen services over a year for the price of a few. When going back to a service, it's likely refreshed with content so feels new again. Most services keep your library/favorites for about 9-12 months so need to re-activate service within their timeframe if wanting to keep. Roku or Amazon subscription services make it easier to manage rotating many of them.

LiveTV services are mostly good for news and sports (or those who can't get OTA) but now you can get free news on PlutoTV and can subscribe to specific sports services during the season.

Also check out JustWatch.com and ReelGood.com for finding content on just about every pay/free service. JustWatch is better for SVOD/free services and ReelGood does better covering cable networks, but otherwise a lot of overlap with both.

Also check out free Kanopy and Hoopla, which have a lot of movies/TV and educational content tied to your library card number if they participate. Great stuff. I study tribal cultures and found over 500 related videos on Kanopy. Great Courses is also free via Kanopy.

With all of this, am not missing LiveTV services and no longer paying for ads.

 

[Cobra9777]

I hope you have better luck with Fitzy TV that I have. This is what I get:

OK, I see what you're talking about now. I just opened Fitzy for the first time since late last year. It's still configured with my locast and Philo credentials. Locast works fine (except for the constant nagging for donations). Philo doesn't work because my free trial expired last year. But it's still set up as a valid source.

But when I go to Settings->Add/Remove TV Provider, I see the same screen you posted. Only difference: mine shows Locast and Philo as my current providers, with CBS All Access and FrndlyTV as the only others available. Previously, every cable/satellite operator in the US was available there.

According to this story on cordcutters, Fitzy was forced to disable the "TV Everywhere" functionality due to a dispute with Adobe. The story is dated Feb 19, 2020.

So I guess Fitzy is now dead except for specific TV providers who directly integrate with Fitzy vs the TV Everywhere functionality. The good news (for me at least) is that both Philo and Locast appear to be among this rather small list.

But looks like you are a no-go with Xfinity or Dish.

 

[camfused]

AT&T upped the price of both DirecTV and AT&T TV today. The later will now start at $59.95.

 

[Ally]

Recently, we were going to cord cut, because our combined uncapped high speed Internet normally $89 here, and cable tv with sports channels was up to $255, with tax $285. I called to cut down to just the Internet. After talking to the retention department and saying no repeatedly to offers, they gave us a price of $121, and with tax, $146 for life. They said aside from variation in taxes, it stays that way unless we make changes. It seems hard to believe, but our bills have been coming in at that amount so far. We will see.

We have Suddenlink through Altice. We will probably stay for the time being.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Here is our current menu of choices: 1) Acorn TV $4.99 per month plus tax. Great British shows and movies. Many period drama's for DW. The Good Kharma Hospital. The Heart Guy. 2) Hoopla through our library. Someone on here suggested. 5 free per month. Watched all of Foyle's War and 19-2. 3) Netflix 4) Amazon Prime Video. 5) Someone on here suggested Plex server for my NAS. We play things through the Plex channel on our Roku's. Well, now Plex has some free movies and shows. 6) Some of the Plex movies are on a service called Crackle which is a Sony product. We added the Crackle channel to our Roku's and that seems to be a better interface for watching Crackle streaming movies and shows.

And.... Drum Roll... The big project, years ago, was to set up antennae in our attic to feed a Tablo DVR. We get ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, Fox, PBS and the various sub-channels like Justice Network, Movies, Ion. We can watch live or recorded.

Back when there used to be live sporting events, I would get Sling or YTTV or Spectrum. No more.

 

[Time2]

Click on your favorite channel here and tell me what you think.
https://ustvgo.tv/

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

Recently, we were going to cord cut, because our combined uncapped high speed Internet normally $89 here, and cable tv with sports channels was up to $255, with tax $285. I called to cut down to just the Internet. After talking to the retention department and saying no repeatedly to offers, they gave us a price of $121, and with tax, $146 for life. They said aside from variation in taxes, it stays that way unless we make changes. It seems hard to believe, but our bills have been coming in at that amount so far. We will see.

We have Suddenlink through Altice. We will probably stay for the time being.

You might be a good candidate for Starlink satellite internet when released later this year to next. Can get on list for beta here. Or tell Suddenlink you can get Starlink and use as leverage.

Starlink initially will be targeting consumers in rural areas that don't have very good internet options (and military/commercial uses).

 

[Midpack]

Click on your favorite channel here and tell me what you think.
https://ustvgo.tv/

Legal? Safe? If it sounds too good to be true...

https://askbobrankin.com/free_tv_channels_online.html

https://troypoint.com/ustvgo-tv/#:~...ming website,is that no sign up is required !

 

[Golden sunsets]

I'm interested in this USTVgo streaming option. I'll be watching the responses for any further discussion.

 

[Time2]

This is a little dated, https://askbobrankin.com/free_tv_channels_online.html
It seems thay do pay some fees for access, even if sketchy(?)

I have been aware of ustvgo for a few years and I read they have been around since 2008.


Here's another, https://ustv247.tv/
Although, I note at least one of those channels required a VPN to watch.






https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001146.htm

Is watching TV for free on the Internet legal?

Updated: 04/30/2020 by Computer Hope

Yes, and no. Depending on how you are watching TV on the Internet determines if it's legal or not. Often, the easiest way to determine if the content is legal is if it contains advertisements or a sponsor. The producers of the content cannot afford to release their content without some type of sponsorship. If you are downloading or watching TV without commercials or sponsorship, it may be illegal.

 

[Time2]

"Pluto TV" is a free service that, as of April 2020, has 200 channels that for most people has something you would be interested in.
Here's a list of it's channels.
https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/pluto-tv-now-has-over-200-free-channels/

 

[Cobra9777]

I think there is some confusion between two different services:

USTVNow (https://www.ustvnow.com) is a legal, paid streaming service intended for US expats and US military living overseas. But it's true that they don't verify who you are or your location. So effectively anyone can sign up. Several years ago they had a free tier which I tried. The timing was same as that "Ask Bob Rankin" article (2016-17). But it was 480p and completely un-watchable. You had to subscribe to get HD and cloud DVR service, and even those were pretty bare-bones. I just logged in using my old credentials and it appears that all of their plans now require a subscription.

USTVGo (https://ustvgo.tv) is obviously illegal. Same for USTV247 (https://ustv247.tv).

Note that these URLs end in .tv ...as in Tuvalu, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific. According to Wikipedia...

...the Tuvalu government sought to capitalize on the .tv suffix being similar to "television". In 2010, nearly 10% of the revenue of the Government of Tuvalu came from royalties from .tv addresses.

I wouldn't touch either of those websites with a ten foot pole. These are sketchy people who use pirated content to attract traffic to their sites for other nefarious purposes.

 

[RonBoyd]

Legal? Safe? If it sounds too good to be true...

Good questions. I am impressed but have access to everything on their list anyway so it is not that useful... to me.

Just out curiosity, however, what is the (user's personal) penalty for accessing (watching) "illegal" broadcasts?

 

[SumDay]

I'm thinking my cable, internet, landline and mobile cell service for ~$185 is sounding better all the time. We tried cutting the cable on one tv to see what we thought of using an antenna and a Firestick, and the frustration was too much for these old people. The older I get, the more I'm willing to pay for convenience and easy-peazy.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm thinking my cable, internet, landline and mobile cell service for ~$185 is sounding better all the time. We tried cutting the cable on one tv to see what we thought of using an antenna and a Firestick, and the frustration was too much for these old people. The older I get, the more I'm willing to pay for convenience and easy-peazy.

The older I get, I feel similarly about valet parking. In younger days, I'd rather park my own car. But as I age, the thought of just handing over the key to some valet driver gets more and more convenient.

As for my cutting the cord however, I'm still using an OTA antenna and putting up with my troubled CBS reception .

 

[pb4uski]

.... As for my cutting the cord however, I'm still using an OTA antenna and putting up with my troubled CBS reception .

Have you tried an signal booster or amplifier?

 

[Midpack]

Good questions. I am impressed but have access to everything on their list anyway so it is not that useful... to me.

Just out curiosity, however, what is the (user's personal) penalty for accessing (watching) "illegal" broadcasts?

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your question, apologies if I am. I'm not OK with doing something I (should) know is illegal, I don't subscribe to the it's not stealing if you don't get caught school of thought. I wouldn’t be OK with someone stealing my legit services, so it’s not OK to do so to others. We can all well afford to pay for services we receive, and shouldn't expect them for free IMO. All the networks have significant expenses.

 

[easysurfer]

Have you tried an signal booster or amplifier?

My antenna is indoor only.

 

[RonBoyd]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your question, apologies if I am. I'm not OK with doing something I (should) know is illegal, I don't subscribe to the it's not stealing if you don't get caught school of thought. We can all well afford to pay for services we receive, and shouldn't expect them for free IMO.

No, you weren't mistaken. In fact, I quite agree with you -- particularly in this case since I have no need for it. <chuckle> I have no interest in adding to someone's cost of doing business.

I was merely curious if there was some statutory penalty for the User or if the onus was solely on the Supplier to determine legality (court ordered or not).

 

[Time2]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your question, apologies if I am. I'm not OK with doing something I (should) know is illegal, I don't subscribe to the it's not stealing if you don't get caught school of thought. I wouldn’t be OK with someone stealing my legit services, so it’s not OK to do so to others. We can all well afford to pay for services we receive, and shouldn't expect them for free IMO. All the networks have significant expenses.

I have been searching for anyone arrested or prosecuted for streaming a Live TV channel, all I have found so far are the people that put the streams on the internet have been prosecuted.
I do have a friend that downloaded bit torrents by the thousands. He did get a letter from the local cable company telling him to stop. Nothing more.
I understand even though you are watching the commercials, the network supplying the TV station will get some money from the local cable company for the right to distribute the station.
I hope we get to the point where the networks just put their stream on the internet and raise the price they charge for commercials. Ending the cable middleman.
Or get to pick and chose our station choices and not have to pay for 42 channels we don't watch.

 

[RonBoyd]

+1

 

[pb4uski]

My antenna is indoor only.

You can still do a signal boost to an indoor antenna.

 

[easysurfer]

You can still do a signal boost to an indoor antenna.

I do have a little booster that came with the antenna and that does help but CBS is still spotty by me.

 

[Midpack]

I hope we get to the point where the networks just put their stream on the internet and raise the price they charge for commercials. Ending the cable middleman.
Or get to pick and chose our station choices and not have to pay for 42 channels we don't watch.

+1

Don't hold your breath, that shipped sailed a while ago. AT&T, Comcast, Fox, Disney, ViacomCBS, and Discovery already control most of the popular networks. The big 6 more will make sure you pay more for a la carte than for their full lineup, they're way ahead of us. Advertisers AND consumers will both continue to pay as much as they can get from us...like EVERY for profit business.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_cross-ownership_in_the_United_States