Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I have the TV turned to Decades TV in the mornings OTA. The Lucy shows, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Dick Van Dyke are all still as funny as I remember them as a kid and it just cheers me up for the rest of the day. I'm not necessarily watching them but they're playing in the background.

 

[JoeWras]

I have the TV turned to Decades TV in the mornings OTA. The Lucy shows, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Dick Van Dyke are all still as funny as I remember them as a kid and it just cheers me up for the rest of the day. I'm not necessarily watching them but they're playing in the background.

A lot of people use TV as a background companion. You have it right. Put on something uplifting, not the news channels. Plenty of options both OTA and streaming. Dump cable if that's all it is used for.

 

[Cobra9777]

Obviously, everyone has different tastes in TV programming, and even different ideas about what "watching TV" means. So it's not surprising that people have different ideas about what "cord-cutting" means.

For me, the only thing I watch on TV is free YouTube. I follow about 50 channels with topics ranging from woodworking to linguistics, and every geeky topic in between. Lots of science, history and DIY, plus some music, cooking, and travel stuff.

I also watch PBS NewsHour every night. It streams live on YT at 5pm central, or I can watch later if desired. Often, I just listen while preparing dinner.

Regarding sports, I no longer watch full NFL games. I watch the 15-minute recaps on YT. For baseball, I use DS's MLB TV credentials. I watch some live and some in the condensed format. But overall, I watch far less sports than a few years ago.

DW watches free YouTube about 50-60% of the time. She mostly enjoys sailing and travel channels. But she and DMIL still enjoy traditional, fictional TV programs on both broadcast and cable channels. We have no OTA here, so we subscribe to YTTV.

They also binge-watch new series on streaming services like Netflix, Britbox, HBO, etc. We never subscribe to those for more than a month or two at a time. And often, we just use one of the kids' credentials.

We canceled traditional cable TV service when I retired in 2013. So I consider myself a cord-cutter. But we still spend $80-90/mo on TV programming. $70 of that is just for YTTV. If we had OTA, we'd use OTA with a recast, and forego the cable channels that are included with YTTV.

So for those of us planted in the extremities of suburban sprawl, with no OTA, it's hard to be a true cord-cutter. Especially when two-thirds of the household occupants are still watching Grey's Anatomy for some reason.

 

[pb4uski]

Currently we have AppleTV+ ($5), HBO Max ($8), Peacock ($5) and BritBox ($44/yr or $4/month), Prime ($120/yr or $10/mo) and PBS Passport ($60/yr or $5/mo)... so $37/mo.. that plus OTA... all of that totally meets our needs.

Previously we had YTTV but cut it when they increased to $65/month.

Plus in the winter in Florida our condo included Comcast in our association fees.

 

[Pellice]

I have this vague guilty feeling that between my old-style, middle level cable subscription, Amazon Prime TV, and the new free channels, I"ought" to find more than enough to watch. But I don't know how to search efficiently.

 

[Midpack]

We have Hulu+Live which now includes Disney+ & ESPN+ ($70/mo), Apple TV+ ($50/yr) and HBOMax (free w Verizon). We watch PBS NewsHour several times/week and This Old House free. I watch free YouTube more than any of the other options. We're the only people left on the planet who don't have Netflix or Amazon Prime...

We really enjoy Ted Lasso, The Flight Attendant, The Gilded Age and recently enjoyed The Dropout. DW has watched all of Yellowstone and Handmaid's Tale. Looking forward to Julia.

 

[Freedom56]

We now have the following paid TV streaming services:

Philo $20/mo with 60+ cable channels with on demand programming
Paramount Plus $60/yr
HBOmax $7.50/mo
Disney+ $79/yr
Epix Now - $45/yr
Hulu $60/yr
Peacock $60/yr
Apple TV $49/yr
Amazon Prime $120/yr (or free considering we buy so much from Amazon and get free shipping).

We may drop Peacock as it has become redundant with Hulu.

 

[easysurfer]

We now have the following paid TV streaming services:

Philo $20/mo with 60+ cable channels with on demand programming
Paramount Plus $60/yr
HBOmax $7.50/mo
Disney+ $79/yr
Epix Now - $45/yr
Hulu $60/yr
Peacock $60/yr
Apple TV $49/yr
Amazon Prime $120/yr (or free considering we buy so much from Amazon and get free shipping).

We may drop Peacock as it has become redundant with Hulu.

That's several paid streaming services.

Maybe a better category instead of cord cutting is stream paying .

I guess everyone's watching needs are different.

I go the cheap route:

Along with OTA antenna,

Amazon Prime - for the shipping, but prime tossed in.

On prime, installed the freebie apps, Tubi tv, Roku tv to catch some old TV series or freebie movies (with ads).

Still too much to watch as I'm not a heavy stream watcher.

 

[Freedom56]

That's several paid streaming services.

Maybe a better category instead of cord cutting is stream paying .

I guess everyone's watching needs are different.

I go the cheap route:

Along with OTA antenna,

Amazon Prime - for the shipping, but prime tossed in.

On prime, installed the freebie apps, Tubi tv, Roku tv to catch some old TV series or freebie movies (with ads).

Still too much to watch as I'm not a heavy stream watcher.

OTA is not an option where we live due to the mountains blocking the broadcast towers. We had Locast but they were shut down. The cost of going to a single movie is about $60 for tickets, drinks, and popcorn. So a premium service like HBOmax pays for itself after one movie since they stream the movies at the same time as it is shown in theaters. Paramount+ does the same.

 

[pb4uski]

... We may drop Peacock as it has become redundant with Hulu.

Can you elaborate on this? We currently pay $5/month for Peacock with no ads because we have Xfinity at our Florida condo (no choice), but if I can get the same or more from Hulu for $5/month the I would be game for that.

 

[easysurfer]

OTA is not an option where we live due to the mountains blocking the broadcast towers. We had Locast but they were shut down. The cost of going to a single movie is about $60 for tickets, drinks, and popcorn. So a premium service like HBOmax pays for itself after one movie since they stream the movies at the same time as it is shown in theaters. Paramount+ does the same.

Makes sense after seeing you mention about the $60 movie night out. Plus, you get to watch at the comfort of your own home.

 

[Freedom56]

Can you elaborate on this? We currently pay $5/month for Peacock with no ads because we have Xfinity at our Florida condo (no choice), but if I can get the same or more from Hulu for $5/month the I would be game for that.

My mistake we pay the following for Peacock not $60 annually:

Premium Annual
09/30/2021
MASTER
$49.99

Hulu has essentially the same NBC programming that we watch as Peacock but has programming from many other networks. The movie selection is pretty horrible on Peacock. I did not use our Florida Condo basic cable for any discounts. We use the same streaming apps and accounts at our condo and only watch cable for local news in Florida.

 

[Sue J]

In today's bad news, Disney decided to force people off of OTA ABC by putting "Dancing With The Stars" exclusively on Disney+ next year. To me, this is a big F.U. to the loyal older audience. My mom and dad lived for this show. They have since passed, but if they were still here, there's no way they could deal with streaming.

I've watched Dancing With The Stars for many years. Some years it was a "must watch" and other years I lost interest. But I did enjoy it. For me, it never conflicted with Monday Night Football because I don't follow football at all. So I was surprised to see DWTS moving to Disney+ streaming. Not a big loss for me.

A few years ago there was a show on HGTV called Fixer Upper that I followed and enjoyed. The couple renovating houses (Joanna and Chip Gaines, think "shiplap") in Waco, TX made their own network with multiple house fixing shows. They left HGTV and their new Magnolia Network was streaming only on Discovey+. A few months ago Magnolia Network was back on my TV service when they took over the old DIY network. I was glad to see this come back and I watch many of the new shows on Magnolia.

 

[JoeWras]

I've watched Dancing With The Stars for many years. Some years it was a "must watch" and other years I lost interest. But I did enjoy it. For me, it never conflicted with Monday Night Football because I don't follow football at all. So I was surprised to see DWTS moving to Disney+ streaming. Not a big loss for me.

A few years ago there was a show on HGTV called Fixer Upper that I followed and enjoyed. The couple renovating houses (Joanna and Chip Gaines, think "shiplap") in Waco, TX made their own network with multiple house fixing shows. They left HGTV and their new Magnolia Network was streaming only on Discovey+. A few months ago Magnolia Network was back on my TV service when they took over the old DIY network. I was glad to see this come back and I watch many of the new shows on Magnolia.

And with the HBO merger, they are making noise about moving Magnolia again.

 

[Midpack]

March marked a new milestone for streaming, as audiences spent nearly 30% of their total TV time watching over-the-top video content. Gaining a full share point over February, streaming services benefited from the transition away from the finale of professional football and the Olympics, which bolstered fall and winter TV viewing across broadcast networks.

Broadcast programming lost more than a full share point, with sports viewing down 53% on a month-over-month basis. NASCAR and the NCAA basketball tournaments helped satiate some viewers, but not enough to account for the draw of the Olympics and the Super Bowl, causing the “sports event programming” share of viewing to fall from almost 25% to 12% in March. Dramas provided some upside for broadcast, as a 17% increase in viewing helped it account for one-third of total broadcast viewing.

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insig...are-of-time-streaming-hits-new-high-in-march/

 

[W2R]

For me, the only thing I watch on TV is free YouTube. I follow about 50 channels with topics ranging from woodworking to linguistics, and every geeky topic in between. Lots of science, history and DIY, plus some music, cooking, and travel stuff.

I also watch PBS NewsHour every night. It streams live on YT at 5pm central, or I can watch later if desired. Often, I just listen while preparing dinner.

Regarding sports, I no longer watch full NFL games. I watch the 15-minute recaps on YT. For baseball, I use DS's MLB TV credentials. I watch some live and some in the condensed format. But overall, I watch far less sports than a few years ago.

DW watches free YouTube about 50-60% of the time. She mostly enjoys sailing and travel channels. But she and DMIL still enjoy traditional, fictional TV programs on both broadcast and cable channels. We have no OTA here, so we subscribe to YTTV.

They also binge-watch new series on streaming services like Netflix, Britbox, HBO, etc. We never subscribe to those for more than a month or two at a time. And often, we just use one of the kids' credentials.

We canceled traditional cable TV service when I retired in 2013. So I consider myself a cord-cutter. But we still spend $80-90/mo on TV programming. $70 of that is just for YTTV. If we had OTA, we'd use OTA with a recast, and forego the cable channels that are included with YTTV.

So for those of us planted in the extremities of suburban sprawl, with no OTA, it's hard to be a true cord-cutter. Especially when two-thirds of the household occupants are still watching Grey's Anatomy for some reason.

If you were in a slightly better location for OTA, I'd bet that you'd do what I do. Like you, I spend a lot of time on free Youtube. I like watching shows on politics, video games, missing persons, serial killers, real estate, and historical events. I don't watch sports. We get excellent OTA since we are located in an urban inner suburb of New Orleans. Still, I don't watch much OTA. Thanks for the tip about PBS Newshour on free Youtube! I had no idea and I may begin watching that one. There's always something interesting on youtube and if they ever make fees mandatory for what they now provide for free, I'll be unhappy. But I won't pay.

I haven't had cable TV since I moved to this house seven years ago. Told the cable company I only wanted cable internet so that's what I have. I seldom bother with streaming services although I do get Amazon Prime Videos with my Amazon Prime account. I just don't use it much. I can use Frank's Netflix but seldom do. I won't miss it really, when they begin their upcoming crackdown on password sharing.

 

[Rianne]

My Xfinity package was going up to $185/mo for cable and internet. Now with YTTV and internet my cost is $110/mo. Plus I'm getting a lot more quality channels with YTTV. Pretty nice saving imo. Sure I could lower my cost if just went with an antenna and free streaming stuff but I'm not interested in that.

I'll get slammed on this but we have the old ATT U-verse (includes all our sports channels, Big 10 network, tennis, Showtime, Starz, internet)
$200/month
Our problem is that 2 of our TVs are not smart TVs. So we rely on those for the U-Verse. U-Verse transfers to our smart TV which has Netflix, Prime, HBO Max (my brother's gift for free), and Apple TV. We're paying approx.$230/per month for the whole package.

I'm not sure we'd have a healthy relationship without 3 TVs. All of the TVs are on the wall and 2 of them have the evil cable boxes.

 

[REWahoo]

Our problem is that 2 of our TVs are not smart TVs. So we rely on those for the U-Verse. U-Verse transfers to our smart TV which has Netflix, Prime, HBO Max (my brother's gift for free), and Apple TV. We're paying approx.$230/per month for the whole package.

Yikes!

Assuming you have good internet speeds, why not a one-time spend of $300 or less to buy three Rokus/Fire sticks? No smart TVs required for those.

Then you could [-]dump[/-] replace U-verse with the appropriate streaming package(s) and save $100+ per month.

 

[JoeWras]

I'll get slammed on this but we have the old ATT U-verse (includes all our sports channels, Big 10 network, tennis, Showtime, Starz, internet)
$200/month
Our problem is that 2 of our TVs are not smart TVs. So we rely on those for the U-Verse. U-Verse transfers to our smart TV which has Netflix, Prime, HBO Max (my brother's gift for free), and Apple TV. We're paying approx.$230/per month for the whole package.

I'm not sure we'd have a healthy relationship without 3 TVs. All of the TVs are on the wall and 2 of them have the evil cable boxes.

I won't slam you. I was there 3 years ago. Cable is extremely user friendly. The user interface (UI) of the remote cannot be matched. The integration of all the services is seamless. There's nothing like it.

You'll hear people hoot and howl how easy it is to sign up for services, and although they have a point, it is not as easy as the cable UI.

My suggestion to you is to buy a Roku and try some free stuff like Pluto or Tubi. Get familiar with it. Then after a while, you may be able to dump U-verse after you get used to the UI. That's what I did.

My personal opinion: get a premium Roku instead of a Firestick. I find the Firestick too slow. If you want the speed of cable, get a high end Roku. YMMV.

 

[Midpack]

Yikes!

Assuming you have good internet speeds, why not a one-time spend of $300 or less to buy three Rokus/Fire sticks? No smart TVs required for those.

Then you could [-]dump[/-] replace U-verse with the appropriate streaming package(s) and save $100+ per month.

+1. I don’t know why people don’t get this. Buddy of mine cutting the cord, has 4 TV’s, 2 smart, 2 “dumb.” He was going to buy 2 smart TV’s. I told him don’t do it, 4 Rokus is much less than 2 smart TVs. I also told him with all Rokus, every TV will have the same interface and remote, he agreed that was VERY important to him and his spouse - would make the transition from cable easier.

Learned today he bought two smart TV’s, so they’ll be dealing with 4 different remotes from various brands…

 

[Mulligan]

I'll get slammed on this but we have the old ATT U-verse (includes all our sports channels, Big 10 network, tennis, Showtime, Starz, internet)

$200/month

Our problem is that 2 of our TVs are not smart TVs. So we rely on those for the U-Verse. U-Verse transfers to our smart TV which has Netflix, Prime, HBO Max (my brother's gift for free), and Apple TV. We're paying approx.$230/per month for the whole package.



I'm not sure we'd have a healthy relationship without 3 TVs. All of the TVs are on the wall and 2 of them have the evil cable boxes.

Im with ya! I pay $120 month Direct Tv, which includes the Genie and 3 boxes. I get all the regional sports and about everything but the HBO stuff. I call yearly to get it knocked down $50 a month by threatening to cancel. I think they are more obliging because I also additionally buy NHL package and Sunday NFL Ticket.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Switched to YouTube tv last week and saved 65/month versus what I was spending on cable. My son helped me set it up and showed me how to use it.

 

[Sunset]

We now have the following paid TV streaming services:

Philo $20/mo with 60+ cable channels with on demand programming
Paramount Plus $60/yr
HBOmax $7.50/mo
Disney+ $79/yr
Epix Now - $45/yr
Hulu $60/yr
Peacock $60/yr
Apple TV $49/yr
Amazon Prime $120/yr (or free considering we buy so much from Amazon and get free shipping).

We may drop Peacock as it has become redundant with Hulu.

Wow... that is a lot of streaming.
We are only 2 people, and cheap, so we rotate through the streaming services watching all the stuff we are interested in on 1 service. Then cancel it and go with another service.
Rinse and Repeat...

Part of the reason, beyond being cheap, is if we had all those choices, we would lose track of the story in a series when we go watch a bunch of other shows and then come back in a couple of weeks.
Movies would be fine as they are one and done.

We actually have Netflix and Hulu (99 cents) and haven't watch the hulu for about month as we are working though Shambles series. Only 25 more hours to go

 

[Buckeye]

You might check out Ooma. VOIP that we use at home. $6/month for unlimited calling in the US ($6 is for taxes ony). One-time upfront cost of $80-$100 for equipment.

You can also upgrade to their Premier plan that has additional features for $10/month.

https://www.ooma.com/home-phone/plans/

+1 We have had Ooma for years and pay about $6 in taxes.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I noticed my IMDB TV app had turned yellow and changed to Freevee this morning so I googled it and here is the info. I think the new name is more appropriate.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/13/amazons-imdb-tv-changes-its-name-to-freevee/