Update on Cord Cutting (Cable TV) - 2021 version

[JoeWras]

So I continue to be lucky that MAX has the shows I liked on Discovery+. Just realized they have "Mysteries of the Abandoned". I'm golden now!

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I also recommend downloading PlutoTV, Tubi, and FreeVee. It's all free content. I often just put something on from those apps as my background noise too. Lately, I've been having the original Mission Impossible series on for a few hours a day on Sundays while I'm in my easy chair reading.

 

[JoeWras]

I find myself going to Tubi a lot lately. There are blockbusters, but also a lot of B and C grade material. Some of the small budget B movies are not bad. I just finished "Radius," and aside from the gratuitous foul mouth language, it was good. Kept me guessing. For a near micro-budget movie, it was good.

 

[MBSC]

I like some background noise while I am in my office pottering round. These were Discovery, NatGeo and HGTV.

We have 1gb Internet (Xfinity $65 a month with no additional Taxes) with 2.2tb a month limit...

Xumo, Plex and Sling Freestream are also free apps like PlutoTV, Tubi, and FreeVee. Comcast Xfinity gig internet customers will continue to have Peacock Premium for 2 more years.

Comcast is emailing gig-speed internet customers to confirm that they are able to keep their free Premium subscription for two more years. As a result, their free Peacock will now come to an end on June 25, 2025.

Reference: https://streamingbetter.com/free-peacock-xfinity-internet-rewards-members-confirmed/

 

[GenXguy]

Xumo, Plex and Sling Freestream are also free apps like PlutoTV, Tubi, and FreeVee. Comcast Xfinity gig internet customers will continue to have Peacock Premium for 2 more years.

I was going to mention Xumo. I tend to go into that one but sometime Pluto. Unfortunately, I will be losing Peacock soon since my Comcast Xfinity internet is 75 Mbps, which is plenty fast enough. I got Peacock Premium free- for over 2 years, so it was nice while it lasted.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Agree with all of these and there is tons more on The Roku Live TV Channel but they also offer paid subscriptions of popular shows after teasing you with a few episodes of a show.

You might be interested in these channels
475 Magellan TV
477 Xplore
478 Wild Earth

My problem with all the free stuff is I can't decide what to watch for my background noise since there is way too much choice.

 

[JoeWras]

Yeah, forgot about The Roku Channel. Good free stuff and noise there too. There are A LOT of music video channels on TRC.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I watch college and pro football, then college basketball. So, each year, about mid-September, I subscribe to a live streaming platform. I dump it as soon as March Madness is over. It has been Sling or my cable provider (Spectrum). Sling will be $55 for what I want and Spectrum will be $59.99 plus taxes of about $5 and local broadcast surcharge of $22.20 for a rounded $87 a month. Not much of a choice, is it?

Yes, my browser found "Cheapest ways to watch Espn." Fubo, YouTube TV, Direct TV, and a bunch of others. I am considering those options.

Yes, I have an antenna hooked up to my Tablo DVR so I get a whole bunch of OTA football games. And I have many free/paid streaming channels on my Rokus and Fire TVs. I have Prime Video which has a few pro games. No, I will not get Sunday Ticket.

Problems/Questions: 1) Cable news is toxic and somewhat addictive. I just need to not watch it. 2) Sometimes we have extended travel to someplace warm in the winter. Need to make sure I can watch while away. Spectrum locks this down. 3) ESPN used to put many of their second tier college football games on ESPN3 or ESPNU. Now they have opted for more revenue by putting them on a new pay service - ESPN+. Is it time to break down and buy this puppy for $5 a month? I know it is cheap. I just don't want to be nickled and dimed. 4) Many of the services include the ability to record live shows. Many don't. Would I use this, given that my Tablo has thousands of hours of recorded shows? 5) Many of these services have a huge library of on-demand. Problem is that I find the search function drives you to the latest reality, rom com, poorly done vampire for teenage girl show. And not to the film noir/gumshoe detective movies that I want. 6) I don't like the layout of the Sling guide. Customizing it didn't help.

Yes, I have found Roku channels for film noir/gumshoe detective. Have not found any that were good.

Any suggestions as I continue my search?

 

[harllee]

I watch college and pro football, then college basketball. So, each year, about mid-September, I subscribe to a live streaming platform. I dump it as soon as March Madness is over. It has been Sling or my cable provider (Spectrum). Sling will be $55 for what I want and Spectrum will be $59.99 plus taxes of about $5 and local broadcast surcharge of $22.20 for a rounded $87 a month. Not much of a choice, is it?

Yes, my browser found "Cheapest ways to watch Espn." Fubo, YouTube TV, Direct TV, and a bunch of others. I am considering those options.

Yes, I have an antenna hooked up to my Tablo DVR so I get a whole bunch of OTA football games. And I have many free/paid streaming channels on my Rokus and Fire TVs. I have Prime Video which has a few pro games. No, I will not get Sunday Ticket.

Problems/Questions: 1) Cable news is toxic and somewhat addictive. I just need to not watch it. 2) Sometimes we have extended travel to someplace warm in the winter. Need to make sure I can watch while away. Spectrum locks this down. 3) ESPN used to put many of their second tier college football games on ESPN3 or ESPNU. Now they have opted for more revenue by putting them on a new pay service - ESPN+. Is it time to break down and buy this puppy for $5 a month? I know it is cheap. I just don't want to be nickled and dimed. 4) Many of the services include the ability to record live shows. Many don't. Would I use this, given that my Tablo has thousands of hours of recorded shows? 5) Many of these services have a huge library of on-demand. Problem is that I find the search function drives you to the latest reality, rom com, poorly done vampire for teenage girl show. And not to the film noir/gumshoe detective movies that I want. 6) I don't like the layout of the Sling guide. Customizing it didn't help.

Yes, I have found Roku channels for film noir/gumshoe detective. Have not found any that were good.

Any suggestions as I continue my search?

Sounds like Youtube TV would fit the bill for you with everything except ESPNplus. The ability to record shows on Youtube TV is excellent. You can also take the service with you anywhere you want.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Sounds like Youtube TV would fit the bill for you with everything except ESPNplus. The ability to record shows on Youtube TV is excellent. You can also take the service with you anywhere you want.

Thanks. As I remember, their guide layout is pretty good. Right? And do you find that their search function is pretty good?

 

[Midpack]

Sounds like Youtube TV would fit the bill for you with everything except ESPNplus. The ability to record shows on Youtube TV is excellent. You can also take the service with you anywhere you want.

Hulu + Live is just as good as YouTube TV IME. And they include Disney+ and ESPN+, unlimited cloud DVR, and both guide interfaces - traditional matrix and Netflix icon layout. But everyone has to review channels, there are minor differences, and see what works best for them.

 

[harllee]

Thanks. As I remember, their guide layout is pretty good. Right? And do you find that their search function is pretty good?

Youtube TV guide layout and search function is good.

 

[qwerty3656]

Hulu + Live is just as good as YouTube TV IME. And they include Disney+ and ESPN+, unlimited cloud DVR, and both guide interfaces - traditional matrix and Netflix icon layout. But everyone has to review channels, there are minor differences, and see what works best for them.

I see it says "with ads". Can you fast forward through the ads if you tape a show? (You can with youtubeTV)

 

[Philliefan33]

Hulu + Live is just as good as YouTube TV IME. And they include Disney+ and ESPN+, unlimited cloud DVR, and both guide interfaces - traditional matrix and Netflix icon layout. But everyone has to review channels, there are minor differences, and see what works best for them.

Another potential difference is performance. When deciding between YouTubeTV and Hulu+Live, I did a free trial of each. On my equipment, YTTV runs seamlessly. Hulu+Live had buffering issues, bad enough to make it unwatchable.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I find myself going to Tubi a lot lately. There are blockbusters, but also a lot of B and C grade material. Some of the small budget B movies are not bad. I just finished "Radius," and aside from the gratuitous foul mouth language, it was good. Kept me guessing. For a near micro-budget movie, it was good.

Looked this one up as I think Diego Klattenhoff is an underrated actor. He's good on "Blacklist" but they don't give him much to do anymore in these later seasons.

I see that "Radius" is no longer available on Tubi, though it can be seen on Peacock, Roku Channel, and FreeVee. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[mpeirce]

2) Sometimes we have extended travel to someplace warm in the winter. Need to make sure I can watch while away. Spectrum locks this down.

Do you have your Tablo set up for remote viewing (Tablo Connect)?

You need to open a couple of ports on your router and that’s different with various routers, but it’s not too complex.

We use this a bit when traveling. It is dependent on the “upstream speed” of your internet service. Often this is dramatically slower than your “downstream speed”. Turn down the quality setting of remote streaming can help this.

The way I check this working is to turn off WiFi on my phone and then run Tablo on the phone. This routes through the telephone internet eventually back to your home internet. This assures that the ports are set up properly and you quality/speed settings are good.

 

[Midpack]

Another potential difference is performance. When deciding between YouTubeTV and Hulu+Live, I did a free trial of each. On my equipment, YTTV runs seamlessly. Hulu+Live had buffering issues, bad enough to make it unwatchable.

We’ve had Hulu+Live for several years with zero buffering issues except CBS for some reason. It is annoying, but just one network. Certainly not “unwatchable” for me and over 4 million others, YouTube TV has 5 million subscribers. Both are good cable replacement options for users looking for a drop in. We didn’t like the YouTube UI, and aren’t fans of Google anyway. YMMV

 

[audreyh1]

I tried MAX earlier this week mainly because I was trying to verify subscription info, and lo and behold they had fixed the region error issue at least for us.

At the same time I’m getting a bit burned out on so many streaming channels so I have three that I had great discounts that I won’t renew in September including MAX.

 

[Dawg52]

Hulu + Live is just as good as YouTube TV IME. And they include Disney+ and ESPN+, unlimited cloud DVR, and both guide interfaces - traditional matrix and Netflix icon layout. But everyone has to review channels, there are minor differences, and see what works best for them.

That's a pretty good deal. Will give it a try come football season. I do ok with a Netflix, Peacock and antenna this time of year.

 

[Momcpa]

I have had HULU for a couple years. The current cost is $74.99/month. Verizon Wireless is offering a new plan to me that will give me HULU for $10. My question is in what order do I make the change. Do I change to the new phone plan and sign up for HULU through them first. And once that is in place, then cancel my current subscription? I just have a concern about the 2 subscriptions getting confused somehow. But I suppose they will show up on my TV screen as 2 different icons maybe ??

Just looking for some insight, or if you have done something similar. Thanks for any advice.

 

[RunningBum]

I have had HULU for a couple years. The current cost is $74.99/month. Verizon Wireless is offering a new plan to me that will give me HULU for $10. My question is in what order do I make the change. Do I change to the new phone plan and sign up for HULU through them first. And once that is in place, then cancel my current subscription? I just have a concern about the 2 subscriptions getting confused somehow. But I suppose they will show up on my TV screen as 2 different icons maybe ??

Just looking for some insight, or if you have done something similar. Thanks for any advice.

Hulu and Hulu + Live are very different packages. Make sure you understand which they are offering and if that's what you want first before doing anything else.

 

[Midpack]

I have had HULU for a couple years. The current cost is $74.99/month. Verizon Wireless is offering a new plan to me that will give me HULU for $10. My question is in what order do I make the change. Do I change to the new phone plan and sign up for HULU through them first. And once that is in place, then cancel my current subscription? I just have a concern about the 2 subscriptions getting confused somehow. But I suppose they will show up on my TV screen as 2 different icons maybe ??

Just looking for some insight, or if you have done something similar. Thanks for any advice.

Hulu and Hulu + Live are very different packages. Make sure you understand which they are offering and if that's what you want first before doing anything else.

+1. You’re conflating Hulu with Hulu+Live. Hulu+Live, the live broadcast cable TV replacement drop in, is $69.99/mo or more depending on add ins. Verizon may be offering Hulu (on demand library only) for $10/mo, but that’s not Hulu+Live.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Do you have your Tablo set up for remote viewing (Tablo Connect)?

You need to open a couple of ports on your router and that’s different with various routers, but it’s not too complex.

We use this a bit when traveling. It is dependent on the “upstream speed” of your internet service. Often this is dramatically slower than your “downstream speed”. Turn down the quality setting of remote streaming can help this.

The way I check this working is to turn off WiFi on my phone and then run Tablo on the phone. This routes through the telephone internet eventually back to your home internet. This assures that the ports are set up properly and you quality/speed settings are good.

Yes, big Tablo Connect user. Before we go on that long trip, we make sure the two tablets and cell phones are synced and ready to go with tablo. But we are so bad we have a travel Fire TV that is Tablo Connect enabled. Last time I scanned, I got 68 channels, of which I used 34. Rest are duplicates or too weak. Update! Just scanned and we have 75. Will have to stop and see what new stations we have.

 

[Momcpa]

Thank you to those who commented on my question about Hulu and it's price difference. You are SO correct. We currently have HULU+ Live. The package Verizon was offering was HULU, not HULU +. I didn't notice the difference until your responses pointed that out. When I really looked at it, I think that Verizon is being a little "sneaky" in their brochure. Their ad says "Disney+, Hulu, & ESPN+". They have the 'plain' HULU sandwiched in between the two "+" offerings. Might be coincidence, but probably not.

But thanks for your wisdom. I didn't look at it close enough to see it for myself.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I think I have everything we want sorted, Here is how it all ended up.

Still managing with No broadcasting costs or streaming subscriptions.

1) I have OTA for local channels except PBS, signal is too weak. DW's Jeopardy is spared on our local channel 12. It does get a bit flakey in a good lightning storm though, but still watchable.

2) Roku Apps for Bloomberg, PBS, CBS, YouTube (Free) and other news channels.

3) The Weather Channel, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, and other news channels Screencast from spare laptop via websites like Newslive.com

4) $50 a month for 1gb internet from Xfinity, using my own modem and routers.

Not too inconvenient, using about 500gb a month out of 1.2tb bandwidth allotment. Minor inconvenience is Worth a $145 a month savings.