Streaming Services

[GAN]

I've had YouTube almost since the beginning and have looked at changing, but never found anything that was good enough for what I watch ...so I've stuck with it. There's been some changes and price increases but it's been great overall. It's so easy to navigate(on AppleTV) and the DVR can't be touched by any other service. I haven't had to use their Customer Service the last few years, but I will say they were Excellent when I had to make contact with them ...some of the best service. They announced they just hit 5M subscribers which I was surprised was so low!

 

[JLTraveling]

We've found YouTube TV to be an excellent cable replacement. We weren't interested in cord cutting so much as getting rid of Cox cable, which is horrible in our city. Live TV, pretty much all the channels we used to have, the ability to pause and rewind, unlimited DVR...we're really happy with it. We also have Netflix, Prime, Disney+ and some other stuff, so we're not saving a ton of money. But again, for us it was about getting rid of our crappy cable service.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Been there done that years ago, don't miss cable and/or satellite TV one bit.

We've used several services and left several services. We canned Hulu a while ago, got to expensive for the use. We have what's left on our Disney+ and when that comes up we'll be done with that, again not enough content for the value to us. We've really enjoyed the shows produced by Apple, content is growing but price seems to hit the value mark for us. We use FubuTV they had the channels my wife wanted and a reasonable cost, plus we have AmazonPrime so enjoy some really good shows there as well.

Probably the biggest thing for us was to stop watching garbage TV or having it on if we are not watching it. We got over our TV addiction and walked way from most sports and any garbage programming.

Gonna echo this poster - don't choose and put it on auto-pilot. Pick and choose as you go, drop and add subscriptions as you want.

I did a year of D+ and Hulu - dropped both when HBO Max offered their huge deal.
Now, Paramount Plus and Apple TV gave me a free year through my phone plan, so I dropped HBO Max, but I picked up Hulu again at the Black Friday deal (and added Peacock during the same Black Friday deal period).
Netflix is also mostly paid by my phone and I keep Amazon Prime, although I have given up Prime when I didn't need the shipping.

And I've got Philo b/c my phone gives me $15/month for life, so I do have some "live-ish" tv.

Peacock and Paramount are nice b/c they do have sports, and with them and Prime, they have all the football I need (and the tennis, b/c I enjoy that one, too)...

Total cost
Philo $15/month
Netflix $4.50/month
Amazon $10/month
Peacock $2.50/month
Hulu $1/month
Paramount Free
Apple Free

Total OOP for all of my current services (even including my Prime cost) - $33/month

My kids know that Peacock and Hulu will probably drop Black Friday b/c both deals will be done. Paramount will drop in December, but I'm hoping my phone offers another deal (if not another free deal) or I'll keep it one extra month for football and drop it. Apple is free til next summer, and I'll keep Philo, Netflix, and Amazon for now, although if Amazon raises Prime a ton, it's another that I'm willing to drop, especially outside of football season.

 

[Nayan]

What I tell others on the cord-cutting forum I belong to is to make a list of your most-watched shows and/or channels and see which service(s) carry most of them. If you are a sports junkie, then you will need a service like YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream or Sling Orange and Blue. If you are just interested in certain shows, then you probably can pick-and-choose between a service or two and find most of what you want, plus you can always cancel after the season is over.

If there are things you want to watch and can wait, like the PP said around the holidays you can pick up some good deals for yearly rates. I got Curiosity Stream for $11 for the year.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We've tried talking with DirecTV about lowering our bill. The best they'll do is to offer us a premium channel (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax) free for 3 months. Even then, there's really nothing worth watching on any of those premium channels.

This past weekend, we ordered a new 4K television to be delivered this Saturday. Then we bought a Roku Ultra 4K streaming device and an over-the-air antenna.

While we'll certainly take advantage of the free trial periods of the various streaming services, we're leaning toward YouTube TV. As I mentioned before, we'll also get Frndly TV for the channels that they offer which we like.

The part that makes me nervous is getting everything correctly hooked up to the new TV and then trying to figure out how to work everything.

We cut the cable 14 months ago. We bought a Samsung smart tv at best buy and paid a tech to install it and he helped us sign up for the streaming services we wanted. We are saving at least $100 a month, probably more since rates were always going up. The $100 or so we paid for installation was totally worth it!

We stream Disney+, Discovery+ and Foxnation (husband is a vet/discounted rate). We pay less than $20 a month. We can watch YouTube and a variety of live news channels and a bunch of movie channels. Never going back!

 

[bluezy]

We've been wanting to cut the cord for years and can't figure out how. It seems the "norm" is to switch to streaming, but once that's all added up, it gets just as expensive. Our big question is internet. We have a bundle with Comcast, if we drop Comcast TV our internet goes thru the roof. My husband works mostly from home and internet, good internet is a must. Our only choices in our area is AT&T or Comcast and from what we heard so far, AT&T is terrible. I don't know if you ever heard of Clark Howard. He has a website and it has information he recommends about cutting the cord.

We had a Comcast triple play bundle as well. It used to be a very nicely priced bundle. But then the price just kept going up and up and they were less and less willing to negotiate the price. When our bill hit $205/month (with a discount and no HBO, STARZ, etc.) my husband said we were finished with them. On of our biggest issues with them was the rental cost for the boxes. We have 11 TVs in our house and used to have a box on each of them....when they cost $1/month. Then the price climbed to about $5/month so we got rid of several of the boxes and just moved them as needed (which rarely happened -- we only use 4 or 5 of the TVs on a daily basis so we dropped down to 5 boxes). Then the price climbed up to -- I think -- $10/box so that was adding $50 to our bill every month. I wanted to keep a house phone (long story, but basically I don't want all the spam calls going to my cell phone so I only give out my cell number to people who truly need it. Everyone else gets the house phone number.) We switched that to Google Voice which after the initial equipment fee (I think it was around $150) that costs us nothing. We bought Rokus for all of the TVs (bought most of them on a Black Friday deal). I think we spent about $300 on all of the Rokus combined, but again, it's a one-time cost. As far as internet -- our only option for high-speed internet is Comcast so we're stuck with them (though we've been watching T-Mobile and might switch to them at some point.) I have no idea what the speed is, but I can tell you that during the pandemic lockdown we had 3 college students and 1 HS student all doing zoom/virtual classes all day; plus my husband worked from home and was basically on zoom all day; and I would use my laptop for various things throughout the day; plus there was usually a TV on as well....and we never had any issues. My husband still works from home some day and does zoom meetings 4 or 5 nights a month while our daughter is live streaming video games. Still no issues with speed (and believe me, the kid who streams video games would let us know if there was any noticeable slow down). We currently pay $60 for internet, $50 for Youtube (DH got some deal a few months ago), and then the streaming services -- $6 Disney+, $5-$6 for Netflix through T-Mobile, Hulu is around $5. We also have Amazon Prime but have that for free shipping -- streaming is just a bonus. So we're saving about $70/month and actually have all the channels we want/need.

 

[bluezy]

What I tell others on the cord-cutting forum I belong to is to make a list of your most-watched shows and/or channels and see which service(s) carry most of them. If you are a sports junkie, then you will need a service like YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream or Sling Orange and Blue. If you are just interested in certain shows, then you probably can pick-and-choose between a service or two and find most of what you want, plus you can always cancel after the season is over.

If there are things you want to watch and can wait, like the PP said around the holidays you can pick up some good deals for yearly rates. I got Curiosity Stream for $11 for the year.

That's exactly what we did. My husband made a spreadsheet with all the channels we got with Comcast and highlighted the ones we watched the most and also indicated which channels we didn't ever watch. Then he added the channel lists for Sling TV, Youtube TV, and something else that I can't recall right now. Youtube TV was the best match and the few channels they didn't carry we were able to pick up on a few free streaming channels. And ironically, I think all but 1 of those channels has now been added to Youtube TV.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Our two choices for internet is Comcast or AT&T. A couple of years ago, AT&T went thru our neighborhood and all the surrounding ones and put in lines (what a mess). Some, like my neighbor, tried to switch to AT&T and even though they laid cable, it couldn't be done. AT&T was out sooooo many times, trying to meet point A to Point B for connection. What a fiasco and mess! They would dig up our lawn, our shrubs, etc. Complaining did not good, even to HOA, because they "had the right" even though it went on for months. We have 9 TV's in the house, one being very large in a theater room. 5 TV's are with Direct TV and 4 (including our internet) is with Comcast. We moved into this house 6 years ago, original owners had both Direct TV and comcast and we found out early on why....beause Comcast cannot support 9 TV's. When we first moved in, we had nothing but problems with Comcast TV/internet. After a couple of years and tired of them coming out and not being able to find the problem, my husband took it upon himself and was able to fix things. We have a weak signal that comes into the house and for some reason, they can't fix it. My husband relies so heavily on Comcast internet for work and with all the problems we've had, we're afraid to do anything because it could get very bad and very ugly. We feel trapped.

We had a Comcast triple play bundle as well. It used to be a very nicely priced bundle. But then the price just kept going up and up and they were less and less willing to negotiate the price. When our bill hit $205/month (with a discount and no HBO, STARZ, etc.) my husband said we were finished with them. On of our biggest issues with them was the rental cost for the boxes. We have 11 TVs in our house and used to have a box on each of them....when they cost $1/month. Then the price climbed to about $5/month so we got rid of several of the boxes and just moved them as needed (which rarely happened -- we only use 4 or 5 of the TVs on a daily basis so we dropped down to 5 boxes). Then the price climbed up to -- I think -- $10/box so that was adding $50 to our bill every month. I wanted to keep a house phone (long story, but basically I don't want all the spam calls going to my cell phone so I only give out my cell number to people who truly need it. Everyone else gets the house phone number.) We switched that to Google Voice which after the initial equipment fee (I think it was around $150) that costs us nothing. We bought Rokus for all of the TVs (bought most of them on a Black Friday deal). I think we spent about $300 on all of the Rokus combined, but again, it's a one-time cost. As far as internet -- our only option for high-speed internet is Comcast so we're stuck with them (though we've been watching T-Mobile and might switch to them at some point.) I have no idea what the speed is, but I can tell you that during the pandemic lockdown we had 3 college students and 1 HS student all doing zoom/virtual classes all day; plus my husband worked from home and was basically on zoom all day; and I would use my laptop for various things throughout the day; plus there was usually a TV on as well....and we never had any issues. My husband still works from home some day and does zoom meetings 4 or 5 nights a month while our daughter is live streaming video games. Still no issues with speed (and believe me, the kid who streams video games would let us know if there was any noticeable slow down). We currently pay $60 for internet, $50 for Youtube (DH got some deal a few months ago), and then the streaming services -- $6 Disney+, $5-$6 for Netflix through T-Mobile, Hulu is around $5. We also have Amazon Prime but have that for free shipping -- streaming is just a bonus. So we're saving about $70/month and actually have all the channels we want/need.

 

[tvguy]

We've been wanting to cut the cord for years and can't figure out how. It seems the "norm" is to switch to streaming, but once that's all added up, it gets just as expensive.

Same here.
We have Dish Network, Rabbit Ears for the "dot 2, dot 3 dot 4" subchannels the local stations broadcast, and Peacock.
We have access to our daughter's Netflix and YouTube TV accounts. I have found Peacock, Netflix and YouTube TV disappointing. Can't remember that last time we watched anything on them.

 

[disneychrista]

Same here.
We have Dish Network, Rabbit Ears for the "dot 2, dot 3 dot 4" subchannels the local stations broadcast, and Peacock.
We have access to our daughter's Netflix and YouTube TV accounts. I have found Peacock, Netflix and YouTube TV disappointing. Can't remember that last time we watched anything on them.

I would imagine that most of the paid streaming services wouldn't be of your liking. You might do better with Pluto or any of the free streaming services, since they are more likely to have old(er) shows.

 

[fhtpdw20]

If you have Roku, check out Tubi. It is free and has a great variety of programs.

 

[CallieMar]

Our viewing habits changed drastically once we cut the cord and I would say for the better. I used to watch a lot of baseball and it was one of the main reasons we kept cable. Well nowadays I just don’t have the time to sit and watch a 3-4 hour game on weeknights anyway. One hour a day, maybe two tops. We have Netflix and D+ and everything I watch is on those two services. DH likes old movies and shows and finds a lot of stuff on the free movie channels loaded on the Roku, and there are even free movies on YouTube with ads. I will probably drop D+ when my subscription year ends and subscribe to Kocowa (k-drama streaming service) for a year after that.

Comcast tries to tell you it’s cheaper to bundle your services. Well, it’s not when you don’t actually use them. I stopped using tv shows as mindless background noise years ago. If anything we will stream a video playlist on YouTube on the tv for that. I pay about half as much as my parents do who have a full cable package with HBO. I have never run out of anything to watch, in fact my list just keeps growing!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We have DirecTV and some other streaming services such as Netflix. Disney +, HBO Max, and Hulu. (some of this stuff is included in our phone plan and my step-daughter is doing some deal w/Spotify and she gets the streaming services included etc...) We also have Amazon Prime. I personally do not pay for any of them, DH is the provider of our Netflix. We literally have more TV available to us than we have time to watch.

I cannot personally guarantee it, but we have friends who have Youtube TV and they highly recommend it.

 

[Kennywood]

Is there a universal remote that would work for n LG 4k TV, Roku Ultra 2022, and a 4K Blu-Ray DVD player? It appears that Logitech is phasing out their Harmony remotes.

 

[kdonnel]

Is there a universal remote that would work for n LG 4k TV, Roku Ultra 2022, and a 4K Blu-Ray DVD player? It appears that Logitech is phasing out their Harmony remotes.

I have used Roomie Remote for 7-10 years.

https://roomieremote.com/

If the devices are not all IP controllable than you will need an IP to IR gateway.

 

[chattadisser]

We did it a few years ago. Our main service is UTube TV, we also have Amazon Prime and Philo for the few things we couldn't get on UTube TV. We are probably going to drop that. The good thing about streaming is if we are out in our RV we don't have to worry about if the park has cable or if we can pick something up from our on air antenna. As long as we have internet, we have TV. Since hubby has to work, we always have internet. We rarely even turn on the TV now days though. Hubby watches SEC football during season and there are a few things I record. Most of the time we just have it on sirius radio for background noise.

Do you have any issues being able to access SEC+? We watch a lot of college baseball, specifically SEC, during the season and you have to enter the cable provider information to get the games on plus. Just trying to figure out a way around that part so we can get rid of the cable.

 

[loves to dive]

Since when was Spice Road Table walk ups only?
We've always done ADR there, as recent as Memorial Day
Granted we don't do them more than a day in advance but not ever walk up

Do you have any issues being able to access SEC+? We watch a lot of college baseball, specifically SEC, during the season and you have to enter the cable provider information to get the games on plus. Just trying to figure out a way around that part so we can get rid of the cable.

We only watch SEC football (go Dawgs) so no SEC+. Between local channels like ABC,CBS and NBC and ESPN we get all the Georgia games. All of that is on UTube TV.