Cord cutters - How many streaming services do you pay for?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by telliott, Nov 12, 2017.

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  1. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    We had a free year of Netflix and Hulu Plus with our TV purchase, and while we found *some* stuff to watch, it wasn't enough to continue and pay for. I even staggered the free year, so that we started with Netflix and explored for all that interested us, and then started the Hulu thing within the first year of the TV purchase, so that the Netflix ended and the Hulu began with just a little overlap.

    What I noticed on Hulu was a better representation of TV series, but it turned out that most were shows I already owned on DVD or Blu-ray, or were shows that were also available on our Amazon subscription. Hulu was really annoying with its commercials.

    So we've stuck with Amazon Prime for the last few years, and only just recently I bought a Roku for the CBS AllAccess App and subscribed to that. Remembering how bad Hulu was with commercials, I opted for the $10 plan on CBS AllAccess and really think its worth it to nuke the commercials.
     
  2. Netflix
    Hulu
    Amazon prime
    CBS All Access
     
  3. CoryS

    CoryS Forum Resident

    Unlikely, and even if that were the case, a subscriber will be getting a la carte choices that the cable providers refused to offer, and with no commercials.

    I have only a Netflix subscription, as cutting the chord for me was not only a revolt against the cable oligopoly here in Canada, but a choice for quality over quantity. I've found more productive things to do in the hours I used to spend watching television.
     
  4. Dr. Bogenbroom

    Dr. Bogenbroom I'm not a Dr. but I play one on SteveHoffman.TV

    Location:
    Anchor Point
    Only Amazon Prime. I had Netflix a while back, but find it something to get just on occasion to binge their original content. I do pay $25/yr for Schedules Direct service (OTA television listings) in order to DVR regular TV.

    Kind of interested in Google's TV service. Need to read more about it.
     
  5. mrwolk

    mrwolk One and a half ears...no waiting!

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    1.Netflix
    2.Acorn TV (lots of British TV content...Poirot, Midsumer Murders, Marple etc...and very reasonably price...around $4.99 a month...better deal if you pay for a whole year in advance.
    3. MHz...a new player to the world of streaming...lots of European TV series from Italy, France, Germany etc....original language with english subtitles..streams through my Roku device....$7.99 a month
    Beauty of these services...no commercials!
     
  6. Bertly

    Bertly Senior Member

    Only MLB.tv.
     
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  7. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    CNN has a free channel on my Roku now. It's new so they've been changing it around. Right now it's three channels live streaming, plus most of the news shows on demand and lots of other shows on demand. When I first checked out the channel a couple months ago you could rewind a live channel a few hours and then fast forward through commercials (scam), but I think that's gone. They have commercial breaks with commercials and also just a screen that says something like commercials are airing now. I'm pretty sure you can fast forward through commercials with the on demand, but not while watching live tv and no more rewind scam last I checked. It might be still evolving as they figure it out.

    It is interesting watching how the big 3 cable news channels deal with cord cutters as the years go on. NBC used to have a channel with two weeks of all cable shows and the nightly news on demand with no commercials. Then they slowly killed the cable channels in a bizarre random way, leaving only the nightly news available shortly after air time. The last I checked I'm pretty sure they started airing the nightly news the following day. So that's it for them. They should have figured out how to monetize it and I would still be watching, now I can get all shows available that night or next day with commercials already edited out so they lose. CNN used to have nothing and now they are ramping up a lot and I put it on sometimes, commercials and all. Last I checked Fox has pretty much nothing and they don't care, just some short clips up I think.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2017
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  8. Vincent3

    Vincent3 Forum Resident

    That's why I've trimmed down to the bare minimum cable package until my contract expires and I can cancel cable completely.

    I've been doing a trial run on my bedroom TV. I didn't have cable installed for that room, so I use over-the-air, along with Netflix and the other apps in my BD player. Over-the-air is my primary source, and it's quite liberating to get my content for free and without my viewing history being stored somewhere in a cable company's servers so it can be sold to marketers. When I get good reception, over-the-air TV shows have much better video quality than the compressed-looking video I get through cable. Cable's on-demand is riddled with long pauses, whereas Netflix through a wifi connection is smooth sailing.

    One of the drawbacks to over-the-air is that my reception is affected by bad weather (I live in an apartment and am limited to an indoor antenna). Another is that some TV shows can be accessed only if you have cable or buy episodes online or seasons on disc. But there's nothing on TV that's so important that I need to pony up for cable. I can also borrow lots of TV shows on DVD from my library.

    Other than Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, I'm not paying for any other subscriptions. Most of the stuff on TV doesn't interest my at all. Between over-the-air, Netflix and the free streaming apps (Crackle, Popcorn, etc.) and YouTube, I'm set.

    I also listen to am/fm radio over the air in bedroom. Same experience. It's nice to turn on the radio without having to rely on the Internet. My computer is always there if I want to listen to something outside my reception range.
     
  9. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Showtime
    HBO Now
    Starz
    Netflix 4K
    Shudder
    CBS All Access
    Apple Music

    I’ll trim it every once in a while when a series ends but it creeps back up. We also purchase a lot on Apple TV because they keep having HD movie sales.

    I’ve been playing with PlayStation Vue because my partner wanted to watch the Olympics and we wanted to watch the Oscars. First time I’ve had commercials in 15 years.
     
  10. Three streaming. We tried to cut the cord but my boy's objected as they watch quite a bit of stuff that isn't available to be streamed via Roku right now. We also have HBO and Showtime which I could do or do without.

    No music streaming beyond Amazon Prime. Did Apple for awhile.
     
  11. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    Just Netflix... but I will subscribe to ESPN+ once the MLS games are streamed on it.

    HBO Now when Game Of Thrones is on.

    I don’t have cable TV
     
  12. I just don’t understand why the news channels like CNN and MSNBC dont have a la cart apps. Like for $5 month or something. Strange. .
     
  13. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    And this is why the industry is in trouble...crap like this. I subscribed to Direct TV a few months ago. Guaranteed $50 per month total inc all the junk fees. Was cheaper than all the streaming services combined that wevhad. So, two weeks ago I noticed my bill more than doubled. What? I look closely and all of the sudden I'm being charged for HBO and Starz. Huh? I didn't order those. So I call and they tell me I had a free 90 day trial and as a courtesy to me they assumed I would want to continue watching them so they started billing me. I didn't even know I had them for free for 90 days and I wouldn't have watched them anyway...and didn't. So, he offers to credit me back for this month but won't for the previous two. Huh? I didn't notice they had been billing me. I tell him I never asked for those in the first place and I wanted a credit back. He has the gall to tell me how I sure never said anything when I was getting it for free, and that it was my responsibility to have cancelled it. Uggh! I cancelled Comcast 2 years ago for pulling the same crap. I get a supervisor on the phone...I was PISSED. He also tells me there is nothing he can do. I tell him we both know the credit card co will immediately refund me when I dispute it and to please just save me the trouble and credit me. Nope. I got AmEx on the phone two minutes later and of course they instantly refunded me. So, guess who I'm cancelling with when the contract is up. What is it with these cable companies??!! I feel like an idiot signing up again because they all pull this. Why? All they do is piss people off and drive them away. I can't believe scamming people like that is helping their situation in any way. And there they are at Costco trying to sign people up. I'm mad at Costco for having the Direct TV thieves in their stores.
     
  14. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    Amazon Prime and a digital convertor box is all I have. No need for anything else.
     
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  15. Reader

    Reader Senior Member

    Location:
    e.s.t. tenn.
    This may sound like a silly question to some here but that's ok.

    With Amazon prime and the box what tv networks are available? Can you get the cable news networks, CNN, MSNBC, etc with that hookup? Thanks for any info.
     
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  16. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    I'm in the transition phase to cord cutting.

    I got a Roku Stick Plus as a 'proof of concept' to the family, and subscribed to the base DirecTV Now streaming package. We already have Amazon Prime/Video, and Netflix.

    The only channels we don't get live that we want are CBS, PBS, and some local San Diego stations.

    I bought a cheap $15 monoprice "HD" antenna and hooked it upstairs on the 2nd floor and found out I get all of the local/major channels over the air.

    So my plan is to get an external roof mounted antenna installed with coax drops to our tv rooms, then call Wrecktum Cable to only get internet and cut off cable and phone.

    The total number of streaming services would then be 3, and I would still be saving close to $750/yr over my current tribute to Wrecktum.
     
  17. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    We got rid of cable two weeks ago (and internet since it was part of the package.)
    Being near NYC we get a LOT of Antenna Channels (especially since I ran an antenna to the back window of the apartment) and I have enough DVDs to start my own channel.
    Once we get a new internet plan (and a roku Box I assume) I’ll probably try Netflix and, like I did with the cable box, watch a lot of YouTube on TV.
     
  18. modrevolve

    modrevolve Forum Resident

    I cut the cord so to speak this week after receiving terrible customer service from Verizon; riding ourselves of a bill for roughly $180 per month.

    I signed up for internet service through Comcast which costs $54 per month plus fees. They do require you to also purchase a basic 100 tv channel package with that plan or else you would be paying over $80 per month for just internet.

    Anyways I pay for Hulu which is $11.99 for no commercials and my gf pays for Netflix plus are prime members. The only thing I am really missing out on is Philly sports which truthfully I haven't watched much of lately and can always go over to someone's house to watch the playoffs.
     
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  19. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    CNN has a Roku app with 3 channels live streaming and lots of on demand stuff including most of the news shows - all free. Fox is also free live streaming. MSNBC used to have everything with two weeks on demand on the Roku but they killed it and I don't know what they have theses days. I found a Roku channel streaming live MSNBC 30 minutes behind eastern (not legit) and all the shows are available the next day on the net with no commercials (not legit).
     
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2018
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  20. So no Apple TV apps yet ? I still have basic cable so I do have these channels now but if and when I do cut the cord , I want full 24 hour live news. I’m a news and political junkie.

    You can keep Fox :tiphat: the SyFy channel covers me there.
     
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  21. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    I have Netflix because it's cheap, but I'm going to drop that soon and pick up Hulu instead. I'm tired of paying for "Netflix Exclusive" programs which I do not watch, and getting only a tiny handful of classic movies.
     
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  22. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I'm a news junkie as well and on occasion I do enjoy a Jeanine Pirro freakout. :laugh: As for Apple, it looks like you're in luck sorta - no MSNBC. I don't know if the Apple CNN app is as good as the Roku, but it should be. I assume CNN has deals with their advertisers - no real commercials but lots of CNN commercials and then a screen that says, "commercials in progress" with no audio.

    Apple TV App Gets Live News Broadcasts from CNN, Fox News, and CNBC

    Live news broadcasts have come to Apple’s TV app.

    People can use the TV app to watch live news from outlets like CBS News, CNN, Fox News, CNBC, and Bloomberg on iPhones, iPads and the Apple TV streaming device.

    Apple TV App Gets Live News Broadcasts from CNN, Fox News, CNBC
     
  23. Vincent3

    Vincent3 Forum Resident

    I realized I didn't answer the original question clearly: I pay for 1 streaming service, Netflix. I had Hulu for a while, but preferred Netflix and didn't see the need to pay for both.

    One thing I learned about cable subscriptions, especially when getting an initial discount, is that you need to read the conditions closely. In particular, look for 1) any changes that will happen when the deal ends and the standard billing begins, 2) what opt-out trial stuff are they giving you, 3) any additional fees that could potentially be triggered. If any of it isn't crystal clear, call and ask for specifics before entering the contract. Highlight those things, take notes if you call for details, and keep the contract and notes. This is all hypothetical for me, because I don't expect to have cable ever again after my current contract expires.
     
  24. jason88cubs

    jason88cubs Forum Resident

    Location:
    Us
    I have xfinity internet 39.99 a month
    and that's it

    I use my friends Netflix account
    I stream all my sports from Reddit
    If I miss a game I usually find it on Youtube
    I will get WWE Network during the winter for 9.99
     
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  25. I have Comcast Xfinity now. When I use CNN on my iPad or desktop I also get the commercial in progress screen. I don't get that they just don't have apps for stand alone news channel viewings. Even with commercials. That would be great.

    Just looking towards next year when I might consider cutting Xfinity completely !!!???

    BTW I love having Netflix and Amazon Prime. Also have Hulu through a share with my ex. Apparently we can have on multi devises in second homes.. She gets my Prime. But with Hulu, two people can't watch at the same time. Works for us.
     
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