So I did finally get The Spectrum Choice App...

I posted about this waaaayyy back in May and had a few people ask about it. Comments like "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." LOL. Well, it took me forever to get this because unless you're a Spectrum internet only customer, who has been targeted by them, the sales reps act like you are asking for the secrets to Freemasonry. "Oh, you can't have that." "I've never heard of that." "If you cancel your video service and wait about 30 days." Were just some of the many quotes I heard. We did cancel. We actually cancelled everything over holiday while out of town to see if they would treat us better as "new customers." Called for internet install only. Asked about Spectrum Choice and the guy told me that was a waste and tried to sell me their "Silver Streaming" package of 200 channels. No thank you. Then, I went the route of chatting with customer service. Bingo. The gentleman asked if I knew what ten channels I wanted. Of course I already did. There is a list of about 65 channels you can choose from. Mostly, the essentials. This is where the rubber meets the road. My wife picked 5 and I picked 5. Not as easy as it sounds. TCM, MTV, ESPN, Food, History, BBC, NFL, FX, AMC, and TLC. https://www.spectrumchoicechannels.com/ They toss in your broadcast channels for free - including most of the subchannels (Decades, Antenna, MeTV, etc). This was crucial. If I were nearer Columbus or Dayton, I wouldn't have bothered with this service, but we're just far enough from both and in the hills enough that an antenna won't do it. CSPAN 1,2,3 and all the shopping channels are thrown in too as well as Music Choice. CSPAN 3 is its on History type channel on weekends. This is $21.99
The real value is in the premiums. Starz, Encore, TMC, HBO and Showtime are available for $7 per month or $15 for all 5! Again, weird. Spectrum the first day couldn't do this and told me to chat again in 30 days. I tried again the next day and got them. The great thing here is that all of these scrips open up the apps and beef up your On Demand options.
Truly ala carte and we're saving a lot of money. On Demand is nice and the grid is nice. Does a pretty decent job of not teasing what is not available to you. The apps know what you're allowed to get and not. That is kinda pissy. For instance. I have ESPN but not ESPN 2 but I do have ESPN+. Not for long. Went to watch a game that was on ESPN2 on my plus and it was blocked. Also, FXX material is blocked even if it's just old reruns of the Simpsons. Oh well. We have a lot of tv for under $40.

 

At $40, I'd look at DirecTV Now streaming or other's like Hulu, Sling, etc.

I get everything you've listed above (except Starz, Encore, HBO, Showtime) and much more.

The less of my money Wrecktum gets, the better.

 

The premiums was where the value was IMHO. Plus, we liked just choosing the channels we wanted but I suspect I'll wind up with Direct TV Now or a similar service down the pike. I'm a big fan of Ohio Bobcat football and the Cleveland Cavaliers and I'm bereft of CBS Sports Network, ESPN2 & U, and Fox Sports Ohio so it'll be interesting to see how I feel about this app in two years. Right now, it's "happy wife, happy life" and I can listen to both of the above teams on radio while I fidget in the basement or whatever, but I'll miss the games on tv at some point. Also, no one has else had ALL the locals. Again, that was huge being out of antenna range. The thought of paying $5.99 per month for CBS is crazy.

 

I have the lowest tier of DirecTV Now streaming, and they did pick up and carry CBS.

My package doesn't include ESPN U, but I do get ESPN and ESPN2.

 

i have learned that you have to negotiate for a long time with spectrum (time-warner). be patient, they usually come up with something.

 

Update? Or are you still with Spectrum? I have Spectrum Internet, tech was just out here today, said if I got a Samsung TV I could just run the cable into it with NO BOX and get most of the channels.

 

What about getting a Roku box and there has to be some kind of App for that you could subscribe to, right? Sling?

 

We use the Spectrum Choice app. We picked our 10 channels (FX, AMC, NFL, TCM, BBC, History, ESPN, MTV, TLC, Food) that we picked. There are also some freebies that Spectrum gives everyone like CSPAN, WGN and others + all the music choicez All of the Columbus stations, which is nice because we’re too far for an antenna and some of the sub channels are fun. That’s $20. Then, for $3 a piece we have TMC, Showtime, Encore, Starz, & HBO. We love it.

 

some interesting insights here: Basically "we've got a ton of debt and can't find any new ways to screw customers".
Quarterly Results | Charter
so, yeah, they better start at least pretending they're human. Even though they're driven by raw greed.

 

We're in Maine, and Wrecktum is having problems with the sound.