Community Discussions

[empirefalls]

I cant afford streaming media any longer....May even go back to Satellite 

A TV package is approaching $50 plus a month and expectations to go even higher soon.
A Movie package hitting $7-16 a month 
FUBU which i need to watch the Red Sox  is $46 a month
CBS access local channel is $6-10 a month
You Tube wants $11-15 a month
Plus i have to pay internet service $75 a month--more if i want a faster stream...

I can cut out much of the above to go to bare bones, but the monthly price is still up. 

6 Years ago when i left Satellite, i had a  'secret , unadvertised plan' package: $20 month with 15 channels, 1 local channel,$5 month for epix channels
If i can get something like that back,i  expect to pay something higher, i may go back.

I am not being mean or insidious,Reading the article below,dont think i am alone.


A Related article 
Cord-Cutters Beware: Streaming TV Prices Are Marching Higher
By Drew FitzGerald
Sept. 14, 2018 12:50 p.m. ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cord-cutte ... 1536943821

[speechles]

You neglect to mention Hulu, Amazon or Netflix in your argument. Also forgot about the antenna on your TV, the OTA signal. 

But really why I posted this is about the url you mention in your post. Wall street journal is behind a pay wall. It is akin to click bait. That isn't a real article as it is clearly written with an agenda. That agenda is discourage prices from rising and inflation factoring into any of this. So really its politically motivated to pursue an agenda and get a certain percentage of the public to perceive as you do. That there is a clear disadvantage to cutting the cord. For some there is. There is a disadvantage to every form.

You say you had 15 channels, and 1 local. That sounds alot like OTA with a hulu subscription. You never mention a DVR. So one must ask, "Is one provided for you with cable?". There is an HD Homerun unit that exists for OTA without involve the cable company. Lots of alternatives exist to help facilitate your desires. There is the entire grey area of usenet/torrents/darkweb, the places where the eye patch over your eye and shouting avast you scurvy dogs is omnipresent, smells of sea air, parrots on shoulders, peg legs and hook hands. I shant go into what this is further. Suffice to say DMCA keeps those ships from most ports. Just mentioning this as fact, these are alternatives. Not going into anything overly verbose as how one acquires their streams or data. Anyone who wants more information on any of these services can clearly do their own legwork.

Just mentioning that the article you linked seems dubious and fishy. 

[empirefalls]

Re:
I avoided saying the name but will now. $20 a month for 15 channels package was with Dish Satellite. This is what i had when i left.ish had  secret unadvertised low priced packages. 
OTA does not work, Nearest station is 65 miles away.

Obviously being a member of this forum since 2011, i'm not a fly by night troll posting for kicks.
I recall being able to afford everything i wanted on streaming media  and laughing at cable/satellite subscribers , paying $100 a month. Now i am laughing least. 

[atc98092]

Personally, I don't count the price for my Internet, as I need it anyway. I also don't count the price for Amazon, because I would have Prime even without the streaming just for the free delivery. So all I really pay for is Netflix. And I'm thinking of dropping that because I use it so seldom. I also watch a lot of YouTube, which is free. In fact, the majority of my streaming is from my local server, so even if the Internet goes down (actually an extremely rare occurrence) we still have plenty to watch.
.
However, your viewing needs may differ completely from mine. My family has zero desire to watch any of the channels available via cable or satellite. We don't care about sports, and so many of the channels we used to watch when we had Dish are now all reality shows, which I can't stand. We also get terrific over the air broadcast TV, for the few times we want something from a network. When I had Dish, we were paying about $200 per month for four TV receivers, and we didn't even have the premium movie channels. I have seen that their rates have dropped significantly since then, so competition is a good thing. Choose what fits your needs the best.

[empirefalls]

re

Maybe everyone is rich that has cable,satellite or streaming media, but my household of 2,once 4, lives on a budget to pay monthly mortgage,monthly utilities,vehicle costs etc.
I cant comprehend how anyone could in the past or now, pays $100- 200 plus a month for TV, and not have nightmares of your house being foreclosed someday.
Yes, the internet is something one usually has anyways....however, occasionally,with satellite, if we were over our household budget, we could shut off internet for a month--and still watch TV via satellite. It would be a long month for sure without the internet.

Along comes streaming media in 2011, everything was fine and affordable..More than enough to watch without paying $100- 200 plus a month
Along comes 2018, its back to 2011, $100- 200 plus a month with streaming media now. Plus the internet service which is mandatory to have.


We had DirectTVNOW for years. We cancelled DirectTVNow this month.
-We were watching Less as the monthly price goes More.  
-We were watching  maybe 3 channels:TLC, WE, plus sunday football game(less and less thu). TCM--less and less and less.
We are taking a break with TV packages
Dropped Netflix----were not watching it anyways.
You Tube----Was fine for years with a couple of ads .now its torture ads unless you pay up $10-15 a month
News Channels..Dont need them. They are Fake. ...dont watch them unless maybe a storm is coming

So down to this on streaming media:
Added Amazon Prime  which i am happy with. 
Still watching You Tube..but find myself surfing less and less. Slowly moving over to Twitch.,which has ads  but does not  torture you like 'You Torture'.
Likely go with Philo for a TV package  Slingtv does not have one of the only 3 channels we watch.

[Basil]

You know that after 4 seconds, you can skip the YouTube ads, right?

And, I realize that everyone's situation is their own, and what works for me doesn't work for someone else. I'm paying under $65 for Comcast Internet and local TV channels (broadcast networks, plus MeTv and the like). I'm paying $8 for Hulu, because of my superpower that allows ads to not bother me. If I didn't have that superpower I'd pay $12/month for Hulu. I don't watch Netflix. I do have Amazon Prime, but for shipping. Rarely watch movies from it, but it is a good source for movies. Hulu has some movies too, but not as many as Amazon or Netflix.

I don't normally use streaming services like DirecTV Now, Philo, YouTube TV, Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, or other. Live TV isn't important. If there's a show I like to watch (Better Call Saul) then I will just buy it. It's cheaper for me to buy shows than to keep a subscription to all these channels.

For sports, I don't watch any professional sports. I'll watch college football by subscribing to Sling TV (the cheapest streaming service with an ESPN package) during football season, cancel at the end of the season, resubscribe for bowls, then cancel again until next season.

Again, I realize my situation probably doesn't apply to you, but I've found a way to not pay a whole lot. But, if Live TV is important to you, then you'd need a service that has stuff you want. Philo is only $16/month, but it doesn't have a bunch of channels and no sports.

Still, if you find that a traditional service is better for you, go for it. Do watch out for long-term contracts where you save a bunch of money up front, then pay a whole lot more for months 13-24. And extra fees for this and that and the other.

Good luck.

[ghb51]

After dropping my old cable/internet package, which was the least expensive above basic with no premiums, and going to internet + Spectrum Tv choice (10 channels of your choice plus locals) + Netflix I'm paying $60 less a month and getting everything I want to watch, and, I'll most likely drop Netflix and just keep Prime since, as atc98092 pointed out, I have it anyway and it has most of the same titles as Netflix, minus the originals, which I don't really watch anyway. Having said all that, streamers like Directv are creeping into overpriced cable territory. Spectrum choice is a good deal at it's current $21 price and YouTube tv is barely an ok deal at it's current $40 price, but I wouldn't go back to Directv.

[reddice]

So I have many subscriptions.  These are all of them.

• Netflix  (Not really worth it anymore sick of all of there mediocre originals and foreign subtitled licensed crud.  Just keeping it as long as T-Mobile keeps paying for it).


• Amazon Prime Video (Really have no choice since I want two day shipping from Prime but they do carry good licensed content).


• Hulu Ad Free (Much licensed classic TV comedies and some Nick content which makes up for the originals I don't care about).


• Boomerang (Cheap yearly just to watch some classic cartoons like The Flintstones and Jetsons.


• DC Streaming Service (A lot of older cartoons some I have on disk but on the DC service they are in HD and some are even 16:9).

What I am not keeping when my subscription ends.

• YouTube Premium (Boring top 5 videos and clips not worth it, Don't care about there originals, no licensed content. Get my music from Apple Music service).


• Hallmark Movies (Clean entertainment okay a bit too clean nothing but mostly sappy romantic movies.  Even Holiday movies are lacking).

[Basil]

"reddice" wrote:
So I have many subscriptions.  These are all of them.

• Netflix  (Not really worth it anymore sick of all of there mediocre originals and foreign subtitled licensed crud.  Just keeping it as long as T-Mobile keeps paying for it).


• Amazon Prime Video (Really have no choice since I want two day shipping from Prime but they do carry good licensed content).


• Hulu Ad Free (Much licensed classic TV comedies and some Nick content which makes up for the originals I don't care about).


• Boomerang (Cheap yearly just to watch some classic cartoons like The Flintstones and Jetsons.


• DC Streaming Service (A lot of older cartoons some I have on disk but on the DC service they are in HD and some are even 16:9).

What I am not keeping when my subscription ends.

• YouTube Premium (Boring top 5 videos and clips not worth it, Don't care about there originals, no licensed content. Get my music from Apple Music service).


• Hallmark Movies (Clean entertainment okay a bit too clean nothing but mostly sappy romantic movies.  Even Holiday movies are lacking).

I love Boomerang, too. I don't often watch it, but I enjoy the heck out of it when I do. 

Just renewed Hallmark. Don't watch it much at all, and am actually paying for it for a family member to use on her Roku. It's just in my name.

Never paid for YouTube. Perhaps there's some benefit I'm missing. If it's fewer or no ads, that's not an attraction for me, but I'm curious as to what else might be of benefit.

Totally agree on Netflix. I used to have it and use it all the time, but not so much anymore.

Never tried the DC service. If it's cartoons, Boomerang fills the bill for me. But I'm glad to hear of a service like that. I know folks that would enjoy that.

Thanks for sharing those.

[twiceover]

Yeah, if you *want* everything cable has, then you pretty much have to get cable.  Individual packages are getting expensive and stacking them adds up quickly.  I have stopped thinking of streaming as a cost cutting measure (though it still is for us).  Look at it this way, your ISP is not going to lose money, the content providers aren't going to lose money.  One way or another everything is going to balance out.  As ISPs start losing revenue from Cable packages, they'll just bump up the cost of internet.  

We've basically lived with Netflix and Amazon for nearly 4 years now.  We just find other things to do when we are bored of what's available.