Cutting The Cord on Cable/Satellite TV Service?
- Thread starter LoweTek
- Start date
I've been without cable for quite awhile now and rarely, if ever, find myself missing it. I'll sign up for Sling or Fubo when the playoffs come around for Sox/Bruins/C's but even when I have those, I only use it to watch games. I never find myself just scrolling and looking for something to watch. And if I do, it never seems like there is anything on to watch. Just the same old stuff that I never had interest in watching before.
I have an HD antenna for locals and I have found that's more than enough for me to go along with Netflix, Prime, Peacock, and AppleTV. I never could have imagine saying something like that 10-15 years ago. But here we are.
I have an HD antenna for locals and I have found that's more than enough for me to go along with Netflix, Prime, Peacock, and AppleTV. I never could have imagine saying something like that 10-15 years ago. But here we are.
ESPN direct to consumer service coming within the next year or two. I've read they think it'll be $35-40/month. I'm guessing this would cease ESPN channels to be carried on YTTV, Fubu, etc?
View: https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1722363020792193267?s=20
@sherman4949
Disney CEO Bob Iger also confirms that ESPN has targeted 2025 as the date to launch a direct to consumer streaming service and it won’t be any later than 2025. So , 2026 is out.
View: https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1722363020792193267?s=20
@sherman4949
Disney CEO Bob Iger also confirms that ESPN has targeted 2025 as the date to launch a direct to consumer streaming service and it won’t be any later than 2025. So , 2026 is out.
Man that sucks. I liked getting subsidized by non-sports viewers. Weren't cable companies only paying like $8 to carry ESPN (still by far the largest compared to other cable channels)
May have it for October and November (college football mostly) but that's steep
May have it for October and November (college football mostly) but that's steep
No that isn’t ESPN+. You need a cable subscription to get games that are on ESPN and the deuce. With this service you will get those games.
Curious what you're missing about it. Sports programming?
That's the ONLY thing I miss about it. Streaming services and cable are getting to be just about the same price.
Sucks the only OTA local sports I get are the Patriots. That's not a very fair deal at all!
The ease of just navigating all the channels and premiums in one spot. The cost of streaming is pretty much where cable was when I cut the cord, so I’m kind of tired of having to switch apps every time I want to watch something else. I know, this problem isn’t solved by going back to cable since everything is fractured now.
I have not taken advantage of it but I think you can do this with Amazon and YouTubeTV. That is, get addons under one service
You definitely can. It’s just that so many things are exclusive to Max, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, etc. There’s no real solution for this, I realize. It’s just that what was originally worth the effort for the cost savings is now more of a hassle for basically the same money.
I think you can still save money. You have to be willing to subscribe/unsubscribe as needed. Amazon will make this easier I think.
I don’t have Hulu but will sign up again for a few months at some point.
i do share my YTTV subscription with two others so it’s only $28/month for that. I get prime and Apple TV. The latter as part of a bundle. Currently watching HBO for a few months before I cancel and get something else.
Amazon Channels are the best, in my opinion. I get Paramount Plus, Britbox, PBS, and Starz/MGM through Amazon Channels and everything is in one spot, same settings too, so closed captions are consistent and navigating is the same.
It would be nice if all the Apps actually kept things uniform. Like, if you want to see how much time is left in something, you push down on Amazon and Netflix but you have to push up on Hulu and Apple. And the way Amazon does closed captioning fucking BLOWS every other app out of the water. Going forward and back 10 seconds is also easier.
Anyway, the cost of all this shit is certainly higher than it was 10 years ago for me because I have the streaming services, cable, and YouTubeTV. But, obviously, there is so much more content available today and everything is easier to navigate, in my opinion.
Many deals going on right now for streamers for Black Friday:
Hulu 99c/month for 12 months (time for AX to watch The Bear)
Starz 99c/month for 6 months as an add-on to Hulu
Paramount+ $1.99 per month/3 months
American Express Offers (possible depending on card and user)
$11 off $11+ for Paramount+ for 3 months
$5.99 off $5.99+ for Peacock for 3 months
Also saw one with ESPN+ somewhere with some credit card but can't find it.
Hulu 99c/month for 12 months (time for AX to watch The Bear)
Starz 99c/month for 6 months as an add-on to Hulu
Paramount+ $1.99 per month/3 months
American Express Offers (possible depending on card and user)
$11 off $11+ for Paramount+ for 3 months
$5.99 off $5.99+ for Peacock for 3 months
Also saw one with ESPN+ somewhere with some credit card but can't find it.
Came here to look for this.
There is a Hulu and Disney+ combo for $2.99 per month for 12 months
Gone are the days of free trials on Black Friday!
Most (all?) of these are the ad-based versions, yes?
Maybe I'm just old and set in my ways, but I'm not willing to pay for these ad-based versions. I'll spend the $10 a month more to not have the flow broken up (and in the case of the Hulu ad-based, broken up early and often)
So....I'm missing the Bruins and want to do something about it.
I have been with YTTV for the last 3-4 years and generally love it, with the exception of missing NESN. I've thought about FUBO but for various reasons am not very excited about them.
If I have it right then my other option would be NESN 360. I'm not excited about the price ($30) but wonder if I could split it with someone. How many simultaneous streams do they allow? OK for different households to stream at same time? How is the user experience?
I have been with YTTV for the last 3-4 years and generally love it, with the exception of missing NESN. I've thought about FUBO but for various reasons am not very excited about them.
If I have it right then my other option would be NESN 360. I'm not excited about the price ($30) but wonder if I could split it with someone. How many simultaneous streams do they allow? OK for different households to stream at same time? How is the user experience?
Slightly cheaper (edit: much cheaper?) option would be the Disney Plus bundle with Hulu and ESPN+. It costs $15 per month. So, you’d only need to subscribe for half the year, $90 total or so. Nearly every game is on there. The only catch is you need to run it through a VPN if you are in market. I’ve been doing this this year and it has worked out well.
Fair point
I usually eat or wash hands or clean up/throw away stuff and other things that don’t take much time but fair point
i just got a NESN360 for a $1 for a month offer for Cyber Monday
I did a similar thing in August but user experience was horrendous
Even worse than Hbomax
I just signed up for the Hulu/Disney+ Black Friday bundle just for new season of Doctor Who. Doubt I will keep it after the season ends, so likely just 3-4 months.
In other news, Paramount+ has an AARP discount. Paramount+’s Monthly Discount for AARP Members Explained – TVLine
They certainly know who their target demo is
In other news, Paramount+ has an AARP discount. Paramount+’s Monthly Discount for AARP Members Explained – TVLine
They certainly know who their target demo is
Thansk
They’re in northern New England but not southern New England yet. Also in CA, MN and a couple other states
Paramount in discussions with Apple to possibly bundle streaming services. Not sure if smoke or fire
Fire.
Someone is going to buy Paramount. One thing Paramount knows how to do is monetize TV. The problem is that TV hasn't been monetized in half a decade. But now that ads are coming back hard and fast, Paramount is a valuable asset just on its own, but their know how is invaluable.
Apple could buy Paramount for pocket change.
I know there are a lot of complaints about each of these streamers, especially when we are watching live sports, but having gone through the UI of many of these, they now all look and navigate similarly, with similar drawbacks.
I also don't understand how Disney+ can survive as a standalone - their content library is not that deep. Kids could probably go through the content easily.
My only question about a potential Paramount+ sale is what happens to the streaming rights. Let's say Paramount and Peacock merge. Will it be CBS Sports productions for extra college football, and NBC Sports production for PL, etc? They end up with another streaming conglomerate as opposed to Amazon Prime distributing and producing their own live sports?
If in the past decade they all agreed to make Hulu work as a combined streamer for everyone, all these billions would not have been wasted.
anyhow, rant over
I also don't understand how Disney+ can survive as a standalone - their content library is not that deep. Kids could probably go through the content easily.
My only question about a potential Paramount+ sale is what happens to the streaming rights. Let's say Paramount and Peacock merge. Will it be CBS Sports productions for extra college football, and NBC Sports production for PL, etc? They end up with another streaming conglomerate as opposed to Amazon Prime distributing and producing their own live sports?
If in the past decade they all agreed to make Hulu work as a combined streamer for everyone, all these billions would not have been wasted.
anyhow, rant over
Does anyone have experience with the Superbox S4 Pro that @Deathofthebambino has talked about recently? It seems too good to be true.
I don’t but I suggest reading posts on Reddit like this one.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/s/Ju6ZyOE4o3
I think much of its content is pirated.
Sorry to jump in here but I’m in the Boston area. If I were to switch to YouTube TV and drop my FiOS cable package, what would I have to supplement with to watch Boston sports?
Thanks. Is that all covered by NESN 360?
Also,is NBC Sports Boston (and the Celtics) part of the YTV package?
ESPN is part of Disney/ Hulu. It is cheaper than NESN. So I would go that route through March then switch to NESN if you want the Sox. $15 a month for Disney bundle vs $30 for NESN. Only drawback is the VPN aspect.
NBC Sports Boston is part of standard YTTV package.
NBC Sports Boston is part of standard YTTV package.
Yes you can share with other households and I know you can do at least 3 simultaneous streams.
It's definitely too good to be true. But at $250, it's saving me double that each month between cable/apps/boxes, etc. If I get 6-12 months out of it, sweet, but they've been releasing these boxes for like a decade as far as I can tell.
I won't get into the morality of it. I've given 10's of thousands to the cable companies over the years, I'm fine with saving a few bucks for once.
And now I have a question. As we get ready to cut the cord, and move into full Super Box mode, my wife has started talking to Comcast, because we obviously need to keep the internet.
These motherfuckers want to charge us $135/month just for fucking internet. Is there another option that exists to get internet (and I don't want to really take any chances on something that doesn't have a great signal, otherwise my Superfuckingboxes won't work).
These motherfuckers want to charge us $135/month just for fucking internet. Is there another option that exists to get internet (and I don't want to really take any chances on something that doesn't have a great signal, otherwise my Superfuckingboxes won't work).
You can get Verizon Fios Home Internet in your neck of the woods I’m pretty sure. I think 1gig is 90+tax and you can get slower and cheaper id you want
I think Fios is available in my neighborhood, not sure, but Comcast doesn't need to know that. Maybe if I just threaten them with going to Fios, they'll offer something. I have no idea if 1gig is good or not, but I definitely won't nickel and dime over that, I need as high a speed internet as I can get.
I am getting rid of a subpar 400 mbs internet from Comcast, bundled with tv I barely watch and a house phone line that has never been connected.
I had been paying an absurd $200 monthly and will be moving to 1 gig internet with Verizon for $65 monthly.
I think I’m also getting $400 in gift cards or something?
I had been paying an absurd $200 monthly and will be moving to 1 gig internet with Verizon for $65 monthly.
I think I’m also getting $400 in gift cards or something?
We've had Astound/RCN 600mb for a few months now, they include modem, EERO base plus one remote station, and landline for about $55. No issues so far
I'm pretty sure they know
- there are decently well defined maps of which blocks have which service(s), at least where I am.In any case, 1 gig (=1000megabit/second) is about the max you'd get curbside without doing something rather exotic.
You might find that either Fios or Comcast offers a better deal by getting a landline with them, believe it or not, so you should ask. Comcast called it a "double play" deal for a long time ("triple play" was phone + internet + cable).
Business internet (from comcast) is generally higher reliability than consumer, in terms of outages and prioritization of fixes, plus they have "better" customer support (Comcast customer service is a bit of a joke so "better" might not mean much). You will pay more for that, but also the pricing is not reliant on bundles.
With basically all internet services the number you are buying is roughly the "guaranteed" or "provisioned" bandwidth, you will often get higher than that off peak.
And honestly, you probably don't actually need more than 500meg, possibly less, if you are forced to make a choice between service quality and speed. For reference, a single 4k stream needs 25-50 megabit/second and an HD stream is 5-10 megabit. Streaming music is way way less (0.5 megabit), video games somewhere in the middle between HD and 4k depending on the game, but they care more about latency than bandwidth, usually. If you are a 4-person household, using over ~400megabit/second is pretty challenging.
Notwithstanding all that, most of the bandwidth bottlenecks are going to be the Wifi/router setup inside your house, unless you have everything prewired for Ethernet, and then secondarily at the provider end (the superbox servers). The obsession with "gig speed" from the ISPs is a huge marketing success.
Last edited:
I'm pretty sure they know
In any case, 1 gig (=1000megabit/second) is about the max you'd get curbside without doing something rather exotic.
You might find that either Fios or Comcast offers a better deal by getting a landline with them, believe it or not, so you should ask. Comcast called it a double play deal for a long time.
Business internet (from comcast) is generally higher reliability than consumer, in terms of outages and prioritization of fixes, plus they have "better" customer support. You will pay more for it though.
Honestly, you probably don't actually need more than 500meg, possibly less, if you are forced to make a choice between service quality and speed. A 4k stream needs 25-50 megabit/second and an HD stream is 5-10 megabit. Music is way way less (0.5 megabit), video games somewhere in the middle, but they care more about latency than bandwidth, usually.
Thanks bud. My wife looked into it, and apparently, we have what they call "Gig+." Even with that, we need boosters (no idea what they're called, but they plug into wall outlets like little modem looking things, my IT guy set them up) in various rooms in the house for it to run fast enough to avoid disruptions, as there is a lot of distance in our house between the modem and the televisions, internet areas, cell phones depending on where you are.
I was able to get Comcast to come down to $95/month for it, which doesn't seem terrible. I'm not worried about saving $20-$30/month in reality, as long as its headache free, which it is at the moment. We did ask about keeping the phone line (which we've had for years, but we don't even have a phone, just because it was cheaper to have all 3 than just cable/internet). They said there was no savings from the $95 for internet by adding a phone line.
I've got a Comcast business account for my firm, and I've learned over the years that when I call Comcast for service at home, and I have to answer the prompt "Are you calling about your home or business?", I always say business, which gets me almost immediately to a live person, and then I just say oops, this time it's about my home, and they help me quickly anyway.
OK, I had to look that up, apparently gig+ is 1.2 gig - so there are >1gig options now (yay, marketing).
My main point(s) still hold - you don't really need much over 400, and the speed bottlenecks are mostly going to be in your house. The boosters (?) you have are either wifi extenders (yuck) or mesh extenders (better), depending on what the base router is.
If you were willing to do (or have done) a little drywall cutting, wire fishing and patching, I'd guess that you could get massively better internet speeds throughout your house. I'm always surprised that there aren't more AV/internet contractors that do that kind of work, it's such a common problem. Perhaps it's not profitable.
My main point(s) still hold - you don't really need much over 400, and the speed bottlenecks are mostly going to be in your house. The boosters (?) you have are either wifi extenders (yuck) or mesh extenders (better), depending on what the base router is.
If you were willing to do (or have done) a little drywall cutting, wire fishing and patching, I'd guess that you could get massively better internet speeds throughout your house. I'm always surprised that there aren't more AV/internet contractors that do that kind of work, it's such a common problem. Perhaps it's not profitable.
Honestly, if you only need Internet. FiOS is such a better quality product than Comcast. If it's available on your street, I'd sign up and never look back.Thanks bud. My wife looked into it, and apparently, we have what they call "Gig+." Even with that, we need boosters (no idea what they're called, but they plug into wall outlets like little modem looking things, my IT guy set them up) in various rooms in the house for it to run fast enough to avoid disruptions, as there is a lot of distance in our house between the modem and the televisions, internet areas, cell phones depending on where you are.
I was able to get Comcast to come down to $95/month for it, which doesn't seem terrible. I'm not worried about saving $20-$30/month in reality, as long as its headache free, which it is at the moment. We did ask about keeping the phone line (which we've had for years, but we don't even have a phone, just because it was cheaper to have all 3 than just cable/internet). They said there was no savings from the $95 for internet by adding a phone line.
I've got a Comcast business account for my firm, and I've learned over the years that when I call Comcast for service at home, and I have to answer the prompt "Are you calling about your home or business?", I always say business, which gets me almost immediately to a live person, and then I just say oops, this time it's about my home, and they help me quickly anyway.