Cable companies - Cutting the cord

X.Man

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There's been a lot of talk lately in circles about cutting the ties between cable companies and service providers.

Essentially keeping an Internet provider but cutting cable services. Leading Into subscription-based services that includes many different variations such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Sling etc..

Question for those who have done it: What services did you go with and how's that working out for you? Any recommendations?


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Very interested in this, I think my biggest question is about keeping the live sports.
 
There's been a lot of talk lately in circles about cutting the ties between cable companies and service providers.

Essentially keeping an Internet provider but cutting cable services. Leading Into subscription-based services that includes many different variations such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Sling etc..

Question for those who have done it: What services did you go with and how's that working out for you? Any recommendations?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great thread and I was just having this discussion with someone in my office this week. I have been in full on ponder mode about this. Seems like live sports as mentioned has probably been my biggest obstacle. Also I have not priced out subscription services to all of the channels i.e. HBO, Netflix, Showtime, HULU to know what the total amount of that would be after cutting the cord. I will say we really enjoy NFL Sunday ticket with Directv but I have seen that is being offered on Playstation or an app of some sort now so that might make it easier to digest.
 
Very interested in this, I think my biggest question is about keeping the live sports.
Live sports is the only reason I still have cable. We all watch movies and shows online.
 
I'm a cord cutter and live off of DTNow, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. Once DTNow gets the local TV angle figured out this will be a good solution.
 
I am ready to do it myself, I can live without live tv as I pretty much only watch thing on DVR anyways. If I really want to watch live sports I suppose I could go get an antenna. What I'm paying per month makes me sick to my stomach.

I have been told by multiple people to get an amazon firestick, jailbreak it and enjoy.
 
I have absolutely no interest in cutting the cord. The hassle in dealing with multiple apps, jailbreaking Amazon Fire sticks or any other hoops one has to jump through to get the content wanted is not worth the savings. We have a triple play package through Charter, Tivo throughout the house and have never had any issues with any of it. I don't know if we are just getting an unbelievable rate for all three services, but when I looked at dropping cable and going to the app route, my savings just were not significant enough to do it.
 
I have absolutely no interest in cutting the cord. The hassle in dealing with multiple apps, jailbreaking Amazon Fire sticks or any other hoops one has to jump through to get the content wanted is not worth the savings. We have a triple play package through Charter, Tivo throughout the house and have never had any issues with any of it. I don't know if we are just getting an unbelievable rate for all three services, but when I looked at dropping cable and going to the app route, my savings just were not significant enough to do it.

We are in the exact same spot. We have DIRECTV and by the time we looked into all of the different apps, multiple TVs and dealing with poor UI, the savings equaled about 26 a month. If that. While I'm not knocking the savings, I can pinch in other spots and not lose what I feel like is a lot.
 
I bought an apple Tv and have subscription to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. I signed up for Direct TV now and all of the channels we watch now and pay $130 a month for, I am not paying $35. Downside is local channels, NFLN & DVR options, but with systems like TabloTV getting local channels is a non issue.

I'm at the point where live sports don't dominate my life like they used to and cutting the cord has gotten me off the couch and out more. I'm saving roughly $120 a month after taxes and fees.
 
We are in the exact same spot. We have DIRECTV and by the time we looked into all of the different apps, multiple TVs and dealing with poor UI, the savings equaled about 26 a month. If that. While I'm not knocking the savings, I can pinch in other spots and not lose what I feel like is a lot.

We were at about $15/month savings. Since we own the Tivo Equipment, we don't pay any additional fee for DVRs, Tuners, Etc through the cable company so our bill is pretty low to begin with. When I realized we paid nearly $50/month in equipment fees, I bought a Tivo setup and haven't looked back - it paid for itself in a year and we are now on 3+ years with that setup. That is were our big savings came from.
 
I don't have a tv, got rid my old tv because cable was too expensive. I only have internet and watch what I need online.

THP Represent!
 
We just converted, we did the DirecTV Now with the apple TV promo, but honestly after the promo I could see us going away from it and maybe adding sling or see what Hulu does with Live TV.

We also need to add an OTA antenna for the locals.

But what we do love using is a combination of Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and CBS, many of the shows we watch are CBS specific so for now to get the most recent that was a must, and we're finding Hulu to be the best of the bunch for others, and with Amazon and Netflix it's nice to get their unique/specific content.
 
Live sports is no longer a reason to not cut the cord.

During football season, I added sling, and an HD antenna, and literally never missed a game. Sling has an espn package that allows you to log in to espn3, or watchespn app.

Worked great, comes with a free roku, etc.
 
Not to side-track this thread, but anyone else here hear of or use Kodi?? I have it on my phone and tablet at home and love it. Some may object to the legality of the app and program, but you can make that decision on your own.... If you are not familiar with this app and program, do a quick check on the interweb and Youtube to see what it is all about. I'll just say it works, and works GREAT!!!

I've heard it's harder to use with Apple products, but on my Android stuff....game changer....
 
Just went to DTVNow this week and have loved it so far. Doing a three month trial of it while keeping cable and making the decision at that point. Leaning toward the greater than 100 bucks a month savings
 
Live sports is no longer a reason to not cut the cord.

During football season, I added sling, and an HD antenna, and literally never missed a game. Sling has an espn package that allows you to log in to espn3, or watchespn app.

Worked great, comes with a free roku, etc.

Well, that really depends.
Your options are without a doubt more limited when cutting the cord.
 
I cut the cord a couple of weeks ago, and I'm getting along alright without it, but I have a few issues. I'm signed up for DirectNow, Netflix and Amazon prime.

  • DirectvNow only has NBC for local channels here, and only if I watch it on the computer, it's not an option on the AppleTV for whatever reason. So if I want to watch NBC on my tv I need to either hookup the laptop via HDMI or stream via Chromecast.
  • I bought an HD antenna for local channels, but only get CBS and ABC, which leaves me with no Fox anywhere for football
  • I have the Apple TV that came with DirectTVNow, which I can use for that and Netflix, but AppleTV doesn't support Amazon Prime, so I also have a Roku for that
  • I do get the golf channel, but miss NFL RedZone.
 
I cut the cord a couple of weeks ago, and I'm getting along alright without it, but I have a few issues. I'm signed up for DirectNow, Netflix and Amazon prime.

  • DirectvNow only has NBC for local channels here, and only if I watch it on the computer, it's not an option on the AppleTV for whatever reason. So if I want to watch NBC on my tv I need to either hookup the laptop via HDMI or stream via Chromecast.
  • I bought an HD antenna for local channels, but only get CBS and ABC, which leaves me with no Fox anywhere for football
  • I have the Apple TV that came with DirectTVNow, which I can use for that and Netflix, but AppleTV doesn't support Amazon Prime, so I also have a Roku for that
  • I do get the golf channel, but miss NFL RedZone.

DirecTV now app is available on Apple TV fyi. That's how i'm watching it in our main living area.
 
Not to side-track this thread, but anyone else here hear of or use Kodi?? I have it on my phone and tablet at home and love it. Some may object to the legality of the app and program, but you can make that decision on your own.... If you are not familiar with this app and program, do a quick check on the interweb and Youtube to see what it is all about. I'll just say it works, and works GREAT!!!

I've heard it's harder to use with Apple products, but on my Android stuff....game changer....

Yep. There are a bunch of people i know that are running it on a jailbroken Amazon stick. Personally, I think it toes the line of legality and as it continues to catch on, it's legality will be challenged by the networks and providers.
 
DirecTV now app is available on Apple TV fyi. That's how i'm watching it in our main living area.

No, I know, that's how I generally use it, on the AppleTv. But NBC isn't available on the AppleTV App.
 
No, I know, that's how I generally use it, on the AppleTv. But NBC isn't available on the AppleTV App.

oh ok, just making sure you weren't accidentally missing something.

i only get local ABC and FOX, but with the OTA antenna i get all the locals so it's a non issue.
 
We've switched from DirecTV to Vue and are still getting used to it, but think it will work out just fine. We're in a market (DFW) that Vue carries all the locals, live, except ABC, which I pull from an OTA antenna. Vue has the ESPNs, FS1, FS2, and our regional Fox channel, so I've not missed any live sports I was wanting to watch.

We've had a Prime and Netflix sub independent from our tv plans, so that's not a new cost. We're toying with Hulu to see if there's anything we're missing otherwise. Even if we do add Hulu, I'm looking at a $50/month savings.
 
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