We've been talking for awhile about ditching cable. Our current "bundle promo deal" ends next month, so today we cancelled our cable and landline because we just can't justify the expense when we only watch a handful of channels (many of which have programming that can be viewed by other, cheaper (and legal) means. So, for those of you who have cut the cord, what do you use to watch media? The biggest hang up for us is finding a package that will let me still watch college football.
I have Hulu and Amazon Prime. I had Dish for many years, but they kept raising the fee, and raising the fee and for as little as I watch TV $100 a month was ridiculous. I pay around $100 a year each for the 2 services I have now. Hell, even if I added Netflix for a grand total of $300 per year, it would still be cheaper that cable or Dish.
I have Netflix, CBSAA, and HBO Now............grand total of $30 per month......and I can always pick stuff on iTunes if I HAVE to see it ASAP.
I'd say Netflix is probably #1. I'll do Hulu about every other month. HBO Now every once in awhile. And I still have a Netflix DVD plan. Yes, they still offer those. No, really, they do. It's not quite as fast and efficient as it was back in the day, but I think it's still worth the money. I like it to fill in the gaps that Netflix streaming doesn't offer due to streaming rights, and it's cheaper than subscribing to every service under the sun. Plus, it makes me feel like an old school bad ass having those DVDs. (You can get Blu-Ray too.)
The only streaming services with sports packages are Sling TV and PlayStation Vue; however, only Vue has the Big Ten Network. Here's a list of devices which support Vue. The service just had a price hike; the cheapest package which would include sports is $44.99 / month. With regard to the big three (Prime, Hulu, Netflix): -- Netflix has taken steps forward and backwards as of late. When Netflix began producing original content of its own, it became a direct competitor to the studios it was licensing content from, and as a result its streaming library has gradually, but significantly, reduced in size: A few years ago, there were more than 13,000 titles available to stream, whereas now there are just under 4,000. That being said, Netflix's original content is more hit than miss. -- Amazon Prime has the best image quality, by far, if you have a 4K-capable television set. Its inventory generally matches pretty closely to Netflix's, with maybe a slightly larger emphasis on television shows. Its UI was forged in the hottest fires of Hell. -- Hulu costs $10 / month with commercials, another $5 on top of that without commercials. But it does tend to get some nice exclusives, and it's a great way to catch up on network television shows if you don't have a DVR. They're also adding in some nice legacy content like Food Network stuff.
DirecTV has most of the sports channels anybody watches for around $50. I really like Hulu Plus too. It had better live streams for me.
We use Sling and Netflix. We just don't watch enough current tv shows to pay cable's exorbitant prices. We use an antenna for local stations (so old school). Cable kept getting pricier every year so buh-bye.
Of course a lot of this isn't available in Canada, or if it is, it's a much-watered down version or not available in all regions, or it's insanely expensive. Our Netflix just went up. Again.
At the moment, I have subscriptions to: Amazon Prime Video - It comes with the Amazon Prime subscription, although its UI is terrible. CBS All Access - Star Trek, duh. Comic-Con HQ - Because I'm a comic book geek, and it has some hard to find geeky television shows. WWE Network - Because I like watching big, sweaty men bearhug each other. YouTube Red - Because YouTube is near ubiquitous, and I hate commercials. YouTube TV - Because I sometimes like to watch regular television channels and I already subscribe to YouTube Red.
Hulu (commercial free), Netflix, Amazon Prime. Those three cost me roughly $30 a month, but I also get free shipping with Amazon. I will be adding CBS All-Access in the Fall. Of the three I have now, Netflix is actually the one that gets the least amount of use.
Currently, we have Hulu (commercial free), Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Call us crazy. I'm also watching the Packer preseason game (Hush, Timby) on a cheap OTAHD antenna. The picture quality on our mid-range 4K TV is better than what Charter gives over cable. What we're probably going to do is upgrade our Hulu to the Live package to round out the channels we actually watch. That would cover the sports channels that I'm looking for too. We have until 9/15 to make our decision, as that's the day that Charter goes away. What's really sold me is the OTAHD antenna being better picture quality on a 4K TV than an HD cable transmission.
Never said it did. Was just replying to this general question: Although I admit I'm curious as to whether there's an equivalent of MLB.TV for other sports, like football or basketball or hockey.
The NHL has an equivalent to MLB.tv. It's all out-of-market games or you can pick an out-of-market team to follow. ESPN and the Big Ten networks have streaming options, but you need a TV package to use them. Big Ten has a separate service called BTNPlus that allows you to watch a bazillion games that AREN'T televised. Wisconsin's volleyball quad this weekend is being streamed on BTNPlus, and a lot of B1G7Ten hockey games are streamed on BTNPlus. It's 20 a month for everything, or 12 a month for one school.
Cable companies compress the hell out of the signals they retransmit. And, it seems like it is getting worse every day.