I have used DirectTV for the 17 years I have lived in this house (plus the 5 years in my former city).
The short story is that because my equipment is not HD, they no longer support my local channels. (I called 2 weeks ago and was told that it would not be a problem... .but that didnt stop them from turning it off!) I have scheduled a service call to install the new equipment but it is 2 1/2 weeks away! BASTARDS!!
SO... I am shopping for a new provider.
I am considering AT&T TV (some new internet based TV service I understand), but their internet speed is slow.
I have Grande Internet now, but it has doubled in price over the years. I can bundle the internet and TV for about 200 after tax.
Spectrum is also about $200 a month, but seems to have similar channel line ups.
Any good or bad stories with any of these?
Any recommendations of others I should consider?
Thanks for the help!
This will very much depend on what your options are for internet connectivity in your area, and what your TV watching habits are. I would consider the two separately.
I live in an area where the best internet is provided by Comcast, the Cable TV company. So we have a Comcast internet account and then get our TV through YouTube TV. Before we bought our new smart TV, we had a Roku box that helped with the streaming. When we first signed up for YouTube TV it was quite cheap ($30/month?) for a slew of channels including all the ESPNs (critical for us), and all the local channels. The price has since gone up to the point ($70/month)where we are now investigating switching to the Hulu/Disney+ bundle.
The trend in TV channels is that soon everything will be a la carte, you pay for only those channels you want. So you really need to closely evaluate what channels you need to have and which you are willing to let go. We are big sports fans, so ESPN is a need, not a want at our house. Yours may be different.
If you have internet, do you really need TV? I'd think it would be cheaper to get Netflix plus whatever specific channel you need. Or even prime video and one or more of their channels, if $200/month is your benchmark.
As an aside: I hate that streaming has now basically re-introduced cable. Nowhere is that more obvious than with prime video.
For local TV, we bought a digital antenna that sits on a table (like new-fangled rabbit ears). It only gets us 6 channels, but that's enough for local news, etc. Then we have internet.
We have (so far) been relatively happy with the combo of high speed internet + hulu live + netflix + Amazon prime. For us, internet + hulu live is cheaper than cable, and we would have prime and netflix regardless.
That said, I'm getting increasingly annoyed by the ongoing fragmentation of the streaming world, with every channel apparently wanting their own streaming service.
Id like to be able to record my local news.
I have not looked into the options that have been posted above.
My TV watching is not too extreme. I prefer to record my local news (one at 500), then the national news (both ABC and NBC) from 530 to 6, and then the other local news at 6. At night I record Nightline to watch the next day.
Otherwise, I will record and watch later some network shows, Chopped (Food chanel), Deadliest Catch or Gold Rush (depending on the time of the year) on Discovery, Comedy Central and Sometimes the Syfi network. I often watch Turner Classic Movies and AMC.
What service would be best for these IF Im not able to decide on a cable (or internet ) provider?
For those that are old like me, Have you had particularly good or bad experiences with AT&T TV, Spectrum, or Grande? (I didnt remember Comcast, I will ahve to see if they are in my neighborhood).
(I have an HD antenna, but that wont let me record to watch the shows, especially news, later... and yesterday's news isnt 'new' anymore)
We bundled everything (phone, cable, internet) with Comcast and it's been great. The On Demand features of cable let us also search the streaming services as one interface and click on the show/movie without worrying what channel/service is the home.
Are there any streaming provider(s) that would provide one, on one's computer, more or less everything one could get in one's cable package, namely local tv news, network and cable channels, including things like CSPAN, local sports networks, etc.? And if so, how much $ would one expect to have to pay for such?
This may not be applicable to your situation, but the apartment building I'm in was able to negotiate a bulk rate with Spectrum which includes Internet and standard cable plus two premium channels. The monthly charge (around $60) was less than what I was paying Spectrum as an individual for Internet only.
You correctly surmise that I do not live in a place capable of having such a group rate, but I would still be interested to know whether this bundling deal gave you cable access on your TV, or on your computer?
Quote from: kaysixteen on August 26, 2020, 07:49:04 PM
You correctly surmise that I do not live in a place capable of having such a group rate, but I would still be interested to know whether this bundling deal gave you cable access on your TV, or on your computer?
I use it on the TV. I believe there is a way to watch on the computer, but I have not set this up.
K16, Youtube TV give us all the locals, PBS, and 85 other channels. You can watch it on any connected device- phone, tablet, desktop, connected TV. $64.99/month is the current intro price offered.
Hulu likely does much the same.
But they don't provide the internet connection- that would be a separate connection.
I bet you can stream your cable TV package on your computer now as well.
I'm paying $80 a month for Spectrum Internet 200mbps and $15 a month for Spectrum TV Choice. Spectrum TV Choice gives me local channels plus ten channels selected from about fifty that were available. I had to sign a 24 month contract to get TV Choice, but Spectrum is only Internet option at my apartment complex, so I was willing to commit.
I also subscribe to Amazon Prime. Last year, my 3-person household spent $73 buying Amazon video in addition to what Prime offered. If Partner didn't rely on his daily dose of local news to get him on exercise bike, we might not turn the TV on more than once a week.
Anyone actually know why no American cable operators ever decided to offer a la carte pricing? Comcast sent me a full list of their various available packages in my city last month, and, well, uggghhhh. Too much money for many crappy channels I never watch, but most of the cheap packages do not actually provide access to the handful I regularly do watch. I have to do some research, right quick, to see whether a wholesale switch to just buying some streaming services available over my computer, but would also give me access to stuff I do want (and I cannot dislodge my cable box from my tv, and still be able to hook an antenna up for local channels, since it is a 20+ yo large-tubed analog model I bought in '08 for 15 bucks from the Salvation Army). So several questions seem cogent:
1) do any of these streaming services offer a la carte channel options
2) would Comcast likely offer me something better streamed on my computer, perhaps throwing in the actual cost of internet access from them (which I am paying for separately now)?
3) Would anyone care to offer more specs about what they do, what they get, various package options, etc., and prices therefor?
OP here.... Please keep this coming!
I will say that I was annoyed at Direct TV again today, so I called to rattle their cage tonight. I let them know that I spent yesterday shopping for other providers as the person on the phone assured me I would not need a contract when they replace the boxes that they no longer support, BUT the email that they sent indicated that I would have to sign a 2 year Lease Agreement (and the word contract was used in the next sentence!!) I asked what I should do with these boxes WHEN I get another provider as THEY have fired me as a customer.
The loss prevention person cut my rate from closer to $180 a month to $105 and then threw in the NFL Sunday Ticket package (IF they play football this season, AND I choose to watch it, it will be there, I suppose!).
I have a call from another provider tomorrow, and another call back on Saturday, but because of the internet issues and because Im teaching online and hybrid classes for at least the next six weeks, I think that I may keep what I have, (NOT signing ANYTHING should the rep bother to hand me a clipboard).
When the 105 rate goes back up (in a year) I will likely change both my internet and cable company. (Hopefully I will have a better idea of what is available and what will work. )
QuoteAnyone actually know why no American cable operators ever decided to offer a la carte pricing?
Yeah, well, bundling gets those who like Channel A a lot but B only a little, and those who like Channel B a lot but A only a little to pay the same high price for Bundle A + B. If competition were intense enough Channel A would have a low price appealing to those who don't like it so much, and likewise with Channel B.
Competition could get really, really intense if cable providers don't need to own the hardware. I think that's the case. Thus, we should wait and see. Praying for rain won't hurt. :-)
Quote from: kaysixteen on August 27, 2020, 08:46:36 PM
Anyone actually know why no American cable operators ever decided to offer a la carte pricing?
Money and the relationships with the production/distribution companies who insist that their desirable channels also come with the less desirable/too-new-to-have-an-audience offerings.
https://www.techhive.com/article/3296376/why-a-la-carte-tv-still-isnt-happening.html
We switched from Spectrum cable to YouTube streaming earlier this year. YouTube is 65/month. You can probably shop around for cheaper streaming services than YouTube. Streaming is fine as long as your WiFi isn't being heavily stressed. Pulling the plug on cable saves us about 30 dollars/month. I think cable and satellite TV are dying - they are certainly losing customers left and right as they are priced too high compared to streaming.
Thanks for that techhive article with all those links. It is in my to do list for this week, to find alternatives to my current dismal programming options. Indeed, looking for stuff worth watching, at all worth watching, on my 200+ channel Comcast package is usually a depressing experience.
Quote from: kaysixteen on August 29, 2020, 12:32:17 AM
Thanks for that techhive article with all those links. It is in my to do list for this week, to find alternatives to my current dismal programming options. Indeed, looking for stuff worth watching, at all worth watching, on my 200+ channel Comcast package is usually a depressing experience.
We use the On Demand search and use the recommendations from 'People who watched X also watched...' list.
Amazon Prime Video also has suggestions for us based on what we've watched on their service. That algorithm is getting better, but the new problem is we're familiar with all the suggestions. Yep, that's a good movie from 1986 and we've seen it so many times over the decades that we can almost recite it by heart; we want something new to us.