I just hit my anniversary date 2/1/2015 and my cable company raised my rate again. I’ve already got the bundle package (tv / internet / phone) even though I don’t use the phone. Last year when they raised my rate, they sold me the bundle to “keep the savings as a valued member” (right). It did keep me just at $10 more than the prior year, but then I read the fine print Some stuff about promotional prices escalating on a quarterly basis until I hit the three year mark (where I’m at now), and then defaults to the standard internet rate (whatever that is).
Bottom line: I’m fed up. I want to drop the plan to internet only service. But I don’t know which is the better deal. Hulu or Netflix. So far, I’ve narrowed it down to these two options. I’ve found other “free” TV services online, but most of them are virus laden packages. Hulu and Netflix are the only two I’ve found that seem reliable.
So while I might be paying approx. $80/month for internet only, plus maybe $10/month for either service, it’s still less money than I’m paying for the increased triple play plan.
I’m looking for feedback from folks who subscribe to internet only TV. Can I get live sports games? Can I get current TV Shows? I’m watching Gotham and Supernatural and Better Call Saul. I know that some of these shows might be a week back (hulu says 8 days later) but I just don’t want to miss out on my regular watched shows. I don’t care if I’m a week or two back (My DVR is usually packed until I clean it out on weekends), but I’m sure I’d miss sports.
So? Please help. I’m at my wit’s end and I’m tired of these rate hikes from my cable company.
Most everything is posted on Kickass or Isohunt within a few hours of airing.
I been around since the binaries news groups; or the start of torrents so avoiding the bullshit is second nature to me but if you’re new, you may want to take a few steps back and watch what goes on for a few weeks. Torrnet sites are not set in stone, even the heavy hitters go down, like the pirate bay but the ones left standing are better than ever.
I subscribe to Netflix but I really don’t know why, I mean I like to watch something and have it available to watch again whenever I want at a whim. When I download it I can do that, when I watch it on Netflix once, I have to be connected to the internet in order to watch it again or to save it for later.
I mean, it’s THERE… there’s apps for it, but they’re almost always tied to a paywall (i.e. only for people who are already subscribed to cable or satellite).
NBC Sports online has live viewing of NFL Football and other things, as a notable exception. For instance, when the Rio Olympics roll around next year, you can watch snippets of individual events on their website or mobile app. And, you can watch entire replays of the coverage that they aired, a few hours after they’re done airing it. The Olympics are my personal favorite sporting events, and I found it (just barely) tolerable to be without paid coverage.
Most all of the networks have some sort of website or app that you can use to catch up on shows you’ve missed. ABC makes you wait 7 or 10 days if you’re not a cable subscriber. That’s the one I use most often. PBS puts their shows up on their website the day after they air, with no paywall.
Netflix is good for sheer quantity of content. And their original stuff is REALLY not half bad. Seriously, the one show I look forward to more than anything is the next season of Orange is the New Black on Netflix - and they release it in a very binge-friendly full season at a time.
Getting to HBO’s stuff (legally) with no paid coverage is going to be problematic - though I have heard that HBO Go could become a stand-alone subscription one of these days. They have quite a bit of content there, it will probably be a worthwhile subscription for many cord-cutters. Sports is going to be more difficult, and you might be shut out on some events, but it’s not completely unavailable.
Get a regular TV antenna and you’ll get several networks and some other stations. There are sites on the web where you can put in your address and it will tell you the stations you can receive with just an antenna. There are also dvr systems (like Tivo and others) which will take antenna input, so you can record and then watch whenever you want.
Netflix isn’t for watching the current TV seasons. It’s great for watching past seasons, but they’re not going to have the most recent episodes.
Hulu seems like the only legitimate way to watch cable-like TV. For shows which they don’t carry, often the show-specific website will have them.
One thing I dislike about internet TV is that the shows are often filled with unskippable, repetitive ads. It’s not unusual to see the same ad multiple times during the same show.
Sports on cable networks aren’t reliably available anywhere else. You’ll have to stick to sports on the network stations.
Mr. McQ & I cut the cable a few years back, bought a game console and subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It’s still cheaper than cable. Hulu carries Gotham. Amazon and Netflix carry Supernatural, but not sure if those are the current season, since it’s not one of my shows. Netflix says they will be running ‘Better Call Saul’ once it’s tv run is over, if you can wait, or you can buy a season pass on Amazon like we did. Still cheaper than cable.
I cut the cord 2 years ago. I would recommend a roku 3 as your streaming player. Although you’ll need one foreach tv in the house. It has lots of extra “channels” you can download (for example Netflix is a channel as are Hulu, amazon, etc.). Netflix offers older shows, but they have all seasons so you can start at episode 1. I like Netflix the best. Lots of good documentaries. Better call saul is supposed to be available immediately after the last episode of season 1, so I’ve read.
Hulu has mostly the main network tv shows. It’s annoying that they don’t have big bang theory though. I don’t much care for the shows on Hulu but my daughter does.
Sports fans don’t have many options through streaming only yet.
Amazon prime is another good one. Plus you get free second day air delivery on your purchases from amazon.
I also watch YouTube on the roku. There are a lot of full length documentaries on YouTube. I’m currently reading the rise and fall of the third reich and was able to watch fully subtitled speeches from Hitler that i was reading about on the tv from YouTube.
I’ve had both and prefer Hulu’s offerings over Netflix. Hulu has more of what I like to watch. Try both free trials and see which you gravitate toward more often. Also, don’t forget Amazon Prime. I’m not as familiar with their streaming offerings–although I have Prime, I’ve only watched Daria and a couple movies so far.
I’m 30 and haven’t ever paid for cable. My parents paid for it when I was kid. Then, there was basic cable included in my college dorm. That was the last time I had access to it. When I moved into an apartment off-campus (10 years ago), I couldn’t afford cable. It was only a couple of months before “watching TV” was no longer on my leisure radar. I’ve done some downloading over the years, but really I just don’t feel the need to watch TV often at all. If anything, I’d rather buy a season of DVDs for a show I really like. But it’s plenty of fun to play games online or read a book or post on forums or watch a DVD, etc.
I will probably get HBO Go when it goes standalone, though. Mostly for Game of Thrones, but also John Oliver (if it’s included, please say it’s included!).
I’ve been thinking of buying that next season. Do you find a lot of games blacked out or do you get to watch what you want? And, is there anything going on in the off season? I used to make fun of people that watched “classic” football games tha were played years ago, but I get to missing hockey in the off season and I’d watch the Kings/Blackhawks playoff series from last year any time.
Supernatural is on Netflix, but might be a season behind. Better call Saul and Gotham are new this season, so Netflix won’t have the rights as of yet. Can’t speak to hulu. Sports, unless its over the air, your looking at using xbmc on your computer, and your going to have to research whats on. Its probably the one crown jewel that the cable industries will never give up.
Your better off, in my opinion to cut the cord when your sports seasons go into hiatus and then re-sign as a new customer after the required minimum time, otherwise for you , Tv is going to be a wasteland.
If you want sports, you might like the Sling TV service from Dish Network. For twenty bucks a month, you get a package of channels including ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ABC Family, CNN, etc. They have add-on packages to get more channels.
It is possible to cut the cord, but you may need to pay for various streaming services depending on what you want.
Sometimes those sites that list what channels you can get are a little optimistic. If possible, try to borrow a digital antenna from somebody to see what channels you can really get.
For example, pretty much every site says that I should be able to get all of the major networks from the San Francisco antenna, even though I live about 50 miles away. Apparently, it forgot to take into account that there are hills in the way, as I can’t get any of them.
I find that Netflix’s strength is TV shows and original programming, while Hulu’s strength is British TV (though Netflix is pretty good, too).
Neither are good for movies alone. While they both have them, you will always miss out if you pick one or the other (and Amazon Prime and iTunes and soon CBS and HBO). Streaming TV is fragmented and the rights are sold to the highest bidder. If that’s not what you’re using, you’re out of luck.
There are no such things as “digital” antennas. The antenna doesn’t care what kind of signal it gets. Other factors such as the sensitivity of the TV’s tuner, the height of your antenna, and the terrain between the antenna and transmitter have more of an influence on your reception. Any antenna is capable of receiving digital and HD transmissions if all other factors are taken into account. The higher you can put the antenna, the better. Either on top of your roof or even in the attic if you have one. But even a set of rabbit ears on top of the TV can work if you’re in an urban area without hills or large buildings between you and the transmitters. I live in the foothills of Tucson and pick up 16 channels with a set of rabbit ears. All channels come in clear and steady, including one that is about 45 miles away from me.
We’ve looked into the idea of ditching cable and going with a combination of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and various sports’ ‘Season Pass’ offerings. There is one factor for us which makes the non-cable alternative a no-go, and that’s sports. We live in Sacramento, which is within the ‘local broadcast area’ for all of the San Francisco Bay Area teams, meaning that pretty much every game we would care about watching (Giants and Sharks, mainly) would be blacked out. The *only *way we can watch those games live is via cable…so we stick with cable.
I was poking around on my Roku this weekend and saw they had a free preview of some sort of NBA all pass channel or something. The description seemed to indicate you could subscribe and watch whatever NBA games you wanted. So there may be more sport options coming around. I think I also saw a Sling channel, which gives you a package of ~20 cable channels, including the ESPNs.
Do you have some sort of internet-TV device, like Roku, AppleTV, Chromecast, etc? If not, consider getting one. They make it really easy to get the streaming channels onto your TV.
It sounds like you have Sharter (Charter). I just got off a year of internet only for $43/month, now up to $58. I’m planning to call and see if I can get it dropped again. Just keep calling and threatening to cancel. Eventually they may offer you a better price.
I cut the cord about a month and a half ago. It feels really good to reclaim all of the money that I was spending on cable. Hulu has done a fairly decent job of taking care of my TV needs.
I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and cancel the cable. I’ve got a Wii unit so I won’t need to buy (much) extra hardware. From what I’ve read, all I need to do is buy an antenna (<$25) and then choose either Netflix or something else (Chrome / Amazon / Hulu). I like what I’ve seen on Hulu so far, but still need to do the legwork (eyework?) for the others. I’d like to see what all the trial offers have to offer.
And… I’m actually trying to get my boss to agree to give me a week off with short notice. My company is recycling our vacation time come April 1 and I want to burn it up by catching up on the last few seasons of… well, lots of shows. I’m thinking marathon episodes.
And I think I’ve solved the sports package problem as well. Just saw a commercial for the NBA package. It runs $100 / season, which probably includes the playoffs. Since cable runs me more than that each month, I can easily sign up for the network (s) I want and still save on annual costs.
So I guess I need to figure out what’s out there. I know Garry Trudeau’s House of Cards is on Netflix, and since they’re in the third season I should be able to catch up on that one. I’m at least two seasons back on Supernatural so that shouldn’t be a problem.