Cutting the Cable Guide

[jeyf]

people "cut the cable" a decade ago.

 

[ericgtr12]

PRetty soon there are going to be a gazillion $10/mo services that will add up to $500/mo.

This is a great point and I've learned to watch that carefully because I can easily exceed my old cable bill if not careful. I track both the cost of internet and my streaming services closely and so far I'm saving about $70 a month for about the same content.

It's not just the cost, it's the contracts and hidden fees/rate hikes they dump on you without any notification. They've had us by the short and curly's for too long, cutting the cord for less money and no headaches when cancelling, support, etc. is the best possible way to stick it to them.

 

[Plutonius]

PRetty soon there are going to be a gazillion $10/mo services that will add up to $500/mo.

I wonder how many people actually add up the monthly cost of all their subscription services (not just video streaming) ?

I imagine it might be getting close to that for some families.

Banktivity and similar programs are great for tracking your money going out and your money coming in.

 

[maflynn]

PRetty soon there are going to be a gazillion $10/mo services that will add up to $500/mo.

Yep, just like there's a ton of subscriptions for software. Death by a thousand cuts.

Netflix, MLB.TV, Disney's new streaming service, Hulu, CBS streaming (for star trek), so on and so forth.

Its crazy, but I do think it will shake itself out in some ways as I don't think its sustainable for the long term.

 

[Plutonius]

Its crazy, but I do think it will shake itself out in some ways as I don't think its sustainable for the long term.

I would like to think so but I know too many people who claim they don't have enough money but don't look at how much they are spending .

 

[maflynn]

I would like to think so but I know too many people who claim they don't have enough money but don't look at how much they are spending .

Or take it another way, they cancel cable, and then sign up for all those disparate streaming services, and not realize you're spending more then cable. Another thing, is internet service, I only have one option - comcast, so its not like I'm saving money by cancelling comcast, I still need them for my internet.

Back in the day, I could get by with DSL, but no more

 

[jeyf]

... internet service, I only have one option - comcast, so its not like I'm saving money by cancelling comcast...

I only have internet and avoid the Package Deal whatever. But than again we only have internet here.

we have both Comcast and a local phone company here.
-The local phone company has fiber giga service for $70/mo
-The outside utility plant here is very old. Last year a HV power line fell onto the comcast wire. Big ball of fire and the Comcast has never been the same since. Comcast has no intention to fix it.

we just have Amazon Prime and the FiOS



more than ever in the US I would avoid the suburban rural because of junk internet... maybe other reasons too.

 

[Huntn]

I was not happy when my Spectrum internet bill went up from $46 to $76 dollars / month. I guess they needed the money to pay off their Time Warner acquisition or to offset the people dropping cable .

I mostly end up watching Pluto TV.

The only complaint I have on Pluto TV is navigating the channels on my Roku.

With all the channels they have, it take forever switching between the channels I want to watch using the channel up / channel down buttons. They need a way to enter the channel numbers like a TV remote.
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I recently dropped Sling although I would recommend it.

I was not watching it enough and wanted to offset the increase in my Spectrum internet bill.
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I would say not.

How would you compare Pluto to Sling? Does Pluto have the same offering of channels?

 

[JBGoode]

How would you compare Pluto to Sling? Does Pluto have the same offering of channels?

Not even close. Pluto TV is free so you’re not going to get the usual run of cable channels. You get channels with older movies and TV show reruns, etc. There is an offshoot of Comedy Central that plays old Chappell’s show reruns and stuff like that, but that as about the closest you’ll get to mainstream cable. It does have CNN also.

Don’t get me wrong , there is absolutely some good stuff on Pluto but it won’t replace traditional cable if that’s what you want. It’s free so just check it out.

 

[sracer]

Not even close. Pluto TV is free so you’re not going to get the usual run of cable channels. You get channels with older movies etc. There is an offshoot of Comedy Central that plays old Chappell’s show reruns and stuff like that, but that as about the closest you’ll get to mainstream cable. It does have CNN also.

Don’t get me wrong , there is absolutely some good stuff on Pluto but it won’t replace traditional cable if that’s what you want. It’s free so just check it out.

I agree with your assessment. I'm a huge fan of Pluto TV and how well it is received by others really depends upon one's tastes in programming. No matter when I "tune" into Pluto, there are always more than 1 channel that is showing something I'm interested in.

Last week my wife and I were off to a few day getaway and they had the full cable TV offering in our hotel room.... there was seriously NOTHING on it that we were interested in. Thankfully, I had my Yoga Book (Android version) and we were able to cast Pluto TV to the room's TV.

 

[Plutonius]

How would you compare Pluto to Sling? Does Pluto have the same offering of channels?

They are completely different.

Sling shows network stations while Pluto doesn't.

Check out the Pluto channel list to see if it interest you.

 

[daimos]

As Huntn has pointed out and GOT fans have done, “hit and run” is the way to go. Aka subscription hopping. Find out what’s hot, binge, then move on to the next. Shows will not suddenly disappear anyways.

 

[ericgtr12]

As Huntn has pointed out and GOT fans have done, “hit and run” is the way to go. Aka subscription hopping. Find out what’s hot, binge, then move on to the next. Shows will not suddenly disappear anyways.

IMO Netflix should've released Stranger Things on a weekly basis the same way HBO does with their shows, it stretches it out for those of us with no control. I personally binge watched the **** out of the whole thing in two days, I couldn't help myself.

 

[0388631]

IMO Netflix should've released Stranger Things on a weekly basis the same way HBO does with their shows, it stretches it out for those of us with no control. I personally binge watched the **** out of the whole thing in two days, I couldn't help myself.

I don't know. I like how Netflix releases things. Prime sometimes plays around with release schedules; sometimes they do the Netflix method, and other times they follow a weekly schedule.

 

[Huntn]

IMO Netflix should've released Stranger Things on a weekly basis the same way HBO does with their shows, it stretches it out for those of us with no control. I personally binge watched the **** out of the whole thing in two days, I couldn't help myself.

Well, it was only 8 measly episodes. I have 3 to go to finish it tonight. It’s gotten a bit more gruesome.

 

[ucfgrad93]

PRetty soon there are going to be a gazillion $10/mo services that will add up to $500/mo.

Yep. I do Netflix and Prime, nothing else.

 

[Plutonius]

As Huntn has pointed out and GOT fans have done, “hit and run” is the way to go. Aka subscription hopping. Find out what’s hot, binge, then move on to the next. Shows will not suddenly disappear anyways.

It will work in the short run but the streaming companies will have to raise their cost to make up for the revenue lost by people subscription hopping.

 

[ucfgrad93]

IMO Netflix should've released Stranger Things on a weekly basis the same way HBO does with their shows, it stretches it out for those of us with no control. I personally binge watched the **** out of the whole thing in two days, I couldn't help myself.

I like how Netflix and Prime release the entire season at once.

 

[Huntn]

It will work in the short run but the streaming companies will have to raise their cost to make up for the revenue lost by people subscription hopping.

Maybe, possibly. Many people won’t pay an exorbitant monthly fee.

 

[Huntn]

IMO Netflix should've released Stranger Things on a weekly basis the same way HBO does with their shows, it stretches it out for those of us with no control. I personally binge watched the **** out of the whole thing in two days, I couldn't help myself.

There are two ways to look at this, per view, vs weekly release, keeping people hanging around and exposed to your new content. My impression is that HBO started as a weekly release to emulate network TV. Netflicks chose to dump stream. I’m not sure what calculations went into these decisions, solely keeping people subscribed, or something else, but I do know that with the new very short seasons, I’m willing to wait as I did with GoT so I can watch all 10 episodes in a single month.

There might be something to be said for commercials because those used to propel 25 episode seasons and I could record them, skipping through the commercials. It’s interesting that so many shows in the streaming realm have gone serial, a story arc that expands an entire season (versus episodic, stand alone episodes). Today we are mostly watching the equivalent of mini-series, not really seasons in the traditional sense.

A comparison between Netflicks and HBO, Neflicks is a power house, a wealth of content. In comparison HBO seems kind of miserly. I see Neflicks having no issue keeping people subscribed, but HBO does (I think).

 

[Plutonius]

Maybe, possibly. Many people won’t pay an exorbitant monthly fee.

Unfortunately, I think that people will be willing to pay more or even return to traditional cable.

 

[Huntn]

Unfortunately, I think that people will be willing to pay more or even return to traditional cable.

Except that the content seen on many streaming based services, would not be viewable via traditional cable, at least not immediately. I think we see more shows from tradional networks ending up in places like Netflicks.

 

[ericgtr12]

Yep. I do Netflix and Prime, nothing else.

I have these two with HBO, YTTV and a couple of other cheapies like Boomerang (long live Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry) and PBS for my Antiques Roadshow fix. I almost consider Prime a freebie/bonus though because I only purchase it for Amazon's shipping and not their streaming service. Even with all of this though, I'm still saving over cable and I have far more targeted content.

 

[Plutonius]

Except that the content seen on many streaming based services, would not be viewable via traditional cable, at least not immediately. I think we see more shows from tradional networks ending up in places like Netflicks.

Have you checked out the Pluto TV channels and is it something you would be interested in watching other than it being free ?

 

[ericgtr12]

Have you checked out the Pluto TV channels and is it something you would be interested in watching other than it being free ?

For me it's the ads, I would rather pay to have the ability to skip them with the DVR or not have them in the show at all.

Pluto TV is entirely ad-supported, and you'll encounter these commercials in different ways while watching. At times, I've fired up the website and watched 2-3 minutes' worth of ads before the content started - or occasionally after flipping channels. In other cases, the streams started right away without any sort of commercials preempting the movie or TV show.

The streaming TV channels have their usual commercial breaks every so often, and if you're watching something and click to go back earlier in the content, you might be forced to watch a couple minutes of ads before playback resumes.

The ads themselves are usually short, between 15-30 seconds apiece, but you'll see several of them - and quite often, the same handful of ads over and over again.