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Details on Apple TV and Spectrum Cable?

Y

yeah3x

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2014
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I am a Spectrum Cable subscriber currently with two cable boxes and Spectrum internet. I know one box will still be required in the house, but I was looking into getting an Apple TV after news from WWDC that you can use the Apple TV as a cable box replacement. Normally I would wait for details before getting one, but DirecTV Now is running a promotion to pay $105 (three months of Now) and get an Apple TV 4K. I was thinking about doing that and cancelling the service at three months. The deal ends tomorrow which is why I am hoping to get some questions answered.

https://www.directvnow.com/appletv?..._13256212_&CI=CJ_AFFILIATE&RI=CJ1&RD=37922269


Does anyone know if Apple TV will have access to all DVR recordings with no limitations? And does anyone know if all the same channels will be available to access? Basically is this a full box replacement or just a side streaming app with no FF / rewind features? Thanks for any help.
 
Spectrum currently has a Roku app. The channels are all live streamed to the Roku. I believe it is 100% of the channels, but I am basing this off of recollection of a relative's service (he actually works for Charter). I don't believe it has DVR capabilities, but it does have on-demand access. Further, the Spectrum sign-in can be used on other on-demand apps on Roku and AppleTV.

DTVNow does have (limited) cloud DVR. Eventually, I suspect Spectrum will do the same. Whether it will be out of the gate with the ATV app or not, unsure.

I understand streaming is a subscription option, in lieu of traditional cable. I am not sure of the price of stream vs cable, but suspect it is less. Certainly, no rental fees.

I recall Charter offered free or subsidized Roku when they initially launched streaming, maybe they will do that for ATV?
 
techwarrior said:
Spectrum currently has a Roku app. The channels are all live streamed to the Roku. I believe it is 100% of the channels, but I am basing this off of recollection of a relative's service (he actually works for Charter). I don't believe it has DVR capabilities, but it does have on-demand access. Further, the Spectrum sign-in can be used on other on-demand apps on Roku and AppleTV.

DTVNow does have (limited) cloud DVR. Eventually, I suspect Spectrum will do the same. Whether it will be out of the gate with the ATV app or not, unsure.

I understand streaming is a subscription option, in lieu of traditional cable. I am not sure of the price of stream vs cable, but suspect it is less. Certainly, no rental fees.

I recall Charter offered free or subsidized Roku when they initially launched streaming, maybe they will do that for ATV?
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Yeah it might be best to just wait it out since I wasn't planning on using DTV Now. Thanks for the info. If there's a Spectrum deal when they launch I'll check it out.
 
Update to my previous post. Spoke to my relative. Charter offers employees free service, even if they live outside the Spectrum service area. It includes everything (HBO, Max, ShowTime, you name it), but it is a different "plan" than what is offered to customers in market areas because it is a employee benefit and enables them to be familiar with the companies products.

With customer streaming services offered on Roku, during initial testing in NY, they offered 1 free Roku with the service. But, they stopped doing that before rolling it out nationwide. Their streaming service does not offer 100% of the channels, primarily Sports networks prohibit them from doing so. But, it is pretty close to a match to traditional service. Streaming-only does not currently offer DVR.

When the app comes out for ATV, it may not tied to the same constraints. Cable companies know they are losing business to streaming services, and are pleading with content providers to lift restrictions so they can compete head to head. I suspect most contracts between content providers and cable companies today are hold over from the days before streaming. It is these agreements which limit the apps on ATV\Roku, etc that you can use your cable login to authenticate. These agreements are very non-standard, its a real mess.

All this to say, we will have to wait and see what they do for the ATV rollout. TWC and Charter were both pretty much ahead of the curve a few years ago, but got bogged down by the merger. I have worked with both on back end solutions my company offers to them and have always known both to be pretty tech savvy compared to others in their industry. So, the ATV launch, being announced by Apple so publicly is probably a hint that this is going to be a big deal. I suspect there are quite a few details Apple glossed over and when the service goes live, it will make a splash.

Keep in mind, as cable companies lose TV business, they are looking to beef up other services, including offering mobile phone service. I believe they advocate tearing down the regulations limiting TV service areas so they can offer TV content to any subscriber, anywhere in the US, regardless of internet provider. Streaming is a much easier way than leasing other cable company coax lines the way phone companies did when they were deregulated.

He had not heard of this development, it is not yet reaching the rank and file workers. But, now that he is aware, he will start making inquiries and update me on details as they become known.
 
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techwarrior said:
Spectrum currently has a Roku app. The channels are all live streamed to the Roku. I believe it is 100% of the channels, but I am basing this off of recollection of a relative's service (he actually works for Charter).
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Unless something changed recently, the Roku app was missing several channels. If I recall, random channels like ESPN 2 weren't available. It certainly doesn't include all your subscribed channels. I assume it is a contract situation that gets resolved whenever they re-up their deals with the networks.

The app works fine but I'm not sure it is a replacement for a cable box unless you don't care for DVR. For a secondary TV it will work fine but no one is going to replace their TV service with this. You would be much better off going for a true streaming TV service.
 
bozzykid said:
If I recall, random channels like ESPN 2 weren't available.
Click to expand...

As I stated in my second post: Their streaming service does not offer 100% of the channels, primarily Sports networks prohibit them from doing so.

But, again, Spectrum may be looking to do something bigger with their ATV offering, you will have to wait and see.
 
bozzykid said:
Unless something changed recently, the Roku app was missing several channels. If I recall, random channels like ESPN 2 weren't available. It certainly doesn't include all your subscribed channels. I assume it is a contract situation that gets resolved whenever they re-up their deals with the networks.

The app works fine but I'm not sure it is a replacement for a cable box unless you don't care for DVR. For a secondary TV it will work fine but no one is going to replace their TV service with this. You would be much better off going for a true streaming TV service.
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A true streaming TV service, like DirecTV Now or Sling? Neither of them offer local channels for most of the United States. It may offer for most people, since they're in larger cities. I think in Texas, unless you're in Austin, Houston, or DFW, you get no locals.

With Spectrum, this may be possible. I'd gladly sacrifice ESPN2 for KIII.
 
davidg4781 said:
A true streaming TV service, like DirecTV Now or Sling? Neither of them offer local channels for most of the United States. It may offer for most people, since they're in larger cities. I think in Texas, unless you're in Austin, Houston, or DFW, you get no locals.

With Spectrum, this may be possible. I'd gladly sacrifice ESPN2 for KIII.
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Without a DVR, I can't imagine using this app only. BTW, Youtube TV carries all of the locals on on many markets.
 
I use the Roku app and am also waiting to see what the Apple TV app will provide. One thing to point out is Spectrum usually has issues streaming to the Roku app (usually along with the iOS apps for iPhone and iPad) at least once per week. Usually right around 8PM (EST) all streaming will stop, or blocks of channels will disappear, the guide will quit working, etc. It's been this way for the last year I've been using it. Their streaming service is nowhere near as reliable as their cable service. Spectrum's support is on-par with other cable companies too i.e. it sucks. You'll never reach them by phone, and responses to Twitter posts sometimes take 4 hours - and then when you do get a response, it's usually "We apologize for any inconvenience, if you'll DM us your account number and phone number we'll look into your issue" The problem is - when you look at Twitter, you can see it's not an issue isolated to your account, it's either happening region or nation-wide.
 
I had the TW/Charter/Spectrum streaming TV service via the Roku for 2 years. It worked really well for the majority of those 2 years — until the TW/Charter merger after which they redid or revised the app. It then became very unreliable, and as fhall1 stated, it would crash all the time, and especially during Prime Time. Sometimes the app would not function at all for a few hours. So, after my promotional pricing ended ($10.99 per month + stupid cable and 'broadcast' fees; altogether $13-14) I kept it just a few more months (at the standard $30/month) hoping Spectrum would improve the product and do as the other cable streamers are doing, which is offer cloud 'dvr'. That never happened. And the On-Demand is really spotty as to what each network allows in terms of availability. Usually just the last 3 or 4 episodes of a given show, but — and I loved this — with the most recent one NOT available for one additional week after airing.

Meanwhile YouTubeTV, DirectTV Now, PS Vue, and HuluTV were all offering 'cloud dvr' as either part of the package or as an add-on, and with increased numbers of channels. I signed up for YouTubeTV recently and it is great (overall). I don't watch sports, so I can't comment as to availability, though it looks like there is some. The channel lineup is broad enough for what I watch, at least in my area (NY) and has all of my local stations. I have not had even one streaming problem with the app. And this is running on my now 2+ year old Roku 3. Which I got for free as part of my TWC streaming 'cable' sign-up.
 
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I will agree with everything FriendlyMackle said. When it was the Time Warner Cable app it was rock solid. I can’t recall a time where it had any real outage. After the Charter/TWC merger to Spectrum is when the app totally went to ****.
 
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When asking about the Spectrum streaming TV service yesterday (Jan 28), I was told that the AppleTV app would be released Feb 15. I am waiting until I see the before signing up.
 
It has been out for a couple of weeks. Check the App Store. You probably talked to someone who is not trained on the subject, or maybe they have an update coming soon.
 
Tried to watch the SuperBowl via the Spectrum app on Apple TV and it was unwatchable.

Freezing, blockiness, and the occasional few seconds of beautiful HD.

I tried multiple other streaming apps and did speed tests (117 down/12 up) and everything but the spectrum app worked great.
 
CostaMoses said:
Tried to watch the SuperBowl via the Spectrum app on Apple TV and it was unwatchable.

Freezing, blockiness, and the occasional few seconds of beautiful HD.

I tried multiple other streaming apps and did speed tests (117 down/12 up) and everything but the spectrum app worked great.
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News reports of Spectrum outages for SB. Eventually they fixed it I understand.
 
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