Is it time to cut the cord on satellite TV?

[Trouble Free]

I have had Dish Network for many years. The bill keeps going up. I keep downgrading the package and the prices still go up. Now there is a Local sports fee along with the local channel fee. Over $120 a month for the small 120 channel package.

Is it time to cut the cord? Does anyone stream? I have an apple tv for Netflix so was thinking streaming tv might be cheaper. I like the DVR option to skip commercials but it's not worth $125 bucks a month. I don't want to switch to streaming only to pay what I pay now.

so who is streaming tv? and what do you think about it. pros and cons if there are any

thanks

 

[South Park]

Get a Smart TV and go online for TV shows . Then get the cheap cable package for all else

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

I'm in the exact same boat. DISH forever. I've tried several streaming services, like YouTube TV, etc. I have 6 TV's and now have an AppleTV connected to each of them. Of the streaming services I've tried, I like fuboTV the best. I'm very close to cancelling DISH and going with fuboTV, and then using the AppleTV to subscribe to anything I really want that's not on fuboTV. I haven't because it's just so damn comfortable keeping what I've had for such a long time. However, I did just upgrade my internet service to 1 GB speed int he last 10 days. (I have optical service.) So now I am really ready. I think I'll just switch to using AppleTV/fuboTV exclusively for a week or so, without cancelling DISH, but also without using it, and see how it is.

I have had Dish Network for many years. The bill keeps going up. I keep downgrading the package and the prices still go up. Now there is a Local sports fee along with the local channel fee. Over $120 a month for the small 120 channel package.

Is it time to cut the cord? Does anyone stream? I have an apple tv for Netflix so was thinking streaming tv might be cheaper. I like the DVR option to skip commercials but it's not worth $125 bucks a month. I don't want to switch to streaming only to pay what I pay now.

so who is streaming tv? and what do you think about it. pros and cons if there are any

thanks

 

[DaDoc]

We switched from Dish to Direct TV last spring..Bad move.

We got the basic with the movie channels (HBO and Starz) But we wound up with 70 Spanish language channels that we won't be watching, along with around 10 Chinese channels, and a couple of freakin' scientology ones! Really?

And then a beaucoup of sports channels that we also won't be watching, but we're still paying for all that crap. The movie channels show nothing but the same lameassed movies for years on end, and any of the other channels are nothing but a deluge of commercials every five minutes, so one has to spend an entire afternoon just to watch a 90 minute movie. I timed it once, and I think a 30 minute sitcom actually has only 10 minutes or so of the actual program, the rest is just a lot of ads, sometimes the same ones back-to-back. For us, we watch mainly 2-3 channels most of the time, so we're paying for a lot of lousy programming we never even watch!

Dish was bad enough, but Direct TV is the friggin' pits..It seems the "vast wasteland" has now progressed to the status of a garbage dump!

We signed a damned contract for two years, so we're stuck for the time being..I think as soon as we're free of that we're going to look at alternatives, fer sure!

I like watching TV, but lately I've been spending days refusing to turn the thing on..I have my stereo and my guitars, so who needs it?

 

[DDJ34]

I have had Dish Network for many years. The bill keeps going up. I keep downgrading the package and the prices still go up. Now there is a Local sports fee along with the local channel fee. Over $120 a month for the small 120 channel package.

Is it time to cut the cord? Does anyone stream? I have an apple tv for Netflix so was thinking streaming tv might be cheaper. I like the DVR option to skip commercials but it's not worth $125 bucks a month. I don't want to switch to streaming only to pay what I pay now.

so who is streaming tv? and what do you think about it. pros and cons if there are any

thanks

I pay $65.02 a month for the last 4 years with at least 120 channels. No sports package though.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

here's the thing...

no matter which route you go, cable/satellite, etc., they want you to renegotiate your contract every other month. It's ridiculous, to me, but that's their little game they play.

So, while they offer new promotions, that keep the price, the same, as when you started, your rates keep going up, up, up. So, while your rates go up, the service upgrades do not apply to you. They raise the internet speed for people paying less, but you pay more for the slower service, etc. Even the phone companies work this way. It really is BS!

The problem w/ "cutting the cord" as so many say, is that you are still on the cord for cable internet, then you order a provider service. The cable company gives no guarantee to cooperate w/ the provider service & you end up paying a lot of money, but dividing the bill between providers.

For instance, I get throttled watching youtube videos, even though, supposedly, I have bandwidth to watch 10 videos at once. I get bufferings & timeouts all the time & sometimes I can't watch the higher resolution video. Even though my service is supposedly 10x's of what it takes to stream a video.

Call the satellite company & see if there's any promotions, or if you need to revisit your contract, or tell them you're leaving.

This model has been in place for 30 years...

 

[Filipe Soares]

I did it in 2013... Streaming and Torrents for life!

 

[Trumpet Rider]

I have this. It works very well in my area (Kansas City). ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, CW, AntennaTV, MeTV, Bounce, Grit, Comet, This, TBD, Quest, Create, Justice, CourtTV, HSN, QVC, Laff, ION and several religious and Spanish language channels. I don't watch a lot of TV and can't justify paying for it.

https://www.amazon.com/Antennas-Dir...ocphy=9023910&hvtargid=pla-355541144064&psc=1

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

One of the things I like about fuboTV. No contracts. I was missing one seasonal channel on DISH. Signed up for fuboTV to get it. Kept it for a couple of months for what I needed. Cancelled when I didn't. No hassle.

 

[Trouble Free]

I'm in the exact same boat. DISH forever.

I'm very close to cancelling DISH and going with fuboTV.

I haven't because it's just so damn comfortable keeping what I've had for such a long time.

I started looking at some options and FuboTV looks interesting, it would be half of what I pay now.

I agree about being comfortable with what I know and had for so long, but I'm tired of making them people rich.

 

[Trouble Free]

We switched from Dish to Direct TV last spring..Bad move.

I think switching to Direct TV is like chasing your tail, and you end up in the same place.
I do know people that like Direct TV, but it seems just as expensive as Dish.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

I think switching to Direct TV is like chasing your tail, and you end up in the same place.
I do know people that like Direct TV, but it seems just as expensive as Dish.

Dish & DTV are the same company...

They just offer different packages/service.

 

[ibmorjamn]

No packages , just internet but we have an attena for broadcast channels . Direct sucks of contracts but I don’t like paying over $100 a month . Canceled Sling and Hulu . Everyone charges for everything.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I have had Dish Network for many years. The bill keeps going up. I keep downgrading the package and the prices still go up. Now there is a Local sports fee along with the local channel fee. Over $120 a month for the small 120 channel package.

Is it time to cut the cord? Does anyone stream? I have an apple tv for Netflix so was thinking streaming tv might be cheaper. I like the DVR option to skip commercials but it's not worth $125 bucks a month. I don't want to switch to streaming only to pay what I pay now.

so who is streaming tv? and what do you think about it. pros and cons if there are any

thanks

Im with ya on this, cut the cord if you can. I pay a shitt ton for cable, a thousand channels of nothing but commercials and i only watch 4 channels, and my life wouldnt be any worse off if i didnt watch them. I got a roku stick to experiment with, lots of free stuff to watch but lots of commercials still. Im thinking get a hdtv antenna and be happy with the 13 free channels and call it a day, I cant convince the wife to do it though...

 

[anitoli]

I have had dish for ever but since my wife passed a few years ago i really don't turn it on anymore. I don't think it's been on in 6 months.

 

[DaDoc]

I think switching to Direct TV is like chasing your tail, and you end up in the same place.
I do know people that like Direct TV, but it seems just as expensive as Dish.

The thing I liked about Dish was there was at least a few more old sitcoms on there that I liked to watch, there wasn't 70 Hispanic channels, and no Chinese or freakin' scientology channels! And yes, Direct is just as expensive!

I knew a guy back in N.C. that used to brag about playing them against each other to keep his service prices down..I get that!

Funny thing, like so many from my generation I grew up with a TV on an antenna, and we had three channels..Four if you had the little circular UHF antenna on the back of your TV to pick up the local PB channel, and there was SO much better programming back then on that setup then there is on a couple hundred channels nowadays!

Elvis was notorious for shooting his TV's whenever something came on he didn't like..These days he would probably go broke from having to buy new TV's!

 

[DaDoc]

Im with ya on this, cut the cord if you can. I pay a shitt ton for cable, a thousand channels of nothing but commercials and i only watch 4 channels, and my life wouldnt be any worse off if i didnt watch them. I got a roku stick to experiment with, lots of free stuff to watch but lots of commercials still. Im thinking get a hdtv antenna and be happy with the 13 free channels and call it a day, I cant convince the wife to do it though...

Yeah, we're going to look into a roku ourselves..Hell, we don't even get Sirius XM with Direct..When I complained to the installer about it he said "Oh just get a roku and you can get Sirius!"

That was my first red flag that we had made a mistake, we were getting Sirius just fine with Dish! I guess they had to devote the bandwidth to all the other useless B.S. channels they have on there..

 

[Jethro Rocker]

We watch lots of TV. It is our thing. Netflix is limited, has no local or network tv and is always behind on shows. We still have it.
We have cable. Only sports I watch is our CFL football but we need it. . Streaming is still prone to buffer amd other issues. We like it, we are retired and I am willing to pay for what I want. We stream British tv shows.

 

[JohnH]

Its different in different countries. I remember cable in LA in tbe 90's, enough good stuff, in amongst the rubbish and local news about shootings and traffic tail backs.. ...and OJ

Here in Aus more and more are going online, but there is still a lot of content on digital free-to-air. We are not huge consumers, so we mostly watch free to air (there's a few dozen channels), free online versions from the main networks, plus we pay $7 a month for Amazon, though more people seems to use Netflix.

 

[DaDoc]

We watch lots of TV. It is our thing. Netflix is limited, has no local or network tv and is always behind on shows. We still have it.
We have cable. Only sports I watch is our CFL football but we need it. . Streaming is still prone to buffer amd other issues. We like it, we are retired and I am willing to pay for what I want. We stream British tv shows.

You know one that I miss? "The Red Green Show"!

I like the Brit shows as well, Monty Python, Benny Hill, that was entertaining and funny stuff!