Cutting the cord

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Disney content returns. That was quick.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Disney content returns. That was quick.

 

I wasn't going to switch to Hulu and give Disney my money.

 

Hulu has the same price for the same content as yttv. this was a powerplay by Disney to try to switch people over to their steaming platform and I'm guessing (all my opinion) that it didn't work out.

 

yttv is getting back all the Disney content at the same price point. I hope like me, most of the other yt subscribers held firm and didn't cancel.

[Vgmastr]

Disney content returns. That was quick.

 

I wasn't going to switch to Hulu and give Disney my money.

 

Hulu has the same price for the same content as yttv. this was a powerplay by Disney to try to switch people over to their steaming platform and I'm guessing (all my opinion) that it didn't work out.

 

yttv is getting back all the Disney content at the same price point. I hope like me, most of the other yt subscribers held firm and didn't cancel.

 

And Hulu's price is going up $5 a month, plus you have to pay an extra $10 a month for unlimited DVR, which is included in the $65 plan on YTTV. Very glad a deal was made, YTTV is a much better product for less money.

[MrTPlush]

I mean, wouldn’t shock me if we see the price go up here soon for YTTV

[Vgmastr]

I mean, wouldn’t shock me if we see the price go up here soon for YTTV

 

The email they sent to subscribers specifically said they're preserving the $65 price. Plus they're honoring the $15 discount for everyone on their next bill even though the channels were only gone for a day and a half.

[zurch1818]

I just paused my YouTube tv membership in protest. It was supposed to renew in 4 days.

 

I like to think that me pausing my membership was what pushed them over the edge. I have since reactivated it. My only complaint is I had to log into my parents spectrum account to watch the championship women's volleyball match...and the ESPN app doesn't have any dvr functionally. Its weird because the NHL ESPN+ content (exact same app) has dvr functionality. Oh, and I'm also not happy that all the Disney channels on YTTV are no longer sorted the way I had them, but that can be fixed.

[TURBO]

TDS pricing:

 

TV/Internet/Landline $118 including all fees and taxes. (we are not married to a landline, the only reason we still have it is because it was cheaper to have it with spectrum than dropping it due to their bundle pricing.) If we drop the landline, that is another $10 off the $118... so $108.

 

Free Installation.

 

DVR included with 25 hours, only $5 extra per month for 150 hours.

 

Price is guaranteed for 2 years, no contract.

 

Looks like I will get the same service I am getting now with Spectrum for less than half the cost.

 

My neighborhood won't have TDS until the spring, but at least it looks like this is the way to go for a ton cheaper!!!

[nate82]

DVR included with 25 hours, only $5 extra per month for 150 hours.

 

LOL 25 hours and $5 extra for 150 hours? I get unlimited for free with YouTube TV. But you keep on doing you and paying for that horrible customer service. We will see you in 2-years from now when you are again complaining about how they won't bring the price down for you.

[TURBO]

DVR included with 25 hours, only $5 extra per month for 150 hours.

 

LOL 25 hours and $5 extra for 150 hours? I get unlimited for free with YouTube TV. But you keep on doing you and paying for that horrible customer service. We will see you in 2-years from now when you are again complaining about how they won't bring the price down for you.

 

2 years?

 

If it is really that bad, I won't stay 2 years, no contract.

 

I can handle $120 a month (including the larger dvr storage, internet, and tv) and be able to watch Brewers games.

 

The Bally Sports channel is the deal breaker for me. I'll pay extra for that, no problem at all.

 

I just see no reason to pay Spectrum $238 when I can get the same deal for 2 years with TDS for about $120-$125.

 

If you guys who go back and forth between streaming services, and can't watch the Brewers, feel it's worth it for you and what you do, then have at it.

 

I am not sticking up for TDS by any means, just seems like they are worth a try.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

DVR included with 25 hours, only $5 extra per month for 150 hours.

 

LOL 25 hours and $5 extra for 150 hours? I get unlimited for free with YouTube TV. But you keep on doing you and paying for that horrible customer service. We will see you in 2-years from now when you are again complaining about how they won't bring the price down for you.

 

2 years?

 

If it is really that bad, I won't stay 2 years, no contract.

 

I can handle $120 a month (including the larger dvr storage, internet, and tv) and be able to watch Brewers games.

 

The Bally Sports channel is the deal breaker for me. I'll pay extra for that, no problem at all.

 

I just see no reason to pay Spectrum $238 when I can get the same deal for 2 years with TDS for about $120-$125.

 

If you guys who go back and forth between streaming services, and can't watch the Brewers, feel it's worth it for you and what you do, then have at it.

 

I am not sticking up for TDS by any means, just seems like they are worth a try.

 

I agree with you. If I had the option of TDS, I'd give them a shot. It seems pretty reasonable, all things considered.

 

I certainly hope that there are eventually more options to get Bally Sports and watch Brewer games in the future. If there isn't, I'll likely be ponying up funds for DirectTV Now once again come March.

[nate82]

 

I certainly hope that there are eventually more options to get Bally Sports and watch Brewer games in the future. If there isn't, I'll likely be ponying up funds for DirectTV Now once again come March.

 

MLB is already working on a streaming service for in market games. Which should be ready by 2023 and I wouldn't be surprised if somehow the other streaming services are also included in this. Basically would just be a channel you can add and pay for.

 

Bally Sports is also supposed to have a streaming option you can pay for at some point in 2022 or 2023. 2022 will more than likely be all buggy and probably won't work all that well.

 

I don't watch many games on TV so not having that as an option is fine by me. I prefer listening to baseball on the radio as it is the best sport to listen to on the radio.

[FVBrewerFan]

I mean, wouldn’t shock me if we see the price go up here soon for YTTV

 

The email they sent to subscribers specifically said they're preserving the $65 price. Plus they're honoring the $15 discount for everyone on their next bill even though the channels were only gone for a day and a half.

 

No price increase, riggggggght. Not today, but wait a month or two.

[RobDeer 45]

I mean, wouldn’t shock me if we see the price go up here soon for YTTV

 

The email they sent to subscribers specifically said they're preserving the $65 price. Plus they're honoring the $15 discount for everyone on their next bill even though the channels were only gone for a day and a half.

 

No price increase, riggggggght. Not today, but wait a month or two.

 

I don't want to bring bad vibes to this thread, but I'm under the assumption that once streaming services become the go to for a majority of people, they will become the cable companies. Rates will continue to go up and I'm assuming customer service will start to go down. My guess is it will be just like DTV. Started out doing everything possible for its customers until they were big enough that they didn't have to anymore. The only hope I have is that because there aren't installs and equipment needed for their services, along with no contracts, they may keep prices somewhat lower than cable/dish, and customer service will still be key. Consolidation of services will be the biggest issue for customers as time goes on. That gives them too much power and the ability to do whatever they please.

 

For the record, I love YTTV and their customer service has been amazing. I hope they continue to see how much that is appreciated.

[CheezWizHed]

I don't want to bring bad vibes to this thread, but I'm under the assumption that once streaming services become the go to for a majority of people, they will become the cable companies. Rates will continue to go up and I'm assuming customer service will start to go down. My guess is it will be just like DTV. Started out doing everything possible for its customers until they were big enough that they didn't have to anymore. The only hope I have is that because there aren't installs and equipment needed for their services, along with no contracts, they may keep prices somewhat lower than cable/dish, and customer service will still be key. Consolidation of services will be the biggest issue for customers as time goes on. That gives them too much power and the ability to do whatever they please.

 

For the record, I love YTTV and their customer service has been amazing. I hope they continue to see how much that is appreciated.

 

If a few companies can hold a monopoly, then you are probably correct. But there are two back breakers that differentiate streaming services from sat/cable companies:

 

1) Entry into service is much lower. There is no hardware that you need to install from the company to enable their services. This is very much a BYOD setup and that device can generally stream many different sources. Also, new streaming services and content is being added all the time. YouTube is still relatively new to TV even. Along with Sling, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Peacock, Fubo, Paramount, etc... there are plenty of people out there competing.

 

2) No contracts. Streaming services not only don't have contracts, but they have enabled account pauses or just simple cancel/re-enable of services. Sure, they could retract those features, but it is really hard to undo that once the cat is out of the bag (assuming there is enough competition). Look at cellphones as an example. Could you imagine staying with a cellphone company that made you sign a 2 year contract and pay per minute of talk, each text, and MB of data?

 

By comparison, most markets only support satellite and one cable company (if that). And they are maintaining the streaming services, infrastructure to get it to your house (dish or cable), and the HW inside your house. It is much easier for these streaming services to simply support the content stream alone.

 

Assuming something doesn't happen to drive down competition, I tend to doubt streaming services will get that bad, simply because it is too easy to switch to something else.

[DuWayne Steurer]

]

I don't want to bring bad vibes to this thread, but I'm under the assumption that once streaming services become the go to for a majority of people, they will become the cable companies. Rates will continue to go up and I'm assuming customer service will start to go down. My guess is it will be just like DTV. Started out doing everything possible for its customers until they were big enough that they didn't have to anymore. The only hope I have is that because there aren't installs and equipment needed for their services, along with no contracts, they may keep prices somewhat lower than cable/dish, and customer service will still be key. Consolidation of services will be the biggest issue for customers as time goes on. That gives them too much power and the ability to do whatever they please.

 

For the record, I love YTTV and their customer service has been amazing. I hope they continue to see how much that is appreciated.

 

There's a lot more competition in the streaming market than there is in cable, simply because if you have internet, you can get whatever streaming you want. If you live in an area, you have to get whatever cable option is available in that area. Where I live, it's Charter, AT&T, or nothing.

 

I don't see at least a near future where there won't be enough streaming services competing with each other to keep rates at least somewhat competitive.

[FVBrewerFan]

Impossible to keep prices down and carry a large volume of content.

 

Can't be done. YTTV has already gone up $25+ per month while losing RSN. Now the battle with Disney, which isn't over, and then there's Fox, Viacom, etc. All whk have or want to have their own streaming.

[homer]

anyone have strong opinions on AT&T Fiber vs Spectrum for Internet service? I don't need more than 500 Mb. I work from home and need fast internet but it's just me and my wife and we don't play video games and never stream more than one movie at a time. 

 

[NBBrewFan]

2 hours ago, homer said:

anyone have strong opinions on AT&T Fiber vs Spectrum for Internet service? I don't need more than 500 Mb. I work from home and need fast internet but it's just me and my wife and we don't play video games and never stream more than one movie at a time. 

 

I only have Spectrum experience, but have you considered T-Mobile Home Internet?  I am testing out a 5G connection and it has almost always been 250-270Mbps compared to a Spectrum cap of 200.  It's $50 per month if you have a T-mobile phone with no commitment (you just need to send back the Router/modem if you cancel otherwise you buy bought it). The other advantage is that Spectrum upload speeds are usually capped at 10M and I have had issues pushing data up my line (in case you need to do it as part of work).  With T-Mobile I get 40-50M when speed testing for uploads. I have had it for 2 months and I haven't had a single outage.  If you need to use it for work, the other consideration is that it does seem to be "faster" than Spectrum (I have some EU customers and I vpn to them and can get 50-60M transfers when I was never more than 12M (using the same VPN with Spectrum) for download.

[igor67]

While I haven't added T-mobile Home Internet, since I don't need near that speed at my current location, I would consider it as my customer service over the years with T-mobile phone has been great (20 years and never a rate increase until I upgraded plans voluntarily)

[Samurai Bucky]

19 hours ago, homer said:

anyone have strong opinions on AT&T Fiber vs Spectrum for Internet service? I don't need more than 500 Mb. I work from home and need fast internet but it's just me and my wife and we don't play video games and never stream more than one movie at a time. 

 

I only have Spectrum as well.  The stopped laying fiber one block from our street a few years ago.  They bumped us up to 300Mbps download with no price change.  Upload is only 10Mbps still.  Work from home with four adult, college (or recently graduated) kids at home.  We have not had any latency.  Fiber has piqued my interest, but am literally unable to give it a go.

[homer]

Thanks for the responses. The new house we're moving into has fiber and the previous tenant had AT&T. But I read somewhere that you have to lease their equipment in order to use it. 

[Thurston Fluff]

On 12/20/2021 at 11:41 AM, nate82 said:

I don't watch many games on TV so not having that as an option is fine by me. I prefer listening to baseball on the radio as it is the best sport to listen to on the radio.

I cut the cord as soon as streaming became tenable. The only reason I was thinking of keeping dish was for Brewers games. Then I realized I really only ever watched west coast night games anyway. As you said, it lends itself to radio very well and who the hell wants to be sitting in the house watching tv in Summer?

[nate82]

Just now, Thurston Fluff said:

I cut the cord as soon as streaming became tenable. The only reason I was thinking of keeping dish was for Brewers games. Then I realized I really only ever watched west coast night games anyway. As you said, it lends itself to radio very well and who the hell wants to be sitting in the house watching tv in Summer?

In Arizona in the summer it is preferable to be in the house.  But I listen to all of the games when working as most are on when I am working still or when driving home.  

[LouisEly]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:46 PM, homer said:

anyone have strong opinions on AT&T Fiber vs Spectrum for Internet service? I don't need more than 500 Mb. I work from home and need fast internet but it's just me and my wife and we don't play video games and never stream more than one movie at a time. 

 

Did you abandon Chicago and head back to WI?

[homer]

3 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Did you abandon Chicago and head back to WI?

not quite yet. End of summer.