I get into these kinds of discussions with clients all the time.

Everyone wants more for less. The content has to be paid for or there will be no content. Does no one understand that concept? You will pay for it one way or another.

By the time you pay Netflix, Hulu, Sling, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, etc., you are paying as much or more than your cable or satellite bill was before you "cut the cord".

Watch the price increases on the streaming services go up as more and more people choose them over satellite or cable service. Not to mention ISP rates, bandwidth requirements, data usage, etc.

There is just no way most people will be able to watch all of the shows they watch now on satellite/cable for any less $$. There is always those couple of shows that you can only get on one service. So you have to subscribe to that one service for that one show. Then there is another. Then another. Then at least with Sling, you pay for the next package up, and you lose some channels....unless you go 2 packages up, or add-on this or that.

The content providers will get paid regardless of how much $$ you think you are saving. The term "cord cutting" has no where the meaning it implies. You want to truly cut the cord? Install an antenna. Connect it to your TV. That is all. But no one can live like that. Wait...what? I have to sit down at 6:59pm every wednesday night and not get up until 8:00? And I have to watch all the commercials? What way is that to watch a TV program?

Related side note: I went to an older fellow's house last week to troubleshoot something. Fixed the original problem in 2 seconds by turning on the switched outlet bank on the Panamax surge protector. But then I programmed his cable box remote to operate the volume on the receiver. He was blown away! But that is not all. He had never EVER used the guide feature of the cable box. Ever! He used.....wait for it........the TV Guide...some may not remember those. Apparently they still sell them at the check out at the supermarket? They may still even print them in the Sunday paper? I was as blown away as he was honestly. :)

I remember the TV Guide. but you reminded me of something else. How many remember the TV Guide channel? It was a constant scrolling listing of what was currently on TV.

Right now all the cable providers also have a monopoly on the Internet to your door. They can easily package things the way they want. Keep more services, get a better deal. Not rocket science. Just want Internet so you can cut the cord, that's a different and higher price than one of our bundles.

Google Fiber is starting to deploy but it will be many years before they can get to the infrastructure that the cable providers have.

We pay a little under $200/mo with Spectrum. Decent Internet bandwidth for Internet, pretty much all the pay channels, also provides HBO Go and Showtime On Demand for streaming. With the entire package, our family definitely gets $200 worth of entertainment at home or on the road.

I recently did some work in Las Vegas, and the hotel we stayed at had DirecTV. Channel 1 on the TV was a list of channels and current programming. After being stationary for about ten seconds, it scrolled to the next page. There was no starting it, no stopping or pausing it, no looking ahead... and that "channel" had the DirecTV logo on it.

Channels were 2 to 42. Period.

Apparently the dumb program guide remains in the hospitality products!

It's still in basic cable where I am. I remember as a kid trying to remember the four channels I wanted to check out and by the time I got to the fourth, landing in a commercial break and trying to remember the show I wanted to watch. That was after I was 12. Before then we had 12 channels ajd it was easy to remember (but it sucked turning it in right as it went passed 13 and having to wait. To see DuckTales I had to go my buddy's house cause he up to channel 21. Haha. Good times.

Craig

We were a DirecTV dealer since DirecTV started. When DirecTV cancelled our dealership because we did not activate enough new customers I cancelled my home DirecTV service. I went from paying $120 a month to an over the air anttenna with lifetime Tivo Roamio($199 on Black Friday). I also had before Netflix and Amazon. I added Hulu. I went from $120 a month to less than $20 a month.

Do I see every channel that I had before? No, but now I watch less TV and get more done around the house. When I want to watch some TV to relax I have no problem with finding something on the Tivo that I like.

This year I will save over a thousand dollars which is great. I would never go back to paying for cable or satellite.

And also, when I want to figure out what is on the antenna at night I go to the TV Guide app and see all the channel listings in my area.

As a kid, most of us were our dads remote control "tucker, turn to channel 10!". Id get my skinny ass up and walk to the tv,,,,,the rest is history. Now I get disgusted if i have to hit the light switch when my lights dont automatically turn on and off as I go room to room.

When I hear what you guys pay for Internet and tv I am baffled. Do you guys really pay hundreds of dollars a month for tv and internet ?

I pay in the uk about £30 a month for telephone and broadband with about an average of 30/40mbps download. I get free tv with an aerial in my attic and pay for Netflix and Amazon prime which fills all my viewing needs. I could pay for virgin or sky which normally starts at a basic package of 20 quid but that doesn't include many of the sports channels or movie or kids channels.

I pay $80/month for 150/5 cable internet. If I were to add TV service on top of that, it would likely go up to $150/month. Want phone? $180+. Add another box for another TV? + $10. Want that one channel that your local college team plays on? Sorry, next package up....now you are at $200+ easily. I have seen the bills of some of my clients who have 10+ TVs in the house. They have all the channels you can get, NFL ticket, etc. I have seen some that are over $500/month! Insane!


I get pretty much what I need without cable or satellite. I sign on for Sling for football season. I download the F1 race torrents; sue me. CBS Sports is the only channel our team plays on that we do not have access to. YouTube TV is supposedly going to have both CBS Sports and NBC Sports (F1 telecaster in the US). I am waiting for it to launch so I can give it a shot. The cloud DVR service is the deal maker for me. If I cannot watch it when I want to, forget about it.

Yep. But we don't have to have a license to own a TV.

Touché

If you are willing to play loosey goosey with the legalities then just install Exodus as an add on. Just about everything in there with no subscription.

My son installed Exodus on my Fire Stick. I looked at all the movies that was on it. But, I have never watched one. There is something really wrong about it. Maybe if I was younger I could justify it but as you get older you know what is right and wrong.

I'll just wait the few extra months and see it on HBO or BluRay.

Huh?

I don't know what the law is in Australia (I did see in UK they have prosecuted some people with Kodi devices) but it seems in the US, viewing streamed content is a loophole in the system, for now. My problem is the moral issue. Even if the law is t caught up to the technology, it's stealing. And I don't want my kids getting the idea that it's ok to take things if no one will know or be personally harmed.