Cord cutters - What's your favorite streaming services?

[lizkat]

I got an email about the Peacock offer but it is for the ad supported version only and after almost a year of having Hulu with ads for $1 a month I think I’ll pretty much pass on any ad supported services that aren’t completely free. Of course if you want to go with the version that doesn’t have ads then it’s substantially more and a lot of times not worth it to me. With so much competition I think anything that is more than $10 a month is insulting.

Yep, and the problem with getting a ad-free rate of around $10 / month is that you sometimes have to go with annual billing. The trick there --if one can even swing it-- is to try not to end up with a couple of those slamming into your budget in the same month!

 

[DT]

Yep, and the problem with getting a ad-free rate of around $10 / month is that you sometimes have to go with annual billing. The trick there --if one can even swing it-- is to try not to end up with a couple of those slamming into your budget in the same month!

There's so many offers every month, I've been hesitant to get into too many annual contracts. Like Disney+, we're about to have our second free 6 months.

 

[lizkat]

There's so many offers every month, I've been hesitant to get into too many annual contracts. Like Disney+, we're about to have our second free 6 months.

My annual ones expire in 2022, so most are gone already... and yeah it's because of the current competition and promos that one can juggle around. Also not sure what sort of programming and exhibition changes will occur as that WarnerMedia/Discover merger proceeds to seek its path forward.

The trick, of course, is which way companies and customers go if we land in much of a recession. Platforms might juggle pricing around by offering better annualized deals, hoping to nail customers' still pretty good available credit quickly while it's there... and so get the companies through the early stage of economic recovery with less worry about churn.

A few months down that road and it starts looking like "Bird in hand = an annual billing someone paid for three months ago...." versus hoping against hope enough people will still sign up for monthly rate or short promos going forward in a recession.

 

[shadow puppet]

My email from Netflix this AM. No bozos, Apple couldn't process me because I CANCELLED you!

 

[Edd]

It’s weird that Netflix is the only major streaming service that won’t play ball with the Apple TV portal. I don’t use the portal for most of my watching, I just go straight to the apps, but I do use the Watch Now links at the top of the app page. That’s handy. Also, you can’t use Apple’s search app to search Netflix. What’s the point of resisting? Netflix isn’t selling its own hardware. Amazon is and even they’re cooperative.

 

[gollum]

we pretty much just use direct tv streaming now.

The major impediment to trying direct-TV streaming is the lack of a native app on my smart TVs.

 

[Cmaier]

The major impediment to trying direct-TV streaming is the lack of a native app on my smart TVs.

I turned off ip access to my smart tvs because they invade privacy and the experience was so much worse than just using an Apple TV or firestick. But, yeah, if you need a tv-based app that can change the calculus a lot. User interfaces will be different, if the app is even available.

 

[DT]

If you're not into owning an Apple product for streaming, the Amazon 4K Fire Stick, and 4K Fire Cube are both 50% off right now. The Stick is only $24.95, pretty inexpensive way to provide a standardized app interface across all your TVs, and I checked and DirecTV streaming is available (not surprising, they're pretty well supported products).

Or if you had a sort of "primary" TV, get a Cube for that one, and sticks for other TVs, etc.

 

[fischersd]

We've had 120Hz 4k TV's out for awhile now. Apple just doesn't seem to get it with yet another 4k Apple TV coming out only supporting 60fps.

I figured I'd recreate my HTPC setup with an M2 mini, with a NAS in the back end and trim down my streaming to just ATV+ and Prime, but I'm wondering if even an M2 mini is going to support the full HDMI 2.1 spec.

 

[Herdfan]

Last night I put ends on an ethernet cable for my neighbor so he could get TV in his new pool cabana. We were chatting as he went though the process of logging into 3-4 streaming services.

Just seems like a huge PITA if you like to flip channels. I know that having TNF on Amazon Prime has been a PITA. The wife and I never watch anything live, always recorded. So during football season, I will hit Exit on the remote to go back to Live for an update on the game. Then back to recorded TV. Even though I have a professional remote, switching between DirecTV and my Apple TV is not instant like switching channels. And if the ATV has timed out, I have to go back in again.

Someone needs to make a single box that will keep every service up and ready to view at all times.

 

[lizkat]

My email from Netflix this AM. No bozos, Apple couldn't process me because I CANCELLED you!

Apparently HBO Max wasn't all THAT unhappy that I cancelled an annual renewal for $150 through Apple awhile back, even though they sent me a "sorry you're leaving" or whatever through the Apple portal.

But then they flipped me a direct pitch to come back for $105... so I took it even though I still wonder if the change in management due to the merger of Discovery and Warner Media could prove disappointing down the road. Meanwhile though, the one-year rate struck me as attractive for what's still on tap.

 

[shadow puppet]

I just let ATV+ go yesterday. Just before the price hike. I can't complain. Apple has had some great shows this season and IIRC, this is their first rate hike since 2019. But I wanted to see The Handmaids Tale and moved to Hulu for a month. I'll cancel in a month and hope they offer their Black Friday 1.99 special this year. If so, I'll use a different email and CC and sign up.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Canceled Hulu as my $0.99 per month for a year promotional rate is about to expire. Can't say I watched it all that much, don't recall if I ever completed watching an exclusive series on it. Can't say I'll miss watching ads.

 

[Huntn]

It’s weird that Netflix is the only major streaming service that won’t play ball with the Apple TV portal. I don’t use the portal for most of my watching, I just go straight to the apps, but I do use the Watch Now links at the top of the app page. That’s handy. Also, you can’t use Apple’s search app to search Netflix. What’s the point of resisting? Netflix isn’t selling its own hardware. Amazon is and even they’re cooperative.

Interesting, all of my apps on my tv are loaded at Roku and on Apple TV streaming hubs so I have to use one of them.

 

[lizkat]

Canceled Hulu as my $0.99 per month for a year promotional rate is about to expire. Can't say I watched it all that much, don't recall if I ever completed watching an exclusive series on it. Can't say I'll miss watching ads.

Ads are what drove me from TV watching way back when cable companies were still saying that a la carte programming tiers would never be workable or affordable. Fine, I figured: what I can't afford is a cable bill for not watching TV because ads!

Now as some streaming platforms contemplate offering more tiers at lower prices but with ads, I scroll on past those plans.

Some ads cross my path while I'm signed up to YTTV for a month every year to watch postseason baseball. They sure do remind me why I find a way to scrounge up dough for ad-free plans on my regular streaming platforms. Usually I just take an axe to some grocery store indulgence now and then. I just can't tolerate ads hammering on my after-dinner movie fare, no matter if that dinner had featured lamb and lentils or just lentils and rice...

 

[shadow puppet]

I must be the only one on the planet that didn't know you can buy an annual Apple TV+ subscription through Costco. With ATV+'s recent price increase (their first since 2019 IIRC), the annual fee via Costco is $62.99. That's a savings of almost $21 annually over purchasing direct from Apple or $5.24/month.

On Costco's site it's under: Home > Gift Cards & Tickets > Movie Tickets & Streaming

Just passing along the info for anyone interested.

 

[fischersd]

I must be the only one on the planet that didn't know you can buy an annual Apple TV+ subscription through Costco. With ATV+'s recent price increase (their first since 2019 IIRC), the annual fee via Costco is $62.99. That's a savings of almost $21 annually over purchasing direct from Apple or $5.24/month.

On Costco's site it's under: Home > Gift Cards & Tickets > Movie Tickets & Streaming

Just passing along the info for anyone interested.

Didn't even think they'd be reselling.

Up here in Canada it's $79.99/year at Costco, so a savings of only $9/year

Here's what the price bumps were in Canada (pretty significant for TV and One!)

Apple Music

• Individual: $10.99 (previously $9.99)
• Family: $16.99 (previously $14.99)
• Annual: $109 (previously $99)

Apple TV+

• Monthly: $8.99 (previously $5.99)
• Annual: $89 (previously $59.99)

Apple One

• Individual: $18.95 (previously $15.95)
• Family: $24.95 (previously $20.95)
• Premier: $37.95 (previously $33.95)

We're actually doing the Apple One Family subscription (Music, TV+, iCloud).

 

[rdrr]

Cable bill has quietly crept up to $258.44 base (not including the fees and taxes) for 1 TV with DVR and 1Gb internet with modem rental. I am done and serious about cutting. Wish I had Fidium in my area, or an alternative like it. I don't want to get FiOS or use the other cable company in Boston. And I don't want to goto t-Mobile's horrible offering. Ugh...

 

[lizkat]

Cable bill has quietly crept up to $258.44 base (not including the fees and taxes) for 1 TV with DVR and 1Gb internet with modem rental. I am done and serious about cutting. Wish I had Fidium in my area, or an alternative like it. I don't want to get FiOS or use the other cable company in Boston. And I don't want to goto t-Mobile's horrible offering. Ugh...

How can it be so much money?! That's mind-boggling to me. I suddenly stop fretting about still being on the net via DSL rated 6Mbps... at least it's good enough to stream at SD quality and the bundle (includes landline phone of course, a necessity here) is still just barely under a hundred dollars.

 

[rdrr]

How can it be so much money?! That's mind-boggling to me. I suddenly stop fretting about still being on the net via DSL rated 6Mbps... at least it's good enough to stream at SD quality and the bundle (includes landline phone of course, a necessity here) is still just barely under a hundred dollars.

I think I wrote about this in another post, but Xfinity recently (around 3 Months ago) held a meeting in the town my Mother lives in NH. They came right out and said, and I am paraphrasing "Because we are losing so many customers, we are forced to raise the rates." Seems like backward logic, but I guess they have to cover the operating costs into the investment they made in their infrastructure. Guarantee you that they will be coming to the government in the near future looking for a bailout. All the fiber they have laid out to create their network can't just be abandoned.

I have noticed it creeping up over the past year and a half. I was floored when I took a look at why my autopay was so high. I called them and ask (since I have been a loyal customer in good standing), if there were any promotions or deals they could offer me. I got a resounding NO. When I asked do you care if I leave, I was told essentially that they didn't.