Cordcutting Thread

[Wingnut]

We have Prime and Netflix. We use Roku. Netflix is the premium plan--4 screens. Besides me and the wife, both our kids and my mom have access to my Netflix. And the grandkids can access it on their tablets if they get permission, content is parental controlled for them in person. So 4 households for one small phenomenal fee.

Same for us with Netflix.  Son, Grandkids and MIL can watch it from their homes.  Only once did I get kicked off.  Seems everyone was watching at the same time.  So I go WTF....that is 4 people I'm cool.  Come to find out The Wife was streaming The Ranch on her Fire!   I pay the bill but I gets bumped! 

[Idiot]

I use Roku.  Pay for Netflix, Hulu and CBS all access.  NBC is free but has a 7 day delay for new releases but it has a treasure trove of old shows with limited commercials. So my net expense per month is now less than $25 bucks.  My Direct TV bill was well over $110.   And for what? 500 channels that I never watched.  Screw em.  If you need a Sports fix get the $25 Sling package that included ESPN.

After about a month after I cut the cord  my Romote control surfing withdrawal ended.  I have never looked back.

If Direct TV and Dish were smart (and they are not)  They would offer a one rate flat fee plan that would let you pick your channels alacart.

Exactly.....

[jmyrlefuller]

If Direct TV and Dish were smart (and they are not)  They would offer a one rate flat fee plan that would let you pick your channels alacart.

A lot of the reason why they don't is the channels themselves.

Right now, you have seven companies controlling all but a few channels: Disney (ABC/ESPN), Redstone (CBS), Murdoch (Fox), Roberts/Comcast (NBC), Newhouse (Discovery), Dolan (AMC) and Turner. Almost all of them require some level of bundling. If you offer one channel to a customer, you have to offer this other one at full price, too... or if you're offering a competitor's channel, you have to offer our more expensive channel on the same tier or we won't offer it to you at all.

[Wingnut]

A lot of the reason why they don't is the channels themselves.

Right now, you have seven companies controlling all but a few channels: Disney (ABC/ESPN), Redstone (CBS), Murdoch (Fox), Roberts/Comcast (NBC), Newhouse (Discovery), Dolan (AMC) and Turner. Almost all of them require some level of bundling. If you offer one channel to a customer, you have to offer this other one at full price, too... or if you're offering a competitor's channel, you have to offer our more expensive channel on the same tier or we won't offer it to you at all.

Well, regardless of their agreements with the big players, it is evident that it is a failed business model.  Even their new so called "Streaming" option is loaded with hidden fee's and taxes.  I remember the hell AT&T put me thu on the phone trying to cancel my Direct TV subscription.  I swore I would never ever do business with those bleep again.

[roamer_1]

Well, regardless of their agreements with the big players, it is evident that it is a failed business model.  Even their new so called "Streaming" option is loaded with hidden fee's and taxes.  I remember the hell AT&T put me thu on the phone trying to cancel my Direct TV subscription.  I swore I would never ever do business with those bleep again.

More than that, now that I am weaned off of it, there ain't a damn thing on there I want to watch at all. Going back and looking at it now, it's all crap.

[Wingnut]

More than that, now that I am weaned off of it, there ain't a damn thing on there I want to watch at all. Going back and looking at it now, it's all crap.

Amen. 

[Elderberry]

I hardly ever watch anything new anymore. Right now, I catch an episode of Gunsmoke every now and then. I'm currently viewing season 7.

[roamer_1]

I hardly ever watch anything new anymore. Right now, I catch an episode of Gunsmoke every now and then. I'm currently viewing season 7.

Oh, I still watch a bunch... While I am here at my bench there is always something going on the tv... or if it is particularly interesting, I will ship it over to my right side monitor... But it is almost invariably Youtube... Either a documentary of some kind, or a music playlist. I still watch the news, maybe once a day, and I have Netflix for the odd movie now and again... But I am hard pressed to find anything in MSM that is worth watching. I am invariably disappointed when I go looking.

[truth_seeker]

Well, regardless of their agreements with the big players, it is evident that it is a failed business model.  Even their new so called "Streaming" option is loaded with hidden fee's and taxes.  I remember the hell AT&T put me thu on the phone trying to cancel my Direct TV subscription.  I swore I would never ever do business with those bleep again.

The highly aggressive, deceptive phone sales practices are the industry standard.

In our area Verizon Fios became Frontier. My BIL wanted to change. they gave him a huge run around.

Brings back memories of AOL internet in the CD days. You could start for free. They would extend you for free. But they would resist cancelling you.

The name "AOL" was damaged. AOL-Time Warner dropped the AOL part, due to the lousy service reputation.

[roamer_1]

Brings back memories of AOL internet in the CD dis days. You could start for free. They would extend you for free. But they would resist cancelling you.

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

[bigheadfred]

Cableone is $55/month. Amazon Prime. Hulu basic. Netflix.

I mostly watch Youtube.

Amazon Prime is worth it in our case. My MIL lives 45 miles away, by herself. My wife does a lot of shopping on Amazon for her mom (her mom pays for those items).  That saves my wife extra trips to help take care of her mom. And the free shippiing is great.

If it weren't for my mom on my Netflix account I would drop it.

But by and large, our tvs are off most of the time.

[truth_seeker]

Three in my family.

Me. Almost entirely youtube

Wife. Almost entirely local antenna programs.

Daughter. Amazon Prime, Netflix.

We did have Sling. I told my daughter to pay, if she wanted it. She declined.

[roamer_1]

Another free option is PlutoTV... That is pretty good, and set up sorta like what cable does.

[bigheadfred]

Another free option is PlutoTV... That is pretty good, and set up sorta like what cable does.

We have that. Just talked to family. I'm dropping Netflix. They are or did raise the price which is a big turnoff. I think their content sucks anyway.

[Wingnut]

We have that. Just talked to family. I'm dropping Netflix. They are or did raise the price which is a big turnoff. I think their content sucks anyway.

I only keep Netflix for the grand kids so they have kid stuff to watch.  I too have grown weary of the price increases. Not to mention their left leaning political stance with their original content BS.

[roamer_1]

I only keep Netflix for the grand kids so they have kid stuff to watch.  I too have grown weary of the price increases. Not to mention their left leaning political stance with their original content BS.

We have Netflix split between 5 houses. Costing each house about 60 bucks a year.

I think they have a 'three person' plan, or a 'five person' plan. we have the five. One administrator, one password for all...  If you have greater family around you, you might consider that.

[bigheadfred]

I only keep Netflix for the grand kids so they have kid stuff to watch.  I too have grown weary of the price increases. Not to mention their left leaning political stance with their original content BS.

It is done. Now is the time. My account will run until the end of my billing cycle--Feb. 17th. I signed up for kindle unlimited last month. If the grandkids are here they can download a book. We still have Prime anyway for movies, etc. My wife watches antenna tv more than anything.

[Sighlass]

Have a PC computer, have a good adblock program like Ublock Origin. Don't have a good adblock program and have no clue what I am talking about then perhaps this is not for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin

Here is how to watch a lot of movies/tv shows free...

Just gonna show mostly via pictures...

Go to website



Enter what you want to view in search (or you could just browse around to see if something grabs ya). Hit enter to search.



Pick your movie if more than one shows up to choose...



If this is movie you want... then great scroll down a little futher on the page



You should see this (orange "Watch Movie")... click it



Website will give it's generic instructions (two or three versions of this page, just navigate to the "I understand" button and click it.



Do you want to download the movie (to watch anytime) or do you want to watch now... I usually download but you decide what you want to do... If you want to download then I will have futher instructions below... if just want to watch we are done here....  to Download click "disable embedding"....



More Download instructions if you choose that option... after disableing embedding the screen will reload with this... a direct link... below that (not shown) is other places you can download from... I always pick O P E N L O A D because it usually works and it just seems a solid place to download from with your adblock program enabled... often other places other than O P E N L O A D are hard to get to work.



Once it opens at O P E N L O A D then you can again watch it there or click "download"... I usually download so that is what I pick...



If Downloading... click here (may have to select it twice



Eventually you get here and can save to your selected download spot on your computer... If you have "save selected" (instead of just play now)...



Couple of different web sites I like that work like this... PM me if you want few other places to try...

Remember... a GOOD adblock program is a must and it doesn't hurt to always have a good anti-virus program up and running of course.... Stick with O P E N L O A D and odds are you will have no problem... 

If none of the above makes sense, again I advise you not to try it...

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Our family has found that Amazon prime and the prime stick works quite well. The wife and youngins have been working through the old Star Trek series. I'm easily amused so you tube has a fair amount of regular entertainment. There are several channels on you tube I think are more informative than the history channel which was the big thing I missed about having cable. If you are into the history of tanks, swords, or firearms there is a fair amount out there. Add in the occasional old western on sale on DVD amazon and we are made in the shade.

[sneakypete]

Our family has found that Amazon prime and the prime stick works quite well. The wife and youngins have been working through the old Star Trek series. I'm easily amused so you tube has a fair amount of regular entertainment. There are several channels on you tube I think are more informative than the history channel which was the big thing I missed about having cable. If you are into the history of tanks, swords, or firearms there is a fair amount out there. Add in the occasional old western on sale on DVD amazon and we are made in the shade.

@Idaho_Cowboy

Lonesome Dove seems to be playing on both Amazon Prime and Netflix all the time,and westerns just don't get any gooder than that one. Pure gold!

Come to think of it,"Deadwood" is about as good as it gets too,but maybe not quite as "child friendly".

[Applewood]

Apple and Netflix and Hulu, oh my! ‘Subscription fatigue’ sets in among streamers

Apple’s entry into the streaming-video business Monday gives consumers another impressive choice for online movies and TV shows — a high-profile, deep-pocketed competitor for the likes of Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.

t also is sure to prompt some people to rethink which services they want to keep paying for.

https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-apple-streaming-service-subscription-fatigue-20190325-story.html
***
A good read.  I had more services, but now I just have Netflix, Prime and Sling TV.  If I paid for all of the services out there, I'd be paying as much as basic cable and Wi-Fi.

[Idiot]

Apple and Netflix and Hulu, oh my! ‘Subscription fatigue’ sets in among streamers
https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-apple-streaming-service-subscription-fatigue-20190325-story.html
***
A good read.  I had more services, but now I just have Netflix, Prime and Sling TV.  If I paid for all of the services out there, I'd be paying as much as basic cable and Wi-Fi.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I cut the cord probably 10+ years ago and have never looked back.  All I had are local channels.  Within the last few years I tried Netflix, but was surprised with the real lack of content.  I tend to like 70's & 80's shows/comedies/sitcoms, etc. and of course local channels for news. 

So basically all I really need are:
Local Channels, which I get by antenna.
Some way to watch older shows, sitcoms, etc.
Some sports
Love DIY shows, HGTV, Fox News
The newer shows or movies....I could really care less about.

Any suggestions since I'm really clueless on how to access these.

[Elderberry]

You could try torrents. Its a crapshoot on what you will find. I don't much care for sitcoms, but I did download some "Laverne" and "That Girl" for my daughter. She got a big kick out of them. I mostly went after the westerns  and old movies.

[roamer_1]

Anyone have any suggestions?

[...]

Some way to watch older shows, sitcoms, etc.

@mrpotatohead

Try Hulu or the free PlutoTV... Some of the older ones are free on Youtube.
For instance: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=columbo+season+1

**NOTE: You really need an ad blocker like AdBlock Plus or UBlock added into your browser or youtube ads will drive you completely nuts. With an ad blocker, you get no ads at all.

Some sports

No help from me there... Can't stand sports, other than NASCAR, and I really don't do that anymore. They've wrecked it for me. I keep up with mud and offroad on youtube.

Love DIY shows, HGTV,

Youtube... And really, subscribe to any number of actual user channels on the subject - WAY better than the TV shows, by far.

Fox News

https://www.arconaitv.us/ Arconai is a weird duck... It's all streaming all the time. You can watch Game of Thrones, for instance, but you'll have zero control over the episode, start or finish... But don't let that get you down. For LIVE FEED, it's got a lot of the majors, CBS, Disc, NatGeo, CW, SyFi, etc. to include FOX news and FOX Business.

So for regular channels, if you know when something is playing, just tune into the feed. For FOX, which is the only thing there I care about, the when of it really doesn't matter. At least not to me.

Any suggestions since I'm really clueless on how to access these.

A ROKU would give you a whole lot of options. If your TV is newer and a smart TV, it may have ROKU capabilities built right in. Otherwise, if you have HDMI ports, a ROKU can be added (about $50-75 one-time expense, though many channels require $ubscription)

As to the links I am giving you, I have an actual computer hooked to my TV (My TV starts up on a Windows desktop)... I don't know how you get there with a TV otherwise.

[jmyrlefuller]

So basically all I really need are:
Some way to watch older shows, sitcoms, etc.
Some sports
Love DIY shows, HGTV, Fox News
The newer shows or movies....I could really care less about.

Any suggestions since I'm really clueless on how to access these.

Older shows and sitcoms... it depends on the show. If you're willing to subscribe, CBS's "All Access" has official streaming from quite a few of the shows in its library.

For a few of the really old shows, the ones that have lapsed into public domain, there's the Internet Archive:
Classic TV : Free Movies : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive
Those are the ones that have probably been rerun ad nauseum for decades because they never bothered to hold onto the copyright, but they're totally free and you can do whatever you want with them legally.

A few distributors have official Youtube channels. Plus, if you have an antenna, you probably have access to MeTV, Antenna TV, and/or the Retro network, which all have lots of those older shows.

There's also CHCH, which is a television station out of Canada. They're hit-and-miss on the shows they stream live, but they do carry some of the classic sitcoms:
http://www.chch.com/live

Another idea is to look up old DVD sets on eBay or some other secondhand site. You'll pay for the discs, but they're physical copies and yours to keep.

Sports:
This one's tough. If you're looking for the big events, you're going to be limited to what is on antenna unless you resort to piracy. That kind of stuff, because the networks pay so much in rights fees and want to recuperate as much as they can, is simply never going to be legally available for free online. Besides, once you factor in network lag, you're probably better off listening to a radio broadcast anyway.

Fox News:
They actually offer an audio-only feed of their prime time shows for free.
https://radio.foxnews.com/player-files/radio.php

The DIY stuff, I can't really answer that.

Hope this helps @mrpotatohead