Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know what you mean. My mother is 78 and can't imagine giving up cable. I bought her a Roku for Mother's Day hoping by the time her contract with AT&T (Direct TV) runs out next spring she'll be willing to finally ditch cable. The prices kept rising and AT&T unbeknownst to me until after the fact got her to switch from U-verse to Direct TV to get lower prices. I've never liked Direct TV and she doesn't either now that she has it. What can you do but nudge them along little by little? Funny thing is when I was in high school she wouldn't get cable because she thought it was an unnecessary expense.
Isn't Direct TV available on Roku now?
It could be that, much as people say they don't like cable -- too many unwanted channels, inconvenient airtimes and lack of choices -- they'd rather not have to choose any of it. Old habits as ingrained as TV often is, are hard to change. When I cut the cord, I realized how much my awareness of the time of day had been determined by the TV schedule.
After a couple cable-free years, I still think about it, but cable fees are a pricey way to keep track of time.
Isn't Direct TV available on Roku now?
It could be that, much as people say they don't like cable -- too many unwanted channels, inconvenient airtimes and lack of choices -- they'd rather not have to choose any of it. Old habits as ingrained as TV often is, are hard to change. When I cut the cord, I realized how much my awareness of the time of day had been determined by the TV schedule.
After a couple cable-free years, I still think about it, but cable fees are a pricey way to keep track of time.
Biggest reason for me cutting the cord is cost. I save over $1200/year not paying for satellite or cable TV. I loved DirecTV. I loved the service I had with them. However, the way they charged you was almost like being scammed.
For instance, when I signed up for DirecTV, I got some promotional special choice package that at some sort of "special price". When the promotion ended, the price had doubled each month. Now, I said had doubled instead of did double, because the price kept going up throughout the promotional period, so I never really got the package for the cost that was advertised. By the time the promotional period was over, the cost was already at the regular cost. I might had paid the promotional cost for about three months out of that first year.
Moreover, when I tried to reduce the cost by degrading my package down to a more basic package, not only was I going to lose channels, but I was also going to wind up paying more each month for that lower tier than what I was paying with the current package. To me, that has scam written all over it. DirecTV had it setup to where the only thing I could do to save money was to just cancel altogether. And even then, there was a huge early disconnect fee, which I wound up taking the hit on, because I just wanted out of a bad deal.
But not having cable or satellite hasn't stopped me from loving TV and having favorite things I want to watch. Even more so now, I have to make sure I'm available to watch them since my Tivo bit the dust and I don't have a DVR to time-shift.
Isn't Direct TV available on Roku now?
It could be that, much as people say they don't like cable -- too many unwanted channels, inconvenient airtimes and lack of choices -- they'd rather not have to choose any of it. Old habits as ingrained as TV often is, are hard to change. When I cut the cord, I realized how much my awareness of the time of day had been determined by the TV schedule.
After a couple cable-free years, I still think about it, but cable fees are a pricey way to keep track of time.
Just looked in the channel store and DirectTV NOW is listed. It states it has 120+ live tv channels & 20,000+ On demand movies and shows. I haven't checked out prices but I'm sure it's out of my price range for now. Have to be careful with my money. Plus, I'll have to check out the channel lineup to see if it includes channels I'd be willing to pay for. Honestly, even channels I used to watch on cable I think have gone downhill, i.e. the History Channel and Fox News. I'd be more interested in some of the sports channels, like the NFL Network, and the local Fox Sports channels. If the local Fox Sports channels are blacked out then it would definitely be a no go. Enjoy watching the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings. Haven't seen either for about three years now. Have to admit I like the money I'm saving than spending over $100/month for cable to watch sports and a few other channels.
Anytime I think about not getting the sports channels I'm reminded I have more to watch now than ever on my streaming services for way less money. The way I look at it the sports leagues got way too greedy so I don't mind not giving them my hard earned money.
Anytime I think about not getting the sports channels I'm reminded I have more to watch now than ever on my streaming services for way less money.
I'm surprised that video on demand is as cheap as it is. If you are not into sports, and can get your news from the internet than $10 Netflix, $15 HBO, and $12 for Hulu gives you more commercial free entertainment than one human can possibly watch, and for far less money that commercial filled cable. If you want to be even more frugal you can rotate Netflix and HBO so that your viewing is $22-$27 a month. That is the price of 2-3 people at a movie with popcorn.
I'm surprised that video on demand is as cheap as it is. If you are not into sports, and can get your news from the internet than $10 Netflix, $15 HBO, and $12 for Hulu gives you more commercial free entertainment than one human can possibly watch, and for far less money that commercial filled cable. If you want to be even more frugal you can rotate Netflix and HBO so that your viewing is $22-$27 a month. That is the price of 2-3 people at a movie with popcorn.
That's probably the best way to do it. Rotate the streaming services so that you're never going over a certain amount each month. If one signed up for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, and one of the live TV streaming services like SlingTV, while individually cheap, all add up to well over $70/month. By that point, it really doesn't pay to go the streaming services route. So, doing a combination of a few of those and rotate every few months is probably the better plan. Either that or get a family member to go in halves with you and share your account.
I'm not really a big HBO person. I've never watched Game of Thrones or any of the other premium shows that those movie channels have to offer, and there's so many other, cheaper ways to watch movies (Redbox) that it really isn't worth it to me. The biggest thing for me is sports, namely NFL and College football. Since my favorite teams are not local, then I have to find other ways to watch them. Otherwise, we can pretty much watch anything else we are hooked on watching, because it's pretty much all on the major broadcast stations anyway (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CW.) Stations that you can pick up OTA.
You should watch GoT Skinsguy. I fought it for the longest time. Refused to buy into the hype. Finally decided "OK, I'll try it". Got the 30 day HBO trial and because I can only watch after my kid goes to bed (it's pretty violent) I wasn't able to finish 6 seasons in a month. So I kept HBO... pretty much only to watch GoT, at the time. Now I watch John Oliver, Bill Maher, Westworld I'm catching up on, Veep is pretty funny... but forget all that: watch GoT man. Do the trial. If you never do anything I ever suggest, do yourself a favor and do this one thing.
You should watch GoT Skinsguy. I fought it for the longest time. Refused to buy into the hype. Finally decided "OK, I'll try it". Got the 30 day HBO trial and because I can only watch after my kid goes to bed (it's pretty violent) I wasn't able to finish 6 seasons in a month. So I kept HBO... pretty much only to watch GoT, at the time. Now I watch John Oliver, Bill Maher, Westworld I'm catching up on, Veep is pretty funny... but forget all that: watch GoT man. Do the trial. If you never do anything I ever suggest, do yourself a favor and do this one thing.
I'm afraid I'll get hooked, LOL!
I did catch bits and pieces of the very first episode one time. It did look really good. Definitely violent. My wife wouldn't want to watch it. But, that's OK, she didn't like Sons of Anarchy, and I was glued to the set for that show.
You've convinced me to take out the 30-day trial for GoT Peregrine!
I'm not really a big HBO person. I've never watched Game of Thrones or any of the other premium shows that those movie channels have to offer, and there's so many other, cheaper ways to watch movies (Redbox) that it really isn't worth it to me.
Haven't really watched more than a few minutes of Game of Thrones. I like the dark comedies like "Little Big Lies" and "Veep". Westworld is very dark drama, but it was compelling. John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" is cutting edge for combining cutting edge political research and comedy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
