Cutting the Cord

[CDGator]

URG - don't be dense. That's what I'm telling you specifically. That $60/mn cheaper is because of all the fees the networks and ESPN demand for live sports. When you drop Hulu Live, you will lose ESPN regular programming. Don't worry though ESPN+ still has Women's weightlifting and Jim Rome 360.

We used to drop our Hulu service from the $75 service back to the $15 service in January and lose the sports channels to save money. Then pick it up again in august. However Seedy watches soccer so we’ve kept it this year.

 

[AugustaGator]

View attachment 55765

I can’t afford the commas

 

[URGatorBait]

We used to drop our Hulu service from the $75 service back to the $15 service in January and lose the sports channels to save money. Then pick it up again in august. However Seedy watches soccer so we’ve kept it this year.

That might be a good idea

 

[cover2]

I can’t afford the commas

You’re right. Colons and semicolons, however, should be in every author’s budget. So said Suzie J

 

[no1g8r]

So, you folks that have Hulu, Disney, Roku etc., multiple sources to watch tv, how much do you pay per month for all of that?

Last year a lot of great promotional offers were out, and I took advantage of most of them:

• Hulu & Disney+: $4.98/mo
• Netflix: $6.99/mo
• Peacock Premium: 99c/mo
• Paramount+: Free with Walmart+ (which we got for half price for the year)
• HBO Max comes free from cell provider
• Amazon Prime TV comes with my Amazon subscription
• I live too far away from the broadcast towers to reliably get ABC and CBS using an OTA antenna, but the main thing I want is local news, and my preferred local news comes via the ABC affiliate, which has a free app that streams the news live and repeats it in case I miss the time slot. We also can get live CBS via Paramount+ and live NBC via Peacock Premium.

So $12,96/mo. gets us most of what we want to watch. We alternate account emails each year, so when the promotional period ends, we sign up for a new promotional period under the other spouse's email. The obvious glaring exception is live sports, some of which I can get OTA, and some via Paramount+ or Peacock Premium. Otherwise we will either go out to watch those games, or use a free trial if available. Regarding sports, We have mostly reduced our live sports to watching Gator football and basketball, but this year I didn't even try to find basketball Gator basketball after watching some pre-conference season games. The only basketball game that I enjoyed was the FSU game, since it is always fun to beat FSU.

We're also in the middle of a a 2-year promo deal for Spectrum internet which provides their faster speeds for $40/mo. total. Once that ends I'll probably sign up for T-Mobile's home service at $50/mo. until the 90 days have passed that allows me to return to Charter on a new promo. Or whatever provides good service at the best price at the time.

 

[URGatorBait]

Once that ends I'll probably sign up for T-Mobile's home service at $50/mo. until the 90 days have passed that allows me to return to Charter on a new promo. Or whatever provides good service at the best price at the time.

I'm sort of looking into that as well, however I'm not sure how stable the speeds will be as the home service gets treated as 2nd tier to the mobile service.
I do know though that my cell will get better data speeds than my spectrum speeds at times, but it goes up and down where Spectrum has been pretty steady.

 

[Theologator]

I disagree but only once one leaves the promotional period, non-promotional costs for cable (and almost always internet/cable package) are astronomical.
Prime is also a different animal though. Prime video is simply a byproduct of something else people are paying for and not someone everyone goes for.

I pay for internet through Spectrum, then have Hulu Live, Disney+, ESPN+, Netflix, Apple TV, Paramount+, HBO Max and we still pay less, with a lot more content available quickly. It's only more when you include Prime Video, but again that isn't why you have Amazon Prime, it's just a bonus....and we'd be paying for Amazon Prime whether we had cable or streamed tv.

Also, the bigger cell phone carriers often offer one or two of these services for free included with your service. We don't pay for Apple TV, it's included, however even if we were we'd still be about $30-40 less than we were with cable.

We pay $150/month for Dish plus our streaming services. They’ve offered to knock off $25 as a loyalty benefit but a 2-year contract. Cutting that in half or less seems wise.

My hesitations come from familiarity (which is silly) and the ease of switching channels that cable or satellite offers. I like that when we are interested in 2 simultaneous games.

Hulu is missing a few key channels that we’d miss.

Today is the day. Trying YouTube TV. It will take a little getting used to the interface and customizing everything but it looks good.

Then we will see if it’s really worth it.

 

[URGatorBait]

We pay $150/month for Dish plus our streaming services. They’ve offered to knock off $25 as a loyalty benefit but a 2-year contract. Cutting that in half or less seems wise.

My hesitations come from familiarity (which is silly) and the ease of switching channels that cable or satellite offers. I like that when we are interested in 2 simultaneous games.

Hulu is missing a few key channels that we’d miss.

Today is the day. Trying YouTube TV. It will take a little getting used to the interface and customizing everything but it looks good.

Then we will see if it’s really worth it.

As long as you have your channels that you want, then the rest will fall in place.
The way you search channels is definitely different, but you will get used to it.

Funny thing is, when we dropped hulu live last time and went back to spectrum cable under the promo, I actually though the picture was more clear when streaming than through cable. I'll probably never go back to cable for TV unless forced to.

 

[Altitude Gator]

Ultimately, we all have to find a service that fills our needs and meets our budget.

We have Prime, but that was a legacy from getting cheap delivery of Chinese crap, etc. (we actually do our best to avoid this now, but still keep it for the streaming service). We have Hulu live for a cable substitute, but it is $65 per month. We have the Mouse+ stuff from our wireless carrier - but aslo from joining that initially, so cheap.

My experience is that it is a wash unless you really stay on top of the discounts and initial offers. Streaming makes that easier than satellites.

I have Starlink for internet, so a bit more expensive, but it has been a ton more reliable.

 

[no1g8r]

Ultimately, we all have to find a service that fills our needs and meets our budget.

I could easily afford to pay more and get a little more, but do it on the cheap for the sport of it.

 

[grengadgy]

However Seedy watches soccer so we’ve kept it this year.

If I want to watch guys that can't score in 90 minutes then I will take my friends to a local bar.

 

[g8tr72]

Thanks to current economics, looking to cut some costs from our family budget.

Had Hulu Live with local channels for a while. Noticed that it's gone up to $90.

Since the SEC is going to ESPN next year, I won't need any local channels (CBS) to view any sec games.

Thinking of going with the Disney Bundle Trio that gives me Disney (for the grands) Hulu for wife's reality shows, and ESPN+ for sports.

So here's my question - Will ESPN+ subscription give me the same access to ESPN network, SECN and their + channels? Anyone else had experience with ESPN+?

Thanks

 

[Egor's Assistant]

Thanks to current economics, looking to cut some costs from our family budget.

Had Hulu Live with local channels for a while. Noticed that it's gone up to $90.

Since the SEC is going to ESPN next year, I won't need any local channels (CBS) to view any sec games.

Thinking of going with the Disney Bundle Trio that gives me Disney (for the grands) Hulu for wife's reality shows, and ESPN+ for sports.

So here's my question - Will ESPN+ subscription give me the same access to ESPN network, SECN and their + channels? Anyone else had experience with ESPN+?

Thanks

ESPN+ sucks balls. It's for soccer fans and talk show junkies. If a game is being broadcast on regular ESPN or ESPN2 or even the U, you likely will not be able to watch on ESPN+. They make you believe that you are getting ESPN, but really you are getting a bunch of crap. Now if the game is broadcast on ESPN3 or SECN alternative, you MIGHT find it on ESPN+....

The good news is that this will likely change as Disney tries to find ways to increase ESPN revenue. I imagine that ESPN will be available ala cart someday soon.

Definitely cut the cord though..... High speed internet is a game changer.

 

[g8tr72]

ESPN+ sucks balls. It's for soccer fans and talk show junkies. If a game is being broadcast on regular ESPN or ESPN2 or even the U, you likely will not be able to watch on ESPN+. They make you believe that you are getting ESPN, but really you are getting a bunch of crap. Now if the game is broadcast on ESPN3 or SECN alternative, you MIGHT find it on ESPN+....

The good news is that this will likely change as Disney tries to find ways to increase ESPN revenue. I imagine that ESPN will be available ala cart someday soon.

Definitely cut the cord though..... High speed internet is a game changer.

Thanks.

That was exactly my concern.

 

[grengadgy]

I got ESPN+ during a free 7-day trial and stopped it later that day after seeing their line-up.

 

[URGatorBait]

Thanks to current economics, looking to cut some costs from our family budget.

Had Hulu Live with local channels for a while. Noticed that it's gone up to $90.

Since the SEC is going to ESPN next year, I won't need any local channels (CBS) to view any sec games.

Thinking of going with the Disney Bundle Trio that gives me Disney (for the grands) Hulu for wife's reality shows, and ESPN+ for sports.

So here's my question - Will ESPN+ subscription give me the same access to ESPN network, SECN and their + channels? Anyone else had experience with ESPN+?

Thanks

From my understanding, they only way to get full use of ESPN+ is if you have some sort of cable plan, be it regular cable, or Hulu Live, etc. I have Hulu live plus the bundle right now. Looked at dropping down to the bundle only without Hulu Live, but I would lose access to the live games on ESPN+, and yes you do get them as long as you have some sort of live tv subscription somewhere, you use that login to access it.

 

[g8tr72]

I think ESPN+ is necessary to watch some of the Gator basketball & baseball games. Guess I'll be keeping the Hulu Live. Still cheaper than Dish.

 

[B52G8rAC]

Thanks to current economics, looking to cut some costs from our family budget.

Had Hulu Live with local channels for a while. Noticed that it's gone up to $90.

Since the SEC is going to ESPN next year, I won't need any local channels (CBS) to view any sec games.

Thinking of going with the Disney Bundle Trio that gives me Disney (for the grands) Hulu for wife's reality shows, and ESPN+ for sports.

So here's my question - Will ESPN+ subscription give me the same access to ESPN network, SECN and their + channels? Anyone else had experience with ESPN+?

Thanks

Only Noles and Pervs (sort of redundant) knowingly purchase anything associated with Disney.

 

[g8tr72]

Only Noles and Pervs (sort of redundant) knowingly purchase anything associated with Disney.

Congrats on not viewing any Gator games or highlights on ESPN

 

[B52G8rAC]

Congrats on not viewing any Gator games or highlights on ESPN

I said knowingly. And I don't purchase ESPN.