Cord cutting on the cheap!

As children age and their tastes change, I expect that what they want to watch and how they acquire it will change as well.
Certainly possible , and who knows what will be available for them to choose from at that point. Likely most of the live services won’t be around in the same format they are now depending on the ages of the children you mention.
 
Really? The kids in my family are in their teens/20s and they have never had cable TV. And the younger you go, the higher percentage of kids that's true of.

My 25 yo daughter just finished grad school, and got her first real job, and moved in with the fiancé. This is really the first time she had to be the decision maker on whether to get cable/satellite TV. Most in their teens/early 20s aren't in the position to make the choice to subscribe to cable/satellite TV.

She uses one of my YTTV streams right now. The question is what they do if/when they have to pay for it. In the least, it's not an expense they are used to having.

Point being, things may change, but it's not looking good right now.


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For you it may be. I think Douglas Adam's says it best...

I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt (Dirk Gently, #3)




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Very, very, well put. If otherwise, advances would slow to a crawl.

Does it apply to the Amish, I guess. They’re kind of our future, if things really hit the fan and they defend themselves.
 
Does it apply to the Amish, I guess. They’re kind of our future, if things really hit the fan and they defend themselves.

It’s ok, I’ll get a Ice Cream Cone to defend myself.


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3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt (Dirk Gently, #3)

I think this accounts for so, so many of the comments I see on this forum and the other major satellite TV forum. Remarks from old guys who think that the cable bundle of linear channels, DBS, and DVRs will be around forever. It's apparently very difficult for middle-aged men to accept that the world is changing and it's changing to suit the needs and preferences of the younger generations who will replace them.
 
It's apparently very difficult for middle-aged men to accept that the world is changing and it's changing to suit the needs and preferences of the younger generations who will replace them.
It is also impossibly difficult to predict how tastes will change and whether the willingness to jump through hoops will survive in a busy adult life.
 
It is also impossibly difficult to predict how tastes will change and whether the willingness to jump through hoops will survive in a busy adult life.

Again what hoops do you have to jump thru to switch to streaming, it was one of the most easiest things I have ever done.

And my tastes have changed towards streaming because that is where the broadcasters have decided to put out all the new/best programming, much of it in 4K where Traditional Providers are falling at.
 
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Again what hoops do you have to jump thru to switch to streaming, it was one of the most easiest things I have ever done.

And my tastes have changed towards streaming because that is where the broadcasters have decided to put out all the new/best programming, much of it in 4K where Traditional Providers are falling at.

The hoops are there depending on what you want to watch and how. The easiest but not really much different than existing cable/sat, is the replacement services.

But if you want the best selection mix of delayed live shows and originals, then it requires you to use multiple apps, each having their own UI.

Not daunting to most after a bit, but still there.


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A lot of people, middle-aged men and women included, are tired of paying for what they don't watch. What use do (actually) busy adults have for 200+ channels? You'd spend half your free time just scrolling through all the channel options to find something to watch.
 
A lot of people, middle-aged men and women included, are tired of paying for what they don't watch. What use do (actually) busy adults have for 200+ channels? You'd spend half your free time just scrolling through all the channel options to find something to watch.

Even though I watch a lot of daytime TV, most of it other than what’s on cable, I skinny my guide down to less than 30 channels and even in that list most channels don’t get watched much. That’s why the Sling Blue fit me so well. It has the 9 cable channels I consider must haves and is only missing the broadcast channels.

I was doing some reading yesterday and it seems that when ATT launches HBOMax many of the channels that are now on Hulu will go away there. Something about ATT paying the penalty for pulling them before the contract ran out. Wonder what that might mean for those same channels being in the likes of Sling, Hulu Live and other cable/sat replacement services.


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Again what hoops do you have to jump thru to switch to streaming, it was one of the most easiest things I have ever done.
I'm not referring to switching from traditional pay TV, I'm referring to the hoops that you may have to jump through to go from one streaming subscription to another. My jumping is mostly between the Roku Channel and Amazon Prime on a Roku 3 and it is similar but there's no question that I'm facing a different UX with each.
 
I'm not referring to switching from traditional pay TV, I'm referring to the hoops that you may have to jump through to go from one streaming subscription to another. My jumping is mostly between the Roku Channel and Amazon Prime on a Roku 3 and it is similar but there's no question that I'm facing a different UX with each.

That’s why I like my AppleTV. The AppleTV app does a very good job of giving me a consistent UI and with their ‘up next’ feature, allow for going back to series where I left off. Downside is not all other services are supported, including none of the cable/sat replacement services.

For those subscriptions bought through Apple you never leave the app, for those supported but not bought from Apple, you get to the appropriate app and the show/episode starts. So your interaction with the other apps is minimal. It is definitely a step in the right direction.


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I was doing some reading yesterday and it seems that when ATT launches HBOMax many of the channels that are now on Hulu will go away there. Something about ATT paying the penalty for pulling them before the contract ran out. Wonder what that might mean for those same channels being in the likes of Sling, Hulu Live and other cable/sat replacement services.
Link? Are you sure HBO Max is pulling linear channels owned by AT&T/Time Warner (HBO, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network) or just on demand content and catalog shows? I noticed this month Netflix is losing some of its CNN-produced docu-series.
 
Link? Are you sure HBO Max is pulling linear channels owned by AT&T/Time Warner (HBO, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network) or just on demand content and catalog shows? I noticed this month Netflix is losing some of its CNN-produced docu-series.

They are pulling them all from Hulu, and paid Hulu to be able to do it early. That said, the articles about that are just vague enough that it could be seen to be only the catalog shows. We’ll know in May.

Tried to find the blasted article again, but can’t remember what search phrase I used and things I tried didn’t show it today. Sorry.


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They are pulling them all from Hulu, and paid Hulu to be able to do it early. That said, the articles about that are just vague enough that it could be seen to be only the catalog shows. We’ll know in May.

Tried to find the blasted article again, but can’t remember what search phrase I used and things I tried didn’t show it today. Sorry.


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I would think if AT&T were officially pulling its channels from a major streaming platform like Hulu, it would be all over the tech and cord-cutting media. I did a search myself and came up completely empty.
 
I don't think AT&T is pulling their basic cable channels (e.g. CNN, TBS, TNT) from any streaming cable TV packages, whether that's Hulu Live or YTTV or anyone else.

Also, they have not announced anything about HBO Max including any live linear channels at launch. (I think there's a decent chance it will include at least the original linear HBO channel but that's just my hunch. I very much doubt it will include the live channels of CNN, TBS, etc.). Now, by next year, HBO Max is supposed to offer one or more add-on live cable channel bundles, the same way that Hulu does. I'm sure those bundles will include all of AT&T's own channels, as well as channels from other companies too. (I believe those bundles will simply be repeats of what they also sell under the AT&T TV brand.)

What IS going on right now is that AT&T is pulling at least *some* of the WarnerMedia content they own from competing on-demand streaming services like Netflix and Hulu so that it will exclusively reside in HBO Max's on-demand library. The highest-profile examples of that include Friends and The West Wing.
 
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I'm not referring to switching from traditional pay TV, I'm referring to the hoops that you may have to jump through to go from one streaming subscription to another. My jumping is mostly between the Roku Channel and Amazon Prime on a Roku 3 and it is similar but there's no question that I'm facing a different UX with each.

I don't find that to be an issue. Normally, I know what I want to watch, bring up that app and start watching. When it's over, I move on to what's next, and if need be, closing the first app and opening another.


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Another option is to get rid of internet and keep cable tv. You can use your cell phone for internet. Obviously this won't work for a lot of people but if you only use internet to check email and social media it's doable.
 
Another option is to get rid of internet and keep cable tv. You can use your cell phone for internet. Obviously this won't work for a lot of people but if you only use internet to check email and social media it's doable.

I’m not sure that works well financially. The cable companies are pretty much pushing and pricing the heck out of bundling services.


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I’m not sure that works well financially. The cable companies are pretty much pushing and pricing the heck out of bundling services.

I have a landline, 1GB internet and basic cable through my phone company for $90/month. The 1GB internet standalone is like $130/month.


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