Come on, I bet At least 80% of Dtv customers either don't pay full price or signed up for a free device. Also I'm sure Att is signing up people without their knowledge.
DNow poised to surpass Sling
- Thread starter ncted
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 43
- Views 4K
Still in denial, I see. Probably also waiting for 8 Track tapes to make a comeback
Last edited:
One of the biggest attractions for me with YouTube TV is that I can get the CBS Sports Network in a basic package. That channel televises the majority of my home college team's football and basketball games, but on cable and satellite I usually have to subscribe to a sports tier add-on in addition to everything else. And then when I was with cable, the box they gave me for my bedroom and that I was renting wouldn't even get those channels I was paying for.
How does any of the recent news suggest that OTT isn't just a new delivery scheme of the old cable model (except that it requires the subscriber to provide the bandwidth)? The more time goes by, the less distinguishable they'll be (for those services that survive).
Not me. Subsequent technologies have long since surpassed the AQ of 8-track.
If only my car deck played FLACs.
Bottom line, it's up to the consumer. If you choose a smaller selection of channels with a dvr built into the service at a cheaper price, and you're happy, perfect. If you choose a cable/sat provider that offers niche channels that are a must have for you, and you wish to pay an extra dvr fee, poss an extra regional sports fee and tv fee, maybe even an hd fee, and it works for you, great too. Bottom line, for me (just my household) OTT saves me about $40 before extra tv outlet fees. But this is my household experience and everyones will be different. But sports fees, tv fees modem rentals and all equipment owned by the cable/sat co. go up a lot faster each yr than inflation. In the end, it should be about *enjoying* tv not complaining about the bill. Just too much competition now to justify that other than someone implying it should all be free anyway
My two cents:
I have tried DNow and Sling and love both services for the most part.
I know everyone here has different needs and preferences. Each service can be good depending on what you are looking for.
For me personally I love Latino programming and lots of Sports. I think DNow is better when it comes to that since they have Fox Sports Espanol and GOL TV which Sling does not have. They also include a lot of South American channels in their basic Latino package that Sling either does not have available or charges more for
That said, DNow does not have BeIn Sports English yet so that is a programming negative on their side.
When it comes to technology and ability to use on various devices Sling wins hands down
I can use the apps on many old devices (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, Roku, Chromecast) and they work pretty flawlessly.
DNow is solid on an Amazon Fire stick and my iPhone 6 but it does not work with Android devices I have at all. Nor does it work on my old iPad since it needs IOS 10 to download.
That is a major bummer.
So if DNow ever resolves the technology issue it could be the one I chose as the clear winner but until then I will say it is pretty much a tie.
I have tried DNow and Sling and love both services for the most part.
I know everyone here has different needs and preferences. Each service can be good depending on what you are looking for.
For me personally I love Latino programming and lots of Sports. I think DNow is better when it comes to that since they have Fox Sports Espanol and GOL TV which Sling does not have. They also include a lot of South American channels in their basic Latino package that Sling either does not have available or charges more for
That said, DNow does not have BeIn Sports English yet so that is a programming negative on their side.
When it comes to technology and ability to use on various devices Sling wins hands down
I can use the apps on many old devices (iOS, Android, Amazon Fire, Roku, Chromecast) and they work pretty flawlessly.
DNow is solid on an Amazon Fire stick and my iPhone 6 but it does not work with Android devices I have at all. Nor does it work on my old iPad since it needs IOS 10 to download.
That is a major bummer.
So if DNow ever resolves the technology issue it could be the one I chose as the clear winner but until then I will say it is pretty much a tie.
Yes I have. Fubo is also a great cord cutting option.
The main negative as a huge sports fan is that it does not have access to ESPN Channels or ESPN3 which to me puts them behind the other two providers.
There's also no access to South American Channels that I prefer to watch.
Last edited:
I should have emphasized that my Android devices are not the newest gadgets in the world. I use my old Galaxy S III and a Lenovo Yoga 2 tablet on weekends.
I casually watch television on those two devices using various apps. For some reason DNow does not work at all on those devices which annoys me because both Fubo and Sling have worked flawlessly on all the devices I have thrown at them.
I had some friends who tried out DNow, but immediately canceled when they realized it wouldn't work with their older Roku.
It does mot make much sense to me.
Sling and Fubo are probably happy that DNow is rubbing some customers/potential customers the wrong way.
Maybe DNow does not care because they think only new apps and devices are being used by millennials or whatever key demographic they want as a priority. But I find it bad business practice to not be able to have your apps work for as many devices as possible. Or at least the ones your competition in the market can provide.
Sling and Fubo are probably happy that DNow is rubbing some customers/potential customers the wrong way.
Maybe DNow does not care because they think only new apps and devices are being used by millennials or whatever key demographic they want as a priority. But I find it bad business practice to not be able to have your apps work for as many devices as possible. Or at least the ones your competition in the market can provide.
There's a bleeding edge that will try stuff just to see if it works. Chasing after them is not really a sustainable business model. Not having full support for Roku is inexcusable (though sometimes it is Roku's fault).
It seems obvious to me that DTVN isn't sure who it is. It isn't certainly isn't what people expect from DIRECTV (sports channels are notably missing as are foreign channels and a path ($$) to get almost everything out there) and the platform support hasn't reached the status of "fair" in my mind.
I don't think it is unreasonable to want a single front end for everything and we haven't seen that yet in the streaming realm. I'm sure it isn't that the services haven't tried, but breaking up the channel bundle model is surely going to require Federal intervention.
I forgot to mention that DNow does not have an Android TV app. Sling and FuboTV do.
I wouldn't even try Sling until they add my locals.... I don't understand why they are the only Streamers that don't seem to care about the network channels. Not everyone can watch TV with an antenna (me included) even if they wanted to. Or maybe I'm behind the times - did they add locals??
yes... unfortunately none of the "mainstream" networks I guess. I still don't understand why that seems to be such a low priority for them when most (if not all) of the other providers are carrying the locals. If OTA was an option for me, I wouldn't care as much.
I honestly watch more on PBS and CW than FOX and CBS. I am guessing it is because both of those channels already provide free streaming apps for that content.
It's their business strategy. Sling has opted to try to keep their price the lowest of all the OTT live TV streaming services by not including all the locals for every market. Early on they added a few here and there, or made on demand content available in certain markets, but they aren't making it a point to give everyone their locals like most of the other services seem to be doing. Of course you pay a lot more for those other services than the cheapest Sling channel package.
