- Nov 29, 2003
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Most of the streaming options gives a free trial, CBS AA for example gives a 7 day option free.
HBO Max - WarnerMedia Announces Upcoming Streaming Service
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Most of the streaming options gives a free trial, CBS AA for example gives a 7 day option free.
Yeah, some of that will happen. The biggest-profile gobblings will be when CBS buys Lionsgate/Starz, and then MGM's Epix, and folds both of them into Showtime, which at that point will be the only big mainstream premium service targeting adult audiences that's available both standalone as well as an add-on to just about every service out there (except Netflix). HBO and Cinemax will get subsumed into the broader HBO Max service, although just HBO by itself will continue to be available for awhile longer.
Some of those little fish you mention may be able to survive as add-ons distributed through every possible platform out there: traditional cable services, Hulu, HBO Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, etc. But even among those, some will merge or get snapped up. Britbox and Acorn TV, for instance, seem destined to eventually merge. You can imagine CuriosityStream getting bought up and merged into the forthcoming Discovery service, or maybe CBS All Access as they continue their expansion after the Viacom merger.
For the past two years, I've received a free annual 30-day trial for both Hulu and CBS All Access. Netflix might do this too if you don't sub for 12+ months (they used to). And I can't count the number of free months of Prime I've received before I became a year-round sub (though some of those free months were thrown in with certain purchases, like an Echo Dot or Kindle ). Similarly, oftentimes you get a free month of certain services when buying a new device or activating a service for the first time on a particular device. That's how I got two months of free HBO in less than a year's time. Maybe they are, or will be, getting more restrictive in the future, but other than Netflix (which until May, I had paid for continuously since 2011), I've had more free time with streaming services than paid time over the past three years. And for a lot of that paid time, I've benefited from 50% off discounts.
As I posted above, I've gotten a free month every year. And not a special thing just for me (because, for example, I got a free month with another service or device purchase, etc.)—it was made available to the public at certain times, including past subscribers (and no, I didn't use alternate email account info). At least twice all ready this year. I know because I passed on the first opportunity but took advantage the second time it came around (just after the second season of Discovery ended).
- Nov 29, 2003
- 15,982
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Again so what, do you expect them to keep giving away their service, they are a business, does Dish, DirecTV, Comcast, etc let you have a free trial like, for example, YouTubeTV who is letting new customers try out the service for 2 weeks at no charge.
You keep criticizing and seem to be very biased towards streaming services, like for example you will write you are stuck and have to pay for the entire month of a new service like it is a negative, but you do not point out that if you sign up for Dish for example you are stuck for 2 years and if you do cancel you have to keep paying them ( $20 a month i believe)for those 2 years.
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I'm biased against any service (or anyone who recommends such a service) that doesn't tell the whole truth about what the offering is (or isn't). This includes not keeping their advertising/comments up to date about price changes and service changes (DVR service seems to be a real football).
To suggest that all services are pretty much the same is also a rather huge disservice. Yeah, maybe it is a pain noting all the caveats and limitations but more than a few services aren't very up front about what they offer.
It is also disingenuous to tout things that require a lot of vigilance to obtain or maintain as commonplace. It is fine if the chase is the thing but it must be presented that way. For those who are less interested in the chase, there are more conventional services that operate in a relatively predictable way.
- Nov 29, 2003
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a lot of words posted and yet no evidence shown so I and others can debate what you wrote.
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I don't seem to recall an instance where you posted that cable TV or satellite TV raised prices or started charging for something they never charged for before (e.g., broadcast channels and RSNs) and none of the OTT services charge separately for. Or whenever a traditional TV service suddenly drops channels, including HBO/Cinemax or the Fox RSNs in 16 major US cities dropped by DISH two weeks ago and which Charlie Ergen now says may never come back.
I was one of the most vocal complainers here about YouTube TV's recent price increase. And I've never shied away from talking about its DVR restrictions or missing channels, always posting news updates, good or bad, in the YTTV thread as soon as I hear them. Do I mention every "caveat" every time I say something positive about YouTube TV. Of course not. Why should I? But I certainly do when it's relevant or someone is looking for a recommendation or an opinion on which service might be best. (Why do I feel like we've had this discussion before?)
If you're referring to my recent posts about deals for free months or discounts on various OTT services, what constitutes "a lot of vigilance" and "commonplace" is subjective and relative. I don't chase anything. But I am patient, and I sometimes hear about deals in online places I regularly frequent. But mostly these offers just appear in my inbox directly from the provider, deals I'm sure everyone else gets and has become predictable enough (at least based on a two-year pattern) that I am able to plan and space out my OTT subscriptions based on them.
Conventional providers often warn of service, price and fee changes through various means (primarily your bill -- paper or PDF). Disputes are less likely to have advanced notice but those often involve crawls on the channels themselves. To suggest that OTT providers handle disputes any differently is probably jumping the gun as there have been few (if any) that have happened thus far (probably because their initial contracts haven't run out yet).
Do your OTT providers offer anything that looks like a bill or do they just show up as a charge on your card? I remember that Netflix used to warn once via e-mail well in advance of price changes but I don't recall that they followed up after the grandfathering expired. It was up to the consumer to watch the bottom line on their bill. Finding out what content was coming or going would show up in rather frequent newsletters and occasionally in the title of a departing series but if you wanted to really track things, you perhaps need to use a third party Netflix tracker such as whats-on-netflix.com or justwatch.com.
I get nothing from Amazon Prime or any of the channels therein. I would hope that they would give notice of additions, deletions or price changes, but I haven't seen anything yet.
Do your OTT providers offer anything that looks like a bill or do they just show up as a charge on your card? I remember that Netflix used to warn once via e-mail well in advance of price changes but I don't recall that they followed up after the grandfathering expired. It was up to the consumer to watch the bottom line on their bill. Finding out what content was coming or going would show up in rather frequent newsletters and occasionally in the title of a departing series but if you wanted to really track things, you perhaps need to use a third party Netflix tracker such as whats-on-netflix.com or justwatch.com.
I get nothing from Amazon Prime or any of the channels therein. I would hope that they would give notice of additions, deletions or price changes, but I haven't seen anything yet.
So far, I've always gotten notices of any price changes via email for the OTT services I was currently subscribed to (Netflix, PS Vue, YouTube TV, etc.), sometimes months in advance. There are a lot of issues one can raise about OTT services, but from my experience (and from what I've heard from others) not being aware of a price increase until it shows up on your bill isn't one of them.
I don't have a DVR, so CBSAA serves as my DVR for CBS shows so I don't use it for just 1 show. How do you watch Broadcast CBS shows? It is cheaper to pay for the streaming services than it was for DVR and receiver fees when I had Dish.
Doesn't Dish also charge $10+/month for local channels on top of everything else?
I sub to CBSAA on an annual basis and I sub to the commercial free version. It costs $99 annually so that comes to $8.25 a month.....
DISH charges $12 for LIL (Local Into Local). If you don't need LIL, they offer "free" guide data for some of the OTA channels. DISH's competitors still haven't made locals optional.
How do I watch CBS shows ?
I use D* with my locals or use my OTA antenna normally.
CBSAA is WAY lower priced than DirecTV which is how you are paying for CBS now. I can see your point if you are already paying for CBS. We didn't have CBSAA when we had Dish. However, we thought it made much more sense to pay about $10 a month for CBSAA then $180 a month for Dish. So it is every CBS show we want to watch, not just 1-2 extra shows. Streaming is still way lower price for us than what we ever had to pay for Dish and it is not even close. Plus, it gives us a lot more freedom.
Being an employee, I still do better than that ... no, not free, remember this is ATT.
In response to the Disney+ price point apparently, HBO Max will cost the same as HBO Now: $14.99. It launches next spring.
Report: HBO Max May Launch in April 2020 at $14.99, Same Price as HBO
Report: HBO Max May Launch in April 2020 at $14.99, Same Price as HBO
