Negotiating power?

[ChadT41]

At the moment, my bill is just over $90. This includes the equivalent of three receivers and the $74.99 package, if I recall. The discounts include two separate ones; one expires in about two billing cycles, so I'm going to have to review how to deal with that in 2016.

I keep hoping that Apple would get their service out so that I could seriously look at suspending DirecTV service in favor of it, assuming that the new OTT service is worth getting.

Ever looked at SlingTV?

 

[mdavej]

Charter has a new streaming TV package too for under $20. Includes HBO, your locals and a few others. Runs on a Roku which they give you for free. But it's live TV only, no DVR capability (similar to SlingTV). But you do get HBO GO which is on demand and access to each provider's streaming content.

Charter's regular TV service is actually very good these days and a lot cheaper than DirecTV or Uverse and has far more HD channels. My Charter bundle is about $120 after taxes and includes phone, 65Mbps internet and Silver tv package (about equivalent to DirecTV Xtra plus HBO/SHO/MAX). My 5 room DVR system costs me a grand total of $2/month since I have Tivo with lifetime ($300 for a 4 tuner DVR with lifetime, $100 for each client). But of course if you're a huge sports fan, Charter probably won't cut it (no Sunday Ticket, etc.).

 

[maestro7]

Ever looked at SlingTV?

Yes. However, they're still a bit unstable as a platform is concerned, and our family is already 75% invested in Apple products for all of our needs.

Therefore, for us, looking at Apple TV 4 might be our best approach. It really all just depends on how the technology moves.

As I might have said previously, moving to OTT also moves the focus to bandwidth issues, where Comcast is capped here in Atlanta.