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From an email sent today.
"From time to time, we adjust pricing as programming costs continue to increase. As of January 19, 2020, some of our rates are changing, and you can find details at..."
Great. I quit- the cord is being cut.
I only watch Nuggets in the Winter and Rockies in the Summer. I pay $1400 a year to not watch television? Stupid on my part.
No more.
Hmm. I?ll didn?t get the email (yet) so hoping the cost of my package doesn?t go up. I?m already paying $2400 a year for stuff I mostly don?t watch.
everyone's raising their rates. We cut the cord 1.5 yrs ago. Using firestick's apps and the subscription services that have a monthly fee, notified me they're raising their rates.
We got the same email. Funny though, our DVR is crapping out after several years and new ones are money. We just got a Dish Network promo for a $200 gift card if we switch and a cheaper plan than DirecTV that has all of the same channels my wife and kids use. No brainer. I hear that Dish has much better service than about 10 years ago when I ditched them so we'll probably go with that.
If it was up to me we'd have nothing but streaming, but up here that's an option.
If you have decent internet service consider downloading one of the tv apps like atttvnow.com (formerly) direct tv now. Almost all of them are a monthly service plan, no annual or 2 yr contracts.
I haven't paid for TV service since......
Shoot, I don't think I ever had.
I have paid for a proxy for awhile though, but those are only like $3 / month [Muaha]
I would agree on cutting the cord and going with Sling, Play Station or one of the others that fit your needs and use OTA for local stuff. The challenge is the internet needed. I have the most basic Comcast tv package. One non-HD box and most basic channel lineup. I really want to get rid of it but getting rid of the tv part shoots my internet alone through the roof. Up on the north side of Denver the only real high speed/high bandwidth option is Comcast. Century Link Prism has not arrived yet up here (if anyone knows of something else please let me know).
Cut the cord a couple of years ago. Not going back. At one point I was paying for 5 or 6 dvr's with Direct. Now all of it is streaming. Only issue is live tv news. They are getting there with 7 and 9 and 13 (CS) available , 31 for some reason (probably profits) decided to stop their live streaming recently. Apple TV has news apps for 7 and 9 and 13 and 31. What I also like is now I can watch Houston or Kansas City or Boston news too without having to do it on a computer. Roku is my preferred set top device because it isn't as much big brothered as Apple is. Roku you can watch things Apple will probably never allow.
I went with playstation Vue a couple years ago. It worked fine but I didn't watch it. As I stated, the only things I watch are basketball and baseball. None of the streaming services have live local sports. I can get pirate streams on the web but they can be hit or miss.
Regardless, DirecTv can suck my nuts, I'll never give them another cent...
Unless they give me a killer offer when I call to quit.
I have a Roku but don't use it either.
I would gladly pay Altitude and whatever the Rockies station is but until a la carte viewing is available, I am out of luck.
DirecTV and Altitude bragged about how they got a deal done 'for their customers'. Both Comcast and Dish wouldn't bend over to accept the carriage cost increases when folks are price conscious and cord-cutting. Now those DirecTV customers get to pay $2 more per month for the privilege of having Altitude. I miss being able to watch as many Avs games as I would like, but the ridiculous price increases don't make any sense, particularly when the content you get is full of commercials. You would think that more eyes on the commercials would offset any losses in carriage fees.
I had att now, it went downhill as prices raised. Switched to YouTube tv for same cost. So much better in guide, DVR and picture quality.
Plutotv is a good free option.
Disney+ hulu live tv option sounds interesting.
I was on a vpn and subscribed to sky sports in th UK for formula 1, but since ESPN carries sky sport F1 coverage, I dropped those. The vpn let's me watch a few out of market games on YT tv.
Finally a la cart tv is here. I was sick of paying for 300+ channels when I only watched a handful.
Dropped comcast to lowest inet tier and it works just fine. It is bundled with a low grade tv package that reduced price.
Altitude should create streaming channel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gman
I don't think they can. Contracts with the NHL and NBA prevent it... for now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric P
I found an app for my tv called locast. You can get all your local programming for free but it does try to get you to donate $5. Interrupts the program for a few seconds every 15 minutes but I can tolerate it.
Yeah, and the NHL streaming option blacks out local games. I have the NHL app and it prompts me to sign up every game, even though I can't watch it.Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiememphis
VPN set to other location fixes that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gman
Tried Kodi for awhile, it seemed like work.
Went to antenna and Sony Vue & Netflix.
Now I'm antenna, Disney+ and looking at YouTube TV.
All I need in life is Star Wars stuff, NASCAR, NFL and and other auto racing stuffs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1970
Hate be the downer here but good golly, think what that $2400/ year would be worth if invested in mutual funds each year at a very modest (or actually minimal) 10 percent return. In 20 years it would be worth $167,352, and that's if the direct tv rate stayed the same, which of course it wouldn't. In 30 years the cost that tv service could have paid you $476,143. If at 17 percent which is about what we're earning, the 30 year return would be $2,084,565.
Subscription tv service is more costly than most folks realize. In 20 or 30 years what memories of tv entertainment would be worth two million bucks? Is it really worth it? I could travel the world in style for that kind of money and it would definitely be more fun than couch surfing at home.
Cutting the cord is kinda like quitting smoking. You save money and get healthier. And if you still need the tv fix, a good digital antenna for broadcast tv is ~$100, and the public library system can provide any movie you want to watch free of charge. Order online and they'll be ready to pick up.
Just some fast food for thought.
If you knew how much money I piss away on all kinds of stuff you?d probably tell me I?m missing out on $10 million.
I do make up for my wasteful spending in other areas though. Mostly vehicles. I drive the same vehicles for fifteen or twenty years at a time so I car payments don?t burden me like they do to some people.
If we want to have fun with numbers, I wonder what percentage of a person?s income would be acceptable to spend on television?
Acceptable? Who makes the judgement?Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1970
If someone loves television, spend as much as you want.
I don?t care what anyone chooses to spend their own money on. To each their own. I was just curious if there was a percentage that might be considered reasonable or normal. Maybe there isn?t.
I did see some google results that said the average person spends $1300 or so a year on television. Not sure if they specifically meant each person or if it was for the household but let?s assume household for the sake of conversation.
The average household income in the United States is roughly $63K.
I guess that means the average spent on television is roughly 2%.
Although in total dollars I spend more than the average person, the percentage of my income spent is actually below the average.
Just food for thought.
A couple years back, I had centurylink DSL, and directv. The internet was slow, and unreliable. We finally switched to comcast, for much faster and more stable internet. Went with comcast's highest package, total cost was almost identical to what we were paying directv plus centurylink. I guess a couple deals fell off, so our price bumped up to about $225 over the last year, but it's still worth it to me.... the full comcast package keeps the wife happy, and the fast internet keeps me happy since I work from home. Our cost is also higher because we've got 4 tvs, so the extra boxes add onto the price.Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1970
Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1970
Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiememphis
You're both right, of course. We all have our pleasures and vices, and differing ideas of expendable income. My point wasn't personal but to suggest that it never hurts to re evaluate what we're buying and whether it's really delivering what we're seeking. I learned early on that spending $$ on depreciable toys like race cars and motorcycles was a spiraling rat hole and that real estate was a better, more satisfying long term investment. And for me, satellite/subscription TV was a rip off that never delivered. But I'm at a stage where spending more on guns, accessories, ammo, hunting and travel makes me happy. I'm content to conserve on some things to splurge on others. Just don't forget the value of that extra $2 million bucks around retirement time.
This week I received a piece of mail that was in one of those envelopes with the perforated, tear-able edges that usually means there's a check enclosed.
Upon opening it up, it was a solicitation for DirectTV.
Their marketing department must be getting desperate if they're willing to resort to such a transparently BS tactic.
In the meantime, screw 'em. I'm happy with my Roku. Between Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO subscriptions, I can always find something to watch and it's still cheaper than DirectTV or Comcast cable.
^^^^. Not desperate marketing at all. SMART marketing. They got you to open it and look.
All the crap I get that looks like a check is for home equity or refinance offers.
They got me to open it and look.Quote:
Originally Posted by colorider
And then piss me off at the duplicity of their BS.
Sorry, but if the first thing you do is tick me off, I'm not going to buy your product.
If getting junk mail triggers you then maybe you should lighten up a bit before you have a stroke.
Seriously, my coworker is strung pretty tight and he had a heart attack last Friday.
I hope he recovers.
He didn?t die and he?s going to take some time off. I imagine he?ll be good to go come 2020. Thanks.
Regarding the advertising. It's called top of the mind awareness marketing. Yes, it did piss you off, but the science behind it is that the more times you see their company, the more likely you are to use them or at least call them when you are ready for a service they and others provide.
This group might have some ideas given this topic...
I'd like to ditch DTV, have wanted to for some time. Currently ~$150 a month. No premium channels. I've seen in hundreds of places claim "Hey, just call 'em up and say <whatever>... I now pay $12 a month!" Well, that hasn't worked for me.
For $150, I can subscribe to a LOT of services, rent movies and still be ahead.
But...
The GF is old school and likes to channel surf "to see what's on" and choose from that. And when just vegging out, will choose something to watch from what's currently showing (which 9 times out of 10, is a Harry Potter movie) rather than surgically go "I want to watch Outlander".
There's no way to display in a schedule the sheer number of channels displayed by DTV (because, after all, all those channels IS the service). But I might be able to get a few OTA "being shown right now" channels, perhaps with some existing OTA PVR (recommendations please) or even build a OTA Raspberry Pi PVR.
Suggestions, anyone?
$150/month is a heck of a lot to pay to channel surf.
O2
I use Sling. I have the Sling box (airTV or whatever), connected to my antenna for OTA (and a hard drive to DVR the OTA stuff), and it displays them all on a guide similar to a regular TV service. I think we pay $45 or $50 a month.Quote:
Originally Posted by O2HeN2
I'm being somewhat hyperbolic, frankly, I'd already forgotten about the whole thing until I came back to this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1970
Joke's on them. Roku is everything I want in TV with none of the fat, and at a reduced cost, even with subscription to a premium service (HBO).Quote:
Originally Posted by colorider
I guess you might have a point about the whole top of mind marketing thing, but, regardless of how often they get me to look at an ad, I still don't have a need for one of their buggy whips.
For the record, I wasn?t meaning to bust your chops or seem condescending so I apologize if it came across that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin
I work around people that always seem to stress over insignificant things and I don?t think it?s healthy so was just trying to toss friendly advice your way.
I have had direct TV since about 1994. My bill is close to $200 a month but I have the service on four TVs with DVRs and I have pretty much every channel you can get- HBO, Showtime, Stars, sports package, etc. I?d give it all up and just stream everything but there are a few crappy channels that my wife watches that I haven?t figured out how to stream just yet.
I ditched cable a few years ago. At first I was using Kodi to stream everything and anything. That turned out to be constant work and not reliable at all. Sites up and down all the time. Now I use Roku for everything. I don’t use any of the pay subscription services. It took a while to adapt, but it works. My wife was pissed at first as her HGTV and other silly home shows where unavailable, however she has now discovered there are a ton of those show on Roku for free. I mainly use the Pluto app. I should add that I am not a sports fan at all, so no live sports availability is a non issue.
I called DirecTv to quit and they cut my bill in half with no contract. She said I am allowed two discounts per account and to call up next month and see what else they can do.
I can live with that.