Streaming is more convoluted than ever. Is cable the better option once again?

[Doctoglethorpe]

If you like being told what to watch and having ads shoved down your throat at regular intervals then sure I guess cable could be the better option.

This debate is so ridiculous. More streaming options isn't a bad thing. You don't have to sub to all of them, the whole point is you can choose what's important. And really for the amount of money cable costs you can have basically every available streaming sub. So what is there to discuss?

 

[Charpunk]

I mean it's only bad if you have some FOMO complex where you NEEEEEED to have every service at all times no matter what. Cancel Hulu for a month. Next month after GoT is over, cancel HBO until something good is on there you want to watch.

Click to shrink...

Personally I only have Hulu because it's free with Spotify, hbo go is "free" with my mobile plan, amazon video with prime, and I pay for Netflix. At this point I refuse to pay for another streaming service, even though I want to watch the new Trek stuff, I'll live.

 

[jfkgoblue]

If you like sports, cable is and always will be necessary

It's also why cable is expensive, if streaming got something like the NFL or NBA, prices would double or even triple for them as well.(and no, Prime getting a broadcast simulcast once a week of TNF doesn't count)

 

[Futureman]

And really for the amount of money cable costs you can have basically every available streaming sub. So what is there to discuss?

Click to shrink...

how much is cable now though? At least in the US, cable TV is bundled with internet. Everyone NEEDS internet and most of the time they add a cable option for $30 extra or so for hundreds of channels. With all the deals they run with new subscribers and 2 year agreeements and what not, it's not really clear at any time how much adding a cable TV package is.

I agree in general though that I like things better now and wouldn't want to go back.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I have OTA for sports as well as Netflix and Amazon Prime. I'm not willing to sign up for anything more and will just not see whatever is on the other services, Disney's included.
I won't ever go back to cable, though.

 

[nanskee]

My HD cable is only $20 a month at most. National Geographic, and Sports is probably all that I watch. I get one subscription service, then cancel and so on

Non-HD cable is only $10 where I'm at.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

how much is cable now though? At least in the US, cable TV is bundled with internet. Everyone NEEDS internet and most of the time they add a cable option for $30 extra or so for hundreds of channels. With all the deals they run with new subscribers and 2 year agreeements and what not, it's not really clear at any time how much adding a cable TV package is.

I agree in general though that I like things better now and wouldn't want to go back.

Click to shrink...

Idk where you get those prices but i know my grandmother pays like 150/m for hers. After bundle discount. Then there's all the other fees like renting their stupid box. It's an insane ripoff.

 

[jfkgoblue]

how much is cable now though? At least in the US, cable TV is bundled with internet. Everyone NEEDS internet and most of the time they add a cable option for $30 extra or so for hundreds of channels. With all the deals they run with new subscribers and 2 year agreeements and what not, it's not really clear at any time how much adding a cable TV package is.

I agree in general though that I like things better now and wouldn't want to go back.

Click to shrink...

Yeah for me internet+cable with TiVo was only $20/month more than just internet. Hell no data cap internet is more expensive than the cable/internet package. Cable will never die as long as the cable companies control the internet market. My contract is also up soon, and AT&T just moved into the area and is offering cable(one tier up, I need my NFLN)+unlimited data internet for $90/month. Cable is only super expensive if you don't haggle at all.

 

[RedMercury]

Hell no, if you have Netflix and Hulu you're still saving ~60 bucks a month from a cable subscription. Double up with friends and family and save some money.

 

[sleepnaught]

Hulu+Netflix+Amazon Prime is all I need. Sometimes I'm subbed to HBO as well. Even then, its far cheaper and my convenient that cable tv ever has been. I don't care about sports so, that's a plus. I don't even pay for the Netflix or HBO and Amazon comes free with Prime that I would pay for anyway. Our streaming services are shared across multiple households without issue.

 

[GeorgePBurdell]

If you like sports, cable is and always will be necessary

It's also why cable is expensive, if streaming got something like the NFL or NBA, prices would double or even triple for them as well.(and no, Prime getting a broadcast simulcast once a week of TNF doesn't count)

Click to shrink...

I think this just depends on what sports you watch. I am mostly a football fan but I also watch some college basketball, golf, and tennis. Youtube TV has ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, all of the ESPN channels, FOX sports, FS1, and FS2. It also gives access to WatchESPN. I rarely miss out on anything I want to watch.

 

[Futureman]

Idk where you get those prices but i know my grandmother pays like 150/m for hers. After bundle discount. Then there's all the other fees like renting their stupid box. It's an insane ripoff.

Click to shrink...

That's part of my point. It's not really clear how much cable is because it's different for every customer basically depending on if they are a new custmoer, if they took advantage of some deal, if you called in a threatened to cancel and got a discount, etc.

Gigabit Fios over Black Friday last year is $80/month for me for 2 years. I think it was like $85/month (plus equipment rental) if I wanted to add the base cable package on top of that.

 

[Nameless]

Cable is still far more expensive than the 3-4 video streaming services I'm subscribed to at any given to time. Don't get how that's "convoluted".

 

[Spiderz]

People are just going to revert back to piracy when you need 10 streaming services to watch the things you used to only need one or two for.

 

[Deleted member 36054]

If you like sports, cable is and always will be necessary

It's also why cable is expensive, if streaming got something like the NFL or NBA, prices would double or even triple for them as well.(and no, Prime getting a broadcast simulcast once a week of TNF doesn't count)

Click to shrink...

Yup. And DirecTV Now has been perfect for it so far (In NYC)

 

[jfkgoblue]

I think this just depends on what sports you watch. I am mostly a football fan but I also watch some college basketball, golf, and tennis. Youtube TV has ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, all of the ESPN channels, FOX sports, FS1, and FS2. It also gives access to WatchESPN. I rarely miss out on anything I want to watch.

Click to shrink...

Streaming live sports has always been a terrible experience,(any big event gets buffering for example) and those streaming services that are just cable over the internet aren't any cheaper than cable in my experience.

 

[Wiped]

I mean does every kid need a TV? I had to share 2 with 4 other siblings and it was fine. Not to mention you can stream on multiple devices and I doubt everyone will watch Netflix at the exact same time.

Click to shrink...

This. Not to sound old (...) but I grew up in a 6 bedroom house with two siblings.

We had ONE Tv in the house until I was 13 and got a mini one for my room

 

[Abhor]

Nah. I don't care about sports and I just sub to one service at a time that has content I want to binge.

Also fuck ads.

 

[Deleted member 18502]

Still saving well over $80/month, if you hate saving money, go back to cable.

 

[bangai-o]

People are just going to revert back to piracy when you need 10 streaming services to watch the things you used to only need one or two for.

Click to shrink...

Pirates are always going to look for excuses to pirate.

 

[Lunchbox-]

canceled youtube tv this month

at 50$ a month, there's no point

 

[squeakywheel]

Don't forget about over the air if you really want to save money. Sure you'd need to buy extra equipment to record but it's not bad for the basics.

 

[GeorgePBurdell]

Streaming live sports has always been a terrible experience,(any big event gets buffering for example) and those streaming services that are just cable over the internet aren't any cheaper than cable in my experience.

Click to shrink...

I recently watched the Final Four, the final round of the Masters, the CFB National championship, and the Super Bowl all on streaming with no problems at all. I will admit that this is very dependent on the service. Direct TV Now had plenty of problems when I used it, as did Sling TV. Youtube TV and PS Vue were nothing but rock solid for me pretty much all of the time.

 

[RetroMG]

I got cable about a year ago because my internet provider told me they were going to start aggressively charging for going over data caps. And between my wife and I both regularly working from home and streaming most of our TV, we were regularly going WAY over our data cap.

I recently noticed that my provider added an addon that I could buy to remove the data cap. But when I considered adding that on plus the price of the streaming services, (Playstation Vue is my favorite) it was going to only save me something like $10-15 per month.

Then I considered that through the cable provider I get free access to a bunch of TV channel apps like the Food Network app (for my wife and I) and the Disney Jr app (for my daughter) to stream video, or to watch it on a tablet. (It might not be the best parenting, but being able to sit my two-year-old down with her tablet and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a godsend when I need to get stuff done.)

So I decided to keep my cable for now. I'm going to keep evaluating, especially because I think I'm on a promotion that expires soon that might drastically change the price of having cable. But for now, the pros of Cable outweigh the cons for my family.

 

[patientzero]

(It might not be the best parenting, but being able to sit my two-year-old down with her tablet and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a godsend when I need to get stuff done.)

Click to shrink...

This might be a totally off-topic point to address, but speaking as someone who is not a parent but did a lot to help raise my much younger brother in his early years, the fact that you are at least monitoring the content, making sure it is age-appropriate, and presumably contextualizing it puts you head and shoulders above most parents. Good on you!

 

[RetroMG]

This might be a totally off-topic point to address, but speaking as someone who is not a parent but did a lot to help raise my much younger brother in his early years, the fact that you are at least monitoring the content, making sure it is age-appropriate, and presumably contextualizing it puts you head and shoulders above most parents. Good on you!

Click to shrink...

Thanks! It's tough to do (and it means I watch a lot of the same kids shows over and over,) but it's worth it.

 

[smurfx]

Disney and other companies aren't gonna keep their best stuff on demand like they currently do. They will likely stop offering as much stuff once their streaming networks are up. Cable subscribers are gonna keep paying more for even less content.

 

[skeezx]

at this point for me it's not so much about cost but rather viewing habits. i've become so accustomed to streaming rather than following regular programming (with the exception of something like HBO Now where i obvs can't binge the new season of GOT) i really don't care this or that cable package would shave off some odd $

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Don't forget about over the air if you really want to save money. Sure you'd need to buy extra equipment to record but it's not bad for the basics.

Click to shrink...

This is the plan. Ween down to just OTA+DVR and Disney+

This. Not to sound old (...) but I grew up in a 6 bedroom house with two siblings.

We had ONE Tv in the house until I was 13 and got a mini one for my room

Click to shrink...

+

Is my house in 80's bro. (We old Now)

 

[Canklestank]

Subscribe to fewer services? With Hulu (not live) and Netflix, I have no need for anything else. I do have antenna TV with a DVR that gets used occasionally, but that's free. I'm nowhere near cable prices.

Do I miss out on things like Game of Thrones? Yep. Oh well.

 

[Vilix]

Besides Netflix what's the best streaming service for the money? I'm currently looking at Hulu live.

 

[jfkgoblue]

I recently watched the Final Four, the final round of the Masters, the CFB National championship, and the Super Bowl all on streaming with no problems at all. I will admit that this is very dependent on the service. Direct TV Now had plenty of problems when I used it, as did Sling TV. Youtube TV and PS Vue were nothing but rock solid for me pretty much all of the time.

Click to shrink...

It has admittedly been a couple of years since I've tried those services,(Vue was the one I used the most). But considering both would be $50/month for the package I'd want, it's actually more expensive than just having cable, so I haven't tried it recently.

Vue also wouldn't give me the Fox Sports channel I wanted, while my cable provider does.

 

[TaterTots]

I'm at the point of paying more than most cable packages right now. Thinking about going back.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

People are just going to revert back to piracy when you need 10 streaming services to watch the things you used to only need one or two for.

Click to shrink...

It would be pretty pathetic to pirate something you could "rent" for a whole month for the price of a lunch.

 

[Reinhard]

I have a 1 TB data cap per month which means a streaming only future isn't viable for me, especially if you add in game streaming too ;p. I have 0 alternatives right now other than Verizon 5G which I am not sure is in my part of the city yet - but even if it is, come on it is Verizon so you know the cheap price and unlimited data will go away as soon as the 5G service gains any traction.

 

[J-Wood]

Agreed it is easier to sub or unsubscribe with streaming services but I'll disagree on the portable aspect that people keep bringing up. All of the major channels allow you to login with your cable/satellite provider meaning when I go to a hotel and take my fire stick, I have access to almost everything expect for local channels live.

 

[Apathy]

It was going to end up happening when every content producer wanted to get more money. Everything is fragmented to shit. The amount of streaming services is getting absurd

 

[Maxim726x]

Eh, I ended up just going with Hulu Live tv. It has all channels I need and most importantly no contracts or rental feels on equipment and I can cancel any time. Imo the streaming options are way more convenient than cable still.

Click to shrink...

This is ultimately what we did.

Thought we'd be slick... But then Optimum raised the price of internet 20 bucks a month, and because we're streaming we needed to update the speed which cost another 20/month... Annnndddd we're basically back to where we started.

 

[entremet]

I'm at the point of paying more than most cable packages right now. Thinking about going back.

Click to shrink...

But those crappy boxes, terrible image quality, and poor UIs. Do you really want to go back?

 

[Whitemex]

Pick your poison at this point. You are going to paying the same amount either way

Click to shrink...

This pretty much. I was doing DirecTV Now and internet and was paying 100 total a month. I pay that much now with Comcast with more channels and better interface and ease of use

 

[Schlep]

We have Sling Blue, antenna, Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon year round. I would have Amazon and Netflix whether I have cable or not, so the total I pay for 'cable' is about $40/month.

Contrast that with how much AT&T wants around here for their service and DirecTV or Uverse. The promo period price is $95/mo, and the contracted second year is $145/mo. Not really a hard decision.

And if I really hit a budget crunch, just antenna and Netflix would be good enough.

 

[floridaguy954]

Not even close when cable TV barely has any truly 4K content.

Amazon Prime and Netflix delivering actual 4K content is enough for me at the moment.

 

[ChrisR]

Cable still costs more over all the various streaming services we use.

 

[TaterTots]

But those crappy boxes, terrible image quality, and poor UIs. Do you really want to go back?

Click to shrink...

Image quality is fine to me. I didn't know people thought it was bad until this thread haha. With a bundle currently offered in my area, I'd save like $40 per month. At least until the contract is up.

 

[hibikase]

I still don't understand what's so awful about multiple streaming services you can just subscribe to for a single month at a time. You don't need to subscribe to everything simultaneously.

 

[Lakeside]

Streaming live sports has always been a terrible experience,(any big event gets buffering for example) and those streaming services that are just cable over the internet aren't any cheaper than cable in my experience.

Click to shrink...

I watch live sports almost exclusively with PS Vue and Youtube TV and I do not have this issue.

 

[kubev]

I didn't have cable TV service for years, but I signed up for it prior to this past football season. Honestly, for the channels that I wanted, it was the best value, which really struck me as odd, given how many more channels I get. Obviously many of them are junk, but I hate the "cord cutting" thing that's being pushed as this better value, only for none of them to have all of the channels that I want. It's getting to a point where all of these streaming services are getting as bad as the cable companies when you put them all together.

 

[jstevenson]

the only reason cable is "expensive" is because you have to pay ridiculous fees and rent their equipment. The actual content cost, when the rest is removed, is essentially comparable to similar streaming plans.

I've owned my own DVRs and Modems for years, and find that to make the equation go in cable's favor (esp since I get all the app access with my cable log anyway)

I also watch sports, and sports is a cable / satellite game.

 

[Lakeside]

I also watch sports, and sports is a cable / satellite game.

Click to shrink...

Why is this?

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Why is this?

Click to shrink...

It's not quite that. Many streaming services have live sports too along with broadcast channels.

So depending on the plan, you may not be missing much vs traditional cable/satellite.