To Subscribe Or Not To Subscribe, That Is The Question: Paid Streaming Services

[StatisticalOutlier]

I should point out that my ire with captions resetting to "no" has to do with watching from the cache--I'll turn on the program and go away for 20 minutes or so and come back to start watching it and that's when I remember that Max always turns off the captions.  It's probably my punishment for gaming the system and skipping commercials. 

I have Hulu but haven't been watching it lately because my Max is expiring in a few weeks so I'm prioritizing it, so I haven't noticed if there's any caption chicanery going on. 

Oh, and another annoyance, probably Roku specific.  If I do a search from the Roku screen it will show a given movie and then list below that where I can watch it.  But it's wrong!  For example it says it's included with my Spectrum account, but if I go to Spectrum it says I have to pay for Paramount+ to watch it.  

And there was a movie that the Roku search said was available on Hoopla.  I clicked on it and it did indeed go to Hoopla, and to a screen that had that movie, but if I clicked on "watch" or "wishlist" it wouldn't do anything.  So I did a search for that same movie within Hoopla, and it didn't find it.

But that's one nice thing about having the standalone DVR--I can go into the cache and see what all screens I saw, so I can at least re-create what I saw and know I'm not losing my mind when I recall that such-and-such screen said I had access to a program but such-and-such-other screen said I didn't.

 

[AheadofStraight]

Peacock gets its second price hike in a year, just in time for the Paris Olympics

[EtheltoTillie]

Chiming in on this caption thing.  Captions on is my default for everything.  Today I join the crowd seeing that the Max captions are default off.  Ugh.  Even when I end an episode and go to the next.  Just leave it at the last setting I used!

Edited May 4 by EtheltoTillie

[RealHousewife]

10 hours ago, AheadofStraight said:

Peacock gets its second price hike in a year, just in time for the Paris Olympics

Oh wow! I definitely get my money's worth with Peacock even if they raise the price, but I might pay the annual fee before they do so.

I am debating on streaming services for Bridgerton and Mad Men. Just a bummer to get Netflix or AMC for only one show each, especially since I already pay for Peacock, Max, and Hulu. I read I can watch Mad Men on Pluto for free, but I'm not a fan of watching a dramatic show with ads. I don't mind it if it's something light on Hulu, but I like my dramas ad-free. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

24 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Chiming in on this caption thing.  Captions on is my default for everything.  Today I join the crowd seeing that the Max captions are default off.  Ugh.  Even when I end an episode and go to the next.  Just leave it at the last setting I used!

It's worse than that!  I just started a program on Max and walked away for about 5 minutes, and realized the captions aren't on.  Argh.  So I turned them on, and decided to go back to the beginning of the show so I'd have the captions for the whole thing.

So I rewound and got to the gray static-y HBO thing and started from there, and when the show started, it didn't have captions!  It turned them off on the same show I had just turned them on for, and had merely rewound to the beginning.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Chiming in on this caption thing.  Captions on is my default for everything.  Today I join the crowd seeing that the Max captions are default off.  Ugh.  Even when I end an episode and go to the next.  Just leave it at the last setting I used!

8 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It's worse than that!  I just started a program on Max and walked away for about 5 minutes, and realized the captions aren't on.  Argh.  So I turned them on, and decided to go back to the beginning of the show so I'd have the captions for the whole thing.

So I rewound and got to the gray static-y HBO thing and started from there, and when the show started, it didn't have captions!  It turned them off on the same show I had just turned them on for, and had merely rewound to the beginning.

Okay. Forget about everything I suggested upthread about other users turning the captions off — unless you have reason to think otherwise.
Similarly, it wasn't until my last daughter went away to college that I realized she hadn't been putting empty ice cube trays back in the freezer; they just evaporate over time if you rarely use ice.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

@shapeshifter  The ice thing is called subliming.  We learned it in high school chemistry.

[meowmommy]

19 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It's worse than that!  I just started a program on Max and walked away for about 5 minutes, and realized the captions aren't on.  Argh.  So I turned them on, and decided to go back to the beginning of the show so I'd have the captions for the whole thing.

I've had problems before with HBO captions on Roku, but they seem to be working for me right now.  Hope I don't jinx myself.

And, in good news, Paramount+ has decided to add the ability to delete items from the watchlist and keep watching list just by using the asterisk on the Roku remote.  Maybe they heard me whining and complaining.

[meowmommy]

13 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

I've had problems before with HBO captions on Roku, but they seem to be working for me right now.  Hope I don't jinx myself.

Spoke too soon.  Have to reset the captions with each episode.  Grrr.

[Bastet]

20 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

And, in good news, Paramount+ has decided to add the ability to delete items from the watchlist and keep watching list just by using the asterisk on the Roku remote.

I wish I could find a way to do it with my Fire remote (there is no asterisk button).  This morning, I decided to re-watch the season finale of Ghosts, but fell asleep halfway through.  Paramount+ decided to show me Young Sheldon next, so that's what I woke up to -- a show I will never watch, but now have on my damn Continue Watching list.  You can remove a show from My List by holding the select button, but that doesn't work in the Continue Watching list.  I was hoping the ≡ button would bring up the option to remove it, but nope; in fact, none of the buttons other than Play do a damn thing in that list.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

I've had problems before with HBO captions on Roku, but they seem to be working for me right now.  Hope I don't jinx myself.

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Spoke too soon.  Have to reset the captions with each episode.  Grrr.

🤐🙊

 

[StatisticalOutlier]

I just tested a couple of different programs on Max, and my "always" setting on captions has stayed on.  Maybe they fixed it??

[EtheltoTillie]

Same for me on Max captions.  Seems to have been fixed. 

[Anela]

I've just seen that Netflix, Apple TV, and Peacock, are going to be combining their services, and apparently charging a vastly reduced price. 

[Bastet]

11 minutes ago, Anela said:

I've just seen that Netflix, Apple TV, and Peacock, are going to be combining their services, and apparently charging a vastly reduced price. 

It's Comcast that will be offering a bundle, called StreamSaver, of those three services to its subscribers, at less than what it would cost to subscribe to each individually (Comcast CEO promised a "vastly reduced price to anything in the market today"); details are expected to be released later this month.  (Here's the Reuters article about the announcement.)

[shapeshifter]

3 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It's Comcast that will be offering a bundle, called StreamSaver, of those three services to its subscribers, at less than what it would cost to subscribe to each individually (Comcast CEO promised a "vastly reduced price to anything in the market today"); details are expected to be released later this month.  (Here's the Reuters article about the announcement.)

I just read that too.
I don’t think Comcast is available here in Western New York state. Just Spectrum.
🤷🏻‍♀️

[Anela]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It's Comcast that will be offering a bundle, called StreamSaver, of those three services to its subscribers, at less than what it would cost to subscribe to each individually (Comcast CEO promised a "vastly reduced price to anything in the market today"); details are expected to be released later this month.  (Here's the Reuters article about the announcement.)

I was just coming back to edit that in, because I forgot that part. :) 

I don't know if we have comcast, but I don't think we're going back to any cable companies. 

Edited May 14 by Anela

[meowmommy]

59 minutes ago, Anela said:

I don't know if we have comcast, but I don't think we're going back to any cable companies. 

I don't have Comcast, but having gone from almost $300 a month for cable TV + internet to $50/month for internet, plus ad-free Paramount-Showtime/HBO Max/Hulu-Disney that total less than $50 a month, and all the free streaming channels, plus Tablo, we don't miss cable.  We have more programs now that we actually watch than we did with cable.  Still debating whether to pick up Peacock.

HBO carries a good portion of CNN broadcasting, and I've discovered that almost all the MSNBC shows run a little while after their airing as podcasts.  I can live with that rather than paying for cable channels or Sling that I don't want, just to get MSNBC.

[StatisticalOutlier]

Does anyone here subscribe to the Criterion Channel?  I'm wondering if they're like the others and when the credits start (or even before the credits start!!) the image goes up in a little box in the upper left.

The Criterion Channel seems a little more bespoke than the others, so I think there's the slightest possibility (but maybe only the slightest possibility) they respect the credits.

[Broderbits]

12 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Does anyone here subscribe to the Criterion Channel?  I'm wondering if they're like the others and when the credits start (or even before the credits start!!) the image goes up in a little box in the upper left.

No, the credits roll uninterrupted. A lot of the older movies have the credits before the movie starts, but I guess now with so many credits for cgi artists, animators, food service providers, accountants etc. half the audience would be asleep before the action started!

[MissAlmond]

On 5/14/2024 at 5:55 PM, Anela said:

I've just seen that Netflix, Apple TV, and Peacock, are going to be combining their services, and apparently charging a vastly reduced price. 

 

On 5/14/2024 at 6:10 PM, Bastet said:

It's Comcast that will be offering a bundle, called StreamSaver, of those three services to its subscribers, at less than what it would cost to subscribe to each individually (Comcast CEO promised a "vastly reduced price to anything in the market today"); details are expected to be released later this month.  (Here's the Reuters article about the announcement.)

 

Cable Part II: The Reimagining. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

4 hours ago, Broderbits said:

No, the credits roll uninterrupted.

Hmm...I might actually subscribe then.  And it just makes me even madder at Netflix and Max and all the rest who put the credits in the little box. 

I was recently watching a Satyajit Ray movie.  It was subtitled and his movies usually just say "The End" or whatever at the end, with no credits.  So what did Max put up in the little box?  The last few seconds, where the main guy actually says something, but of course the subtitle is minuscule in that little box.  Way to spoil the mood.

[athousandclowns]

On 3/30/2024 at 7:17 PM, ABay said:

Detectives is available on Britbox, or possibly Acorn. I wish they'd made more episodes.

I’ve subscribed to Acorn for years so did a search for it and it’s says it’s tgrough MHz Choice and I’ve not heard of that. 

[ABay]

Huh. I could've sworn it was one of those.

MhZ is another network available through Amazon like Britbox and Acorn. It has a few series I've really enjoyed but not enough or often enough for a regular subscription. I have it right now but the subscription ends in a few days and I'll wait a few months before signing up again.

Among the series I've enjoyed: Art of Crime, Blood on the Vine, The Lake, Murder in..., and a couple I'm forgetting. Most of what I like is either in French or German. I've yet to see anything in Italian that I could tolerate for more than 10 minutes.The Spanish shows I've enjoyed have been through Netflix, I think. High Seas was fun and had gorgeous sets. If you ever have a chance to see The Ministry of Time wherever it might be streaming, give it a chance. It's fun and it's interesting to see history from a Spanish perspective.

Edited May 20 by ABay

[StatisticalOutlier]

Attention Max via Black Friday folks:  Your six months is about up.  Mine ends on May 24, and I just got through cancelling it (but it stays active until the 24th, it turns out).  I did it online and it offered me Max with ads for $4.99/month for three months. 

[peachmangosteen]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Attention Max via Black Friday folks:  Your six months is about up.  Mine ends on May 24, and I just got through cancelling it (but it stays active until the 24th, it turns out).  I did it online and it offered me Max with ads for $4.99/month for three months. 

I have been meaning to ask here if anyone knew if Max was offering another discount when people cancelled so thanks for this. I'm gonna take it since I wanna finish Hacks and Girls on the Bus and start PLL: Summer School.

[StatisticalOutlier]

I purposely didn't start watching Hacks because I added up the number of episodes and realized I wouldn't get the last episode unless I extended.  I'll binge it the next time I get cheap Max, and I'm sticking to my promise that I'll never pay more than whatever the Black Friday special is. 

When I cancelled, there was a box where I could explain why, and I bitched about them interrupting the credits and having to hit OK in order to get them back.  I know they'll never change that, but at least I tried.

[peachmangosteen]

I don't really mind the credits thing as much as others because I never watch them. And now that I know about the extra little things after the Hacks episodes being in a seperate section anyway, I just watch them there.

And I really appreciate that the ads are short and all at the beginning. It makes me even more irritated by how long Hulu's ads are and how they're usually placed so arbitrarily multiple times throughout episodes. Even Freevee, which is literally free, has less ads than Hulu. 

Edited May 21 by peachmangosteen

[AheadofStraight]

Not all Max ads are at the beginning. I just watched the Space Shuttle Columbia documentary and the ads were randomly throughout and super annoying!

[StatisticalOutlier]

4 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

don't really mind the credits thing as much as others because I never watch them.

But presumably you watch all of the program, and as I described above,  they pushed the end of a movie up into the box--a movie that was not in English and therefore had subtitles, which were impossible to read in the little box.  It's not much fun to watch a whole movie and not be able to know what the final zinger is without rewinding and getting close enough to the TV to read the subtitle in the little box. 

I'm gathering that the shows on Max that aren't interrupted by commercials are HBO content.  I haven't been keeping notes, but have noticed that Hacks, The Jinx, The Gilded Age, Somebody Somewhere, John Oliver, Bill Maher--none of these have commercials interspersed, and all are HBO shows.

So I think it's original HBO content that doesn't have interspersed ads, but everything else does.  All the movies I've watched have commercials.  And the documentary about the space shuttle originally aired on CNN that reportedly has commercials--that was originally aired on CNN.

But that's all only my observations.

Something else they do is if you start a program and immediately pause it, the screen freezes, as expected, and then a couple of seconds later an ad appears on the right side of the screen.  The desperation is real.

[chitowngirl]

My Disney+ plan is increasing $30/year-from $109.99 to $139.99. 😡

[AheadofStraight]

On 5/20/2024 at 3:54 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Attention Max via Black Friday folks:  Your six months is about up.  Mine ends on May 24, and I just got through cancelling it (but it stays active until the 24th, it turns out).  I did it online and it offered me Max with ads for $4.99/month for three months. 

I was a Black Friday sale person too and they didn't offer me anything when I cancelled! Thankfully I finished the Space Shuttle doc in time.

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, AheadofStraight said:

I was a Black Friday sale person too and they didn't offer me anything when I cancelled!

Well that's annoying.  I just this minute got an email telling me they 50% off offer I declined is expiring soon.  It gave me a unique looking redemption code to use when I'm logged in to my account.

Maybe you didn't complain enough. 😀  (Actually, I'm pretty sure they gave me the offer when I was cancelling, before I utilized the comment box to express my ire.)

[AheadofStraight]

Maybe I'll get an email eventually!

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 5/21/2024 at 1:33 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

So I think it's original HBO content that doesn't have interspersed ads, but everything else does.  All the movies I've watched have commercials. 

I stand corrected.  When I said that, I hadn't fired up Dune Part 2 yet.  Before it started, there was a very short commercial and then it said my ad-free experience was courtesy of the Marines.  

This is the first current movie I've watched; all the others are at least several years, if not decades, old.  So maybe they drum up sponsors for fare that people might actually be watching. 

[athousandclowns]

I thought I read it here about using Comcast for Wi-Fi only and subscribing to YouTube was good. I’m at my wits end with Comcast jacking up pricing as just March when they went from 163- to 219. I spoke to someone for an hour and 10 minutes winding up dropping HBO and I see today I get notice that it’s up to 174 this month.  So I want to act quickly and have spent a couple hours trying to sign up for YouTube tv to no avail. Seem to only get YouTube app working on my tv .  I’m following directions  and even watched a YouTube video but gave up. I subscribe to prime video Acorn and  PBS.  Anyone confirm that YouTube is the way to go? I’m so used to Comcast menu for 20+ years which is so easy to navigate and when at my friends house who have direct I think it’s looks a mess. My son was here for short visit and I tried to talk to him about it and he said his father was using Hulu and navigating menu was difficult. Maybe it’s my age. 

[Anela]

On 5/21/2024 at 12:32 PM, AheadofStraight said:

Not all Max ads are at the beginning. I just watched the Space Shuttle Columbia documentary and the ads were randomly throughout and super annoying!

That happened when I had discovery for a cheap price, on prime.  I cancelled it right away, because I thought it would be ad-free.  I haven’t watched any of the discovery programming on Max, but I’ve seen ads for HBO shows at the beginning of shows and movies.  
 

dad told me that he wants to switch to paying monthly for Prime, when it’s set to renew in July.  He doesn’t want that $130+ hitting his credit card.  

[meowmommy]

6 minutes ago, athousandclowns said:

I thought I read it here about using Comcast for Wi-Fi only and subscribing to YouTube was good. I’m at my wits end with Comcast jacking up pricing as just March when they went from 163- to 219. I spoke to someone for an hour and 10 minutes winding up dropping HBO and I see today I get notice that it’s up to 174 this month.  So I want to act quickly and have spent a couple hours trying to sign up for YouTube tv to no avail. Seem to only get YouTube app working on my tv .  I’m following directions  and even watched a YouTube video but gave up. I subscribe to prime video Acorn and  PBS.  Anyone confirm that YouTube is the way to go? I’m so used to Comcast menu for 20+ years which is so easy to navigate and when at my friends house who have direct I think it’s looks a mess. My son was here for short visit and I tried to talk to him about it and he said his father was using Hulu and navigating menu was difficult. Maybe it’s my age. 

It really all depends on what channels you like.  I know when I had cable that there were so many channels I was paying for, yet probably fewer than ten that I actually watched. 

Your primary cable alternatives are YouTubeTV, Fubo, HuluLive, Sling, and DirecTV Stream.  I believe all of them except Hulu offer either a free trial or a first month discount.  I spent a lot of time researching them earlier this year before I cut the cord.  I had problems with YouTubeTV when I tried it last year, so didn't bother this time.  Fubo irked me when I found out about their mandatory sports fees whether or not you watch sports.  DirecTV is just as expensive as their satellite plan.  Hulu Live does not offer any free trial so you're stuck paying the full month even if you don't like it.  I did a trial of Sling Blue in February and discovered I still wasn't watching very much, so I cancelled when the month was up.  Services like Philo and Frndly are dirt cheap but don't offer many channels.  Again, depends on what you watch.

I can get all the local channels and tons of subchannels using a Tablo wirelessly connected to my rooftop antenna.  I have ad-free HBO, Paramount/Showtime, and Hulu/Disney, plus AP which I've stopped watching.  I'm paying a fraction of what I paid with cable and finding a whole lot more that I want to see.  Still holding out on getting Peacock. 

But YouTube TV does offer a free trial.  When I did my free trial, it was so frustrating coordinating settings between my computer and my Roku app that I cancelled within about 20 minutes and deleted everything.

[Bastet]

On 5/21/2024 at 7:14 AM, peachmangosteen said:

It makes me even more irritated by how long Hulu's ads are and how they're usually placed so arbitrarily multiple times throughout episodes.

They're terrible.  I signed up for the ad-supported Hulu plan because the Black Friday deal was only .99/month for one year, cancel any time.  Initially, the ads were reasonable; placed in the natural ad breaks (I was watching a couple of old sitcoms at first) and about the length they'd have been back then.  And if I watched quite a few episodes in a row, I got a bonus ad-free episode brought to me by X sponsor.  But things changed after a few months, and the ad breaks are longer and more frequent (which means sometimes placed smack dab in the middle of a scene, even for something originally cut up for commercials), with no freebies no matter how long I watch in a row.  It's obnoxious and I would never in a million years pay more than .99/mo for this annoyance.

The Roku channel - which is free - has awkwardly-placed ad breaks, too, but there aren't as many of them and they usually last about 30 seconds, no more than 60 (at least for the very limited number of things I watch on there).  Prime and Peacock, from my almost-as-limited exposure, seem to place their ad breaks weirdly sometimes, but they're brief enough I can roll with it.  Hulu is ridiculous.

Edited May 23 by Bastet

[SoMuchTV]

7 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

I thought I read it here about using Comcast for Wi-Fi only and subscribing to YouTube was good. I’m at my wits end with Comcast jacking up pricing as just March when they went from 163- to 219. I spoke to someone for an hour and 10 minutes winding up dropping HBO and I see today I get notice that it’s up to 174 this month.  So I want to act quickly and have spent a couple hours trying to sign up for YouTube tv to no avail. Seem to only get YouTube app working on my tv .  I’m following directions  and even watched a YouTube video but gave up. I subscribe to prime video Acorn and  PBS.  Anyone confirm that YouTube is the way to go? I’m so used to Comcast menu for 20+ years which is so easy to navigate and when at my friends house who have direct I think it’s looks a mess. My son was here for short visit and I tried to talk to him about it and he said his father was using Hulu and navigating menu was difficult. Maybe it’s my age. 

Just to be clear, are you talking about YouTube (where you can watch videos), or YouTubeTV (where you can stream the equivalent of cable tv)?  Those are different apps.  If you were able to watch a YouTube video, it sounds like you were in the wrong app.

Speaking for myself, YTTV was definitely the way to go (after many decades of cable).  It takes a little getting used to, but for me, the price and the dvr ability tipped the scales.  If you do go with a trial, I'm sure folks here can help with questions.

[peachmangosteen]

8 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

I’m so used to Comcast menu for 20+ years which is so easy to navigate and when at my friends house who have direct I think it’s looks a mess. My son was here for short visit and I tried to talk to him about it and he said his father was using Hulu and navigating menu was difficult. Maybe it’s my age. 

This is pretty much the main reason I haven't tried any of the cable-like apps. I am just so used to my Tivo and I don't wanna try to get used to something new. Although, I suppose I had to get used to the change between VCR and Tivo at one point, too. I was much younger then though. I don't have the patience for it now lol.

7 hours ago, Bastet said:

The Roku channel's ad breaks are awkwardly placed, too, but there aren't as many of them and they usually last about 30 seconds, no more than 60 (at least for the limited number of things I watch on there). 

I think the only thing I've ever watched on Roku was the celebrity baking show they did and I remember there being an absurd amount of ads. It's free so I figured there would be. Maybe they've gotten better. I might try something on there again.

[ABay]

I have a Roku TV and GoNetSpeed internet. When I turn on the TV, I see the icons for apps I've selected, like YouTube (Premium so no ads), Amazon Prime,  PBS, and Disney +. The Roku channel would be one of those but I don't think I've watched anything on it.

I get Netflix a couple of months a year. Britbox and Acorn, and sometimes MhZ, I get through Amazon because their stand-alone apps are terrible. All of it together is still about half of what I was paying when I had satellite. Which was in turn lower than Comcast.

I haven't tried this, but is it possible going to Hulu through Disney+? I took the cheap deal last Nov/De and Disney connects to Hulu and other networks.

Edited May 23 by ABay

[jah1986]

I have YouTubeTV and love it, especially the DVR capabilities. I only had to go on my computer once to get the Guide lineup the way I wanted it, but it's a breeze now.

[Anela]

Our TV is from 2011, and I couldn’t get YouTube TV to work on it in 2019. The regular YouTube app worked. 

[SoMuchTV]

46 minutes ago, Anela said:

Our TV is from 2011, and I couldn’t get YouTube TV to work on it in 2019. The regular YouTube app worked. 

As long as you have an hdmi input available, you should be able to run the YTTV app from a firestick/chromecast/roku-type thing. I know my firestick cost about the same as a week’s worth of cable. 

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, ABay said:

I haven't tried this, but is it possible going to Hulu through Disney+? I took the cheap deal last Nov/De and Disney connects to Hulu and other networks.

This made me think about trying to watch Hulu stuff through the Disney+ app now that they're combined. The Hulu app on my Tivo Stream crashes at least twice every time I try to watch 1 episode of something but maybe the Disney+ app would work. I too have Disney+ since you could bundle it with the .99 Hulu deal for 1.99 on Black Friday but I haven't watched anything on it but Goosebumps.

[meowmommy]

21 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

This made me think about trying to watch Hulu stuff through the Disney+ app now that they're combined.

You could try it, as they've cloned a lot of Hulu content over to Disney, but every item (for me) shows the disclaimer, "Included with your Hulu subscription."

There's a lot of Hulu material now on Disney that parents are going to have to put filters on for their kids, I'm thinking.

[peachmangosteen]

Well, I watched Schitt's Creek today on Disney+ instead of Hulu and it didn't crash once so yay!

Sadly though, I didn't get offered a deal when I cancelled Max. Trying to decide what to do there. Might try to hold out a bit and see if they email me anything later lol.

Edited May 24 by peachmangosteen

[Irlandesa]

MHZ has a sale this weekend where you can save 40% if you subscribe for the year. 

On 5/23/2024 at 7:13 AM, SoMuchTV said:

Speaking for myself, YTTV was definitely the way to go (after many decades of cable).  It takes a little getting used to, but for me, the price and the dvr ability tipped the scales.  If you do go with a trial, I'm sure folks here can help with questions.

I like YouTube TV.  I need to ditch able and completely switch to YTTV.  The one thing that my cable has that YTTV doesn't are music channels and I love listening to music on them.  It's such a silly thing to keep cable over, though, but I haven't really found an alternative I've liked for that.  But for TV purposes, it fills my "Live TV" viewing habit where I don't want to have to pick something to watch but rather have to find something to have on in the background.

[EtheltoTillie]

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

MHZ has a sale this weekend where you can save 40% if you subscribe for the year. 

I like YouTube TV.  I need to ditch able and completely switch to YTTV.  The one thing that my cable has that YTTV doesn't are music channels and I love listening to music on them.  It's such a silly thing to keep cable over, though, but I haven't really found an alternative I've liked for that.  But for TV purposes, it fills my "Live TV" viewing habit where I don't want to have to pick something to watch but rather have to find something to have on in the background.

Does YouTube TV have TCM?  I could not live without TCM and the Watch TCM app.  It's a cable-only channel, and the app has to be linked to your cable subscription.