[pont3]

I know many here either don't watch tv or have alternate means of getting info. Anyway, how do you feel about OAN being eliminated? I originally subscribed to Direct TV back in the late nineties simply for the ability to watch the Steelers games, and pay over 250 a year for the NFL Sunday ticket package. Well, I'm DONE!

[HoovDaddy]

It's available to stream on ROKU and others. I've been streaming for 3 years, it's cheaper and you pay for what you want, no commitment. And no rate hikes. It makes you watch a little differently though.

[Bills Auto Works]

Having Directv eliminate OAN was the last straw for me!

They have been raising their prices every year while eliminating channels that I watched for quite some time. My bill was $157+ per month & all I had was one package over the basic with a 2nd box that wasn't even HD!

I switched to Dish & I am paying half what I was for Directv, locked in for 2 years for basically the same package. + they gave me a $400.00 gift card to boot! Unfortunately they never had OAN, but I am happy with the large price savings & I voiced my displeasure about Directv eliminating OAN when they asked why I was leaving.

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...closed.614419/

['ol Pinion head]

FireStick on older flat screen in one room, Roku is included. Roku has some form of AON on the LiveTV scroll. Watched it some, but most of my national news & commentary is from Glenn (The Blaze), Bongino, & Levin radio show. Watch some Fox, but not show after show. Big flat screen in our large living area has a RokuStick. We dumped Direct TV about 4 years ago, had Hulu streaming service up til recently. I don't watch a lot of TV, but we have a bad habit of having several screens going early for local morning news, as well as some in the evenings. Recently my wife subscribed to YouTubeTV, better priced, seems to have more programming. Definitely has abilty to DVR a lot more programming. Taking some getting used to.

[bhill86]

I also ditched DIRECTV recently due to price increases and channel losses in favor of Sling which is a streaming service. It’s not for everyone and I don’t watch sports so not sure what sports channels they even offer but I pay $52/month for a good selection of channels that similarly matched what we had with DTV. You can go cheaper too. I think their base packages start at $35/mo. One caveat for us was our previous internet plan did not include unlimited data, which I had to add, but it only went up $30/mo which, combined with Sling, is still cheaper than what we paid with “limited” data and DTV.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Bill, after the 2 years is, get ready to drop them, they will hammer you!!!

Roger, is YouTube TG a stand alone service? Is it through your computer?

My knowledge of much of this stuff is a zero....

[kingbuzzo]

You may want to check out SlingTv...a LA carte Channel selection, dvr and no commitment

[tigergto]

Fire Sticks and a subscription to YOU Tube TV for me. I can watch it from any of the three homes we have. No activating or deactivating, just pair it to whatever internet that’s in the house I’m at, at the time. Plus less than half the cost.

[RocktimusPryme]

TV news in all forms is trash. Nothing but ideologues. At least in printed news they tell you when they are going to put the hard spin on it. If it says "Editorial, Opinion, or Analysis" I dont open it. I dont need anyone to tell me how to think.

That said, if you want the hack to get direct Tv cheaper, just threaten to leave. The first time I asked to have my service cut, they gave me a year at 50% off with no new contract. After that year I said I still wanted it cut and they cut it another 75% for a year. So I had a whole year with my full package for $9 a month. Then when I still didnt want to pay for it they just let me leave after two years of heavily discounted service.

I like many have cut the cord all together. The only reason for me to have any kind of cable is for football and I just find other means. All the other sports I watch have dedicated streaming services. Only the NFL is still in Caveman mode.

[HoovDaddy]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Bill, after the 2 years is, get ready to drop them, they will hammer you!!!

Roger, is YouTube TG a stand alone service? Is it through your computer?

My knowledge of much of this stuff is a zero....

You Tube TV is through your internet and your TV picks it up wirelessly through your home network using a plug in device on your TV such as ROKU. Once you have ROKU plugged in you can add tons of different apps. Sime are free, others you pay for.

Every January we would have to negotiate rates with ATT UVerse, now that we only have internet through them, the rate has been the same for 3 years. Go figure.

HULU Live +, You Tube TV and Sling are the current leaders in the market with similar plans. You do have to look at each providers listing of channels to make sure the one you like has the channels your family likes. Sling doesn't have local channels or live TV though.

We have HULU Live + which now has unlimited DVR and better fast forwarding through commercials effective this month, and they reduced the rate by $10 per month. I originally had all 3 trial services going at the same time and decided HULU had the best channel selection for us and the easiest menus.

T-Mobile has wireless home internet now. I tried it but it won't work with HULU Live, so I had to go back to ATT internet. Also T-Mobile offers Netflix for free.

[ta6point6]

We dropped Dish and went to Roku devices which is free programming with plenty of other free channels to choose from on Roku. I like Tubi myself plenty of movies with commercials of course but still free. I have watched a lot of movies on there most I would never pay to buy or rent but still Tubi has a good selection. We also installed a small antenna on the house so we get all the local news and about 20 other channels through the antenna. So antenna gets all the local NFL football games that CBS and FOX has playing at the time. The reception is great through the antenna as well. I currently have a three way splitter from antenna and reception is still great. If the cost of internet ever gets to high I could probably live with just the free channels I get through antenna. The only down side is trying to find local NHL games neither Roku or antenna plays those games

[Hikin Mike]

Yep, we cut the cable about 6-8 months ago. Didn't have a smart TV, so we bought the Roku device for $25 at Target. Since we mostly watch Discovery type channels, we added 'Philo' for $25/month. Do watch 'Tubi' occasionally. Not a big fan of Hockey, but I used to watch when the Penguins played. Like @ta6point6 mentioned, trying to find a hockey game using any free channels isn't going to happen.

[John V.]

This caught my eye because my neighbor is having Dish installed today after he finally gave up on DirecTV because of price hikes. Every year he begged for discounts but it kept going up. He says with the $400 promotional prepaid card, he figures the 2 year Dish contract will be about $86/month IIRC which I think he said will be about $40/month less than DirecTV.

He has gone back and forth between the 2 over many years.

I'm not sure if the $86 is after all taxes and fees because he asked me last night what I'm paying for YouTube TV. I pay $65/month and he then asked if there were other fees and taxes tacked on. There isn't.

But made me wonder if there is with the satellite choices. We gave up cable about 4 or 5 years ago and I remember all the fees added to the cable bill.

I have 4 TVs each with a Firestick, we have a 5th Firestick and TV but it is not plugged in at the moment. And we use the service on the road. We logged in at my son's house this past weekend. Have also used it at hotels and Airbnb rentals.

My neighbor has trialed YouTube TV but didn't like it, mainly due to navigation. It isn't the best but I have learned a few tricks that help me. When bouncing from channel to channel like when watching March Madness games, it can be frustrating as there is no "last channel watched" button.

When we dropped cable, we went to Playstation Vue. I think it had superior navigation but they went belly up a couple years ago so we had to switch.

YouTube TV had the best channels to match what we watch. All the locals, NFL Network, ESPN channels, Golf, SEC, ACC, Motor Trend, and so on. They didn't have CBS for our area (not all areas get all locals) when we started but it has been added since which allows my wife to watch some programs she likes such as LMAD, Price is Right, NCIS, etc.

But they do not carry OAN. We watch a lot of Fox, especially The Five and Special Report until my wife switches to Wheel and Jeopardy.

We also subscribe to Amazon Prime so we get Amazon programming and recently my wife subscribed to Netflix and we have binge watched a bunch of series on there recently.

We could go totally "free" and still watch a lot of what we like. But we have no line of sight for an antenna to get local networks so that is pretty much out of the question for us. Having a streaming service that includes all the locals is a big selling feature for us.

I DVR (a YouTube TV feature) a lot of Motor Trend shows, all NFL, Nascar, and other sports so I watch when I want and can skip commercials, but watch recorded stuff usually only when I'm extremely bored. My wife will turn TV on just for background noise while she does other stuff but if it's on, I tend to start watching. When I'm home alone, I rarely turn TV on, usually tell Alexa to play music instead.

For me, YouTube TV is a better deal than any other choice I have available (no cable in my area).

I rely on internet for phone (cell phone with Verizon's network extender device connected to the modem by ethernet cable) and TV. I have a generator if the power goes out but if the phone line is cut, I lose my DSL internet (our only choice here). That was another concern my neighbor had. We don't always lose the phone line when the power goes out but sometimes we do. My neighbor who also has a generator wants to have the TV working even if we lose internet. I've been here almost 3 years and only recall losing internet 2 times for any length of time, once when a crew cut a line, another when a storm took a tree down and the phone line with it. First time was only out for several hours, but the 2nd time, it took forever for us to get the phone company to understand that the phone line was down (no way to call them without leaving the house) so it was out for about 4-5 days. In the end, I got the phone company to give me a pretty good credit off my internet bill for the inconvenience. But my neighbor only needs power to watch satellite TV so he has that advantage.

You can trial any of the streaming services. I think if you have a newer Smart TV you wouldn't even need to have a Firestick or other device to subscribe. One of my sons says he has repeatedly signed up for the free trial whenever he has a college football game he wants to watch. Otherwise he doesn't pay for any TV programming. Once he forgot to cancel after the trial and had to pay for a month. Poetic justice if you ask me.