Octopus Overlords

Man, I’m getting sick of this shit. Is there no way to get ESPN ‘football’ (both college and NFL) without paying $70-$80 a month? This is crazy.

I’ve tried Sling, YouTube TV, several cable options, etc.

It just dawned on me recently that I should go straight to the source! Moron!

ESPN has their own paid streaming app, just do that! Oh, and it’s only $10/month? Beauty!!

Oh wait, does not include NFL!

Several other options include access to college and NFL, but DON’T include the ESPN subchannels (SEC Network, et al) where most of my games live.

The a la carte streaming wars are over, and the loser is……..the consumer!

This is an issue with NFL licensing, not the streamers, really. They want big bucks.

You're trying to get access to the most desirable and expensive sports properties!

For the NFL, I compromise by getting NFL+. It's only about $100 and I get access to every game...but only after they are finished. Which works fine for me, but I could see how others are not as thrilled.

I’m trying to get my dad to cut down on his cable bill, which is currently $340/month for tv/internet/phones. He can’t afford it, but he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to change.

He insists on keeping his landline even though nobody calls him on it and he doesn’t use it. So he’s looking at $140 for internet/phone. He didn’t even price out what it would cost for just internet.

He wants access to Discovery, History. Science, and Smithsonian channels. Plus the regional sports channel for Pirates and Penguin games.

That leaves his only option as Directv Streaming for $105 a month. Which still saves him $100 a month, but I hate that he’s stuck paying so much just so he can see his local sports teams play and a couple of shitty cable channels.

I dropped satellite TV and have never missed it. I have a local antenna hooked up and I get a few channels but I seldom watch them. I have Prime and watch Netflix once a year for a few months.
I used to be such a TV person but the computer took care of that.

msteelers wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 9:58 pm
That leaves his only option as Directv Streaming for $105 a month. Which still saves him $100 a month, but I hate that he’s stuck paying so much just so he can see his local sports teams play and a couple of shitty cable channels.

Did you look into YouTube TV? Not sure they have all those channels (I have it, too lazy to turn on the TV right now...daughter left the remotes in the other room).

90% of my watching now is movies on Prime. Kids only watch YouTube. I'm sure I'll watch football once that starts...but even at a discounted rate of $50/mo (t-mobile home internet discount), it seems like a high price to get the morning local news. I've tried, an OTA antennae just doesn't work.

I initially tried to steer him to YouTube TV. But it was missing one of the cable channels he wants, and the regional sports network.

msteelers wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:07 am I initially tried to steer him to YouTube TV. But it was missing one of the cable channels he wants, and the regional sports network.

If you are dedicated regional sports watcher, then $100 a month for regional sports doesn't sound like a nonstarter to me (even if it's still hard to warrant). Are there no other alternatives? I get 10 up/100 down and basic cable that includes local sports for $110 that will revert to $140 in a few months and lists for $180 where they will keep trying to push me. A good chunk of that cost is FOX, ESPN and local sports. None of which I care about (any more. I used to watch enough local sports when cable was cheaper) Since leaving FOX, there are less alternatives, including subscribing to Bally+ streaming directly after FOX Sports no longer has rights to the mass of local games. Though there seem to be some questions.

AT&T U-verse, Spectrum, Comcast, DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, WOW!, fuboTV and more.

https://streamingstadium.com/channels/r ... s-detroit/

You can live stream Bally Sports Detroit on most major streaming devices, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, iPhone, and more, with DIRECTV STREAM “Choice” and Bally Sports Plus.

The programming on Bally Sports Detroit is very similar to what aired under the FOX brand. Due to contract disputes over carriage fees, there is only one live TV streaming provider that currently carries Bally Sports Detroit, DirecTV Stream.

Which market is your father in?

Edit: My bill just came in and my bill just reverted from $110 to $145. So now is the time for me to move toward ditching again. Putting it in my to do list to review next week. I will miss CNBC being on in the background in the mornings but I'll adapt. At the same time, I'll also be less grumpy at how it has become so editorialized. I'll need to find a reasonable business news streamer that I don't have to pay a premium for.

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:15 amWhich market is your father in?

He's in Pittsburgh, and from what I could tell his only options for streaming the regional sports network was Fubo or DirecTV.

msteelers wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:17 pm

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:15 amWhich market is your father in?

He's in Pittsburgh, and from what I could tell his only options for streaming the regional sports network was Fubo or DirecTV.

Have you looked at Sling?

msteelers wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:17 pm

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:15 amWhich market is your father in?

He's in Pittsburgh, and from what I could tell his only options for streaming the regional sports network was Fubo or DirecTV.

According to the link above, that sounds right.

Being completely uninterested in sports saves me so much money!

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:15 am
Edit: My bill just came in and my bill just reverted from $110 to $145. So now is the time for me to move toward ditching again. Putting it in my to do list to review next week. I will miss CNBC being on in the background in the mornings but I'll adapt. At the same time, I'll also be less grumpy at how it has become so editorialized. I'll need to find a reasonable business news streamer that I don't have to pay a premium for.

it's easier to adapt than you'd think. there are plenty of other things to do, you'll find.

gbasden wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:18 am Being completely uninterested in sports saves me so much money!

Me too!

Today was finally the day. There was no flexibility coming off a $140 a month bill, so now I'm Internet only for $40.99 a month plus all the extra fees. We'll see what that means in a month. Time to get the antenna working, I guess, for news. My TiVo is now useless.

Been 17 days since I cut the cord and I still have cable. Waiting for my bill to see what's up.

It looks like it's been over six weeks since I cancelled my cable. I've since paid a reduced bill and they still haven't shut it off. I've had it for so long after cancelling that now I'm going to be disappointed the day I wake up and it's gone, even as it is only ever on in the background for CNBC or Cartoon Network and I don't actually watch.

Got my second post Cable TV bill today. I still have Cable TV. By the time they get around to turning it off, I'm going to find myself annoyed, as if I actually had some sort of right to their service.

Just figured out that I can get Roku channel on my firestick.

I'll be watching "Run Hide Fight" tonight! Was kind of digging Isabel May in 1883 so...

I've finally decided to bite the bullet and try this.
My main Tivo broke while in the hospital last year and I wasn't able to fix it so I have only watched streaming since then.
My current FIOS bill is around $135. Thats for 300mbs, TV with no premium channels, and our land-line. We've had the same number since 1990.
Since I haven't watched TV in over a year and haven't used the land-line a lot longer than that, I'm dumping both.
Switching to Optimum since Verizon didn't want to work with me and going for a gigabit connection, no tv, no phone for around $75. After 3 months they send me a $200 gift card. If I don't see a difference in speed, I'll probably drop back down to my 300mbps and $45.
Install is this coming Saturday.

As a family of 1 who doesn't IoT his house, 200 down and ??? up (I think often test at 20) for $40 a month is plenty for me, so long as the Cable Co doesn't lag. Then the rate doesn't matter. My streaming is always dependent on the other pipe, in general, and waiting a couple of minutes to pull down 10s of gigs when set up a new game isn't something I get impatient over. If they said I could have 100 for $30 a month, I'd cut and see no real difference, at least in today's tech. Things do change noticeably over time.

msteelers wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:17 pm

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:15 amWhich market is your father in?

He's in Pittsburgh, and from what I could tell his only options for streaming the regional sports network was Fubo or DirecTV.

I've had Directv Stream for over a year now I don't regret going with it at all. It's $60 a month, it has my local channels and my regional sports channel. On top of that my Dad can password share and use it at both his house in Ohio and Florida. It gets me all of the channels I want to actually watch, AMC, TNT, ESPN, Bally Sports, Etc.

Before Direct TV Stream my only real option for this package was Satellite which was at least twice as much per month.

Carpet_pissr wrote:Man, I’m getting sick of this shit. Is there no way to get ESPN ‘football’ (both college and NFL) without paying $70-$80 a month? This is crazy.

I’ve tried Sling, YouTube TV, several cable options, etc.

It just dawned on me recently that I should go straight to the source! Moron!

ESPN has their own paid streaming app, just do that! Oh, and it’s only $10/month? Beauty!!

Oh wait, does not include NFL!

Several other options include access to college and NFL, but DON’T include the ESPN subchannels (SEC Network, et al) where most of my games live.

The a la carte streaming wars are over, and the loser is……..the consumer!

Welcome to #enshittification

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

There are three things I've learned in this life:

1) The second "u" in "vacuum" proves the English language needs something like an umlaut

2) There's no need for a director's cut of Chappie

3) Televised sports is the single most expensive thing you can pay for.

It's always been freakin' expensive to watch sports on streaming services. Hell, watching them live is freakin' expensive. It's a racket.

Ha, tennis pun!

Adding 4th thing I've learned:

4) I suck at puns.

1. ... I support this
2. ... I did not know this existed, but I agree with your assessment
3. ... Agree. And glad I'm not much of a sports fan
4. ... Don't sell yourself short!

Looks like Amazon is in talks with Disney to buy ESPN, hopefully to create its own streaming service. This is what I've been waiting for!! PLEASE.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:02 pm Looks like Amazon is in talks with Disney to buy ESPN, hopefully to create its own streaming service. This is what I've been waiting for!! PLEASE.

Odd. I always considered Amazon video a streaming service already.

Punisher wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:14 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:02 pm Looks like Amazon is in talks with Disney to buy ESPN, hopefully to create its own streaming service. This is what I've been waiting for!! PLEASE.

Odd. I always considered Amazon video a streaming service already.

I think he means ESPN. 2.5 months since cutting the cord and I still have cable. At this point, I wish had done this years ago. I still am waiting for a show to drop and to have to fight paying them because they haven't turned off the service.

Punisher wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:14 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:02 pm Looks like Amazon is in talks with Disney to buy ESPN, hopefully to create its own streaming service. This is what I've been waiting for!! PLEASE.

Odd. I always considered Amazon video a streaming service already.

It is, although they’ve mangled it in the last few years, like their music platform, to where it’s obscenely user-unfriendly.

I suspect they would create a separate platform for it and subscription model if they were to buy it. But of course with the ability to bundle with Amazon video or whatever they call it.

Maybe something like the current Hulu/ESPN/Disney+ situation.

I think some of the user unfriendliness is intentional. They enjoy people trying to find a show to watch and ending up browsing their store.

LordMortis wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 7:09 am At this point, I wish had done this years ago.

this is why you can't just tell people to do something for their own good out of your own lived experience - a lot of people just have to find out themselves, and usually the hard way.

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:15 am I think some of the user unfriendliness is intentional. They enjoy people trying to find a show to watch and ending up browsing their store.

Yes, it also feels very much set up to make you click on something thinking it’s included with your Prime membership, only to realize post-click that it’s not.

Or it was like that, I think they have toned that down a bit and made it more clear in recent updates to the interface.

It’s still sucky though, compared to all my other streaming platforms.

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:15 am I think some of the user unfriendliness is intentional. They enjoy people trying to find a show to watch and ending up browsing their store.

I tried to watch several different things on Prime Video last night, and they all generated "not available" errors. I don't even remember what it was that finally loaded, but it was something uninteresting and I fell asleep.

Carpet_pissr wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 5:48 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 11:15 am I think some of the user unfriendliness is intentional. They enjoy people trying to find a show to watch and ending up browsing their store.

Yes, it also feels very much set up to make you click on something thinking it’s included with your Prime membership, only to realize post-click that it’s not.

Or it was like that, I think they have toned that down a bit and made it more clear in recent updates to the interface.

It’s still sucky though, compared to all my other streaming platforms.

What? Dark patterns? Amazon? Never!

In related news, Disney just yanked ESPN from Charter (Spectrum) cable today, without warning, due to a contract dispute. The DAY before Week 1 of college football starts.

Wow. Peeps are PISSED.

Roughly 15 million customers affected apparently.

Disney urges Spectrum users to switch to Hulu live plan

In a blog post on Monday, Disney said it hoped it would be able to reach an agreement to restore access to ABC, ESPN and other Disney-owned channels that have been blacked out on Charter's service since Thursday.

With no deal in place, Disney suggested that Spectrum customers sign up for Hulu + Live TV, a streaming service that offers ESPN, ABC, Disney+ and dozens of other cable channels. Disney owns a majority stake in Hulu.
...
Charter's dispute with Disney stems in part from the fees Disney is seeking for its programming at a time when cable TV viewership is on the decline and streaming on the rise.

On Friday, Charter Chief Executive Christopher Winfrey said the disagreement was "not the typical carriage dispute."

"We're either moving forward with a new collaborative video model or we're moving on," Winfrey said.

If they would increase their live TV streaming bitrate/resolution, I would.

Finally ditched Dish TV. The roofers disturbed the antenna so it no longer worked (very convenient reason for me) and Dish TV wanted to charge me a $90 service fee to fix it so I told them to stuff it. The only streaming services I have now is Amazon Prime and Peacock. I can get an antenna for local stations so that is taken care off. The only thing I am concerned about is how to get the USA Network or some other way to watch the Premier League live. Any suggestions? Or I can just watch everything later on Peacock.

LordMortis wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:48 pm Today was finally the day. There was no flexibility coming off a $140 a month bill, so now I'm Internet only for $40.99 a month plus all the extra fees. We'll see what that means in a month. Time to get the antenna working, I guess, for news. My TiVo is now useless.

June 15th until now. They still haven't shut my cable off. This is the best cord cut ever.