Cable Cord Cutting

Our satellite provider also does this in the UK. The main service is called Sky and the streaming service is called Now TV.

The Sky entertainment package costs me £28/month but it includes a free PVR and HD.

Now TV for entertainment would cost £5/month but I would have to watch anything I missed on demand rather than record it. The streaming service currently offers 13 live premium channels. Sky has hundreds of channels but of course most of them are junk. To be honest I only really watch the free channels 95% of the time and only really pay for Sky because the Sky+ box is such a good reciever/PVR. If I cancel the service I lose the recording + on demand function but get to keep the box, there is the option to pay Sky £10/month to turn recording + on demand back on but if I pay £10 I may as well pay £28 and get all of the channels.

As part of the £28 package I get on demand available through the Sky+ box from all of the free channels as well as the premium channels and I don't have to switch apps like I would with a streaming box. I can simply go to the BBC on demand section and download Doctor Who to my box if I want to in a few seconds, it is a really nice box to use. You can also simply search for what you want and it tells you when it will be on in the next 7 days and also gives you the option to download if it is available on demand.

If you want to add movies it is another £9/month. The movies pack on Sky is £16/month, you get all of the same live channels and on demand content whichever you use as far as I know.

The cable company Virgin probably offer a streaming service of some sort but I have no idea if you can get it separate to having Cable TV. Also the TiVo box they provide is slow and dumb compared to a Sky+ box.

My daughter has a Now TV box but she uses it solely for on demand of the free channels.

The biggest downside of Now TV in the UK is the sports side of it. Sky Sports who are the biggest provider currently cost £24/month on Sky and more on Cable. If you want it on Now TV you have to pay for a day pass which is £7 per day. OK I suppose if you only want to watch the odd thing but terrible if you want to use it a few times a month. BT sport will soon have all of the champions league Football. They currently charge £13/month to stream or watch on Sky but give it to you for free if you have BT internet.

 

The last doctor who episode was actually pretty good.

 

I expected this to happen in some fashion. HBO can't piss off the cables providers but they have a demand and a means to provide content directly to the consumers. One of my motivators for signing my last Comcast contract was “free” HBO for 2 years. I kind of figured that was an indicator that things were changing. It could be an attempt to slow down cord cutting.

 

True. I think HBO got really concerned when Netflix started making their own critically acclaimed shows. People can get them for $15 a month where as it's been about $80 a month just to get the HBO package.

 

Anyone been following Dish's SlingTV? It seems like the best way to dabble in cord cutting, at least for a transitional period. You get some decent channels for $20/mo. They have premium addons and are supposed to get HBO by the end of the month. The premium channels quickly become counter productive to costs savings though.

https://www.sling.com/package

 

Seems alright but still no local channels.

 

Eh, I don't think I've ever watched the local news/weather since the 90s.

 

For me it's Football.

 

I'm not sure how practical cord cutting can be. I am on the Sling TV trial with 100Mb internet. The quality is just OK compared to a HD converter box. Also noticed my Steam ping times have shot 6x.

The price is super cheap though... I'm gonna stick with it for 60-90 until I re-qualify as a 'new customer' and get one of the promos from the cable company.

 

believe me. it's practical. might depend on how you grew up. my family never subscribed to cable so I grew up watching ota TV. I eventually subscribed to cable in 2003 and found that I didn't really watch anything due to no interest. I haven't had cable TV for well over a decade.

so it would really just depend on the person on much they value their money over TV programming.

 

I mean practical in the sense that people spend thousands of dollars on entertainment setups. So if you skimp on picture quality, it seems a waste. I went without TV from 2011-2015... got a free 1 year promo that's about to end. Can't deny the convenience but their business practices are dumb. I'm not going to pay for 100 channels when I watch 5.

I wanted to check out SlingTV. The quality is just OK, but what really sucks is the app design. It should look more like a traditional TV guide but I find it goofy and unintuitive. My tolerence for bad apps is so low that I just can't care to learn it's design.

I'll probably go back to Slingbox'ing my parents cable or not watching TV at all. I bet they will kick me a new free promo in the next 6 months.

 

Apparently SlingTV app on AppleTV is significantly better than iOS or Android. @alterego is there any reason to buy the $150 AppleTV? I should be able to stream just fine with an older version from eBay right?

 

SlingTV is interesting and I might check it out. My goal is to cut cable but be able to watch all local NFL games. So right now I pay about $110 for 75Mbs Internet and HD Cable with HBO still for free. If I cut cable I can get 75Mbs Internet for $60 and that includes local channels and HBO. To get Monday night football I'd still need to add SlingTV. That brings me to $80 but I'm pretty sure all that streaming is just SD and not HD. I'd be saving $30 a month but the image quality of the games would go way down.

 

I can't answer the slingtv on Apple TV question but I can tell you the last generation of Apple TV is still being sold by Apple everywhere. can just run into target and grab it for $70

 

So I was ready to go SlingTV and tried to cancel my cable. They made me a retention offer I couldn't refuse. Ended up cancelling Sling. Gonna miss watching Knight Rider in rush hour.