Further adventures in cord-cutting

[danzeb]

Great points. Money drives it all. So funny to me because the rules are so outdated. Streaming amplifies this. For example, if you are an NBA fan, my address blocks me from watching Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Philly Sixers games on the pay for service NBA League pass (couple hundred dollars a year). I live one hour south of NYC and one hour north of Philly. Our address makes it so the “rules” for cable, Directv, Hulu, etc that my local news are NY channels. My HD antenna (normal, not extended range) provides the local channels...for Philadelphia. Even more funny, annoying, whatever you want to call it, the community across the street from our neighborhood is actually the county across the boarder...they get Philadelphia local channels through their tv providers.

so for ten years in this “boarder region” I had zero way to get Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games since Comcast owns their rights, there is no Comcast option for cable here, the local cable company doesn’t provide any Philly channels, Dish and Directv don’t offer any Philly options and yet Hulu includes that Philly sports station that brings me the teams I grew up with from living in southern NJ as a kid.

Again just funny to me that by cutting the cord from paying crazy money for Directv that a bonus was getting this channel.

 

[Haywood]

We are approaching the point where we will be able to access most of the live local network TV stuff without needing a live TV package. I can watch my local CBS affiliate via CBS All Access and can get live content from NBC via Peacock. PBS also provides live content from my local affiliate. This may be a trend as each media conglomerate tries to sweeten the pot for its service.

"Live" TV is irrelevant for most things. Sports, special events and certain kinds of news are the only things that need to be done in real time. TV is dead. Services like Hulu Live are temporary and will likely die off in a few more years.

Right now, I pay less than $70/mo for Netflix, Hulu (ad free), YouTube Premium, Peacock (ad free), Disney+, HBO Max and Qello Concerts. I'm not including Prime Video in that, because I would pay for Amazon Prime regardless. That is a hell of a lot of programming I can watch any time I want with zero advertising. I cannot imagine ever wanting cable-style TV again.

The other trend I think is interesting right now is the future of the movie business with the demise of theaters. It looks like the future will involve heavyweight media conglomerates using big budget films to attract and retain viewers. I think this will drive up prices, but I'm okay with that.

 

[Botch]

Scott I hope you're correct about those services staying ad-free. I'm old enough to remember when cable TV first came to the masses; lousy programming, Video Killed the Radio Star over and over, but no ads! After all, we were paying for that content. That didn't last long. Likewise, when I first set up my Amazoid Echo, it would give me NPR News, followed by BBC News, then the local weather, all ad-free (after all, I was paying for it). That didn't last long either, there is now an ad before each of the news feeds (nothing before the weather. Yet).

 

[mzpro5]

Scott I hope you're correct about those services staying ad-free. I'm old enough to remember when cable TV first came to the masses; lousy programming, Video Killed the Radio Star over and over, but no ads! After all, we were paying for that content. That didn't last long. Likewise, when I first set up my Amazoid Echo, it would give me NPR News, followed by BBC News, then the local weather, all ad-free (after all, I was paying for it). That didn't last long either, there is now an ad before each of the news feeds (nothing before the weather. Yet).

Botch for Hulu, CBS All Access and Peacock ( maybe others) you purchase the higher priced option of no ads. So I don't see the ads creeping in in those situations

 

[Botch]

Good point; lets hope so.

 

[Haywood]

Botch for Hulu, CBS All Access and Peacock ( maybe others) you purchase the higher priced option of no ads. So I don't see the ads creeping in in those situations

I spend about a total of roughly $400 a year to not watch ads on YouTube, Hulu, CBS All Access and Peacock.

 

[mzpro5]

I spend about a total of roughly $400 a year to not watch ads on YouTube, Hulu, CBS All Access and Peacock.

Ad free viewing is my retirement gift to myself. And I would guess I spend about the same

 

[Haywood]

Ad free viewing is my retirement gift to myself. And I would guess I spend about the same

It is about $6/mo per service, except YouTube Premium, which is $15. I have a family membership to YouTube Premium, which includes YouTube Music. That is five named users, so not a terrible deal. I'm a bit bummed about the demise of Google Play Music, because YouTube Music is not that great though.

 

[Botch]

I joined this forum about ten years ago, right when I updated my 30-year-old Yamaha/Advent stereo to a Yamaha/Monitor Audio/LG 5.1 system. At that time I dropped cable, put an OTA antenna on the roof, only got CBS/ABC/NBC/PBS, and was perfectly happy. Over the next two years, I gradually lost those OTA channels; two different local antenna companies couldn't figure it out (I think it was because a 190' tall Radar Return Test Facility, lined with RAM (radar-absorbing material), was built almost line-of-site between the OTA antennas over on the Oachre Mountains, and my antenna on the roof (theory, I'll never know for sure). So, I had to go back to Dish Network, $39 to $107 a month... just to watch the four networks...

This was my OP, starting this thread.
And right now I'm completely gobsmacked.

I accidently turned on my "Captions/Subtitles" on my system this morning (another thread, and fixed now). While I had batteries in my LG TV remote, I switched the Input to my roof antenna... and I am getting my local channels, OTA, again!! They aren't coming in perfectly clear, but it is snowing heavily right now.

That Radar Test Facility was originally built before I became the MILCON (military construction) POC, and Lockheed Martin screwed it up; $28M cost and it didn't work (Army Corps of Engineers signed the acceptance, despite the protests of my predecessor). When they realized it was built wrong, LM offered to come in and fix it... for $115M (our tax dollars at work). For the next three years, nobody would make a decision; two years ago the Air Force CINC finally told us: "Repurpose the facility, and start a new Radar Test Facility from $cratch".

Just got off the phone with my old boss, he didn't know what the status was of the RAM inside the current facility (its very fragile, and very expensive, hopefully they're removing/storing it). If my successor returns my call, and confirms they are/have removed the RAM, then my theory was correct and an 8-year mystery has been solved. Amazing.

 

[Botch]

Tonight I turned on my Dish TV system to watch my usual news shows (30 minutes of local CBS, 30 minutes of nat'l CBS, and 60 minutes of PBS). Too much snow on my Dish dish, nothing would come in.
So, I switched to my OTA antenna again. CBS came in, although with some dropouts/digital hash, watchable for the news. Switched to PBS, and it was perfectly clear for the entire hour. Oddly, it was the FIRST channel to start dropping out, 8 years ago, so I can't explain that. Stay tuned (no pun intended).