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Apple TV Content Options

willmtaylor

willmtaylor

macrumors G4
Original poster
Oct 31, 2009
10,314
8,198
Here(-ish)
The family is considering canceling our Dish Network subscription and investing in an Apple TV. Our dish bill is only $20-$25/mo., but we just don't watch that much TV. Also, we don't live close enough to TV broadcasting stations to get shows via an OTA antenna.

We AREN'T paying for any streaming services (E.g. Hulu or Netflix) at the moment. If we dropped the $100 on an ATV, how much content is available for free and without a cable/satellite subscription? What are the best deals for movie & TV viewing?

Apologies if this has been asked before. If so, could you point me in the right direction?

Thanks!
 
You pay for every thing on atv also there is no live tv ie air broadcast depending on what you watch Netflix is the best option on atv other than that your going to pay for every program or film you watch.
 
skanska said:
You pay for every thing on atv also there is no live tv ie air broadcast depending on what you watch Netflix is the best option on atv other than that your going to pay for every program or film you watch.
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That's not exactly true...I know we can get YouTube, PBS kids (we have a 3-year-old), and we have an Amazon Prime subscription. Anything else that might be free?
 
willmtaylor said:
That's not exactly true...I know we can get YouTube, PBS kids (we have a 3-year-old), and we have an Amazon Prime subscription. Anything else that might be free?
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I watch a lot of PBS (for adults), it's free. There's also the History Channel, Smithsonian Channel and Vimeo, which are free.

If you have a newish Mac, iPad or iPhone, you can AirPlay something like Hulu for some tv shows, which is free (as opposed to Hulu+ on the aTV which is pay). You could also AirPLay movies through your Amazon Prime app.
 
mic j said:
I watch a lot of PBS (for adults), it's free. There's also the History Channel, Smithsonian Channel and Vimeo, which are free.

If you have a newish Mac, iPad or iPhone, you can AirPlay something like Hulu for some tv shows, which is free (as opposed to Hulu+ on the aTV which is pay). You could also AirPLay movies through your Amazon Prime app.
Click to expand...

I'll be getting iPhone 6 soon and wife the 5, so that's good. Thanks for the info!
 
I use my ATV mostly to stream the thousands of TV shows that I have purchased in iTunes. I also have almost 300 blu-ray rips of movies. All of the movies are stored on my Mac and half of the TV shows as well.

I was cable/dish free for three years but after getting the Apple TV, subscribed to cable so that I could use HBOGo. I rarely use it though but keep cable mostly just to watch the Broncos play on Sunday or local news.

That's mostly what I use on my Apple TV. I rarely use YouTube and half of the other icons, I've hidden.
 
Bloomberg is also free on the Apple TV. My internet connection is really slow (I have no options but Verizon DSL in my remote location). So the streaming aspects of Apple TV don't appeal much to me. I use it for viewing my large library of movies and TV shows with a Mac Mini as an iTunes server. I can't get cable TV here and quit cold turkey when I moved in 2006. Best thing that ever happened to me!

BTW, you don't have to "drop $100" to get one, refurbs are only $75, http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD199LL/A/refurbished-apple-tv :)
 
willmtaylor said:
That's not exactly true...I know we can get YouTube, PBS kids (we have a 3-year-old), and we have an Amazon Prime subscription. Anything else that might be free?
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Agree but not worth cancelling your dish for I think he means somthing worth watching and for free there is anything worth pulling your dish down for.
 
willmtaylor said:
That's really helpful and exactly what I was hoping someone would steer me towards. Thank you very much.
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I tried Hulu and cancelled it before the week was over. Not only does it cost a monthly fee which id fine for what you get, but you still get commercials throughout each movie or episode.
 
JackieInCo said:
I tried Hulu and cancelled it before the week was over. Not only does it cost a monthly fee which id fine for what you get, but you still get commercials throughout each movie or episode.
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...so that would make it what, then? More limited on-demand cable? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the heads up!
 
If your Dish Network is only costing you $25 a month, I'd consider keeping it. If you watch any news, sports, the 4 main networks, or local programming (other than PBS), you won't find them for free on Apple TV.

That said, Apple TV is worth the one-time $100 cost as an excellent way to stream content from your iDevices, iTunes Radio, etc.
 
You can also watch some of the content on ESPN for free without a cable/satellite subscription and you can also watch movies in HD on Crackle for free but it does have commercials.
 
Watch ESPN

StinDaWg said:
None of the good stuff though. It's all college, volleyball, soccer, ect.
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Well I guess that all depends on what you consider to be "the good stuff". If you're a tennis fan, you can watch live headlining matches for ATP and grand slam tournaments for free. You can also watch various replays of matches as well.
 
sodapop1 said:
well i guess that all depends on what you consider to be "the good stuff". If you're a tennis fan, you can watch live headlining matches for atp and grand slam tournaments for free. You can also watch various replays of matches as well.
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nfl, mlb, nba.
 
sodapop1 said:
Yeah, as a spectator, none of those are high my list.
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Consider yourself in the minority then. There's a reason why they keep all of the popular programming off of WatchESPN, and I don't think I have to spell it out for you.

$$$
 
StinDaWg said:
Consider yourself in the minority then. There's a reason why they keep all of the popular programming off of WatchESPN, and I don't think I have to spell it out for you.

$$$
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No need to spell anything out. The OP asked a simple question about what content was free on Apple TV without a cable/satellite subscription. Highjacking this thread to share your opinion about the free content is really besides the point.
 
Since you can have the Amazon Prime Video app on your iPad or iPhone and AirPlay them to ATV, why no app on ATV yet?
 
scat999999 said:
Since you can have the Amazon Prime Video app on your iPad or iPhone and AirPlay them to ATV, why no app on ATV yet?
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Only Apple or Amazon could really answer that but keep in mind that the Amazon iOS app supports more than just Amazon Prime Video aka VSOD, it also supports EST purchases which directly competes with the iTunes. And even though you can AirPlay content from the Amazon iOS app to ATV, the video quality is considerably degraded, at best DVD quality and no where near the HD quality you would get from an app running on ATV.
 
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