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Cord cutters, what is your current subscription setup with ATV?

east85

east85

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
1,344
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This came up in the DTVN topic, so I kind of wanted to just split it off into its own topic because I think it deserves one. Feel free to share your setup with ATV along with how you think it might improve over time with the TV app, or what you'd like to see, etc. Are you satisfied with your current subscription combination?

I'm subbed to DTVN ($35), Hulu ($12), Netflix($10) & HBO ($5) for a total of $62, but I'm splitting DTVN so it comes to $44.50 total for me personally.

I'm also bumming a regular DTV login from another family member and sharing HBO GO access with them to keep it amicable. I just use the login for tv anywhere apps that haven't rolled out yet for DTVN, eventually I'll have no use for it.

It pretty much covers literally everything I'd want to watch. I'm not big enough on movies to do any of the other services/add ons really.
 
I wish my wife thought like you--:)

I have to have Direct TV and Time Warner Cable, w/Internet

So, I just stream to my ATV from iTunes or wifi from my MBPro
 
DirecTV Now ($35)
Netflix from a friend ($0)
Hulu from a friend ($0)
App logins via DirecTV through a friend (Which includes HBO) ($0)
NFL Sunday Ticket through same friend as DTV ($0)
Showtime via my Mom ($0)

So all in all, $35 total.
 
DirecTv now ($35) [on the fence if we're going to stick with the service once March comes]
Starz ($8.99)
Netflix via family ($0)
Hulu w/ Showtime add on via my fiancée ($16)
App logins via family FiOS account ($0)
HBO Go ($0) [free promo from Comcast for one year]

Grand total comes to about $60/month
 
Sling TV - $39.98 for the Orange & Blue package
Netflix - $11.99
Hulu - $7.99
CBS - $5.99
HBO Now - $14.99
I also have the Amazon Prime subscription but only viewed through the smart TV app
 
DTV Now with HBO - $40 - (only FOX local affiliate is available in Minneapolis)
Tablo DVR for OTA and DVR - FREE (I did pay for the lifetime guide service)

My condo building has "free" DirecTV basic service paid by association dues. It includes 1 receiver. I had a DVR and the "free" receiver. I had a third TV with no cable service. I also paid for an upgraded package (basically to match what I now get with the DTV Now Special Priced $35 package). I was paying around $70 in additional charges without HBO just for extra programming and equipment charges.

Now I have digital HD service on all 3 TVs with the AppleTV. Only 2 can watch DTV Now at once, but the other can be on Tablo or HBO Go, etc. I can record OTA TV shows and watch when I want (including CBS). With my login credentials from the condo DirecTV service, I can authenticate apps for channels I was using the DVR for from DirecTV, so I cut the DVR Service though I still have the DVR receiver box.

I'm down to a $17 a month extra charge from DTV, but that will soon drop to $0 once I return the extra box I have. Was just waiting to make sure I'm happy with DTV now, and I am. I do hope that DTV Now adds more app authentication for other channels. It's nice that I have the option to do it now with my condo package, but I'd like to not be reliant on them at all.

Also I will occasionally turn on Netflix, or Showtime for a month here and there to binge watch their series (usually once regular TV goes off season into repeats).
 
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I currently pay for HBO Now (15), Netfilx(12), Hulu-No Commercials(12), and I share my brothers Sling (B/O) account. I also have Amazon Prime, but that does not work on the Apple TV.
 
It is interesting when trying to evaluate the available services and costs, as it really is not a direct relationship. The ability to "share" subscriptions with friends/family skews the costs tremendously. Whereas in the "old days", you could not (easily) share a DirecTV account or cable service.

And trust me, I am not casting stones. I do it myself.
 
mthomas184 said:
DirecTV Now ($35)
Netflix from a friend ($0)
Hulu from a friend ($0)
App logins via DirecTV through a friend (Which includes HBO) ($0)
NFL Sunday Ticket through same friend as DTV ($0)
Showtime via my Mom ($0)

So all in all, $35 total.
Click to expand...

Whenever you share services like Netflix & Hulu & the person doesn't live in the same household, are there streaming limits or issues? Like can 3 people who live in different parts of a city share a single account without any issues?
[doublepost=1488235897][/doublepost]
jdag said:
It is interesting when trying to evaluate the available services and costs, as it really is not a direct relationship. The ability to "share" subscriptions with friends/family skews the costs tremendously. Whereas in the "old days", you could not (easily) share a DirecTV account or cable service.

And trust me, I am not casting stones. I do it myself.
Click to expand...

Have you ever run into any streaming issues with this? I would like to share a password with 2 people but we all live in different areas & was just curious about any streaming issues / watching something at the same time, etc.
 
Coffee50 said:
Whenever you share services like Netflix & Hulu & the person doesn't live in the same household, are there streaming limits or issues? Like can 3 people who live in different parts of a city share a single account without any issues?
[doublepost=1488235897][/doublepost]

Have you ever run into any streaming issues with this? I would like to share a password with 2 people but we all live in different areas & was just curious about any streaming issues / watching something at the same time, etc.
Click to expand...

I have never run into this issue, and I share my accounts with family/friends all over the country. As far as I know the only streaming service that limits access is Netflix, and that is only for certain parts of their library.
 
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I have Sling Tv. I've had it for about a year and just recently combined both packages (had only the Orange before). I doubled my cost (went from ~$20/month to $40) but it's still way cheaper than standard cable and the channel lineup fits my needs perfectly. I've tried literally every other streaming service and keep coming back to Sling. I like the menus/format the best and they are already beta testing the cloud DVR. It's also nice being able to watch all the channels on the go on my phone or iPad. Only negative thing, as is with basically all streaming services, is lack of local channels. I'm lucky to get the channel the Indians/Cavs are on in my region but CBS channel that the Browns are on is nonexistent. I live in the country so antenna reception for locals is really spotty and mostly junk channels. Overall, the $40/month I spend for sling feels like a great value.
 
Coffee50 said:
Whenever you share services like Netflix & Hulu & the person doesn't live in the same household, are there streaming limits or issues? Like can 3 people who live in different parts of a city share a single account without any issues?
[doublepost=1488235897][/doublepost]

Have you ever run into any streaming issues with this? I would like to share a password with 2 people but we all live in different areas & was just curious about any streaming issues / watching something at the same time, etc.
Click to expand...
Depends on the service, each has different limits.
 
Coffee50 said:
Whenever you share services like Netflix & Hulu & the person doesn't live in the same household, are there streaming limits or issues? Like can 3 people who live in different parts of a city share a single account without any issues?
Click to expand...

No issues at all. I live in Pittsburgh and my buddy lives in Minnesota and that's whose Hulu and Netflix I use.
 
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I am a Canuck.

I cut the cord about 10 months ago.

$0 is what I am paying per month for subscriptions.
My daughter lets us watch her Netflix.

I purchased a few seasons of TV shows from iTunes. Total cost here is about $250 for the 10 months. This didnt really even cost me anything cause I received iTunes gift cards for Christmas.
I Airplay a few other TV shows from time to time using the network apps on my iPad.
I get network news (CBC, ABC, CBS, BBC) through the iPad apps.
 
The real question is: How much do you pay for internet access only?

I just dropped down from a Spectrum (TWC) tv and internet package to just internet only. It looks like my cost in Los Angeles will now be $69/month for 100/20 internet only. So with DTVnow w/HBO $40 and internet ($69 - half speed of what I had before) I pay about $110/month. Not the big savings I had hoped for and no DVR on DTVN yet.

For local channels I bought an indoor antenna ($21) and a tricky viewtv DVR ($35). DVR is for antenna channels only, so not as good as TWC DVR that easily recorded any channel.

I will try this out for a while, but I'm really not saving that much for a more difficult experience with less features.

I do have a choice to change internet providers to 50/50 Frontier fios with a two year commitment for less then twc internet, but will wait to see if DTVN offers dvr or even the show 3 day playback that has never worked.
 
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DirecTV Now ($35)
Netflix ($12)
Hulu ($12)
CBS All Access ($6)
HBO Go from brother ($0)
Showtime from brother ($0)
Channels DVR for OTA ($8)
 
100 mbps Internet - $70
Hulu (No commercials) - $11
Netflix - $8
HBONow (From a friend) - $0
Cable Provider Sign in (From a Friend ) - $0

Total $89
Prior Cable/Internet Bill - $150

Haven't missed cable one bit...
 
Cut the cord over 2 years ago....

100MB internet $50/mo
DirecTV Now $35/mo
Netflix 4K $12/mo
Crunchyroll $99/yr
PBS $0
NHK $0
HD Tivo w Lifetime (LA area = 100 OTA channels) $0

There's enough to watch ... even without the DirecTV Now.
I would want the 100MB internet EVEN if I didn't stream. :)
 
3 mbps internet $90 includes phone (only option in the country)
Netflix $11
Hulu $12
Dish $6
Channels $8
DramaFever $99 yr
AcornTV $50 yr

Dish fee is to suspend without cancelling. We can turn it back on if needed, but getting close to cancelling. We had that internet cost with full Dish and also had all the other subs except Channels. The ATV and Connect boxes paid for themselves after two months with the savings of almost $100 a month for satellite.
 
I have:

Hulu (ad free) - $12
CBS (ad free) - $10
Netflix - $10
Tivo Bolt OTA ($7/mo loyalty rate) - also gives me Amazon

The problem with the DTVNow, PSVue type stuff is I still have to skip through ads and have minimal access to past seasons/episodes. I prefer watching series on Hulu/CBS/Netflix/Amazon anyway. The only thing we watch OTA is local news and holiday specials that Hulu doesn't have. I would nuke the Tivo altogether but my wife wants to keep it. At $7/mo, I don't really care and it does have a nicer Amazon client than my BDP or TV does.

I am sorta getting hosed on my 100/10 internet ($80) from BH/Spectrum, although the long term cost for a multiple TV package with DVR's is at least $150. I can get a cheaper bundle for a year or 2 but then have to screw around with trying to negotiate another package. I also get better video quality typically on the streaming services and OTA than cable.

I have a library of over 600 blu-rays that I ripped, compressed and have available via Plex (as well as all of my music in ALAC), so I don't need/want to pay for any movie services. New release stuff I can watch from the corner Redbox cheaper than premium subscriptions (HBO/Showtime/etc).

For the secondary TV's with no high quality sound system, I use inexpensive Roku sticks. We rarely play music on those systems, and I just live with the Plex transcoding of ALAC to MP3. The movies all Direct Play since everything is AC3 and H264 m4V 1080p from Handbrake.

Plex server is running on a QNAP NAS.

If I didn't have 600 GB of music all in ALAC (quite a bit in 96/24 or higher) that my wife like to access with Plex rather than my Auralic streamer (iOS front end), I would go with a Roku Premiere Plus - everything in one device. I no longer use iTunes to serve up movies or music and have never rented/purchased video from the iTunes store.

We spend a considerable part of the year traveling in our Airstream trailer, and I have an ATV4 running Plex with a WD MyPassport Pro NAS as the Plex server communicating over 5GHz wifi in there with a subset of movies and most of the music on it. I used an ATV instead of Roku due to the ALAC music content.
 
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Comcast internet (20mbs i think)= $50 - 1 yr promotion

Netflix= $10 - I share login with family members

fios login= $0 - my family shares with me- currently includes hbo and showtime, and now that phillies/flyers/sixers are streamable through the nbc sports app on mobile ( with cable login), I airplay to apple tv. I used to pay for mlbtv and unlocator (smart dns) to watch baseball, no more!

OTA antenna and channels app to watch local channels = set up costs but 0 monthly

Amazon Prime- I give my parents $30/yr towards their subscription to share it with me. Hardly use the video but I'll occasionally airplay something from my phone to apple tv.

DirecTVNow- did the 3 months promo for free apple tv. hardly use it, already have it setup to cancel after 3 months is up.
 
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(2) Apple TV 4th gen
Comcast internet (225 Mbps down, 12 up)
HBO Go via Comcast
HD Homerun Connect w/ Channels for Apple TV and RCA ANT751 mini directional antenna
Amazon Prime
~2TB ripped BD and DVD content via home sharing

Via login barter:
DirecTV
Netflix
Hulu commercial-free
 
Netflix & Hulu (with commercials), + a Mac mini home shared up with movies/TV shows and Apple music DRM (opps... i mean "MY" music) i acquired legally :)
 
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