Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
It's not really cutting the cord when you drop cable TV and subscribe to all sorts of other services. Heck, it's still coming in on the same cable in most households, it's just modulated differently.
EXACTLY! I am baffled as to how many folks out there do NOT know this and buy the line hook, line and sinker!
 
Looks like I will be cutting the cord again. I wasn't happy with the $5 increase 8 months ago, but will not stay a customer at $55, I may as well go back to cable at that price.
[doublepost=1552396511][/doublepost]
I've been drinking their kool-aid since the beginning. I can't find it listed anywhere but if this hits the original grandfathered accounts I'm out. This is the end of my 2+ yrs with them.

Same here, been a customer since the very beginning at this point it is worth it to buy HBO Now for Game of Thrones and cancel the rest of the service.
 
40% more price, still doesn't carry the Penguins games.

Suddenly, I don't feel as bad for having to ditch them for Comca$h. I can at least stream my channels on my iMac while I'm doing something on the PC (instead of only watching the TV itself).

I will say that DTVN's picture quality was phenomenal compared to Comca$h.
 
This is laughable. I sure am glad that I have never been a DirectTV customer and I never will be. They are a joke!

I pay $40 a month for 200mbps internet and get Netflix for free from T-Mobile. And I have an antenna. Yep, an antenna. Works for me!
 
  • Like
Reactions: KPandian1
Cancelling. I have been on fence because I do enjoy having tv channels. Will stick with prime, netflix, hulu, and hbo go
 
Tip: I went to DirecTV Now's website, chatted with an agent, and got them to guarantee three months at $30/mo (I currently have the $40/mo package). So in three months I'll rinse and repeat and cancel at that point if needed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Apple_Robert



Eight months after DirecTV Now raised the prices of all streaming plans by $5/month to stay in line with the market, the company is this week warning customers that it's increasing the prices again, this time by $10/month across the board. The company will reportedly begin implementing this price hike in the next billing cycle for customers, starting in April (via Cord Cutters News).

directv-now-apple-tv-4k-offer.jpg

This means that DirecTV Now's basic "Live a Little" tier will rise from $40/month to $50, "Just Right" will increase from $55/month to $65, "Go Big" will increase from $65/month to $75, and "Gotta Have It" will increase from $75/month to $85. The Spanish language Todo y Más package will also increase from $45/month to $55. There will be no changes to channel availability in these plans.

In addition to all of this, DirecTV Now is introducing two new plans that will be available to new customers signing up for the service, instead of the five previously mentioned plans. These new plans are "DirecTV Now Plus" ($50/month for 40+ channels) and "DirecTV Now Max" ($70/month for 50+ channels). While the new plans include HBO at no additional charge, they are missing a number of channels from the previous plans including ones from Viacom, Discovery, A&E, and AMC.

New customers will only see these two new plans, but it appears that anyone signed up for DirecTV Now on one of the five original plans will be able to keep their subscriptions intact, albeit at a $10 higher monthly price tag.

directv-now-price-hike-march.jpg

Image via Reddit user plgdg


As a point of comparison, the new DirecTV Now Plus plan priced at $50/month compares directly to the Live a Little plan at its new $50/month cost, but the number of channels available is different. New customers signing up for DirecTV Now Plus will get 40+ channels, while existing customers get 65+ channels for the same $50/month price. This information can be seen on a screenshot of DirecTV Now's price comparison charts (via Reddit).

It was reported in January that DirecTV Now lost as many as 267,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2018, attributed to the closure of several discount bundles that were heavily featured on the service's website, including the popular Apple TV bundle. This month, DirecTV Now gained support for Apple's TV app, allowing users to sync their TV shows watched in DirecTV Now with the Up Next list in the TV app.

Article Link: DirecTV Now Raising Prices for All Plans by $10/Month Starting in April
Wow. That’s more expensive than cable. Why would anyone want to have this? Aside from the obvious case of someone who has access to fast Internet but not to cable.
 
I pay $40 a month for 200mbps internet and get Netflix for free from T-Mobile. And I have an antenna. Yep, an antenna. Works for me!

Antenna rules when it works well - mine does. 1080p and 4K, no downsized 720p and extra fees for HD.

Time for TiVo to rise again, with more choice and promoting its value in applicable zones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bryan Bowler
Wow. That’s more expensive than cable. Why would anyone want to have this? Aside from the obvious case of someone who has access to fast Internet but not to cable.
Basically it’s cheaper when you factor in not needing to rent a cable box from the cable company, for me at least. I have a choice between RCN and Comcast and both end up being more expensive (I switched from
RCN to DTV Now).
 
That's the point though. It used to be you'd pay $200 a month for cable and internet, then we were just paying $75 a month for internet and now we're paying $125 for Netflix, Hulu, DirecTV, YouTube Premium and iTunes. :)

the media companies are still getting our money.
What I always wanted was to pay for what I wanted and not what I don't use, which is most channels, but I suppose that the de-socialization of television would lead to only popular channels being able to stay on the air.

Any time my TV price goes over a certain amount I just cancel. I have other hobbies I should be enjoying anyway, lol. For now all I have is AT&T Watch TV and Netflix so somewhere between $25-30/mo (can't remember how much Netflix is increasing to soon). I will probably add the Disney service, though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adamjackson
...Can't wait until someone comes up with a competitively priced all la carte live TV streaming plan with local channels. I'd be the first to sign up and ditch DTVN.

I don't really know what the fascination is for people to get a streaming plan with local channels. Local channels are, well, local. All you need is an antenna and you get them for free.

The benefit to a plan, whether streaming, satellite, or cable, is to access content that isn't local OTA. That's why I'm still paying $70+ (Cdn) a month for our satellite service, because that's the cheapest option available to me right now to keep the wife happy with her Food Network and HGTV live TV viewing habits. If I could just find a way to get those two channels (which in Canada, I don't have the options ya'll in the US do), I'd drop the satellite. Everything (well, most everything) we DVR I can already stream via either our existing Netflix or free from the Global or City TV apps as long as we watch it within a week or so of broadcast.
 
I switched to YouTube TV months ago anyway. Sick of endless buffering on a gigabit connection. The almost useless DVR didn't help. Bye, Felicia.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nburwell
That's way too much for what they're offering, but that's ironic for me to be saying on an Apple-centric forum.
 
My parents have Sling Orange, and my dad confirmed that he is able watch something in the Sling app on his FireTV while stream a game on WatchESPN simultaneously, which I could not do when swapping from Sling at DTVN's launch in 2016. Since it appears that the channel apps don't affect the single stream of Sling Orange, it looks like time to go back to Sling. I will miss the sponsored streaming data on AT&T cellular, but March Madness will end in April.
[doublepost=1552403395][/doublepost]
I switched to YouTube TV months ago anyway. Sick of endless buffering on a gigabit connection. The almost useless DVR didn't help. Bye, Felicia.

Yes, I also have buffering issues on C-spire Gigabit Internet (previously Comcast 150Mb), and this is going through a Netgear Orbi via Ethernet and not wireless on my Roku 4K TV. I will say that I sometimes get better performance on my Apple TV4, but it still see DTVN do weird things on it, too. I can simultaneously stream 4 games in the WatchESPN app on Apple TV4 and not have buffer or resolution drops, most of the time.
 
I don't really know what the fascination is for people to get a streaming plan with local channels. Local channels are, well, local. All you need is an antenna and you get them for free.

The benefit to a plan, whether streaming, satellite, or cable, is to access content that isn't local OTA. That's why I'm still paying $70+ (Cdn) a month for our satellite service, because that's the cheapest option available to me right now to keep the wife happy with her Food Network and HGTV live TV viewing habits. If I could just find a way to get those two channels (which in Canada, I don't have the options ya'll in the US do), I'd drop the satellite. Everything (well, most everything) we DVR I can already stream via either our existing Netflix or free from the Global or City TV apps as long as we watch it within a week or so of broadcast.

The benefit is not being restricted to only the TV connected to the antenna, especially for American sports (heavily region/device-restricted). Being out in the world and still having it available is pretty great.

That being said, I recently put a tuner card into my Plex server. Once I work out the kinks of the antenna being positioned correctly, I'll use Plex for locals instead of DTVN.
 
Last edited:
Basically it’s cheaper when you factor in not needing to rent a cable box from the cable company, for me at least.
Not to mention all the local & taxes plus myriad cable company bullsht fees that (used to) add nearly $20 to my cable bill every month.

Plus for me, we use DTVN to serve both home and a weekend cabin. Way cheaper than paying *two* different cable bills.

Still as a matter of principle I will have another look at my alternatives such as YouTubeTV + Philo.
 
I purchased DirecTV on the 2nd March and I got 3 months free subscription of HBO, Starz, Showtime and Cinemax. I got a pretty good deal.
 
I don't really know what the fascination is for people to get a streaming plan with local channels. Local channels are, well, local. All you need is an antenna and you get them for free

That's an oversimplification, and for many people it's simply not true.

In my case, I'd need a high gain antenna on the roof, plus an antenna rotator system since the broadcast towers for different networks are in substantially different directions.

If two people wanted to watch two different locals on different tv's in the house, one would be SOL unless we added a second outdoor antenna and rotator system.

Apartment and condo dwellers similarly may have restrictions in their ability to situate an antenna such that it can pick up their local broadcast channels.
 
Last edited:
My parents have Sling Orange, and my dad confirmed that he is able watch something in the Sling app on his FireTV while stream a game on WatchESPN simultaneously, which I could not do when swapping from Sling at DTVN's launch in 2016. Since it appears that the channel apps don't affect the single stream of Sling Orange, it looks like time to go back to Sling. I will miss the sponsored streaming data on AT&T cellular, but March Madness will end in April.
[doublepost=1552403395][/doublepost]

Yes, I also have buffering issues on C-spire Gigabit Internet (previously Comcast 150Mb), and this is going through a Netgear Orbi via Ethernet and not wireless on my Roku 4K TV. I will say that I sometimes get better performance on my Apple TV4, but it still see DTVN do weird things on it, too. I can simultaneously stream 4 games in the WatchESPN app on Apple TV4 and not have buffer or resolution drops, most of the time.
I've tried the AppleTV app as well as the app on my Samsung TV.. same thing for both. Switched to YouTubeTV and I don't think I've ever once buffered. Not sure why they can't seem to get it right.
 
Being grandfathered and able to stick on the old plan with the discount and HBO is still a good deal, although it has gone from $35 a month (go big discount and free HBO that first year) to now $55 ($50 go big and $5 HBO assuming that stays the same). It is still a huge savings over what I was paying for regular DirecTV with having to play for boxes for all my TVs and they still have the best sports options for me (even with the loss of ESPN3 last year).

I have no idea how they will get any new subscribers though as the new plans look awful.
I am however seriously considering dumping the rest of my ATT (T) stock.
I’m in the exact same boat except I don’t subscribe to HBO. Overall it’s still a good deal. Also being able to travel with the TV my pocket has always been a big plus over cable.
 
Oh and what is this "We're raising our prices to be inline with other services?" Wait so it's against the rules to offer a better price than your competitors? How is that competition? "Everyone else charges more, so we will as well!" WTF?

In what way is this surprising? For-profit businesses exist to put products to market at the maximum cost that the market will bear. It's not "against" the rules to be cheaper, but if you don't have to be cheaper, then just doing it to be nice is stupid.
 
I don't really know what the fascination is for people to get a streaming plan with local channels. Local channels are, well, local. All you need is an antenna and you get them for free.

Tell that to my friends that live 15 miles east of me and don't get any locals by antenna because they are in a wooded area.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deeddawg
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.