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What I was pointing out, is the possible issues.

Understood. I know nothing about PS Vue. Actually I hadn’t even heard of it.

Streaming rather than cable does have some trade offs. As most people, I would not tolerate buffering. I imagine even minor buffering would doom products like Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and Apple’s new AppleTV+.

Transitioning to a completely wireless home(s) has cut my home entertainment cost by about 30%. And the freedom to put televisions, not hamstrung by cable outlets, boxes, and wires, anywhere I wish is priceless.
 
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Good point on the lesser of several evils.

if cable companies didn’t get so greedy and have their heads so far up their own asses, I think cable could have remained a competitive option in the cord cutter era.

not that Im saying it’s dead. Plenty of people still have traditional subs in 2019.

I remember when I had my first apartment back in 2006, I signed up for cable at the time, which was basically channels 1-99 and I paid $46 a month, that was it. You can still opt for something kind of similar, but which includes a small/cheap cable converter box, and that will cost approximately $90. Perspective: It’s doubled in price essentially for the same package.

What’s interesting though, most probably don’t look at the breakdown of a monthly invoice, there’s all these ‘insertion’ fees that add up considerably. And yet, no one really knows what these insertion fees cover or why they fluctuate, but they have the mindset, ‘We’ll just pay the bill anyways’. It’s my belief, these cable companies need to be ‘called out’ for these types of things and don’t be afraid to question them, because I don’t have any obligation to remain committed to their service, when I could drop them at anytime.

So quick story:

Years back, my cable had some interference causing some distortion on my local channels, so the technician stops out to take a look. He does a basic reading with a scan tool that he had, And as he was troubleshooting the issue, he made the comment that cable is a ‘dying breed’ and streaming would make their jobs a lot easier, being they wouldn’t be required to spend service calls caused by cable issues, they knew the future would be digital streaming would be more predominant.
 
What’s interesting though, most probably don’t look at the breakdown of a monthly invoice, there’s all these ‘insertion’ fees that add up considerably. And yet, no one really knows what these insertion fees cover or why they fluctuate, but they have the mindset, ‘We’ll just pay the bill anyways’. It’s my belief, these cable companies need to be ‘called out’ for these types of things and don’t be afraid to question them, because I don’t have any obligation to remain committed to their service, when I could drop them at anytime.

Oh, it's been looked at and mentioned before...
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmjqa5/24-of-your-cable-tv-bill-is-just-bogus-fees-study-says
A new study by Consumer Reports finds that at least 25 percent of your monthly cable TV bill is made of sneaky fees, many of which have no actual purpose outside of making your cable provider richer.

The consumer group’s study took a closer look at 787 consumer cable bills from 13 top cable providers and found that while the average user paid about $156.71 a month for cable TV, users in reality paid $217.42 a month once fees were added. In other words, about 24 percent of your cable TV bill each month ($37.11) is made up of fees and hidden surcharges.


According to Consumer Reports, cable TV and broadband providers increasingly use hidden fees to advertise one price, then hit consumers with a significantly higher rate once the bill comes due. As a result, the cable industry generates about $450 per year per consumer in fees.

"With the proliferation of add-on fees, it's nearly impossible for consumers to find out the full cost of a cable package before they get locked into a contract—and cable companies count on this," Consumer Reports Senior Policy Counsel Jonathan Schwantes said in a blog post.

“These confusing, often misleadingly named charges continue to drive up consumer bills, even if you lock in a promotional rate,” he added.

What’s more, many of these fees are designed specifically to mislead in this fashion, the study found. For example, in recent years many cable TV providers began charging what’s called a “broadcast TV fee,” which is simply a part of the cost cable providers pay to license broadcast content, but buried below the line so it’s not included in the advertised rate.
 
We went from a $300-ish Spectrum Bill (tv/phone/internet) to $65 for internet (Spectrum) and $50 for YouTube TV. We get Amazon Prime Movies via my wife’s Prime account and T-Mobile is paying for Netflix. This more than covers what we were watching with just Spectrum alone and a lot cheaper.

When I did call to cancel phone and tv, the Spectrum rep did noting to try and keep me bundled. I guess maybe they figure that with all the competition out there, getting some money from me was better than getting no money from me.

And this was done over 2 years ago.
 
So if I sign up for Hulu Live and do the 7 day free trial, do I get charged as soon as that is up? Or is it post paid, meaning I will get charged a month later? Or, is the Hulu Live billing date fixed for everyone and I'll get a prorated bill?

Just trying to figure out when in the month I will get charged.
 
So if I sign up for Hulu Live and do the 7 day free trial, do I get charged as soon as that is up? Or is it post paid, meaning I will get charged a month later? Or, is the Hulu Live billing date fixed for everyone and I'll get a prorated bill?

Just trying to figure out when in the month I will get charged.

They’ll bill as soon as the free trial is over. That’s pretty standard with all the streaming services.
 
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We went from a $300-ish Spectrum Bill (tv/phone/internet) to $65 for internet (Spectrum) and $50 for YouTube TV. We get Amazon Prime Movies via my wife’s Prime account and T-Mobile is paying for Netflix. This more than covers what we were watching with just Spectrum alone and a lot cheaper.

When I did call to cancel phone and tv, the Spectrum rep did noting to try and keep me bundled. I guess maybe they figure that with all the competition out there, getting some money from me was better than getting no money from me.

And this was done over 2 years ago.

A lot of reading in various financial news shows that cable companies make better profits off of their internet service. I suspect that we’ll see many, if not all of them, drop TV service altogether.

I just did a month long test of streaming/OTA. All went well but I did my research ahead of time. I identified the channels from cable that were ‘must have’, found a service that had them, and the test was on. Worked out fine and my streaming bill was a little cheaper than cable but not enough cheaper to give up the convenience. Next year when my ‘deal’ expires, I’ll revisit the issue.
 
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So if I sign up for Hulu Live and do the 7 day free trial, do I get charged as soon as that is up? Or is it post paid, meaning I will get charged a month later? Or, is the Hulu Live billing date fixed for everyone and I'll get a prorated bill?

Just trying to figure out when in the month I will get charged.

That‘s how it worked for me (albeit a few years ago).

Important: Btw, are you aware the standard package only permits a couple (??) connections? If you have four or five televisions you might have to sign out of a television to free up a connection. Otherwise you can upgrade to more connections ( more $) to avoid that inconvenience. I don’t want that to be a surprise. Please research this so you are aware.
 
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I just did a month long test of streaming/OTA. All went well but I did my research ahead of time. I identified the channels from cable that were ‘must have’, found a service that had them, and the test was on. Worked out fine and my streaming bill was a little cheaper than cable but not enough cheaper to give up the convenience. Next year when my ‘deal’ expires, I’ll revisit the issue.

It’s funny the number of people who don’t do their homework before subscribing to a service, then complain about content.

Another consideration is where you might want to watch tv. Another reason we dropped Spectrum tv was because their tv app only works on a Spectrum network. Not even LTE, unless they’ve changed it in the last year. While I love going to the lake house where there is no phone or WiFi, I still have great LTE and can still watch my local news and weather on my phone.
 
That‘s how it worked for me (albeit a few years ago).

Important: Btw, are you aware the standard package only permits a couple (??) connections? If you have four or five televisions you might have to sign out of a television to free up a connection. Otherwise you can upgrade to more connections ( more $) to avoid that inconvenience. I don’t want that to be a surprise. Please research this so you are aware.

Exactly this. YouTube TV (because that’s what we use, not because I’m advertising it) allows 4 concurrent connections, so that takes care of the 4 Apple TV’s in the house.
 
After receiving the third price increase letter today in the mail in just 1.5 years, in which the TV service (Charter Spectrum, junk company) alone was going up close to 50% next month, I called them and told them to stuff it. I called them last time they increased it and they were willing to do nothing whatsoever to retain me, nor were they this time, so I finally just said see ya later, you can make some money or no money so I guess it's going to be no money. If only I could dump their internet too, but we aren't there quite yet.

Rant over.

I have two days of TV service left and then that's it.

I currently have Netflix. I have not paid attention to other TV alternatives, other than I know there is normal Hulu and now Hulu live.

I know Apple is hammering stuff out. I know Amazon offers stuff.

1) What are the current best options? I would *like* live CNN and sports, but it's not critical if I can at least get them with an hour or two delay or something. That's really about it, I have TV on often as just background, but do like to watch CNN at night and the occasional sports games. I know Hulu Live will meet these needs, but does Hulu basic provide delayed news/sports? How delayed?

2) Hulu live says it's $44.99 and says no hidden fees, but I'm assuming there's at least tax on top of that $44.99? Are we realistically at like $50 for Hulu live?

3) What is the Hulu live ad-free add on cost?
 
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Hey, Uhh, Huntn, I beat you to it on the first page of this thread. 😁

Edit: I don’t know that this is relevant for your preferences, but here’s another thread discussing ‘cutting the cable’.

 
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We started with Vue but left them after they lost all Viacom channels during a carriage dispute.

Now we have AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now), which has all the channels we watch and then some, but of course the price has slowly crept up. The plan we're on with them is actually grandfathered and no longer available, meaning if we ever left ATTVN, we couldn't get the same plan back.

Cord cutting is great and saves money, but you still have to deal with plenty of crap depending on the channels you watch.
 
I have Spectrum for internet access. $65 a month for that, and it's been very stable and not a bad value for what I use. I have PBS Passport (5$) Netflix 4k (17$) and Amazon Prime for a few months out of the year.
I'll likely try Disney + and Apple TV + when they start. I have no trouble finding decent to great content and best of all, it's MY choice.

Hulu LiveTV was not worth the 50$ fee. Not enough of the content I like for that kind of money. I found it was actually cheaper to buy a season pass from iTunes for the few network shows I do like.
 
It’s funny the number of people who don’t do their homework before subscribing to a service, then complain about content.

Another consideration is where you might want to watch tv. Another reason we dropped Spectrum tv was because their tv app only works on a Spectrum network. Not even LTE, unless they’ve changed it in the last year. While I love going to the lake house where there is no phone or WiFi, I still have great LTE and can still watch my local news and weather on my phone.

Other considerations exist also. For instance, I sub to Hulu and CBS w/ads because I don’t watch those very often now. But if I cut the cord I would and then I would change to ad free at about $5/month more for each. Total about $10 additional.

DVR on streaming sites varies widely in how it works. Some have limits on how much you can record, all seem to have limits on how long you can store it. And some change your DVR’d stuff to VOD after a period of time. The big difference is that usually you have trick play with your DVR’d stuff, but on VOD it is hit or miss, mostly no trick play.

And there is a ton of ad supported free streaming sites/apps. Pluto, XUMO, Tubi are just 3. If you are not ad-adverse they are worth checking out as they have tons of content, much of it very good.

And finally, data caps! Some cable companies have them, mine does. So I’m careful with watching 4K video as it eats the data up fast. Still watch the show but since the issue is mostly around Netflix and Amazon, I just stream via the apps on my Tivo. Some shows are worth eating up the data with 4K, but I’ve found that 1080 upscaled is more than good enough for me.
 
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Oddly enough I’m kind of waiting to get an email or flier from Spectrum announcing data caps on existing accounts and “announcing” additional fees for unlimited.
 
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After receiving the third price increase letter today in the mail in just 1.5 years, in which the TV service (Charter Spectrum, junk company) alone was going up close to 50% next month, I called them and told them to stuff it. I called them last time they increased it and they were willing to do nothing whatsoever to retain me, nor were they this time, so I finally just said see ya later, you can make some money or no money so I guess it's going to be no money. If only I could dump their internet too, but we aren't there quite yet.

Rant over.

I have two days of TV service left and then that's it.

I currently have Netflix. I have not paid attention to other TV alternatives, other than I know there is normal Hulu and now Hulu live.

I know Apple is hammering stuff out. I know Amazon offers stuff.

1) What are the current best options? I would *like* live CNN and sports, but it's not critical if I can at least get them with an hour or two delay or something. That's really about it, I have TV on often as just background, but do like to watch CNN at night and the occasional sports games. I know Hulu Live will meet these needs, but does Hulu basic provide delayed news/sports? How delayed?

2) Hulu live says it's $44.99 and says no hidden fees, but I'm assuming there's at least tax on top of that $44.99? Are we realistically at like $50 for Hulu live?

3) What is the Hulu live ad-free add on cost?
I have maxed Internet (no cap), Sling TV, Netflix, Prime Video, Acorn TV, and basic cable (only $15 but keeps discount on Internet).
 
Oddly enough I’m kind of waiting to get an email or flier from Spectrum announcing data caps on existing accounts and “announcing” additional fees for unlimited.
My guess as people switch off large expensive cable packages, for streaming we can expect increases in internet charges to off set the loss. But ultimately the future is ala-cart pricing.
 
Oddly enough I’m kind of waiting to get an email or flier from Spectrum announcing data caps on existing accounts and “announcing” additional fees for unlimited.
I've been waiting on that shoe to drop for years with Spectrum. I hope it never happens, but I'll still be disappointed when/if it does.
 
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I've been waiting on that shoe to drop for years with Spectrum. I hope it never happens, but I'll still be disappointed when/if it does.

I have Mediacom and they’ve had data caps for quite awhile. They do it in speed tiers. I have the 100/10 service with 1TB cap, the 200/20 has 2TB cap, other speed levels have different caps. I found after a month of all streaming that 1TB was enough. I hit 893Gb in the month.
 
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So I started Hulu Live this morning, so far so good, but...

I can't find anyway to watch the live tv in landscape mode on my iPad?? It only works in portrait??? I can rotate the picture in picture to landscape, but I can't find anyway to just watch live TV in full screen landscape...

Edit: Seems to be working now, I was pressing the little icon with the 4 corners and my clock and battery stuff would turn to landscape, but video wouldn't...seems an app restart got it going.
 
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100 meg internet and this service at best is a 6/10 in terms of reliability. Lots of freezing, lots of "video unavailable, find something else" crap. Becoming less impressed. Force killing app does nothing, right now I can't watch multiple channels.
 
100 meg internet and this service at best is a 6/10 in terms of reliability. Lots of freezing, lots of "video unavailable, find something else" crap. Becoming less impressed. Force killing app does nothing, right now I can't watch multiple channels.

That doesn’t sound good. If it’s not your Internet signal, then try YouTube TV, they have a five day free trial, cancel anytime. I’ve now been using almost a month with it, and it’s outstanding in every way without issue for me.
 
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