Cutting the Cable

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01) 06/21/2016 at 22:44 • Filed to: None

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I need Oppo’s advice on how to do this, because I am, let’s face it, long past getting the AARP letter.

We have Time Warner Cable. You can get anything you want in this building as long as it’s Time Warner Cable (it’s a Manhattan thing). No antennas, no Verizon. No Comcast, nothing. So they jack up the price.

So we’ve got a nice TIVO with six channels that works great, and we’ve got a PS3 that we use as a bluray player and not much else. We have a Pioneer plasma TV (42 inches) that is worshipped online (I should sell the fucking thing).

We want HBO. Game of Thrones? Are you kidding me? We want access to decent cable shows, recent cable shows, BBC-A would be nice ... do I cancel my cable and do something else? ($169 a month, BTW). Is there an app for this nonsense? Can we get what we have for a lot less?

LOREM IPSUM > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:47

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Are you in a Dualstar building, by chance?

Steve in Manhattan > LOREM IPSUM 06/21/2016 at 22:51

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This building was done in 1912, and the powers-that-be decided, in the early 60s, to give cable companies exclusive rights to wire up the city. We have no choice but TWC. Nothing else is available. And I’m a lawyer, but I don’t have the energy to do a class action, which may or may not work.

cbell04 > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:51

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I have a leaf indoor antenna and split hulu, amazon prime, and Netflix with a family member. Cut cable 4 years ago first 6 months seemed weird/rough but honestly I haven’t looked back since. Side note my work pays the internet bill.

LOREM IPSUM > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:53

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http://iptvprivateserver.com for the service.

Grab an Avov Tvonline4 or plus box and enjoy all of the channels, plus Kodi, which will give you access to pretty much every show or movie ever made.

http://iptvtalk.org for support.

I suggest using a VPN for online stealthines.

Purchase stuff using prepaid credit cards, and make sure they’re able to be used for international purchases. Never use paypal.

This may be illegal in your area, but what isn’t these days?

ttyymmnn > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:53

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Looking forward to these replies. I’m not far from AARP either. We’ve got Dish, but pay tons just to watch and record sports and maybe a show here and there. Lately, I’ve been streaming rugby and F1 through my laptop hooked to the TV, but I need my Dish login to access ESPN3 and NBCSN.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:55

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I do Hulu Plus, Netflix, HBO Now, and will pick up the stand-alone Amazon Prime video once New Old Top Gear actually starts. I’ve made due for over a year now without cable.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 22:56

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Amazon, Netflix, Hulu+ and whatever other ala carte subscriptions will go pretty far and likely come in under your current tv bill.

Steve in Manhattan > LOREM IPSUM 06/21/2016 at 22:58

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Alas, I can’t do anything sketchy or illegal - legal licenses in NY, DC, and MD, so I can’t even break silly rules like that.

So I have to ride the straight and narrow.

Steve in Manhattan > cbell04 06/21/2016 at 22:58

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So let’s say you wanted to watch Game of Thrones the Sunday it comes out. Could you?

Steve in Manhattan > Phyrxes once again has a wagon! 06/21/2016 at 23:00

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I have them, but the SigOther wants Game of Thrones and a couple other shows as soon as they’re out.

d15b > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:03

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HBO GO

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:04

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I’m pretty sure you can get a digital only subscription to HBO, HBO Now or Go or something? Could then chromecast/roku/whatever it to the TV.

Agrajag > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:05

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As far as I’m aware the only way to get HBO’s streaming service is to have a regular subscription with them through your cable company.

I have the Amazon, Netflix, Hulu+ trinity and have been happy with it, but I don’t watch that many new shows.

GOT, TopGear and Dr. Who are the only shows I purchase through Amazon as soon as new episodes are available. Which is a long ass time for GOT.

Steve in Manhattan > ttyymmnn 06/21/2016 at 23:07

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The new world is more than we ever thought it would be ... UHF is gone, you can record TV or rewind it, and you can skip commercials. Tell this little kid watching PBS in the 70s that’s possible - would not have believed it. But still, we should pay fair prices for all these new services.

So this thing will sort itself in our lifetimes, but likely not soon enough for me to stop paying 200 bucks a month and more (lots more) for TWC, Netlflix, Hulu, and probably something I’m not even aware is charging me monthly. I need someone to come over and fix it!

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Agrajag 06/21/2016 at 23:09

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Nope, HBO Now means you just sign up and get HBO.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:09

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HBO Now solves that.

cbell04 > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:11

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1St off i do 99% of my streaming from ps3. I don’t have HBO go but from what I understand you can’t watch it live but can watch it shortly after the episode is over. They don’t have a ps3 app but do have a Samsung, apple tv, and Android app. May have more but been a few months since I looked into it. Moral of the story you truly do have to change your viewing habits if your a live TV watcher but I’ve always been a record and watch later guy so really works fine for me. Also you’ll get over not having things available the minute they are released. I’ve enjoyed way more off the beaten path shows/movies because you have to “settle” sometimes but swear it made me more open to all kinds of cool stuff namely foreign flicks that I would have skipped previously now love.

Steve in Manhattan > d15b 06/21/2016 at 23:12

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Got that, but there a lot more cable shows we like (Billions, Outlander, and a few others) that aren’t HBO. Who knows the solution?

Agrajag > Little Black Coupe Turned Silver 06/21/2016 at 23:18

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Hmmmm.... Interesting. Thanks!

-this space for rent- > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:20

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Actually, I’m pretty sure most of the broadcast stations moved to UHF during the digital switchover. So UHF isn’t dead at all.

cbell04 > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:23

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Ahh I keep saying hbo go but it’s hbo now as others have mentioned. Unfortunately that is running $15 a month but that’s worth all you get except that amazon prime gives you 70% of hbo now with its service (no game of thrones). If you have some civilized friends or family split the cost we do a deal where they pay for some services and we pay the other and all share logins. As long as you don’t mind them seeing what you watched in the history it works out well. As I mentioned my work pays internet so not a true fare comparison but our total cost is $50 a year for amazon prime (plus all the shopping/shipping benefits) and like $10 a month for hulu+ they pay netflix so I’m sitting at roughly $15 a month and have more content than I can consume.

d15b > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:24

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Ah, I had thought it would meet the need for GOT.

My citroen won't start > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:41

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Huh, that is interesting, my internet provider and cable company are one and the same. The building is old so I don’t get fiber-optic, but I have pretty much every channel imaginable and 120 mbps download speed (no idea what that means) for less than 200 bucks a month.

deekster_caddy > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:49

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We have Verizon Fios internet only for $40/mo. VOIP phone service, good antenna coverage and pretty much everything we want to watch is on netflix. I do miss NESN for my Bruins, but not enough to pay the big cable bucks again. That said, it's really hard to cut if you don't have antenna coverage.

deekster_caddy > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:50

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HBO Go has pretty darn soon show releases.

ttyymmnn > Steve in Manhattan 06/21/2016 at 23:58

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It’s a brave new world. It’s hard for people who grew up watching what was offered to make the switch to on-demand programming. It’s an entirely different paradigm. For my boys, who endlessly watch YouTube, it will feel quite normal. I’m so used to surfing the dial and seeing what’s on, that it feels alien to me to go find something from a list that interests me. For example, if I’m spinning the dial (You see that? I said dial !) and I see that Patton or The Outlaw Josey Wales is on, I’ll watch them from wherever they are to the end. Every time. But I won’t go put the DVD in the machine and watch it from the start, nor would I select it from a list on Netflix. The vast majority of what I do watch is live sports. And I still haven’t figured out how to make that work without a $150/mo cable subscription that gives me access to the sports sites on the web.

horizonsofkhaos > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 00:15

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I think something like the newer Playstation Vue service or SlingTV with HBONow on top of your regular internet subscription might cover your needs. I’ve yet to try either Playstation or Sling’s offerings but I’ve started to read up on them as my brother is looking to drop his Dish plan because it’s just too much.

Jack Does Cars > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 00:20

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If you want to watch Game of Thrones, get HBOGO.

horizonsofkhaos > ttyymmnn 06/22/2016 at 00:22

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Playstation Vue can get you NBCSN and ESPN as well as FS1 and FS2 on their lowest tier package for $35 monthly.

knewman > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 00:35

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while I have little advice to offer on what to do, i’d like to summarize the problem with your ask and why that problem exists. i really sympathize with what you’re asking for and believe the industry as a whole needs a serious overhaul. going play a bit of devil’s advocate below.

you want a streamlined replacement for this one service you are overpaying for, but you want to be able to slim it down to what you actually watch, and only pay for that. this service will device-agnostic (meaning you’re not forced to rent some massive box designed in the 80s by a company mired in its old ways). Streamlined is a key phrase often overlooked when people like me try to help. We’re talking about the WAF (wife approval factor) here, ease of use. We can’t be hopping between apps or Television inputs just to watch different shows, that’s just asking for a mess and a frustrating table-flip moment. Say what you will about the traditional cable platform, but theres something to the simplicity of it that no online media services company has come close to matching.

Two reasons for this. 1 - nobody in the TV/Movie industry aside from the incumbent cable providers has the clout yet to battle the licensing hurdle. Company A has the rights to Movie A, and hates Company B’s guts. SO any platform that Company B has it’s content on, Company A won’t want to offer Movie A on. It’s going to take an Apple Itunes kind of platform (in scope and breadth, not model. Music doesn’t work the same way as visual media as far as consumption) to break this problem. And thats a chicken/egg problem in itself. Can’t launch a killer platform without content and need a killer platform to attract primo content.

2 - (i forgot to post this a few hours ago and completely lost my train of thought. so here.)

MUSASHI66 > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 00:41

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Can’t do illegal stuff, want to watch right away, want to watch many different shows... I don’t think cutting the cable would be the right option for you. With most online services, you can’t watch the shows right away. You’ll have serious issues getting sports. Recording will be more complex than just a simple dvr. Plus, you have to pay for Internet, and you have to have a way of displaying content on your tv, which would require more money for roku/Xbox/fire stick/chromecast or similar.

Cutting the cable requires some serious modification of how you consume content.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 03:22

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Man, that’s a ridiculous billing price.

I haven’t watched television in nearly 5 years. And barely any movies too. The only show I’ve been watching consistently since I graduated high school in 2011 is Person of Interest. Eventually once I’m done with college and have a well paying job I’ll probably board upon the online streaming services. Netflix seems to be where its at, but I’ve also seen quite a few shows for television only that look enticing as well.

random001 > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 06:43

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Not sure if it'll work for you, check out SlingTV? They have a base rate, and some packages. I don't watch anything not on Netflix anymore myself, but I'm not much into TV as it is. A guy in my office has SlingTV and HBO GO, and seems pretty happy.

ttyymmnn > horizonsofkhaos 06/22/2016 at 07:30

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That's very good to know. Thanks.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Steve in Manhattan 06/22/2016 at 08:37

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We have media overkill in our house. Our provider gave us a deal which included all of the premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.) and now we can stream just about anything we want on any device we want anywhere we have high-speed internet access. The mobile versions of all the services are available all the time.

The key is high-speed internet access.

One of the issues we’ve had is finding the programming we want. Hey! Let’s watch Ghostbusters again! Search on HBO, Showtime, Starz - nope. Search on Amazon - available to rent. By the time we found what we wanted, we wasted half an hour just searching. The issue for us was how we accessed each of the channels. Premiums were through the cable box (slow and clunky interface), netflix and amazon were through apps on our XBox.

All that changed when we got a Roku -enabled TV. With a Roku, the device will search through all of the services for you and present a list of viewing options, both paid and free (if available). It’s a simple as selecting the service we wanted to use and telling it to start watching. We are looking into adding a Roku stick to every TV in the house. Yes, it’s that much better.

Since you want to cut the cable bill, you will have to purchase access to the networks you want. Some subscriptions like Hulu will give you access to multiple networks. But premium shows like Game of Thrones will require a subscription to the specific network. You will need to subscribe to HBO Go for Game of Thrones. If your tastes aren’t too varied, you can save a lot with just a few subscriptions. If you like to watch a bunch of different shows on different networks, it may cost you just as much as a cable.

I recommend a Roku box with HBO, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. That will cover a lot of programming.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Steve in Manhattan 06/24/2016 at 14:51

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If you get an Amazon Fire TV and install Kodi on it you can stream. Streaming is not illegal.

Also, if you want to be even further away from illegal you can do SlingTV paying for HBO for GOT. Basic SlingTV is $20, plus $15 for HBO. These are legal paid subscriptions that run Live TV through the internet.

Also get an indoor antenna if you’re on the correct side of your building.

Go to TVFool.com and type in your address to figure out which way your antenna needs to point, the Amazon Basics one is the one I’m using it was around $25 bucks and I can get stuff well over 50 miles away. I was watching the wrong ABC ones by accident, it was still HD. I’m in the Detroit area and I realized I was on Cleveland’s ABC only because of a Chevy Dealer commercial haha.

Ask away with questions my friend, I ditched cable a year ago and I LOVE MY $20 INTERNET BILL.