Cord Cutting to Subscription Overload?

[lithy]

I wanted to find out how people are faring with the recent explosion of streaming services.

Years ago people began to ditch bundled cable, figuring that they could survive with their entertainment needs being met by maybe a combination of home internet, OTA networks, and Netflix streaming.

Now, on the verge of every media company deciding to pull back their content on Netflix to launch their own vertically integrated streaming service, I have noticed that you can easily surpass a hundred bucks a month just on internet and media streaming.

Personally I closed my Comcast account in 2012 which is generally the only available internet+cable option for my address after they pissed me off and wouldn't extend the promo rate I had gotten for 2 years after moving 1 year into the deal. We have made do with OTA and hotspot data from our phones which we pay $100/mo for two phones.

So, a few questions to sate my curiosity:

How many services are you signed up for? What is a total monthly cost for internet and any cable or streaming that you pay for.

Do you feel like you pay for more content than you make use of? (This questions stems from the old hope of a la carte cable where you pay for 400 channels but use a dozen)

Do you sign up for binge sessions and then cancel? I know people said they would do this for HBO in particular.

Any other thoughts on the current or future state of streaming services?

 

[Ralfakick]

I "cut the cord" in July when Comcast raised my bill another $20 and wouldn't work with me.

I reviewed my options, Fubo, Philo, Hulu TV, Youtube TV, etc.

I've had AT&T now (formerly Direct TV now) since because I looked at doing combinations but this was the closest to an all in one, and have adjusted to using that and have been pretty happy minus the blackout of local hockey, baseball, and basketball since I don't get NBC Sports Philadelphia, but being a college football fan I've been happy with AT and T's selection at least. Now I hear they are increasing their price by at least $10 for my package, so I'm looking at going to YouTube TV.

Right now my bill is $75 for Comcast Internet and $75 for at and t which includes HBO and Cinemax, which was about what I was paying for Comcast before my price increase.

Besides that I have Amazon Prime and Netflix which I don't use Netflix too much, and supplement that with things like Tubi Tv which has a pretty good selection of 80s-90s movies

I came across this yesterday reading about AT&T, if you put in the channels you watch, they will tell you what your best options are

https://www.suppose.tv/tv

Also with PS Vue shutting down and AT and T jacking up prices, the future doesn't look too good unless you buy into multiple services

 

[smokehouse]

It's easy to do. Asking someone for $150 will almost always get you a "nope"...but they'll give up $10 18 times. If you're not careful, you could be in the hundreds of dollars a month in tiny micro subscriptions.

I have Netflix (non 4K version), Hulu (commercial free version), and Amazon Prime...and I keep fucking forgetting to end HBO.

I hate where this all is going and in the end, it may just end up with me saying "fuck you all" and dropping everything. Full services are outrageously expensive and all of these places going to their own streaming channels is equally as absurd.



...oh, and fuck Hulu for making you pay for streaming OR paying even more to drop commercials they put on shows, what a butt-fuck that is.

 

[XxHennersXx]

I dropped EVERYTHING. I just bought Blu-ray’s and ripped them to a huge HDD. Most of what I watch is YouTube anyway.

Then someone gifted me amazon prime and the fiancé moved in with Hulu, Netflix, and shudder.

And we still don’t use them enough together for me to feel like I personally would pay that much

 

[Lastblade]

I only have Netflix and because of Prime, I have access to Amazon that I never use.

That's enough for me, I don't watch very many shows since I don't have time anyway.

 

[mjmjr25]

I have Prime because of shipping and the streaming is an add on bonus - $100/year I think now?
We have Netflix and do use it with good frequency - $144/year

No cable / satellite / hulu.

Internet is the fastest available in our area, which isn't fast, but it works. 12 up / 2 down. $600/year (landline phone is included in that)
Cell is 2-person plan on cheap (old model) Samsung - $700/year (2GB data each which is plenty for both of us)

My wife still gets Better Homes and Gardens, but other than that - these are all of our subscriptions. We have many DVD/Blu, plus board and dexterity games. I feel like we could probably cut out Prime and not notice it. It's rare we need the 2-days on something, but for $100/year to have access to that and all of those shows, it isn't something we feel like the $100 savings outweighs at this point.

So that's what, umm, $1,550 for all phone / internet / television entertainment for full family, a little over $100/month. We definitely don't need anything else.

 

[Dr Shroom]

Netflix (with 4k streaming) which I share with my sister, 7€ per month
Spotify, which is 9,99€ per month
Prime, which is 75€ for a year I think.
Internet at 50 MB/s is 41,38€ for me. Landline included, but I never use it.
8,99€ for my moblie phone provider.

But yeah, this whole streaming thing is getting out of control. Who has the time to watch all that shit?

 

[famicommander]

If you're a boxing fan you need:
DAZN (100 bucks per year)
ESPN+ (5 bucks per month)
Showtime (10 bucks per month)

Plus cable so you have ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, and FS2.

And then they still sometimes hit you for a 60-100 dollar PPV for a single fight card.

And they wonder why most boxing fans just pirate everything now.

 

[titchgamer]

I am a cheap skate really as I am using Kodi on a android box rather than paying for netflix etc.

I do still have a Sky subscription for TV and broadband though, I probably would choose another supplier but I am surprisingly short of options where I live.

 

[Niko]

I have 1Gbps fiber: $100 a month.

I then pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and HiDive. Which all total about $30 a month.

I refuse to sign up for hulu or any of those spin off services. If it's not on Netflix, I'll just grab the torrent.

 

[Lastblade]

Forgot to mention that I use OTA for network channels/news. I also get a couple kids channel (Qubo,PBS Kids) via OTA.

 

[wyo]

Haven't had cable or satellite TV for years now but yeah, subscription services are creeping up there.

We have Netflix w/o 4k and Amazon Prime. I've done trials of Youtube Red, Hulu and HBO Now but there's not really enough content to justify paying every month. I'm paying for Prime anyway and Netflix has better content than the other standalone services. I watch a lot of Youtube stuff but it's generally on in the background (mainly podcasts) and standard free Youtube is fine for that.

 

[NeoSneth]

I'd rather have 5 subscriptions than a single cable bill. I can cancel any of those offerings at will.
While HBO has good content, I don't think I will be keeping it. If anything, buy it for a month and binge. I do not have immediate plans for Disney. I'll pirate anything I think is worthwhile until i see the content.

That leaves me with:
Hulu
Netflix
Sony Vue

I could easily get rid of Hulu and just use Sony Vue. Vue needs better on demand.

 

[famicommander]

I'd rather have 5 subscriptions than a single cable bill. I can cancel any of those offerings at will.
While HBO has good content, I don't think I will be keeping it. If anything, buy it for a month and binge. I do not have immediate plans for Disney. I'll pirate anything I think is worthwhile until i see the content.

That leaves me with:
Hulu
Netflix
Sony Vue

I could easily get rid of Hulu and just use Sony Vue. Vue needs better on demand.

They're shutting Vue down in a few months, dude

 

[ggallegos1]

One of my ex's left her Netflix login on my Blu-ray player, so I abuse that until she changes the password.

I stream things usually on prime but not often. The prime is mostly for the shipping. Other than that I'm not too much into TV or streaming

 

[XxHennersXx]

One of my ex's left her Netflix login on my Blu-ray player, so I abuse that until she changes the password.

I stream things usually on prime but not often. The prime is mostly for the shipping. Other than that I'm not too much into TV or streaming

I did that for a while. I had two Xbox Ones hooked up because the one with Netflix had its disc drive fail. So I got a One X to replace it, but kept the broken one hooked up until it she cancelled it lol

 

[andsuchisdeath]

I don't have anything.

Cable, streaming services or pirated stuff. I wonder how common this for my age/demographic?

and I used to be a TV junkie as a kid too!

 

[LoneSage]

I don't have anything.

Cable, streaming services or pirated stuff. I wonder how common this for my age/demographic?

and I used to be a TV junkie as a kid too!

ditto

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Prime
Netflix
DAZN
Spotify
Crunchyroll

Canceled pay TV (Sky Germany) some years ago and also started buying more movies on Blu-ray then.

 

[100proof]

Haven't had cable in abouuuut 10/12 years.

Currently have:

Netflix (non-4k)
Amazon (thru Prime)
Shudder
Media Server w/VPN and 3 4TB drives chockful of goodness
Several hundred Blu rays

Not planning on getting any of the new services. Disney and Apple can eat shit.

 

[goombakid]

Right now, I just have Netflix and Prime Video. Probably gonna add Dis+ because of my kids.

I was leeching Crunchyroll and Hulu+ through a friend, but he cancelled those.

Any sports I either watch live at my in-law's place or just get the highlights from YouTube.

And I just DL current shows and movies, put them on my NAS and stream from there through my house.

 

[Mr. Mort]

Haven’t had cable in about 12 years either.

All we’ve got at this point is amazon prime, Netflix, and NHL live.
There’s so many streaming services coming out, it’s hard to keep track of what shows/movies are on which one, so I’m not gonna get any of them. Most of them have one or two shows I really want to watch, but I’m not signing up for any one streaming service just to watch one or two shows.

I know people who will sign up for one, watch the show(s) they want to watch, quit their subscription, then sign up for another one, and do it all over again. I don’t have the patience for that. All these companies are getting greedy and flooding the market with services that barely justify their existence. Wake me up after the purge.

 

[Late]

No streaming services except Yle Areena, which I use sporadically. Tried HBO when they had a free month trial, but I didn't use it almost at all.

 

[Shackleford]

I have 1Gbps fiber: $100 a month.

I then pay for Netflix, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and HiDive. Which all total about $30 a month.

I refuse to sign up for hulu or any of those spin off services. If it's not on Netflix, I'll just grab the torrent.

Why no love for Hulu?

I guess it depends on your watching habits. I'm not a hardcore movie watcher.


1Gb connection.....














....that can make for a lot of p0rn.

 

[J-P]

Nope. I have nothing other than unlimited fibre-optic net which I get discount on through my work :-)

I do have a Prime subscription, but I never use their streaming services. I don't watch any TV. as I don't like or enjoy the shows that are available. The odd show I want to watch I just download (or purchase physically).

I don't subscribe to news sites either, as I just download and convert (via a script) the latest updates from various journals to my e-reader and scan through updates on the Metro most mornings.

I dislike Spotify (it rarely has rare or unusual versions of tracks, live sets, bootlegs etc. - it's missing a lot of artists) and I just host a media server from home with over 6TB of ripped and indexed material (most of which I own anyway). I still buy physical copies of games and music. Screw paying for shit I already own over and over again via subscriptions. No thanks.