Cord Cutters Thread

[DanRydell 799]

These things never seem to drag on more than a few days.

YTTV lost the Fox (now Bally’s) RSNs over a year ago so I wouldn’t bank on that

[Landomatic 3813]

10 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

These things never seem to drag on more than a few days.

They actually rarely ever get to this point at all. Lots of playing hard ball with each other and PSA's from the service provider to get the users' panties all twisted up and apply pressure to the networks and make them look like the bad guy, then at the final hour, they come to an agreement. I haven't canceled my YouTube TV subscription just yet. Gonna see how it plays out and try out Hulu in the meantime. Hell, maybe I'll end up liking them better.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Landomatic

[MonkeyDoughnut 10234]

2 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

YTTV is dropping the price $15 and I can add ESPN+ for $7. Why wouldn’t I just do that?

You don't get live ESPN channels without a TV provider account that carries them.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Yep, headed that way for sure. Just jumped over to Hulu and had to add multi screen and cloud storage just to get it comparable to YouTube TV. So, what used to be around $50/month not too long ago with PS Vue is now up to $86 with Hulu. Still more than half what I was paying for satellite when I canceled it, but definitely creeping that direction. Up next will be contracts, mark it down. Bound to happen though, so what are you gonna do? It's definitely a better mouse trap than satellite and I've been benefitting from the savings for the better part of 5 years since cutting the cord. It is what it is.

Remember the days of $35 vue or directvNOW?

I looked into sling last night and they don’t even carry cbs or abc…they give you an antenna for free so you can maybe get them,lulz


And correct…you can’t watch the sugar bowl on espn with your ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu bundle log in if your main subscriber is YTTV.

[millhouse 2604]

On 9/2/2021 at 9:01 PM, millhouse said:

 

 

My experience with vidgo: it can be glitchy at times but you can log into the app of the specific channel you want (espn, fox sports, etc.) using the credentials, which is generally what I do. I also have lived without a dvr since I cut the cable so not having one is not a bother to me.

Basically I pick it up in September and drop it at the end of the season. Lather, rinse, repeate

Quoting myself to help all you YTTV bitches. Go get Vidgo and make it through bowl season.

Edited December 18, 2021 by millhouse

[markstanco 12577]

Quoting myself to help all you YTTV bitches. Go get Vidgo and make it through bowl season.

With a quick Google it seems that vidgo doesn’t carry Bally sports SW, no?

[Surly Bevo 24908]

Nobody except ATT and Spectrum carry Bally's....that's been a clusterfuck with providers everywhere.  

Also when you jump to Hulu remember you are just jumping into the Mouse's pocket....there are no good choices there.  Alphabet or the Mouse.  Both are greedy fucks.  

[tbone_ 14123]

Quoting myself to help all you YTTV bitches. Go get Vidgo and make it through bowl season.

Ok so if I get vidgo, where do I get ESPN from?

[tbone_ 14123]

Never mind, I think I get it. How is $55 for vidgo plus $50 for YTTV (to get locals) better than just switching to Hulu?

[DCLonghorn 244]

I am lucky enough to have a cred for ESPN on the app, which I sort of forgot about as I only use it for LHN. But this really makes me appreciate the YTTV interface and DVR. I am much more likely to tune into a crap bowl game on YTTV than the hassle of the E app. Hell I wouldn't even know they were on without seeking them out. YTTV always had them on the home screen.

We will stay in this weird in between until the sports channels break away from live games being exclusively on cable providers. But it will be a long time. Comcast just resigned the EPL and they kept it the old way. Anything on NBC will be streamed at the same time on Peacock, lots of games only on Peacock, but anything on NBCSN or USA will only be on cable. There is VOD the next day for EPL. But the VOD for the ESPN app has the same restrictions. Must have provider log in. As far as I can find, none of the bowl games will be simulcast on ESPN+.

I stuck with DirecTV for a couple years longer than I should have out of illogical love for the DVR. I'm doing the same with YTTV for a while.

.... Oh shit... I just realized the extensive library of Disney movies I have put on the YouTube TV DVR are all gone. I don't know why I care, I also have Disney+.

[millhouse 2604]

@tbone_ vidgo gives you some of the locals, but the better option IMO is to pair it with an OTA antenna.

@markstanco I am in AZ and have no clue what ballys sw is.

[markstanco 12577]

[mention=2521]tbone_[/mention] vidgo gives you some of the locals, but the better option IMO is to pair it with an OTA antenna.
[mention=1619]markstanco[/mention] I am in AZ and have no clue what ballys sw is.

Bally sports bought out the fox sports regionals. So, fox sports SW carried thx Mavs and Stars, now it is called Ballys.

[Blotto 23499]

About 90% of what I watch is sports and mainly ESPN. Without ESPN, their entire platform isnt worth $15/month total to me, so they can get fucked if they think their $15 discount is gonna keep me around. I "paused" my membership for 6 months, which basically means it won't renew next billing cycle but if they pick up ESPN, I dont need to resign up, you just unpause. Hopefully everyone that watches ESPN does the same and google realizes they need to bend over for Disney on this one. fucking clowns. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Blotto

[PilotsError 2287]

I woke up the morning of Texas/OU to find out Dish had dropped ABC.  I got YTTV before the game and dropped Dish Monday morning.

Now YTTV is losing ABC.  Fuck.  

[Buzzrock 14920]

Maybe I just can’t figure it out but the Hulu interface is terrible compared to YTTV. It’s a real hassle to get to a guide view. And a cap on the DVR is bullshit: they are recording everything anyway.

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

You know, it's interesting to read this article and wonder why the YTTV issue is happening:

https://businesschief.com/digital-strategy/disney-announces-broad-multi-year-advertising-partnership-google

 

Quote

The Walt Disney Company announced today its plans to move all its digital properties to Google’s advertising platform, Google Ad Manager, according to a report by Variety. Disney properties included in the deal are: Disney, ABC, ESPN, Freeform, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars.

According to Adweek, the deal effectively severs Disney’s ties to its previous advertising service, Comcast’s Freewheel platform.

“Disney’s digital properties reach about 230 million users worldwide, who spend more than 14 billion minutes of time per month visiting them, according to comScore data for September 2018”

 

Quote

Under the new deal, Disney will sell cross-platform advertisements, direct-to-consumer content offerings,long-form VOD, live-streaming video, short-form video, news content (both video and text), and fantasy games, Variety reports.

Both Disney and Google have confirmed the new deal will last for multiple years, but neither have specified how long it will last or provided financial details. Negotiations are reported to have lasted ‘about a year’, according to Aaron LaBerge, CTO of the Disney Direct-To-Consumer and International segment.

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Maybe I just can’t figure it out but the Hulu interface is terrible compared to YTTV. It’s a real hassle to get to a guide view. And a cap on the DVR is bullshit: they are recording everything anyway.

I use a regular sony remote and by pushing on the down arrow that surrounds tbe “ok” button, it pops guide right up

[Redneck Mutha 7956]

With us not making a bowl this year and few interesting basketball games until almost Feb, I'm not sure I give any smooth fucks about this YTTV/Disney development right now. 

[Landomatic 3813]

Been on Hulu now for about 24 hours (admittedly only a few of those hours was spent watching TV), and I got no problems with it so far. Some differences, yes. But just feels like getting used to it, learning curve type shit. Nothing worse than YTTV at all, in fact there appear to even be some possible improvements.

One big question I have...somebody on one of the 10 other threads on this subject around the board is claiming that on Hulu, you are forced to watch commercials when you play something back on everything you record. Force them even in places where there aren't normally ads (example given was that he was watching a game he'd recorded and it went to a forced commercial break right in the middle of a play). Is this true? I watched some things last night that forced ads, but they were on demand, not things I'd recorded (it was that way on YTTV). I record damn near everything I watch and rarely watch anything live, mostly just so that I can fast forward through the commercials. If this is true, that's a hard no pass for me.

Also, has there been any confirmation on whether or not you can delete shows you've recorded? Seems like that would be a huge improvement over YTTV and make the limited storage issue a non-factor.

I don't have any of these answers myself yet as I don't have a DVR library built up yet. TIA

[Brothahorn 10087]

On 12/18/2021 at 1:44 AM, Vic Mackey said:

This was Disney's plan. They had all the leverage here. They knew if Google didn't accept, where are a lot of people going to come running? Right to Hulu, which they own. A win win for them. I think so many of those companies are in collusion. YouTube TV might suffer but that's a piss in the bucket for Google as a whole.

Fuck all those greedy billionaire corporations. Google and Disney. Disney is trying to create a monopoly on their live sports content. Don't think FuboTv won't be next to bow out because of their demands. They want to funnel everyone to Hulu. 

This is not the 3rd streaming service I will cancel. Sling, PS Vue, YTTV. The options are getting extremely limited. Might as well go back to fucking satellite at this point.

After almost a year of trying different streaming services, I ended up back with DTV. But only have one receiver. Wife loved FUBO and YTTV while I liked Sling. So we went back to what we know. With discounts, we pay roughly $90/month. We got all the channels that we wanted, but hardly ever watch. And I don't have to hear any bitching. With the other 4 tvs, we just use firesticks and log in to the apps.

Although those assholes need to release a firestick app.

[Vic Mackey 47029]

25 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

After almost a year of trying different streaming services, I ended up back with DTV. But only have one receiver. Wife loved FUBO and YTTV while I liked Sling. So we went back to what we know. With discounts, we pay roughly $90/month. We got all the channels that we wanted, but hardly ever watch. And I don't have to hear any bitching. With the other 4 tvs, we just use firesticks and log in to the apps.

Although those assholes need to release a firestick app.

Streaming used to be the underground, niche alternative to the big bad evil cable/satellite services. You could get it for $30-35/month. I believe YTTV was this price point when it first came out. And they have doubled their price extremely quick. Hulu is about to jack up their prices again. Sooner than later, these streaming services will have the same price as the companies these people cut the cord for. It was always inevitable. Honestly, DTV would work the best for me because they have Bally SW which broadcasts all the local DFW teams. I can't watch them at all except finding streams people post but they aren't always reliable and the quality can be subpar at times. And at this point in my life,, I will gladly pay for convenience and able to record games for later viewing than seeking out pirated links every time. 

[tbone_ 14123]

Yea I’m actually thinking about just going back to cox

[cactusflinthead 27598]

On 12/18/2021 at 11:45 AM, millhouse said:

@tbone_ vidgo gives you some of the locals, but the better option IMO is to pair it with an OTA antenna.

@markstanco I am in AZ and have no clue what ballys sw is.

What was your Fox Regional Sports station? 

[Okie State 3819]

I'd go without before I'd switch back to cable or satellite. Increasing prices have just highlighted that I don't really need live TV.

[Dr Fear 1268]

What was your Fox Regional Sports station? 

It was Fox Sports Arizona, now Bally's Arizona.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10234]

On 12/18/2021 at 11:51 AM, Blotto said:

About 90% of what I watch is sports and mainly ESPN. Without ESPN, their entire platform isnt worth $15/month total to me, so they can get fucked if they think their $15 discount is gonna keep me around. I "paused" my membership for 6 months, which basically means it won't renew next billing cycle but if they pick up ESPN, I dont need to resign up, you just unpause. Hopefully everyone that watches ESPN does the same and google realizes they need to bend over for Disney on this one. fucking clowns. 

fwiw, Google passes on price+... they aren't the ones that will be bending over...  If it was just $15 they would have just kept... my guess if they would have kept we would see YTTV add another $10/mth to everyones subscription.  They realize most people aren't will to pay ~ $90/month for service anymore.

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

 

 

 

[Dr Fear 1268]

They are also giving a one time $15 credit

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

And here's some clarification via email:

 

Hi Francisco, We’re happy to share that we’ve reached a deal with Disney to return their content to YouTube TV while preserving a $64.99/mo. price for our members. We’ve already started to restore access to Disney networks like ESPN and FX, including their live and on-demand content, as well as any recordings that were previously in your Library. We will also be turning on your local ABC stations over the course of the day. Don’t worry, your personal preferences and recommendations will be just as you left them.‌ As we promised a $15 discount while the Disney content remained off platform, we will still honor a one-time credit for all impacted Base Plan members. For active members who have not yet received that $15 discount on their monthly bill, you will automatically receive this one-time credit on your next bill with no action needed. Note that your bill in Settings will not reflect this credit until you have been charged. Members who are in a paused state will receive this credit one month after their first charge. Verizon-billed users will automatically receive this as a one-time discount of $15 on their next bill. After that, the monthly price will revert back to $64.99 for new and existing members. For any of you who were impacted and have initiated the cancellation process, we will still honor the one-time $15 credit on your bill if you resume your membership before you lose access. Visit tv.youtube.com/membership and click ‘Add’ to return the Base Plan to your membership. Note, you will still see a $64.99 price upon re-activating your membership, but a one-time discount will be reflected in your next bill. We apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience as we continued to negotiate on your behalf. We also appreciate Disney's partnership and willingness to work towards an agreement. As always, thank you for being a YouTube TV member‌ Sincerely, The YouTube TV team

 

[tbone_ 14123]

Thank God. I was worried about missing the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

[DCLonghorn 244]

Thanks for the heads up. Was just going through the hassles of authentication on the ESPN app to watch the Horns v Stanford.

... Check that. No Mouse stations yet on YTTV. Restarted YTTV and the NVIDIA Shield. Still hasn't rolled out for me.

...Check THAT! Stations are there but unchecked in the guide. A bit of a pain in the ass, but you may have to log in on a mobile device and recheck those stations. And of course you have to reorder them again if you do that sort of thing.

[Landomatic 3813]

3 minutes ago, DCLonghorn said:

Thanks for the heads up. Was just going through the hassles of authentication on the ESPN app to watch the Horns v Stanford.

... Check that. No Mouse stations yet on YTTV. Restarted YTTV and the NVIDIA Shield. Still hasn't rolled out for me.

...Check THAT! Stations are there but unchecked in the guide. A bit of a pain in the ass, but you may have to log in on a mobile device and recheck those stations. And of course you have to reorder them again if you do that sort of thing.

Good to know. Thanks!

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

Interestingly, the price remains the same (for now) and I saw somewhere that YTTV stated "market rate".  

One of the things the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday was that YTTV had asked Disney for the same rate as other similar sized cable providers, but had refused.  So, either Disney agreed to charge whatever market rate is, or YTTV caved.

 

 

[DCLonghorn 244]

I read the same thing, but always assumed they aren't saying the real sticking points. And I always guess YTTV wants more ability to put their ads where the local ads usually go and we tend to see holding pages and zen moments.

[DCLonghorn 244]

Update... My guide was all goofed up... But that happens from time to time.

On my tablet/phone, I see all Mouse channels, but ABC main/local is there but unavailable and says check out the on demand. It doesn't show at all on the TV/Shield yet.

Still rolling out.

I didn't realize we lost 17 channels in the temporary dust up.

And I knew but didn't realize just how much my viewing is just sports. Maybe 5 or 6 shows on the DVR I'd miss, but all the rest is sports. I wouldn't need YTTV at all without sports (we all already knew this).

[Rimbo 25928]

why the hell are there three or four different threads discussing the whole alphabet vs. mouse thing

[TxTower 651]

Got ESPN channels back but still no ABC so no Texas v Stanford game. Damn! Why do they always fuck us?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dr Fear 1268]

Got ESPN channels back but still no ABC so no Texas v Stanford game. Damn! Why do they always fuck us?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They said it will be back later today.

[TxTower 651]

Sure it will - right at the buzzer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DCLonghorn 244]

why the hell are there three or four different threads discussing the whole alphabet vs. mouse thing

This is the original bro! :-)

Try your YTTV creds on the ESPN app. The game is on E3 as well.

[Macklemore 2872]

On 12/18/2021 at 2:44 AM, Vic Mackey said:

This was Disney's plan. They had all the leverage here. They knew if Google didn't accept, where are a lot of people going to come running? Right to Hulu, which they own. A win win for them. I think so many of those companies are in collusion. YouTube TV might suffer but that's a piss in the bucket for Google as a whole.

Fuck all those greedy billionaire corporations. Google and Disney. Disney is trying to create a monopoly on their live sports content. Don't think FuboTv won't be next to bow out because of their demands. They want to funnel everyone to Hulu. 

This is not the 3rd streaming service I will cancel. Sling, PS Vue, YTTV. The options are getting extremely limited. Might as well go back to fucking satellite at this point.

If you’re a big sports fan, the best option in 2021 is what it was always been - DirecTV. Now that ATT is out of the picture in running it into the ground, there is no reason not to go back. Their PQ bar none is the best available - the handful of 4K games and regular HD are the least compressed stream available. I will pay a little bit of a premium to have all the channels I want on an interface I’m familiar with and, most importantly, my wife is comfortable with. Worth it on the wife front alone.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Macklemore

[Buzzrock 14920]

I was on your wife’s front last night.

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

Bloomberg has a short article about the service restoration.  Nothing new, but this tidbit:

 

Quote

The statement by Disney didn’t address whether it agreed to YouTube’s demand for a clause in the new contract that would lower its rates if another distributor wins better terms in the future.

 

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8817]

Man I just used Hulu today…and it is so slow. The hardware on my Sony tv isn’t the best but night and day difference for loading channels and the guide for yttv vs Hulu. I’m heading back to yttv after I get my refund


Plus Hulu sometimes looked like it was in standard def. And it buffered a lot.

[Buzzrock 14920]

12 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Bloomberg has a short article about the service restoration.  Nothing new, but this tidbit:

 

 

 

That’s a garbage clause IMO. First off there are usually NDAs in place that would keep Google from ever knowing another distributor’s terms. Second off do your own negotiating, Google. 

[Landomatic 3813]

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

That’s a garbage clause IMO. First off there are usually NDAs in place that would keep Google from ever knowing another distributor’s terms. Second off do your own negotiating, Google. 

Sounds like kind of an inverted Nick Saban clause. He automatically gets a raise if another coach gets paid more than him (or some such shit). Alphabet wanted a discount if another provider got a cheaper deal than them.

[NoName 16351]

2 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

That’s a garbage clause IMO. First off there are usually NDAs in place that would keep Google from ever knowing another distributor’s terms. Second off do your own negotiating, Google. 

i thought it was so they didn't have YTTV paying one rate and then Hulu (which they own a majority of) paying a significantly lower rate

[Lurch 5930]

That’s a garbage clause IMO. First off there are usually NDAs in place that would keep Google from ever knowing another distributor’s terms. Second off do your own negotiating, Google. 

Most Favored Nation clause. You don’t have to spoil an NDA, the selling party is simply obligated to reduce your price as needed to remain compliant.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10234]

Disney just needs to get the deal done to spin off ESPN channels to end all this crap. My guess is they have run the numbers and realized its not worth near as much as they thought it would be if they spin it off into stand alone streaming platform as most people will only subscribe for partial periods of the year.

[Landomatic 3813]

On 12/20/2021 at 2:15 PM, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Disney just needs to get the deal done to spin off ESPN channels to end all this crap. My guess is they have run the numbers and realized its not worth near as much as they thought it would be if they spin it off into stand alone streaming platform as most people will only subscribe for partial periods of the year.

Way more money in forcing it on people whether they want it or not through package deals with providers than offering it a la carte.