Nothing strange about it. I've been a DTV customer since the late 90s. I learned long ago that anytime you want something for free just call up DTV and ask to get connected to the Account cancellation department. That department will give you whatever you want to keep you as a customer. Back when I still cared about NFL I used to get free Sunday Ticket every year cause I would call and threaten to cancel my subscription unless they gave it to me for free. They were always giving it away for free to new subscribers which I would claim was unfair to us loyal subscribers. Worked every year.

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Yes, it is all negotiable. I know several years ago I had discussed how I did it annually in a thread we had at the time. Pretty similar to what shakes does.

A few years ago it was more difficult, but now that Hulu and Youtube TV are popular, it was super easy when I renewed 2 months ago.

No contract, as well.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

this 100 percent. i use to do the same thing. use to get like hbo free every year.

you're right about negotiating with DTV, but on multiple occasions I was promised a certain deal by the CSR only to find out later the CSR didnt input the offer correctly to my account and when i call back to complain they wouldn't honor the original offer. I had enough of that bullshit and finally left.

We pay $130 a month to Xfinity for just basic cable (like no sports tier) and internet. I feel like we should get at least a real cable package for that much, but every time I call and dance with them over cancelling or try and price it out online there's some $100 package they try and sell you that ends up after all the fees being like $150.

Didn't work for me and I have been a DTV customer since '08. So much for my white privilege.

I considered getting Xfinity for around $120 for the next 24 months. The package was internet and their mid tier streaming package that included everything I wanted. But I would classify as a new customer which gives me a lower rate. One thing that is dishonest is how the package is $70 a month but over $50 in extra fees including rentals fees, RSN fees, delivery fees, ect.. I ultimately decided to stick with ATT internet and Sling Blue for a $100 per month. It really sucks that they don't have NBC Sports Chicago but it's not $20 a month for that channel.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

With Lily being sick, my broinlaw having already put me on his ytubetv acct, and us watching 5 channels at most, it was worth saving $100 a month.

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@audioidkid

Interesting article came out this week on the Athletic about Sinclair, their acquisition of multiple RSNs around the country. and how their stock has dropped 60% over the last year. With less people watching sports and anticipated continued cord cutting, the article speculates that Sinclair is going to have change their strategy moving forward. Do they eventually make RSNs available as an add-on rather than strong-arming platforms to include them on mid-tier bundles? Also, how are television contracts going to look in the future with less viewers on fewer providers?

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

i think it will evolve into what it already happening. you pay per 'network'. hulu, amazon, netflix, HBO, disney... those are the new networks. the traditional channels we have now will move into one of those, and there will be more over the next few years. especially new ones that focus on live channels, like news packages and sports.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

We need t get blackout restrictions removed and we have to decouple the sports leagues from requiring a full provider subscription....I hope we are close.

I did Hulu live for baseball season, but in essence I paid $65 / month to get baseball. I would have been much happier just paying $20 / month to MLB TV.

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I cut cable a few years ago and I just recently cut HBO Now and Showtime. My entertainment consumption will now consist of the movie theater (if they ever open again), Netflix, Spotify, over the air tv for the NFL, and Piratebay for everything else. The Internet is the only monthly bill that is a must have for entertainment.

what is piratebay? you mentioned it twice already. i guess it is illegal but do u download the shows and watch or is it like a illegal streaming service? i'm not waiting to download anything , that takes too long and too complicated.

I am down to the following:

Connectivity: $105
- Google Fiber - $70/month internet only, gigabit hardwired
- Cell/Data - $32-$35 most months if I'm not on vacation
(When I was flying every week for work, I paid $50/month for air Wi-Fi, but that's done)

Content: $28
- Hulu/Disney+/ESPN+ - $12/month
- MLB TV - prorates to $11/month across twelve months
- One podcast on Patreon - $5/month donation
- streaming news on Roku: local NBC affiliate, Sky (UK), CBSN - all free

I have gone back and forth about getting the $5 premium version of Peacock, but haven't bought it yet.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Damn.... I wish Google Fiber was available here. We just signed up for fiber from the only fiber company here and it's 89 a month. Install is Wednesday.

I was fortunate, they put it last November. I had Spectrum 200 mbps for $50 before that, but the fucking thing dropped at least once an afternoon.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Yup, movies, tv shows, audio books etc. I figure it all equals out in the end. The government and medical industry fucks me. I fuck Hollywood.

When I cut the cord 4 years ago I was paying $170 per month for ATT internet and Direct TV.

Now I pay $70 a month for internet plus Sling at $35 for 9 months, and the NHL Package for $150 for the season. All of this works out to a little less than $110 per month on average. We were getting Netflix and Prime before so I don't even factor that into the equation. I am getting less overall content but I am getting all of the out-of-market hockey, playoff hockey, and all of the auto racing and cycling (TdF) I want. For me to watch the Blackhawks I would have to get Youtube at $65 a month and the Hawks just aren't interesting enough to pay an extra $30 a month to watch. If I really want to watch a Hawks game I know how to find a pirated stream but I did that very seldomly last year. Overall, I am very happy with what I receive and the over $700 a year savings compared to when I cut the cord.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

It oddly helps to live out of market. I'm fine with just listening to Blackhawks games on the free WGN stream, but I like being able to get both the Cubs and White Sox (excluding national broadcasts) plus I can fire up a game with a good announcing team like the Mets or Padres and I can start from the beginning if I didn't see the score.

I had Sling Blue when I lived in Chicago because they still had NBC and Fox OTA, and CSN Chicago. I watched a lot more hockey then between Blackhawks and NBCSN broadcasts.

At this point, I have no interest in movies and very little interest in series. I don't think I've watched Hulu in over a month, although I know that in the winter I will watch it more.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

It totally does.....in 19 months, I can do that....just buy MLB TV and I'll get Cubs and Sox.

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That's one of the reasons we signed up for fiber. I read that online consumption is going to be on the rise this winter.

One of the projects I have put off due to COVID is having somebody run ethernet between my office and my living room so I can hardwire the main TV into the router instead of relying on wifi. I want to do that and put a real attic antenna in which will get all the local stations instead of the cheapshit makeshift setup I have now. I don't want a roof antenna because of the threat of tropical storms.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

We had a roof antenna installed about eight years ago and it worked wonderfully until they changed the broadcast frequencies. After that happened, the signal became less tolerant of splitting. Therefore, our Tivo with four tuners often has a hard time pulling in a consistent signal.

Yeah, I'd only have one TV attached to it.


I will have to look into that, I didn't think they kept the full speed but it's probably still much better than the mesh WiFi speed.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

My son has an old tv which is not 4k. it is 1080p.

If we get a roku stick will it be able to play in 4k? or we would need to buy a 4k tv?

--

He also has a TCL ROKU 4K tv in his living room. He has comcast hooked up to it.

We were looking to add channels tonight on the TCL ROKU TV and we found there is a Comcast/Xfinity app.

We went ahead and downloaded and registered the comcast/xfinity app and all the service he has thru the cable box comes thru on the tv roku app!

So any reason he needs to keep paying for a cable box if he can get the exact same service thru the Roku?

The stick can only play as high of a resolution as the TV can handle, and only if the data source goes that high. So my ESPN+ tends to be at 2K, not 4K, even though I have a 4K Roku and a 4K TV.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

the xfinity app only works on the Roku if you are paying for cable tv. you still need a cable box.

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@audioidkid

say someone has 2 rooms w/ tv's. Usually, if you want cable on those you would need to get 2 boxes for each room from the cable company. But now w/ the roku stick, cant you just buy 2 of those, hook them up to the 2 tvs in those 2 rooms, and no need pay for extra cable boxes?

is the roku xfinity app still in beta? when i quit them over a year ago it app was in beta and they said they may eventually charge customers a monthly fee to use the app