Why I Won't Cut the Cord for YouTubeTV or Any Other Service

[Vman10809]

I've had Sling, Vue, and now Directv Now for $35 a month and 100 channels, plus free HBO for a year due to a new loyalty perk they just added. And guess what, I get all that for around $85 a month, and that includes my 100mbs internet through Spectrum (formally TWC). Oh and did I mention the free Apple Tv I got for signing up? Now granted there were some growing pains with Directv Now for the first month or so after launch, but those are long gone and the service is near flawless now as far as streaming goes.

As far as Vue losing Viacom, I agree with another poster that I hardly missed any of the channels I lost, and would still have Vue now had Directv Now not come along with a better deal in my opinion. So I would say to the author, much of your article and complaints were pretty much wrong and seemed more like a defense of cable/satellite, than an honest look at these streaming services. Get used to it, these services are going to be how tv is delivered in the future like it or not, more and more providers are jumping on the bandwagon(YouTubeTV, HuluTV,etc) not jumping off.

So go right ahead and keep paying in the hundreds to watch tv and complaining about content or lack of, on these services which will only keep getting better. Its only money right.

 

[UberStCrew]

DirecTV Now has a pretty good channel lineup however without a DVR feature, very limited On-demand content, lacking support for many TV Everywhere apps, and still no apps for Android TV or Roku they are not a good option for many people.

While streaming/IPTV delivery is certainly the wave of the future, all of the current OTT services have many drawbacks whether it be lacking content and/or features. Until these services mature they just are not going to be a viable option for the average person who is used to traditional cable TV. One major negative is they still suffer from the same flaw that traditional Cable TV suffers from which is lack of À la carte channel selection. This is caused by the content providers themselves who are still holding onto their archaic ways of doing things. This probably won't change anytime soon if ever.

Amazon does a decent job offering something close to À la carte with the "channel" add-ons to with their Prime video service. However they are still lacking many popular channels/content. Of the OTT providers I would say Sling TV comes the closest to À la carte however since you still have to add a somewhat pricey base package that probably still includes channels that you don't want and their add-on packages do as well. Sling TV cost starts to add up while people still end up paying for content they will never use.

Keep in mind that in many areas of the US specific ISPs have a near monopolies when it comes to broadband internet. These same ISPs basically own the "pipes" that are delivering your OTT service. Since many of these ISPs are now losing revenue due to customers canceling their TV service, those ISPs are going to try to recover some of that lost revenue anyway they can. So don't be shocked when your internet prices keep going up and data caps become more common.

Until there is true completion when it comes to broadband internet service in all areas of the US most of use are going to end up overpaying whether we like it or not.

 

[Vman10809]

I would agree with most of those points, however as it pertains to me, the lack of DVR right now for example, is a non issue. I've had DVR's for years be it Tivo, Directv, TimeWarner, even more recently PSVue, and most of the time I rarely went back and watched what I had recorded and while the feature is nice, Directv Now will be adding it sometime this year, as well as apps for Roku and more than likely consoles and Android Tv, so again these are all issues I expected at rollout. PSVue didn't have a Roku or Android TV app either for a few months after going national. On demand content, again is not important to me as I can either use the TV Everywhere app, which they have actually added sign-ins for some of them recently, NBCGO, FOXGO, and others, with more to come in the near future, or I can watch Netflix, etc.

A la carte would be nice sure, but at $35 a month for 100+ channels, do I really care if I'm getting a bunch of extra channels I don't watch regularly as long as I have the ones I do?

I wholeheartedly agree on the ISP monopolies, however blame that on folks who vote against they're own interest and then complain when people are put into positions in the FCC that are anti-consumer and net neutrality is threatened which is what we are seeing now with this new administration. Now I personally don't have to worry about data caps for awhile as long as I stay with Spectrum as no caps for at least 7 years was part of the deal with the TWC acquisition, however I agree that competition is needed, but again its up to the consumer to start talking with they're wallets and they're votes, which is the only way ISP's and content providers are going to listen.