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Best cable/DirecTV replacement?


DDD Dad

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+1 for YouTubeTV

It’s cheaper - $73 a month.

All channels are HD.

Can share with 6 accounts with basic plan (only 3 can stream at once though).

Has some 4K content (pricey - extra $20 a month).

Now has NFL Sunday Ticket as an add-on.

Has NFL RedZone - $10 a month for it & Sports Package  - I only subscribe during football season. 

Don’t have to talk to someone to sign up, change plans or quit  All handled online, unlike DirecTV.

Supports sports multicast - screen is split into 2-4 games. Watching the NCAA tourney was awesome.

Has local stations & when you travel, it automatically switches to those locals. Could be good or bad. 

Can subscribe to HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc
 

Cons -

No Longhorn Network (who cares after this season though) 

No BallySports / old FSSW

Have to have a smart TV or device & internet. 

I can’t recommend it enough. 

Edited by smokebomb
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Reminder to all, when YTTV adds channels, you need to go to the website to enable them in your guide or you won't see them.  Also, being able to arrange your guide and the extremely intuitive virtual DVR, which, for example, records all UT football games one whatever channel once you set it to record one, are excellent features.

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Another recommendation for YouTubeTV. It has just about every channel I, the wife, or my daughter watch or need to watch for sports, and the apps for mobile and tablet works flawlessly. I mean FLAWLESSLY. The DVR is unlimited space, and it works very well. Example: you can set it to record a series, and it puts the shows in season and episode order as they record, and it’ll do specific teams (Texas football, basketball, Cowboys, etc), specific leagues, etc. Wanna record every CFB game? Ok. Only downside is recorded items expire after 9 mo. It’s not an issue with shows in syndication (Office, Friends, etc) that are on all the time, but it is an issue for sporting events. No per box fee, no HD fee, or any of that other cable/sat bullshit. As others have mentioned no Ballys (fuck Sinclair). Yes, the price has gone up, but it’s still 1/2 of my final uVerse bill.

But the best feature of all is never EVER having to deal wit the 9th circle of hell that is AT&T/DTV customer services again. That alone makes it well worth it. 

 

Edited by Dutch
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I had DirecTV from 94 til last year. Mainly because I was a dealer. We moved last year to Hulu live, as they had a couple of channels yttv didn’t have including nfl network. I just don’t like the interface on it, and even though I paid for commercial free most shows on the DVR don’t let you zip through them.

Two weeks ago moved to YTTV. They have NFLN now and A&E is about the only missing thing and I can watch all that in regular Hulu. The interface is far better, the DVR is much better, and it’s far more intuitive.

Regular Hulu is still a solid platform and the best place for fx shows like justified.

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6 hours ago, C-Man said:

I'm tired of my DTV bill as well. I've got to have Bally's, though, for Stars and Rangers games. You can add that channel or it's just not available on YTTV?

Bally is currently not available on YouTube TV. And the separate streaming service Bally Sports+ ($20 a month) does not currently include the Southwest / Rangers & Mavericks region. 
 

Ironically enough, I am only able to watch those games through the Bally app because I use my parent’s DirecTV login.

As mentioned above, Sinclair sucks and who knows what’s going to happen with Bally’s current bankruptcy situation. 

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3 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

YTTV is very good but they raise the price pretty regularly and they don’t carry Bally’s so no Braves for me. Hulu might be a better deal if you also have Disney and ESPN.

I've already got no ad Hulu with ESPN and Disney.  Probably will investigate this option (as well as YTTV) further.

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12 hours ago, C-Man said:

I'm tired of my DTV bill as well. I've got to have Bally's, though, for Stars and Rangers games. You can add that channel or it's just not available on YTTV?

Get Fubo.  

 

YTTV's DVR is the absolute best, because it will still record sporting events that run over time, and I think their picture is clearer, but I bailed for Fubo.

I don't like it as much, but it has MLB network, Bally SW, and NHL network.  YTTV doesn't have any of those any more.  

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Just read a recent CNET article.

For my needs it seems like Hulu might be the best option, but I'm going to need to keep digging to compare against YTTV.  My living room TV is 4K so YTTV's 4K option (which is nice for some sporting events on DirecTV like the Masters, a lot of bowl games, and the Women's World Cup) is intriguing.  Wondering if/when Hulu will offer something similar.

 

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4 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Get Fubo.  

 

YTTV's DVR is the absolute best, because it will still record sporting events that run over time, and I think their picture is clearer, but I bailed for Fubo.

I don't like it as much, but it has MLB network, Bally SW, and NHL network.  YTTV doesn't have any of those any more.  

When I was looking into services last year, I realized Fubo doesn't have any of the ESPNs. Is that still the case?

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10 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

When I was looking into services last year, I realized Fubo doesn't have any of the ESPNs. Is that still the case?

According to the chart in the article I linked above it has ESPN and ESPN2 but ESPNU costs extra.

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7 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

According to the chart in the article I linked above it has ESPN and ESPN2 but ESPNU costs extra.

Hmm, it might be worth it to switch then. I love YTTV, but it's frustrating to not be able to watch the Astros and the Rangers, especially while they're in a pennant chase.

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19 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

When I was looking into services last year, I realized Fubo doesn't have any of the ESPNs. Is that still the case?

no

Just now, HornOnTheBayou said:

Hmm, it might be worth it to switch then. I love YTTV, but it's frustrating to not be able to watch the Astros and the Rangers, especially while they're in a pennant chase.

Fubo gets both Bally SW and whatever that channel the Astros are on is called.

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I just looked over my DirecTV bill.  Holy hell I'm paying way too much for this stuff.  $170 for channel lineup (all the sports stuff plus HBO/Showtime/Starz), and then another $100 or so for equipment and other BS charges.  Just going to Hulu or YTTV will save me at least $150 a month even with add-ons.  No brainer.

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16 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

I just looked over my DirecTV bill.  Holy hell I'm paying way too much for this stuff.  $170 for channel lineup (all the sports stuff plus HBO/Showtime/Starz), and then another $100 or so for equipment and other BS charges.  Just going to Hulu or YTTV will save me at least $150 a month even with add-ons.  No brainer.

I had the same realization with AT&T U-Verse about 18 months ago.  Last year I subscribed to Sling TV during the month of September and was able to get both Texas games that were only on Longhorn Network - with the 1/2 off promo I think it only cost $8.

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17 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

no

Fubo gets both Bally SW and whatever that channel the Astros are on is called.

Both are going to be gone next year.  The Astros and Rockets are buying the rights to their channel and will now be happy to reach deals with the other providers since ATT will be out of the picture.  Not a big deal with Youtube or Fubo since you can cancel at anytime.  I expect Youtube will have them next year though.

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On 8/7/2023 at 12:41 AM, C-Man said:

I'm tired of my DTV bill as well. I've got to have Bally's, though, for Stars and Rangers games. You can add that channel or it's just not available on YTTV?

No, Bally's isn't an "add-on" for YTTV.  Your only options for Bally's are $20/mo for their dogshit app, or IIRC service through DirecTV, uVerse, Fubu, Grande, or Spectrum.

Edited by Dutch
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I paused YTTV and added FUBO this summer just because there is literally nothing on TV I'm interested in watching (outside of locals) other than the Rangers (and my wife only needs locals + Bravo).   FUBO kind of sucks compared to YTTV both from an interface and reliability standpoint.  It worked fine for the first month or so but not sure what's going on as I've had to reinstall app on 3 different TV's this week and 2X on my main TV.  Incredibly frustrating.  Once MLB regular season ends I'll flip back to YTTV and just hope something is figured out for Stars/Mavs by January or so.    I haven't been following the play by play of the Sinclair BK but really hoping there will be a resolution sooner rather than later.

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I’ve had DIRECTV for years now because they’ve always had Rangers/Mavs/Stars and NFL Sunday ticket. I’d love to drop them for YouTube TV now that it has the Sunday Ticket rights and is cheaper, but then I’m without Rangers games during their first decent season in years and potentially a pennant race. No clean answer. 

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21 minutes ago, kevwun said:

There's going to have to be because Bally's and AT&T Sports aren't going to exist next year.

I mean there is zero certainty at this point as to how exactly this is going to be resolved in BK unless I've completely missed something recently.

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On 8/6/2023 at 8:02 PM, The Ace of Aces said:

Call to cancel. Then cancel with the first rep, they send to a very final one and they will give you a $55 or so deal for 12 months. It’s cheaper than anything else and far better imo. 
 

Have done this 3 straight years. 

This right here. Don’t switch. Turn in any satellite TV receiver you have to save $7 a month per receiver and use the DirecTV app on any streaming device or smart TV to access your content while saving money with the discount and no more receivers.

Edited by Macklemore
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I’ve had DIRECTV for years now because they’ve always had Rangers/Mavs/Stars and NFL Sunday ticket. I’d love to drop them for YouTube TV now that it has the Sunday Ticket rights and is cheaper, but then I’m without Rangers games during their first decent season in years and potentially a pennant race. No clean answer. 

Go ahead and switch. Listen to Rangers on the radio the way God intended. You know they are going to break your fucking heart again. Get a jump on it. It will hurt less.
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On 8/6/2023 at 5:02 PM, The Ace of Aces said:

Call to cancel. Then cancel with the first rep, they send to a very final one and they will give you a $55 or so deal for 12 months. It’s cheaper than anything else and far better imo. 
 

Have done this 3 straight years. 

This is what I need to do.

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