DNow poised to surpass Sling
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It is just a matter of time. I think DNow is a better service overall (than Sling), but even if it were not, there are so many promotions and bundle for it, it should far outpace all of the others in raw sub numbers.
Sling screwed the pooch by not including locals. I live in a major metro market, but there are a lot of hills and valleys, so OTA reception is problematic for your average cord cutter who doesn't want to deal with installing and pointing an outdoor antenna. (I don't) On local cord-cutting discussion groups, one of the most, if not the most, common questions is about reception and getting locals. Sling focused on driving new customers by offering the best price, underestimating the need and desire for the Big Four Networks via one's subscription TV system.
Therein is the problem, keep adding more and more crap to the packages and its no longer a savings or worth the effort to cord shave/cut, especially with the proliferation of data caps.
If locals are an addon option that is fine, but I don't want the cost rolled into the base package. Sling and Philo would appeal to me more for that reason. I would have to get more creative in the Las Vegas Condo with the antenna, but it's no problem in Oklahoma getting reception around the major metro areas.
If locals are an addon option that is fine, but I don't want the cost rolled into the base package. Sling and Philo would appeal to me more for that reason. I would have to get more creative in the Las Vegas Condo with the antenna, but it's no problem in Oklahoma getting reception around the major metro areas.
Locals matter to me. That said, only YTTV has all of the big four in my market, so my options are limited. Once I get YTTV and Philo to get all the "channels" I want, it'll cost me $56/month. Dish Welcome Pack with equipment fees only costs $4 more, and it has more locals (CW, PBS), and includes the few cable channels I actually want. Really the only benefit I see is streaming services provide a better out-of-house viewing experience, unless you run into geofencing problems with locals while traveling. I still see an IP-based solution in our future, but the streaming services are not there yet IMHO.
Other than your locals, including CW, PBS (both of which offer all their programming freely via apps), how does the Dish Welcome Pack even begin to compare to the channels you could get from YTTV and Philo? I mean that's great if the Dish Welcome Pack satisfies your needs, but you can't compare a service that only offers a half-dozen of the top cable channels to one that offers dozens.
The honeymoon is over and I say shame on those that insisted that OTT would necessarily be everything we ever wanted at a big savings. OTT is just the same old song and dance delivered in a potentially more expensive way.
You are right of course that there is potentially a lot more value for money with YTTV and Philo vs. Dish Welcome Pack, but that depends a lot on personal circumstances.
It might not be an obvious or even fair comparison in the broad sense, but it really doesn't matter that YTTV and Philo offer many more channels, if those two are the cheapest way for me to get the big four locals, plus the small handful of cable channels I actually watch. I am only going to watch what I watch. Therefore, for a set of 1 (me), it is a realistic comparison.
As for PBS and CW free streaming, yes, those are available, and PBS is ok, but some content is only available for a fairly limited time. CW on the other hand has commercials that cannot be skipped. Those do in a pinch, but aren't my preferred method for watching.
More to the point to which I was responding, if Sling had locals, it might actually be the obvious choice for me, especially with what I've read about how the Sling cloud DVR works (i.e trick play).
For me personally, the channels I watch, there is no better package than YouTube TV, which, for $35, gives me all the main sports channels and RSNs, along with locals and basic cable channels I watch (SyFy, FX, TNT). And that's where cable/sat has really missed the boat on its skinny bundles, like the Dish Welcome package, by not including sports channels, especially ESPN. I know a lot of people, myself included, who would do without any kind of live TV subscription if it wasn't for live sports. Yes, there are a lot of people who don't care about sports that those cable/sat skinny bundles are designed to appeal to, but you can get pretty much any programming other than live sports by other means (legally) without a live TV subscription if you are willing to get it from various other streaming services and maybe wait a bit for new shows to become available. There's simply no option like that for a general sports fan. Even the pro league streaming services won't give me live in-market games, and ESPN+ is very incomplete in its offerings.
The same it that destroyed the music industry currently destroying movies.
Online piracy.
Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!
I don't think it is reasonable to assert that OTT services are fostering piracy. For their part, all of the above-board OTT services offer established copy protection schemes. Pirates are doing the destruction and they've been around since the first digitizers.
If you want to take someone to task for piracy, talk about those who offer the faulty HDCP devices that allow programming to be captured.
My opinion is that with satellite it's 1080i or 720p the same with OTA,with OTT it's 1080p or 720p.
Also when an OTT provider sets it's programming packages like satellite or cable, they put channels like Smithsonian,Science,AHC and Nicktoons just to name a few in the more expensive packages.
Where like with YTTV I can get the Smithsonian channel and Philo I can get DIY,Science,AHC,Nicktoons to me in a cheaper package.
One thing I know is competition is a good thing.
But if Charter had never went bankrupt,I would still be watching Dish and paying more money.
Also when an OTT provider sets it's programming packages like satellite or cable, they put channels like Smithsonian,Science,AHC and Nicktoons just to name a few in the more expensive packages.
Where like with YTTV I can get the Smithsonian channel and Philo I can get DIY,Science,AHC,Nicktoons to me in a cheaper package.
One thing I know is competition is a good thing.
But if Charter had never went bankrupt,I would still be watching Dish and paying more money.
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