Cable, Hulu and other alternatives and shows

[68fastback]

The cost of cable is getting ridiculous so we've been exploring some alternatives.

We saw that Disney+ has many of the networks we watch that are in the extended portion of our Spectrum cable -- we get basic and basic extended (I think that's what they call it).

Turns out it's available on Hulu (which we already have as one of our daughters Hulu subscribers) so for $4.95 a month we got Disney+ and are dropping basic extended.

Some of the channels they have are: Discovery, Animal Planet, Food Network, TLC Investigation Discovery, HGTV...

---

Earlier we were watching Mike Rowe's new show: Six Degrees.

It's really well done ...sort of all about invention and discovery -- how various things came to be. At least this particular show is about that.

[twobjshelbys]

At this point, everyone I know that has "cut the cord" from cable has merely re-distributed their dollars to half a dozen other services. We get everything we want and then some from Dish. The 200+ (which has something over 250) channels, a DVR and two remote TVs are about 133/mo. Our internet is separate from Centurylink at 45/mo.

I could drop the local channels and save $12/mo and get them on the attached over the air receiver (which I had to do starting in November because of a battle with Dish and the local CBS outlet owner). We have had the OTA dongle for years but keep the satellite versions of the locals because they show up on the recorder "prime time" (records all four networks prime time every night).

Dish has expanded their channels in all of their offerings and I haven't looked recently to see if their next step down from where we are currently might have picked up the gap programming we wanted that forced us to step up.

[Highwayman]

Now there is Motortrend and Discovery+ streaming in addition to Hulu, Apple TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Soon it will mostly be streaming services and no cable content. In the end our $200 a month will be moved from one cable company to several streaming services and we will all be right back where we started.

[twobjshelbys]

Now there is Motortrend and Discovery+ streaming in addition to Hulu, Apple TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Soon it will mostly be streaming services and no cable content. In the end our $200 a month will be moved from one cable company to several streaming services and we will all be right back where we started.

Virtually everything we watch is time shifted. I find the Dish DVR convenient for that. We still watch a fair amount of network (especially CBS) programming. Sure, I can do the CBS app, but the "on demand" stuff has commercials that can't be skipped or I can pay more for commercial free. Like I said, last time I wandered into the territory all of those cost more than Dish.

Also, my neighbor did this (and like I said, it cost him as much as Cox). Then he got the surprise: He went over his data allocation and got a huge surprise bill for internet. The next step up to unlimited data cost as much as cable. If your internet is from your cable company you'll get caught as almost all cable based providers are putting in data limits.

[68fastback]

That Discovery+ (on Hulu turns out is different programming than what on the native DSC, TLC, Food etc. so it may wind up being a net add (if we keep it). I wonder if some og the streaming programming may eventually also wind up on the native cable channels although I guess that would defeat the purpose of two dips in the wallet

We get Motor Trend as part of Spectrum ...it does carry a lot of good auto shows -- love the fabrication ones!

Yeah, like Mark said I think a lot of the streaming services will collectively replace cable and then we're back where we started -lol

And don't you hate when the cable providers and an over-air networks are having a battle over price. In the past Spectrum has even put up commercials about one battle or another. -lol

We can't really get much over-air here and what you can is spotty at best ...too many mountains and it's coming from too far away. Can't pick up NYC at all, Albany is a stretch on the best days and Massachusetts has nothing worthwhile in reach so we don't even bother.

[twobjshelbys]

And don't you hate when the cable providers and an over-air networks are having a battle over price. In the past Spectrum has even put up commercials about one battle or another. -lol
Yep, Dish just with through this with Nexstar. Nexstar had also recently done it with Cox here. Another one did it with Dish last summer - our ABC outlet disappeared for almost two months but I never noticed because we watch nothing - nada, zip - on ABC.


We can't really get much over-air here and what you can is spotty at best ...too many mountains and it's coming from too far away. Can't pick up NYC at all, Albany is a stretch on the best days and Massachusetts has nothing worthwhile in reach so we don't even bother.

Yes, we had that problem in Colorado. We were just inside the foothills and had no antenna reception whatsoever. The local cable (which was all there was) had an antenna and some kind of old satellite dish on the water tank. Reception of OTA stuff was horrible, just due to the age of the equipment - it was the original "cable" - central antenna for areas with blind spots. The satellite portion was little or nothing meaningful, things like TBS. Satellite was our only choice there and we've kept it for 20 years.

By the way, remember when TV on a rabbit ears antenna was all you had, and a telephone cost about $5/month (and the phone company owned it). Who would think that 50 years later we'd be paying sometimes $100+ to $200/month for TV and $120 or way more or so for cell service. And tolerate it because "that's just the way it is".

[68fastback]

By the way, remember when TV on a rabbit ears antenna was all you had, and a telephone cost about $5/month (and the phone company owned it). Who would think that 50 years later we'd be paying sometimes $100+ to $200/month for TV and $120 or way more or so for cell service. And tolerate it because "that's just the way it is".


Yeah, I remember! In NYC we got a channel on every position on the "channel selector" -- all 13 OTA channels! :rofl3:

In NYC (Queens) we had our own number but out on the north shore of Long Island where Jan grew up you still had party lines in many homes -- 2 or 3 houses shared a line. If you picked up to make a call and someone was talking, you just excused yourself, put the phone back down, and tried again in a few minutes -- I say a few minutes because back then you didn't use the phone to chit-chat ...it was a tool to contact someone when you needed to. You paid by the minute except for 'local' calls which were actually local -lol. In some areas you could just dial the last four digits since the first three of which never duplicated an area code, so the system knew it was local. And everyone knew the 'name' of their phone number prefix, e.g. if someone asked for your phone number you didn't say 726-4393 -- you said Ravenswood-6-4293 -- RA being 72 :rofl3: How quaint! :haha:

[twobjshelbys]

Yeah, I remember! In NYC we got a channel on every position on the "channel selector" -- all 13 OTA channels! :rofl3:

In NYC (Queens) we had our own number but out on the north shore of Long Island where Jan grew up you still had party lines in many homes -- 2 or 3 houses shared a line. If you picked up to make a call and someone was talking, you just excused yourself, put the phone back down, and tried again in a few minutes -- I say a few minutes because back then you didn't use the phone to chit-chat ...it was a tool to contact someone when you needed to. You paid by the minute except for 'local' calls which were actually local -lol. In some areas you could just dial the last four digits since the first three of which never duplicated an area code, so the system knew it was local. And everyone knew the 'name' of their phone number prefix, e.g. if someone asked for your phone number you didn't say 726-4393 -- you said Ravenswood-6-4293 -- RA being 72 :rofl3: How quaint! :haha:

In the beginning in the 50s and early 60s we had channels 4 and 9. They were NBC and ABC and at one point they swapped (!) and one of them carried part of the CBS schedule in lieu of one of the other networks. Then someone got a UHF channel for CBS (14). Our TVs didn't have the UHF tuner so we had to buy some kind of converter that shifted UHF to a switch selected VHF channel just like the early video recorders. The converter had click stops for each of channels 14-82. Later TVs did the same for the UHF. THe VHF tuner had a UHF position and then you used the UHF tuner. Some of the cheaper TVs had a continuous tuning UHF that would always drift after it warmed up.

Our first phone number was 3-9896. All of the region was 5 digits. Then they added the 7 digit dialing to the Iowa side and our part of South Dakota was serviced off the Sioux City central station so we followed and everyone got a whole new phone number. We also were on a party line. We shared the line with us, my grandparents and one other person. When we got 7 digit dialing we all got private numbers.

Speaking of old phone systems... The 5-didit dialing system was no doubt an old central "cross bar switch" - you see pictures of them in old 40's movies when they're trying to trace numbers. I joined Digital Equipment in 1976 and we had this thing called "DTN" (Digital Talephone Network). Every number inside DEC could be dialed by prefixing "8" in front, much like other systems used "9" to get an outside line. The "8" trunked the call back to Maynard where an old cross bar switch would route the call to the other sites. One of the really old DEC employees (I won't mention his name here, but as I recall his badge was something under 20) got the equipment and "made" the DTN for the New England sites. Others were added to it. At some point the entire phone system was replaced with a Rolm system (which I believe changed ownership to IBM while we were transitioning).

[68fastback]

In the beginning in the 50s and early 60s we had channels 4 and 9. They were NBC and ABC and at one point they swapped (!) and one of them carried part of the CBS schedule in lieu of one of the other networks. Then someone got a UHF channel for CBS (14). Our TVs didn't have the UHF tuner so we had to buy some kind of converter that shifted UHF to a switch selected VHF channel just like the early video recorders. The converter had click stops for each of channels 14-82. Later TVs did the same for the UHF. THe VHF tuner had a UHF position and then you used the UHF tuner. Some of the cheaper TVs had a continuous tuning UHF that would always drift after it warmed up.

Our first phone number was 3-9896. All of the region was 5 digits. Then they added the 7 digit dialing to the Iowa side and our part of South Dakota was serviced off the Sioux City central station so we followed and everyone got a whole new phone number. We also were on a party line. We shared the line with us, my grandparents and one other person. When we got 7 digit dialing we all got private numbers.

Speaking of old phone systems... The 5-didit dialing system was no doubt an old central "cross bar switch" - you see pictures of them in old 40's movies when they're trying to trace numbers. I joined Digital Equipment in 1976 and we had this thing called "DTN" (Digital Talephone Network). Every number inside DEC could be dialed by prefixing "8" in front, much like other systems used "9" to get an outside line. The "8" trunked the call back to Maynard where an old cross bar switch would route the call to the other sites. One of the really old DEC employees (I won't mention his name here, but as I recall his badge was something under 20) got the equipment and "made" the DTN for the New England sites. Others were added to it. At some point the entire phone system was replaced with a Rolm system (which I believe changed ownership to IBM while we were transitioning).

Cool memories, Tony! Big Blue also had a dial-8 network for all sites nationwide (mid-late 60s?). It worked great!

I remember those UHF tuners. Our TVs as a kid didn't have them either. Then, up here, TVs had them but there were no UHF channels within 'reach'

When I first moved up here in '74 I couldn't believe that this rural are had 100+ channels on a local cable vs a dozen OTA in NYC! What was great is that I figured out that NYC's FM stations were inserted on the cable between channels 7 and 8 (as I recall) so with an adapter you could pull off all of NYC FM band from the cable. It was like never having moved and was super high quality FM sound. Then around 1980 the NYC stations found out and their owning companies tried to get the cable company to pay -- they refused and NYC FM was gone -- never to return up here, but for those 6-7 years it was geat!

[tekheavy]

Yeah, I remember! In NYC we got a channel on every position on the "channel selector" -- all 13 OTA channels! :rofl3:

In NYC (Queens) we had our own number but out on the north shore of Long Island where Jan grew up you still had party lines in many homes -- 2 or 3 houses shared a line. If you picked up to make a call and someone was talking, you just excused yourself, put the phone back down, and tried again in a few minutes -- I say a few minutes because back then you didn't use the phone to chit-chat ...it was a tool to contact someone when you needed to. You paid by the minute except for 'local' calls which were actually local -lol. In some areas you could just dial the last four digits since the first three of which never duplicated an area code, so the system knew it was local. And everyone knew the 'name' of their phone number prefix, e.g. if someone asked for your phone number you didn't say 726-4393 -- you said Ravenswood-6-4293 -- RA being 72 :rofl3: How quaint! :haha:

Dan, what town did Jan grow up on Long Island?

I think I may have asked you this before, but I forgot.

[68fastback]

Dan, what town did Jan grow up on Long Island?

I think I may have asked you this before, but I forgot.

Halesite (where Nathan Hale was captured) ...neat Huntington.

[tekheavy]

Halesite (where Nathan Hale was captured) ...neat Huntington.

About 10 miles from me. Nice area. I've done a lot of work for the Halesite Fire Department.

A side note. Downstairs of the Halesite Fire Department is the actual sled that Santa Claus rode in the movie, "Elf"

They display it Christmas time.

28197

[68fastback]

About 10 miles from me. Nice area. I've done a lot of work for the Halesite Fire Department.

A side note. Downstairs of the Halesite Fire Department is the actual sled that Santa Claus rode in the movie, "Elf"

They display it Christmas time.

28197

How cool! Small world -- I just showed it to Jan and she immediately recognized the sled. Her dad rode in that sled for several years in the 1950s -- as Santa!

[Highwayman]

AMC is now moving their new seasons to their streaming service instead of the cable network. In another two years everything will be streaming so the networks don't have to reply on the cable companies to get their product to the market.

[68fastback]

It makes sense but then may just a matter of time before someone starts contracting with the streaming services for volume subscriber discounts and puts together packages of streaming channels -lol However, you'd likely still be able to pick and choose buying whatever streaming services directly (which may be why cable is starting to let you pick and choose some channels).

Eventually we'll probably wind up paying more for poorer video on internet streaming vs the existing high bandwidth cable. Maybe that's where cable fights back because someone will have to carry 'last-mile' bandwidth and that's where cable is to streaming like the post office is to DHL eCommerce, etc. -- whether it's carried multiplexed as channels or on a big fat internet streaming pipe somehow it has to get to residential America's doorstep with high-bandwidth.

[twobjshelbys]

AMC is now moving their new seasons to their streaming service instead of the cable network. In another two years everything will be streaming so the networks don't have to reply on the cable companies to get their product to the market.


That doesn't work since the internet bandwidth to accomplish the goal needed to make the transition doesn't exist in most of the country. There are places that still have only dial up. And you don't have to go too far from urban areas to see that. 10 miles west of Lyons had only dial up service three years ago... DSL was on its way but that was still 3 years after the flood that upgraded the feeders to fiber.

[Highwayman]

DSL was on its way but that was still 3 years after the flood that upgraded the feeders to fiber.

:yikes::shock2::shock: I remember over 20 years ago when DSL became available how it was a huge improvement over dialup. Then DSL was nothing compared to the service the cable companies were providing. It's hard to believe that people still have to rely on DSL.

[twobjshelbys]

:yikes::shock2::shock: I remember over 20 years ago when DSL became available how it was a huge improvement over dialup. Then DSL was nothing compared to the service the cable companies were providing. It's hard to believe that people still have to rely on DSL.

I use Centurylink DSL. 25mbit for $45/mo fixed price forever. Does all we need. Cable is about $80/mo and they raise their rates every 9-12 months. Plus they've added data limits that streaming breaks. Our DSL in Colorado (after the flood got fiber to the pedestal) was 90mbit.

[68fastback]

We signed up for a month trial of Fox Nation for $0.99. We're blown away by the volume of high-quality content!!

Brian Kilmeade's season-1 (4 shows) of What Made America Great is, by itself, worth 10x the price of admission. Simply excellent.
He's done six seasons of shows. Season-1 is all aspects of key events in American History and so well-done!! Engaging and insightful.

Judge Jeanine Piro has done series on American castles -- also very well done.

Had no idea there was so much content and such well-done content. Highly recommended.

[68fastback]

We've been watching old episodes of Frasier, Mash and Cheers on Hulu.

It's amazing how well-written, cast and directed those three series were!

And they go so much faster without commercials ;-) :banana:

[twobjshelbys]

We've been watching old episodes of Frasier, Mash and Cheers on Hulu.

It's amazing how well-written, cast and directed those three series were!

And they go so much faster without commercials ;-) :banana:

I've been watching MASH since forever (well, since we moved here) on MeTV (one of the "dot sub channels" that run over the air, that is also on Dish and most cables as part of their locals). Anyway, I still am amazed at how a nearly 50 year old MASH rerun is better than any show currently on tv first runs today (with few exceptions).

Frasier and Cheers were also well done shows. I think I've seen that Kelsey Grammer is going to do a Frasier Reboot???

Cheers had its on and off. We never cared much for the Shelly Long character. And the one from Star Trek was OK but grated on my nerves as time went on. I liked Coach best.

We just got back from Twin Peaks for dinner. We went to breakfast with our friends this morning and had our regular really meal of the day for calories, so tonight Twin Peaks had a special with fish & chips - one piece of fish (usually 3), french fries and a "man sized" beer for $10. The serving is more appetizer size but with the beer makes a nice light dinner.

Plus today the girls were all wearing black lacy tops and very revealing bottoms. One had a thong and all had major cheekage. Lots of round tushies. I was going to offer to one girl to help adjust things but the boss nixed it. Cuomo would have just gone and done it.

[68fastback]

I've been watching MASH since forever (well, since we moved here) on MeTV (one of the "dot sub channels" that run over the air, that is also on Dish and most cables as part of their locals). Anyway, I still am amazed at how a nearly 50 year old MASH rerun is better than any show currently on tv first runs today (with few exceptions).

Frasier and Cheers were also well done shows. I think I've seen that Kelsey Grammer is going to do a Frasier Reboot???

Cheers had its on and off. We never cared much for the Shelly Long character. And the one from Star Trek was OK but grated on my nerves as time went on. I liked Coach best.

We just got back from Twin Peaks for dinner. We went to breakfast with our friends this morning and had our regular really meal of the day for calories, so tonight Twin Peaks had a special with fish & chips - one piece of fish (usually 3), french fries and a "man sized" beer for $10. The serving is more appetizer size but with the beer makes a nice light dinner.

Plus today the girls were all wearing black lacy tops and very revealing bottoms. One had a thong and all had major cheekage. Lots of round tushies. I was going to offer to one girl to help adjust things but the boss nixed it. Cuomo would have just gone and done it.

:lol: ...sounds like a good dinner 'vibe' :biggrin:

Yeah, I also heard he is planning a Frasier reboot -- local DJ mentioned it a couple days ago but haven't heard when.

Kelsey Grammer has a summer place up here (in the central Catskills) at the end of a dead-end road -- fairly large property. I found that out when the lawyer for that town was in one of my classes several years ago. I've never checked it out but have been meaning to for years -lol

[The Bone]

Disney is Woke
Coke is Woke. I am too white for Coke.
Home Depot is becoming Woke
Ford is on the Woke fence
Chevy is full Woke
BOA is Woke and a traitor to there customers.
Amazon is Woke Woke.
When I see a Woke company I stop doing business with them.
If 75 million people stopped doing business with the Woke companies they would get the message fast and be Unwoke.
Sure it may cost a little more for something but they can't have my money.
Funny thing is Elon Musk is so not Woke.

[The Bone]

duplicate post

[68fastback]

Right on, Art!! :wtg:

[68fastback]

Hulu has a lot of good series. Mash, Fraser, Cheers, etc.

Recently we started watching Boston Legal because I used to love the show. Apparently I still do! The writing, acting, directing, photog... everything is just so well-done! James Spader as Alan Shaw is absolutely superb -- as is William Shatner as Denny Crane. And it's so nice to watch it without commercials!!

[HSURB]

Disney is Woke
Coke is Woke. I am too white for Coke.
Home Depot is becoming Woke
Ford is on the Woke fence
Chevy is full Woke
BOA is Woke and a traitor to there customers.
Amazon is Woke Woke.
When I see a Woke company I stop doing business with them.
If 75 million people stopped doing business with the Woke companies they would get the message fast and be Unwoke.
Sure it may cost a little more for something but they can't have my money.
Funny thing is Elon Musk is so not Woke.

They act Woke, I refuse to do business with them.

HSURB®

[68fastback]

:wtg: +1.

I have money at Amazon for over a year now that I haven't spent b/c of Bezos election BS. Unfortunately it can't be moved so I will eventually have to spend it and then I may blacklist them.

If I do, this will be my second Amazon blacklist. The first was around 20 years ago (when buy.com was still thriving) and lasted for 5+ years. It was over a dispute with one of their slimy vendors using deceptive advertising. I eventually prevailed and after a 5 year blacklist of Amazon I went back. It wasn't Amazon's 'fault' -- it was the vendor's -- but Amazon refused to help or even acknowledge the deceptive advertising (selling a manufacturer's packaged part number that includes two of the same item but shipping an open package with only one because the ad said one; but one of a part number that includes two = two not one -lol). The vendor would not make it right even after a formal Amazon dispute (this was back when humans adjudicated Amazon disputes -lol), so that made Amazon complicit as far as I was concerned.

I eventually wrote to Bezos directly (surely handled by staff -lol) and the vendor eventually refunded half (rather than ship the second one!!!), but I accepted that and then personally blacklisted Amazon for 5 years for being complicit.

I'm sure my business is rounding error for Amazon -lol- but it's the principle of it. If everyone told Amazon how they feel they might act differently.

[twobjshelbys]

If everyone told Amazon how they feel they might act differently.

I do. I think Amazon is the greatest thing since sliced bread. We do a lot of business with them. More often than not things electronic are cheaper at Amazon. Next is Sams/Costco.

My wife has over 10000 books in her Kindle library. (She's a book hoarder and buys lots of free ones that she never reads and will never read. I can't break her of the habit. Unfortunately mixed in there are ones she paid money for. Then when we moved to Vegas the library "loans" Kindle books through Amazon - it looks exactly like any other Kindle book, except it is not accessible after 21 days. We have two accounts - I think it was a mistake but now they can't be combined so she buys her stuff and I buy household stuff.

Pool supply parts and all but the basic chemicals are 1/2 the price as the local pool place.

I'm all for supporting mom and pop stores, and when we had day jobs it was OK to divert some money to them, but we knew them in our town. Now that we're fixed income, we have no local ties and cost/price drives most purchases. That's the same reason Walmart wins lots of bids. I never used to worry about prescription prices since insurance covered them, why would I care if the Pharmacy X charged insurance more than Y as long as all I had was a fixed copay. Today I needed to renew and went to GoodRX and found that one I had originally started at X then switched to Y was now cheaper back at X. When you're retired and have the time to look around it's worth shopping. Especially now with things like GoodRX and the internet my time is worth it. Took me an hour to find the best price for pool salt; Walmart won the bid. Plus I ordered it on line instead of going to the store since they loaded it into my truck :) 600lbs of salt. They loaded it but I had to unload it.

[68fastback]

We buy from Amazon too (aside from that 5 year period). They are often cheapest (but not always).

I guess the issue I is actually with Bezos -- he's become a political activist and not one supportive of the US Constitution.

Supposedly he's considering separating himself from Amazon -- I'd like that!

[twobjshelbys]

We buy from Amazon too (aside from that 5 year period). They are often cheapest (but not always).

I guess the issue I is actually with Bezos -- he's become a political activist and not one supportive of the US Constitution.

Supposedly he's considering separating himself from Amazon -- I'd like that!

We started with Amazon when they were an on-line book store.

[68fastback]

Like mid '90s!

I remember when Amazon and Buy,com were fierce competitors. Buy.com was often cheaper -- bought two cameras from them -- but Amazon eventually dwarfed them.

[68fastback]

Jan has gotten hooked watching Heartland on Hulu. It's a Canadian series that ran for 14 seasons. It's really well-done but I just don't have the time :rofl3: It's all about relationships and Jan likes horses so she's really enjoying it.

[twobjshelbys]

Like mid '90s!

I remember when Amazon and Buy,com were fierce competitors. Buy.com was often cheaper -- bought two cameras from them -- but Amazon eventually dwarfed them.


I got my D100 DSLR from buy.com. Are they still around?

[68fastback]

I don't think so. About 20 years ago they started to tank after Scott Blum sold it (I forget to whom). Then maybe 15 years or so ago I think Blum bought it back for a small fraction of what he sold it for but I don't think it's had a real web presence since. If you direct your browser to buy.com it takes to you to Rakuten.com, so I traced buy.com's IP ownership and that also says it's owned by Rakuten of CA (Rakuten is a Japanese company) but the actual address traces to northern Europe. Did some searches and apparently Rakuten bought it in 2010 ...maybe that's what they based Rakuten's retail US presence on -- dunno.