Dumping DirecTV

Gern Blansten

So I've been paying around $180/month for satellite TV.  This includes 3 boxes, HD service (no idea why that has a separate charge), HBO, Showtime, etc.

It is ridiculous to pay this much so I'm considering going Hulu with live TV.

Question is this....I'm wondering if DirecTV will give me a great deal if I try to cancel.

Has anyone experienced this?

lmckenney24

Gern Blansten said:

So I've been paying around $180/month for satellite TV.  This includes 3 boxes, HD service (no idea why that has a separate charge), HBO, Showtime, etc.

It is ridiculous to pay this much so I'm considering going Hulu with live TV.

Question is this....I'm wondering if DirecTV will give me a great deal if I try to cancel.

Has anyone experienced this?

I have recently.

You need to ask for the loyalty department (I'll PM you with direct number once I find it). They dropped mine to $118/month (including 3 boxes & 1000mpbs internet) and NFL Sunday Ticket at no cost (this was prior to NFL season starting). Assuming you've been with them for a while, they will hook you up, or should.

MayDay10

no.  Fuck Directv and AT&T.  They will give you little.  

They used to give loyalty discounts pretty easily and I would call every year to keep the bill reasonable.  Once AT&T acquired them they stonewall most people (above notwithstanding and I have heard of a few cases where people won out but many many more people cant get much).  

There is no reason that someone in 2020 should be paying rent for cable boxes.  


I have been off of cable/satellite TV for 2 years now.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.  Hulu Live was good.  Recently switched to Youtube TV and like it a little better.  

lmckenney24

MayDay10 said:

no.  Fuck Directv and AT&T.  They will give you little.  

They used to give loyalty discounts pretty easily and I would call every year to keep the bill reasonable.  Once AT&T acquired them they stonewall most people (above notwithstanding and I have heard of a few cases where people won out but many many more people cant get much).  

There is no reason that someone in 2020 should be paying rent for cable boxes.  


I have been off of cable/satellite TV for 2 years now.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.  Hulu Live was good.  Recently switched to Youtube TV and like it a little better.  

I've been curious about Hulu or Youtube TV.

Excuse my ignorance on the matter, but do you get most/all live programming? What about sports, do you get most/all of the games you would get with cable/satellite? We've talked about switching if Directv jacked the bill up in 7 months when the promotions expire. Thanks in advance for the info. 

Gern Blansten

My understanding is that Hulu Live doesn't have PBS but I would get an antennae for that.

I still check the guide every night to see what's on HBO.  Yet I can log into HBOMAX and watch anything that is currently on HBO whenever I want.  I feel like I should kick myself for waiting so long.

MayDay10

lmckenney24 said:

MayDay10 said:

no.  Fuck Directv and AT&T.  They will give you little.  

They used to give loyalty discounts pretty easily and I would call every year to keep the bill reasonable.  Once AT&T acquired them they stonewall most people (above notwithstanding and I have heard of a few cases where people won out but many many more people cant get much).  

There is no reason that someone in 2020 should be paying rent for cable boxes.  


I have been off of cable/satellite TV for 2 years now.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.  Hulu Live was good.  Recently switched to Youtube TV and like it a little better.  

I've been curious about Hulu or Youtube TV.

Excuse my ignorance on the matter, but do you get most/all live programming? What about sports, do you get most/all of the games you would get with cable/satellite? We've talked about switching if Directv jacked the bill up in 7 months when the promotions expire. Thanks in advance for the info. 

yes, you get the live programming.  There is a guide and everything (but I rarely use it).  NFL games are on as they would if I had cable TV.  Local news is on.  Lots of sports channels like MLB Network, NFL Network, fox sports, espn, SEC Network, etc

A lot of the regional sports networks pulled out of Hulu and Youtube.  They are mainly owned by the major telecom companies and Sports are the last leverage to try to force everyone to pay their subscriber fees.  I haven't had MSG in a couple years.  Borrowed a password from my inlaws so I can watch the app if I want.  

There is a streaming service called 'Fubo TV' that is a lot more sports oriented and I think that has many additional sports options.  I may check it out.  A beauty with these things is you can just cancel and subscribe whenever the hell you want.  


Its great.  Most things I just watch streaming and very little live TV.  You can just watch the show when you want.  My kids like America's Funniest Videos.  Dont need to watch it Sunday night or even DVR it (the services do have DVR functions).  Whenever you want, you just go to the show and it has most/all of the recent episodes on there.

My in-laws still subscribe to cable.  We borrow their password and it gives us access to the apps for HBO, Starz, and a few others.  We still subscribe to Netflix as well.  Also have Amazon Prime and lots of content comes with that.  Oh yeah, and Disney Plus (I get it for free for 3 years due to some sort of promotion I got).  



You just have to make sure you have Smart TVs and/or get something like a FireStick.  Oh yeah, another good thing is you can watch on your smartphone, any computer, tablet.... whatever you need.  

lmckenney24

MayDay10 said:

lmckenney24 said:

MayDay10 said:

no.  Fuck Directv and AT&T.  They will give you little.  

They used to give loyalty discounts pretty easily and I would call every year to keep the bill reasonable.  Once AT&T acquired them they stonewall most people (above notwithstanding and I have heard of a few cases where people won out but many many more people cant get much).  

There is no reason that someone in 2020 should be paying rent for cable boxes.  


I have been off of cable/satellite TV for 2 years now.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.  Hulu Live was good.  Recently switched to Youtube TV and like it a little better.  

I've been curious about Hulu or Youtube TV.

Excuse my ignorance on the matter, but do you get most/all live programming? What about sports, do you get most/all of the games you would get with cable/satellite? We've talked about switching if Directv jacked the bill up in 7 months when the promotions expire. Thanks in advance for the info. 

yes, you get the live programming.  There is a guide and everything (but I rarely use it).  NFL games are on as they would if I had cable TV.  Local news is on.  Lots of sports channels like MLB Network, NFL Network, fox sports, espn, SEC Network, etc

A lot of the regional sports networks pulled out of Hulu and Youtube.  They are mainly owned by the major telecom companies and Sports are the last leverage to try to force everyone to pay their subscriber fees.  I haven't had MSG in a couple years.  Borrowed a password from my inlaws so I can watch the app if I want.  

There is a streaming service called 'Fubo TV' that is a lot more sports oriented and I think that has many additional sports options.  I may check it out.  A beauty with these things is you can just cancel and subscribe whenever the hell you want.  


Its great.  Most things I just watch streaming and very little live TV.  You can just watch the show when you want.  My kids like America's Funniest Videos.  Dont need to watch it Sunday night or even DVR it (the services do have DVR functions).  Whenever you want, you just go to the show and it has most/all of the recent episodes on there.

My in-laws still subscribe to cable.  We borrow their password and it gives us access to the apps for HBO, Starz, and a few others.  We still subscribe to Netflix as well.  Also have Amazon Prime and lots of content comes with that.  Oh yeah, and Disney Plus (I get it for free for 3 years due to some sort of promotion I got).  



You just have to make sure you have Smart TVs and/or get something like a FireStick.  Oh yeah, another good thing is you can watch on your smartphone, any computer, tablet.... whatever you need.  

Great info, thank you!

My wife tends to use Netflix and/or Amazon Prime way more than TV, and my son and I really only watch sports and NCIS. I really only kept it because of the sports programming, and clearly not researching the matter very well. Guess i'll be cutting the cord once the promotions end.

 Its not worth arguing with Directv to lower your bill every 12 months, then going through it again. You've got me sold haha

Gern Blansten

lmckenney24 said:

MayDay10 said:

lmckenney24 said:

MayDay10 said:

no.  Fuck Directv and AT&T.  They will give you little.  

They used to give loyalty discounts pretty easily and I would call every year to keep the bill reasonable.  Once AT&T acquired them they stonewall most people (above notwithstanding and I have heard of a few cases where people won out but many many more people cant get much).  

There is no reason that someone in 2020 should be paying rent for cable boxes.  


I have been off of cable/satellite TV for 2 years now.  My only regret is not doing it sooner.  Hulu Live was good.  Recently switched to Youtube TV and like it a little better.  

I've been curious about Hulu or Youtube TV.

Excuse my ignorance on the matter, but do you get most/all live programming? What about sports, do you get most/all of the games you would get with cable/satellite? We've talked about switching if Directv jacked the bill up in 7 months when the promotions expire. Thanks in advance for the info. 

yes, you get the live programming.  There is a guide and everything (but I rarely use it).  NFL games are on as they would if I had cable TV.  Local news is on.  Lots of sports channels like MLB Network, NFL Network, fox sports, espn, SEC Network, etc

A lot of the regional sports networks pulled out of Hulu and Youtube.  They are mainly owned by the major telecom companies and Sports are the last leverage to try to force everyone to pay their subscriber fees.  I haven't had MSG in a couple years.  Borrowed a password from my inlaws so I can watch the app if I want.  

There is a streaming service called 'Fubo TV' that is a lot more sports oriented and I think that has many additional sports options.  I may check it out.  A beauty with these things is you can just cancel and subscribe whenever the hell you want.  


Its great.  Most things I just watch streaming and very little live TV.  You can just watch the show when you want.  My kids like America's Funniest Videos.  Dont need to watch it Sunday night or even DVR it (the services do have DVR functions).  Whenever you want, you just go to the show and it has most/all of the recent episodes on there.

My in-laws still subscribe to cable.  We borrow their password and it gives us access to the apps for HBO, Starz, and a few others.  We still subscribe to Netflix as well.  Also have Amazon Prime and lots of content comes with that.  Oh yeah, and Disney Plus (I get it for free for 3 years due to some sort of promotion I got).  



You just have to make sure you have Smart TVs and/or get something like a FireStick.  Oh yeah, another good thing is you can watch on your smartphone, any computer, tablet.... whatever you need.  

Great info, thank you!

My wife tends to use Netflix and/or Amazon Prime way more than TV, and my son and I really only watch sports and NCIS. I really only kept it because of the sports programming, and clearly not researching the matter very well. Guess i'll be cutting the cord once the promotions end.

 Its not worth arguing with Directv to lower your bill every 12 months, then going through it again. You've got me sold haha

Yeah I'm thinking Hulu Live is probably $70/month....I already pay them $15/month for basic service.  Even if DirectV gives me $120/month I still can do without it.  I could live with $80/month maybe but I'm definitely not committing to a contract beyond one year.

mca47

I'm thinking about cutting off DTV as well.  My bill is ridiculous.  The only reason I had it in the first place was for sports and the NFL package.
What I get out of it is NOT worth the money.

Pretty sure if not for the NFL package, DTV would probably go out of business.

lmckenney24

mca47 said:

I'm thinking about cutting off DTV as well.  My bill is ridiculous.  The only reason I had it in the first place was for sports and the NFL package.
What I get out of it is NOT worth the money.

Pretty sure if not for the NFL package, DTV would probably go out of business.

Well, that may just happen. I am pretty sure DTV/NFL Sunday Ticket partnership expires in 2022. I'd be surprised if that is renewed.  

Gern Blansten

I know that AT&T is probably hounding people to switch to ATTUverse vs DTV but they don't even offer that in my area.  We just have TV only...no internet through them.

tbergs

I think all the big cable providers would be done for without sports. Like someone else already mentioned, they have sucked some regional channels out of the packages for the streaming services like Sling. I had Sling for a while, but then Dish (owner of Sling) and FSN got in to an argument over price so it was dropped. I then dropped Sling. I think YouTube still carries it, but I didn't want to double my cost to over $60/mo for a majority of channels and services I don't care about. Sling was about $30 and what I was willing to pay to watch my local teams. Hulu+Live TV may be a cheaper option, but until Covid is over I don't care to watch sports anyway. I'll stick with my shared Netflix and Prime access. For network TV I just put their app on my Roku and stream when available, usually a week later with a few ads. For whatever reason I have not been able to get an antennae to work for local channels on my TV. Again, no big deal because we don't really watch TV, just stream what we want.

tbergs

The nice thing I've noticed is that even if you drop them or just do the trial, I will get some sort of promotion within the year that offers to give me 3 months for $10 or reduce the cost significantly for me to come back. I have done this with Sling and YouTube. Even happens with music streaming. I should be getting a promotion from Tidal any day to join again for $10 for 3 months. Cancel whenever you want is awesome.

I don't think I've had a cable subscription of any sort for over 10 years. Thankfully streaming has come a long ways. Usually I had to rip the shows I wanted from some sketchy online site 10 years ago. It was the only way for me to see shows like The Wire and Justified.

Gern Blansten

I'm just kicking myself for not doing it sooner.  What a fucking waste of money.

markymark550

I switched to Hulu + Live TV about 2 years ago and have been very happy with that decision. I was a little wary of access to the sports channels, but I've had no problems. They've raised prices twice since I subscribed, but satellite is still more than double the newest price. You can also bundle Hulu with a Disney+ subscription. That knocks a couple of bucks off the D+ price and also gives you access to ESPN+ content. I've heard good things about YouTube TV, but they are not a valid provider for ESPN3 content, which I do watch fairly regularly. So just keep that in mind if debating between the 2.

Gern Blansten

markymark550 said:

I switched to Hulu + Live TV about 2 years ago and have been very happy with that decision. I was a little wary of access to the sports channels, but I've had no problems. They've raised prices twice since I subscribed, but satellite is still more than double the newest price. You can also bundle Hulu with a Disney+ subscription. That knocks a couple of bucks off the D+ price and also gives you access to ESPN+ content. I've heard good things about YouTube TV, but they are not a valid provider for ESPN3 content, which I do watch fairly regularly. So just keep that in mind if debating between the 2.

yeah it seems like what little research I have done seems to lean toward Hulu for reasons like yours

tempo_n_groove

Just purchased a Roku.  So far I like it.

We have basic cable and internet which is criminal at how much 21 channels costs.

Trying to get further into ROKU to see whats up w their free content.

cutz

I had DirectTV for years at one time, but I dumped it for Verizon Fios. My Bill is ridiculous and I want to find a Service that meets my needs and will save money. I've read some of the suggestions in here and will look into them.  There so much out there that I'll probably find it very confusing. But, I admit, I get confused easily.>LOL

Gern Blansten

I started off with Netflix after my kids bugged me for it.  Then did Hulu because there were some shows my kids wanted to watch on there...then we got into Handmaid's Tale, etc.

We have Prime by default...then added Disney because it was cheap and had all the Simpsons episodes.

I could probably get by with an antenna and paying for HBO/Showtime separately but I know there will be sports that I want to watch so I guess we will just go with it and see how to adapt.

markymark550

Gern Blansten said:

markymark550 said:

I switched to Hulu + Live TV about 2 years ago and have been very happy with that decision. I was a little wary of access to the sports channels, but I've had no problems. They've raised prices twice since I subscribed, but satellite is still more than double the newest price. You can also bundle Hulu with a Disney+ subscription. That knocks a couple of bucks off the D+ price and also gives you access to ESPN+ content. I've heard good things about YouTube TV, but they are not a valid provider for ESPN3 content, which I do watch fairly regularly. So just keep that in mind if debating between the 2.

yeah it seems like what little research I have done seems to lean toward Hulu for reasons like yours

I would probably go to YouTube TV if they allowed you access to ESPN3 content. I think they have better features in their standard package where you have to pay extra for the same features on Hulu. I think Hulu has better content, and for me, that's more important.

RoleModelsinBlood31

I haven’t had cable for probably 8 years now.  Started with roku and Kodi via a fire stick.  Now I just have Netflix, Amazon prime, a fire stick, and a leaf antenna, although I also pay $80 a year for mlb tv.  All the local channels through the leaf antenna give me all the major sports, live tv & news.  Works great for us, but then again I’m not a huge tv show guy and am rarely at home.

I say cut the cord.  What’s the worst that can happen, you start getting great deals in the mailbox and you sign back up for cheaper than you were paying before because they pre load the incentives?

MayDay10

It is very liberating.  There are so many options, and you can just turn them off and on as you wish without making calls, worrying about contracts and upgrading and returning equipment, etc.  Most things have a trial period too.  It took us more than 2 years to finally cut the cord.  it felt like we were going to sever ourselves from the world or something.  It turned out feeling the opposite.

Everything is still there.  In fact, it opens up more when you break the habit of tethering yourself to a guide and also DVRing what you want.  The only drawback and suggestion is to know what is going on with your Regional Sports if that interests you.  Those properties and the blackout restrictions are a last holdout of telecom monopolies.  Im hoping Biden's FCC can tilt the scales back toward the consumer, and hopefully the sports leagues want to get their product into the maximum number of homes after the pandemic.

One thing with Hulu is I was not a fan of the interface, which inspired me to jump to youtube tv.  

angry_skull

I dropped Dish not too long ago for Hulu (already had Netflix and Disney). Never looked back. Easy adjustment.

BH76306

RoleModelsinBlood31 said:

I haven’t had cable for probably 8 years now.  Started with roku and Kodi via a fire stick.  Now I just have Netflix, Amazon prime, a fire stick, and a leaf antenna, although I also pay $80 a year for mlb tv.  All the local channels through the leaf antenna give me all the major sports, live tv & news.  Works great for us, but then again I’m not a huge tv show guy and am rarely at home.

I say cut the cord.  What’s the worst that can happen, you start getting great deals in the mailbox and you sign back up for cheaper than you were paying before because they pre load the incentives?

It's 100% baseball that keeps me paying the outrageous DTV prices. My issue w/ MLBtv, as a Mariners fan in their region, is all their games are blacked out. Haven't found a way to watch my beloved M's torture me w/ mediocrity without paying insane cable prices.

Gern Blansten

I recorded the Ken Burns Baseball series on the DVR.  As soon as I'm done watching that I'm cancelling.  

mca47

BH76306 said:

RoleModelsinBlood31 said:

I haven’t had cable for probably 8 years now.  Started with roku and Kodi via a fire stick.  Now I just have Netflix, Amazon prime, a fire stick, and a leaf antenna, although I also pay $80 a year for mlb tv.  All the local channels through the leaf antenna give me all the major sports, live tv & news.  Works great for us, but then again I’m not a huge tv show guy and am rarely at home.

I say cut the cord.  What’s the worst that can happen, you start getting great deals in the mailbox and you sign back up for cheaper than you were paying before because they pre load the incentives?

It's 100% baseball that keeps me paying the outrageous DTV prices. My issue w/ MLBtv, as a Mariners fan in their region, is all their games are blacked out. Haven't found a way to watch my beloved M's torture me w/ mediocrity without paying insane cable prices.

Yeah, sports in general have kept me with DTV for this long.  A Chicago sports fan living in Arizona...DTV gives me everything I could want sports-wise.  Bastards!  haha

RoleModelsinBlood31

BH76306 said:

RoleModelsinBlood31 said:

I haven’t had cable for probably 8 years now.  Started with roku and Kodi via a fire stick.  Now I just have Netflix, Amazon prime, a fire stick, and a leaf antenna, although I also pay $80 a year for mlb tv.  All the local channels through the leaf antenna give me all the major sports, live tv & news.  Works great for us, but then again I’m not a huge tv show guy and am rarely at home.

I say cut the cord.  What’s the worst that can happen, you start getting great deals in the mailbox and you sign back up for cheaper than you were paying before because they pre load the incentives?

It's 100% baseball that keeps me paying the outrageous DTV prices. My issue w/ MLBtv, as a Mariners fan in their region, is all their games are blacked out. Haven't found a way to watch my beloved M's torture me w/ mediocrity without paying insane cable prices.

Yep- sports are really their last link to keeping people paying for cable.  I’m a Yankees fan in Texas, so mlbtv works well for me since I’m out of the region , but I do get blacked out when they’re in Arlington. If the game’s on espn I’m screwed too unless I use someone’s Hulu account or something.  I’ve also done a month of free trial usage several times for sling to watch the World Cup and then dumped it afterwards so I could watch it for free.  I feel for you though.