Alternatives to cable television

[Buzz]

I am thinking of canceling my cable subscription and was wondering if the are alternatives to cable that others may use. I really don’t watch much of cable beyond the local CP24 news channel.

 

[BittyBug]

We cancelled our cable years ago and use online streaming services instead. I don't know if you have it in Canada, but I use hulu and have been happy with it. I tried YouTubeTV for a little while and it's fine I suppose but I don't like that it's owned by Google / Alphabet so I cancelled.

 

[Mozart]

Pluto tv (free app) has cbc news and global news plus some america news.
There's also cbc gem for cbc news and shows

No Hulu in Canada

 

[SkateSand]

Since David Lynch's death, I've been watching Twin Peaks seasons 1 and 2 on Pluto TV, which is free. I've been happy with only having Peacock and Amazon Prime for watching movies and TV series, although they aren't free. We don't even own a TV as we've been perfectly fine to watch streaming from our desktop computers, which have large monitors.

 

[MacMadame]

I am thinking of canceling my cable subscription and was wondering if the are alternatives to cable that others may use. I really don’t watch much of cable beyond the local CP24 news channel.

We have Roku for streaming and all the local channels have a free News stream. There are other free channels as well. I don't know if you have Roku where you are, but I think most of the streaming hardware does this. Just pick one that has the free stuff you want.

 

[Mozart]

Roku available in Canada. I don't have it because I have a firetruck (and actual fire tv, not the external srick)

 

[MacMadame]

Roku available in Canada. I don't have it because I have a firetruck (and actual fire tv, not the external srick)

It probably also gives you lots of free channels including local ones.

 

[Vash01]

I am considering getting an antenna and canceling tv cable. Either that or keep only the local channel and the three main networks. Cox cable keeps raising their rates. It is no longer affordable.

My nephew who moved from WA to CA said that in WA he was getting many channels (non cable) but he gets fewer in CA. It depends on where you live.

 

[Angelskates]

books, puzzles, board games

Amazon Prime

 

[BaileyCatts]

Question as the only streaming thing I have is Peacock for skating and Netflix. So if you cancel cable (which I still have), do you have to buy Hulu to get the ABC shows, Paramount Plus to get the CBS shows, Peacock to get the NBC shows? What about the FOX shows (like Masked Singer, Doc, etc., not the friggin' news channel ). But then how do you get random channels like USA, E!, Bravo, Oxygen, ID Channel, HGTV, A&E, AMC, TBS, FX, TLC, TNT, OWN, History Channel, ... you get the idea. That's what I don't understand about the streaming services and why I pay as much money as I do for cable.

 

[sk8pics]

Question as the only streaming thing I have is Peacock for skating and Netflix. So if you cancel cable (which I still have), do you have to buy Hulu to get the ABC shows, Paramount Plus to get the CBS shows, Peacock to get the NBC shows? What about the FOX shows (like Masked Singer, Doc, etc., not the friggin' news channel ). But then how do you get random channels like USA, E!, Bravo, Oxygen, ID Channel, HGTV, A&E, AMC, TBS, FX, TLC, TNT, OWN, History Channel, ... you get the idea. That's what I don't understand about the streaming services and why I pay as much money as I do for cable.

If you cancel cable, then you have to stream whatever you want or use an antenna. There are too many tall trees around my house so an antenna would only get me like 2 stations. I believe, but I’m not certain, that some of the major networks have apps where you can watch episodes of current shows a week or so after they aired. I do use Hulu for ABC shows; Hulu has reliably had Black Friday deals available that week and I’ve gotten it for $0.99/month for a year several years in a row. You do need to unsubscribe before your November billing date in order to get the deal.

I don’t bother with random channels like you mentioned. I do have the Paramount+ app, the ad-free version, because I like a lot of CBS shows.

The trick to streaming is to forget the way you used to watch TV. When you stream, you can subscribe for a month or two at a time and watch a whole season of some shows. I turn Apple TV+ on and off based on when a season of a show I like has dropped. For MAX, I’m just waiting a bit and then will redeem a code for half off the ad-free version.

Be careful to check if a show you want to watch is on a streaming service you are considering, and especially whether it’s current episodes. I forget which series I was looking at, but current episodes were not available on Hulu, only ones from previous seasons. I think this is especially true of CBS shows.