"Free" TV is merely the standard, over-the-air broadcast signals which have been around since US commercial TV broadcasting began in the 1940s. Congrats on cutting the cord.
They raised my rate by $8 PM this year to $127 PM. I don't have any special movie channels or special sports package. I have been wanting to cut ties but I like the sports too much. They arrange their packages so that you almost have to go for the most expensive one. They are probably raking in the money and could support a small nation on their profit. One day they are gonna realize that they have overdone it. Think how it would be if Dish and DTV had been allowed to merge.
You and I are in the same boat - long loyal customers who have the rates rise. I think I made my mistake years ago, asking for "small" special sports package in order to receive "ESPN Classics". I removed it years ago but somehow DirectTV retained some other channels for a "free" deal and soon after the "deal" went away and prices rose and somehow my rate gradually and simply increases. I called recently asking for a smaller package & they said anything I do won't lower cost that much - simply just a few bucks. They are becoming like organized crime or something close.
Thanks for sharing. My rates continue to rise as well and have reached almost $100 now. I started out with the second from bottom package years ago. I feel like a fool hanging on like I do without watching that much TV that isn't already offered by other means such as an antenna. I bought a "Smart TV" recently.
Actually, you have three TV options:
WHEEE!!! Tell me more WF3BH! whats the deal?
I'm interested to see what the new ATV design will be like and what subscription services will be available. I have two ATV2s and a FireStick. On the other hand, I don't think people realize what it costs to cut the cord and keep watching the programs and sports you want. For instance, I was paying $67 a month for Internet alone. My DirecTV bill increased to $121 a month. If I had canceled DTV and subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the occasional Redbox rental, I'd be paying $30+ a month with no sports. Instead, I called my Internet provider and added all the channels plus HBO for $32 a month. I don't recommend Comcast to anyone. In fact, they are a garbage, POS company but it goes to show cord cutting isn't always the best avenue.
Comcrap. It was actually cheaper to bundle with them than to cut the cord and scavenge for content.
Plex is pretty neat, and at one point I thought about using it solely as my home media center interface. I have a decent digital collection, but had problems with playing .vob files when loaded, and said the hell with it. I also didn't like that I had to pay for the Plex Pass for some of the other features. I ended up using Kodi (new version of XBMC) that I mentioned above and everything works now like it should. In addition to scanning my own library, I now have access to just about any and every movie and tv show out there with the use of the many video add-ons (Genesis, IceFilms, Phoenix, etc.). Granted, it takes some tinkering and a little patience to get everything working like you want it, but it is the shizzle. I just added the Yatse remote on my S5 the other night and that makes it a lot easier to navigate than using a wireless keyboard and mouse.
When we first got broadband in Atlanta in the late '90s, it was MediaOne, who sold out to ATTBI (AT&T Broadband Internet), in in turn sold it to Comcast about a dozen years ago. Prior to the Comcast takeover, we'd get occasional outages. Comcast did a good job of cleaning the transmission lines; now we rarely get an outage.
