![]() It’s true that cable-replacement services deliver broadcast and cable channels over the internet-but there are caveats. You may choose to pay extra each month for more DVR storage or for premium channels, but those are optional charges for added services.Īnd … the case against. The aggravating, hard-to-understand charges you find on cable TV bills don’t show up on invoices from cable-replacement streaming services. You can buy a streaming player outright for as little as $30, and there are no recurring hardware charges. And most offer free cloud DVRs for recording shows. ![]() By contrast, you access a streaming service using an app on a smart TV or a streaming device that plugs into your set, such as a Roku Streaming Stick or an Apple TV. Most cable companies require you to rent a set-top box for a monthly fee of $10 or so, which can add up to more than $100 annually receivers with DVRs can cost even more to rent. More robust services that offer 60 or 70 channels, including local broadcasts and cable channels such as CNN and HGTV, are typically priced around $45 or $50 monthly. You can get a bunch of channels for as little as $15 per month. Even with recent price hikes, most of the cable-replacement plans cost less than half as much as the average pay-TV bill, according to market research firm eMarketer-admittedly for far less programming. Here’s why you might want to switch to a cable-replacement service. And if you change your mind, you can quickly switch to another tier or even a different company-no appointment with the cable guy or satellite-dish installer needed. That boosts your odds of finding a mix of content that feels right for the price. The half-dozen or so services on the market all offer more than one tier of service, going from as few as 33 channels up to 140-plus channels. Today’s cable-replacement streaming services are addressing both problems. And to make things worse, most consumers didn’t have a choice among providers in their neighborhoods. Generations of cable TV viewers have complained about paying for channels they didn’t want. These days, the rate you see in an advertisement may only be about three-quarters of the total bill that comes in the mail, once fees and taxes are added in. The tacked-on charges, which include “broadcast TV” and “regional sports” fees, keep rising. “Over the last several years, cable companies have begun to impose new fees for services that were previously included in the base rate for service,” says Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel at Consumer Reports. That’s over $100 per month-just for TV-and many people find that bills are higher than what they anticipated when they signed up. The average annual bill for TV service was more than $1,200 in 2018, according to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Consumer Reports members typically give low scores to their cable companies in our annual surveys, dinging them for value and customer service. More cable boxes also include voice capability and compatibility with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to change channels or search for shows and movies.Īnd … the case against. Some now offer apps that let you access online streaming services, such as Netflix and YouTube. Instead, many companies now offer next-generation set-top boxes with modern interfaces and support for newer TV features, such as 4K video with high dynamic range (HDR). ![]() Bulky, old-fashioned set-top boxes are largely a thing of the past, at least for the major TV providers. These low prices are in line with many streaming TV plans, which typically start at $40 or $50 per month.īetter cable boxes. For example, Cox has a plan that costs around $35 per month, and Charter has a $45-per-month Spectrum Select plan that serves up about 125 channels. Cable companies are coming up with less expensive, stripped-down plans to compete with cable-replacement streaming services. (See “ Help! How Do I Change the Channel?”)Ĭheaper, skinnier plans. That’s not always how it works with streaming services. And you’re already familiar with how the program guide works and with channels you’ve been flipping through since, well, forever. If you get TV and internet access from the same company, you’ll get one bill for both services. Here are a few reasons why you might want to keep, or maybe reconsider, a traditional pay-TV package.Ĭonvenient billing, familiar layouts. You don’t suffer delays or buffering because of bandwidth limitations or a balky WiFi network, the way you might with a streaming service. And most of the time, cable TV just works. People are so used to hating their cable companies that it can be hard to recall what made cable so impressive to begin with: dozens, even hundreds, of channels-all available around the clock.
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