After being a DTV customer for nearly fifteen years, it is time to switch. Cost is insane. Problem is, no one service fits my needs. Especially, since you can't find one with everything you want. Seems like many of the services would fit my needs (Fubo TV, Youtube TV, Hulu+), but all are missing one thing that almost make them deal killers.

YouTubeTV is missing Viacom properties (CC especially) and Hallmark/Lifetime (wife necessities). The other ones like Fubo TV is missing ESPN. I'm not going without that. Hulu+ again with the missing Hallmark.

I think I might have to do a combination of YouTube TV and something like Philo, for my wife. It's annoying to have to subscribe to multiple services to fit my needs.

Yeah that's also the dilemma I'm facing too. Nobody outside of Spectrum and DirecTV carries the Lakers network. And I'm a big Lakers fan. I need NFL Network and ESPN because I work for the NFL and some of these live TV providers don't carry it.

So I'm basically stuck with DirecTV. I'd like Pac-12 Network because I work for them too, but only Fubo and Sling carry it and they're missing other things.

I've found a couple of streamers that have the channels I need but nobody I've tried so far has had a DVR that's acceptable so I'm still stuck overpaying for cable.

Oh yeah YoutubeTV doesn't have NFL Network either. So fucking annoying.

If the Hallmark Channels are important, there's a streaming service called Frndly TV that offers those for $8/month (HD + DVR).

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/streaming-...k-channel.html

Saw that, but then I am still missing lifetime, depending on which one I go with.

When we dropped DirectTV over a year ago (was a subscriber for well over 10 years), I went with Hulu+ and then the Frndly service during the holiday months. I have not missed DirecTV at all (surprisingly). I also have OTA hooked up that I use occasionally.

If you're not a sports fan, then sure there are ways to keep your costs down by doing workarounds. But, as I said, when you have providers that have exclusivity to content you want and enjoy like me with the Lakers network, then your sorta stuck.

And no I won't do any shady or illegal means to watch the content I enjoy. I won't watch pirated sports feeds.

But do they get current episodes a day or so after air? Bc I was looking for Schooled. Found 3 or so eps from current season, 2, which I assume get current air after broadcast. But, S1 was no where to be found. Who has that and why would Hulu not have?

Not every show gets their entire catalog streamed as part of your subscription.

Most providers like Hulu only carry In-Season rights like "Last 5 episodes" or the entire season. Very few actually carry the entire catalog of the show.

Schooled is owned by Sony. Hulu is owned mostly by Disney. So Disney would have to make a special arrangement with Sony to carry the 1st season. It's possible because they have a deal with them for The Goldbergs, which Sony also makes.

and FYI, just check this site if you want to know which provider carries which show

https://www.justwatch.com/us

Yeah, I know they have The Goldbergs and couldn’t understand Schooled since same producers or whatever. So who has Schooled for free?

No one. You have to buy it.

Season 1 was only carried "In-season" only by Hulu last year and that was it. Unless Sony later makes a deal with Hulu.

But as of right now, No one has it for "free" or part of a subscription.

It's not about being a sports fan (I am a huge sports fan), that was my main worry about getting away from DirectTV). it's about the teams your follow having exclusivity, mine do not.

https://www.t-mobile.com/tv?icid=WMM...RZRQBR7NN16796

T-Vision from T-Mobile has NFL Network, all the Pac-12 Network channels, ESPN, Lifetime, Hallmark, MLB Network, FS1 and more.

It's not exactly a "Budget friendly" service though. Prices start at $90/month with add-ons of course.

and it's not available in all regions. But you do get a discount if you're a T-Mobile subscriber.

I'm in the process of dropping DirecTV also (25+ year customer with a $200/month bill) after they only offered me a $10/month discount to stay. I'm going with a combo of YoutubeTV and SlingTV Blue. The only reason I'm using SlingTV is for CC, A&E and the NFL (NFL Network and Red Zone), otherwise YoutubeTV would have filled my needs. So far I'm loving YoutubeTV. And on my Fire Stick 4Ks it's so much faster than my crappy old DirecTV receivers.

I just noticed that the Hallmark Channel Everywhere app has a live feed for both Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. So if you have family/friend with a cable/satellite subscription, get them to authorize your streaming device. You won't have DVR capability, but at least you can watch the channel live.

Hallmark Channel Everywhere

Funny and appropriate bump. I just signed up for YouTube TV. I still have DTV, but will be cancelling within a week or so. Hallmark and Comedy Central were the two ones I am missing that I was going to sign up for Philo for. Then I remembered by buddy has Dish. He uses several of my logins for services, so I am using his logins for Hallmark Channel Everywhere and the Comedy Central app. This will save me the $20/month I was going to pay for Philo.

Essentially I have everything I want/need minus NFL Network. What I may do is next year during football, sign up for Sling for a few months so I can get Red Zone and NFL Network.

Youtube TV works fine for me - I primarily a Baseball and MMA fan so I'm good with the ESPN and FS1&2 channels.

Exactly what I did this year.

What do you need to stream realtime (other than sports and news) that can't be found on-demand these days?

Well usually you can't get on demand stuff without a provider so.... Also I want shit without ads. Fuck ads.

Then I suppose Hulu Premium with a pair of rabbit ears is going to be your best bet. A lot of local libraries offer Hoopla, Kanopy and other on-demand services free. All the other free on-demand stuff you're going to have to deal with ads. You like sports so Disney+/Hulu/ESPN looks good for you (but once again, ad-supported Hulu which I have, and barely ever watch).

You can install Kodi on a streaming device like a Fire TV stick or Nvidia Shield - there are plenty of "legal" add-ons (not the pirate ones) that come ad-free.

https://smartyoutubetv.github.io/

Also, Smart YouTube TV is a wonderful app (yes, legal) that lets you watch YouTube content ad-free. Also works on Fire TV and Shield.

So there are solutions out there for free content to reduce the ads as much as possible. I have personal experience with this because I moved last year to a place where I can only receive two OTA channels with rabbit-ears so I have to rely on the streaming services and whatever other free content is out there. Luckily I'm not a sports guy so that's not an issue for me.

I want to watch TV on my own time. Antenna is out. And I am not buying a device to record OTA. So far I am enjoying YouTube TV. Works well.