Hulu + Live vs. Cable

Platinum

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Thinking that Midcontinent is or has priced themselves out of business. I have a preferred HD Digital Cable package that runs close to $120 per month. Hulu + Live is around $50 a month and it will provide my local networks, plus all the other pertinent cable channels (ESPN, TNT, HGTC, Nat. Geo, FX) a guy could need. On top of that you also get all the other basic Hulu stuff.

So basically in a year you'd save close to $750. Anyone here using Hulu + Live and if so how do you like it?
 


nxtgeneration

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We've been using Sling for about a year and a half along with a digital antenna for local channels. We just did a 1-week trial of Hulu+Live and so far so good. I like that everything is in one place and I don't have to switch back and forth for the local channels. I prefer Sling's interface over Hulu's but I'm sure I can get used to it. I think we are dumping Sling and going with Hulu now.
 

CWS

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The wife and i have tossed those ideas around too. We currently have Polar and its quite expensive, and requires i have a landline, which i dont have a phone hooked up to. I dont have any specific TV series that i watch, im more of a "turn the TV on and see what interests me" person. With HULU or Sling can i still get the sports i want to watch? Can i watch local news? What about Bison/UND games/State Bball? FSN? CBS/NBS sports? If you have HULU or sling, what do you do for internet service? How well does the digital antenna work? Those things hold me back from actually going through with it.
 

nxtgeneration

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The wife and i have tossed those ideas around too. We currently have Polar and its quite expensive, and requires i have a landline, which i dont have a phone hooked up to. I dont have any specific TV series that i watch, im more of a "turn the TV on and see what interests me" person. With HULU or Sling can i still get the sports i want to watch? Can i watch local news? What about Bison/UND games/State Bball? FSN? CBS/NBS sports? If you have HULU or sling, what do you do for internet service? How well does the digital antenna work? Those things hold me back from actually going through with it.

With Sling we have the cheaper package which includes FSN and NBS Sports but not CBS Sports. There are no local channels so we use a digital antenna. You can get an upgraded package that includes Some of the sports channels. Hulu + does include the local news channels, FSN, ESPN (+ others), NBS/CBS Sports and some other Fox sports channels. We have the cheapest internet through Midco and have never had speed issues.
One of the biggest reasons my wife wants to switch is because or digital antenna sucks so she wants the local channels to be included.
 

BRK

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Hulu Live is pretty damn good. Only thing that I didn't like was I didn't get local channels in Bismarck. This was quite a few years ago when it was still in the BETA version. Now I pick up all the local Fargo channels since moving away from Bis.... Used it off and on for 3 years now, mainly for NFL season and I have ZERO complaints with Hulu Live.
 


zoops

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Was actually thinking about adding my experience before seeing this thread. I switched to Hulu live 2 weeks ago. Midco basic cable + internet was $145/month with no DVR, no extra channels, etc. Hulu live is $45/month and Midco internet (they had a free upgrade to the 150 mbps speed) is $60/month, so it will save me $40 a month. I bought an amazon fire stick for around $30 to hook up to my TV, otherwise no other hidden costs to switch. You get all the local channels (not sure about PBS, haven't tried that yet) and I get more sports channels than I did with Midco (Big Ten Network, CBS Sports, couple extra ESPN's) and a DVR. I've had some buffering issues the last couple days so I'll have to look into that but the first 10 days or so were basically flawless. Cable is definitely better but I'm good with saving $500/year for it. It's still a little more than I'd like to pay as I don't watch a lot of TV, especially in the summer but it's nice to be able to watch a game or weekday golf coverage from time to time...Gotta believe the day will come where you can just order the channels or even individual shows you want.
 

stalker

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We trialed both Hulu Live and YouTube TV. They both worked just fine. We decide to go with YouTube TV. They have less restrictions on where and how you can use it. We get all the local stations plus just about every station I cared to have. I do miss History but I think I have a work around for that.

One strange thing is YouTube TV doesn't have an app for firestick. I guess YouTube and Amazon don't get along. If you don't already have firesticks, it's no big deal. Just get Rokus. We already had several firesticks, but I found a hack with a little google search to get them to work.

I believe we are saving about $60 per month without the cable. It also works well for us to be able to use it at multiple locations. No more cable bill at the lake place.
 

BRK

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Upgrading the internet's bandwidth would be worth it to prevent buffering. We don't watch much TV in the summer, so the month-by-month services that I can disconnect any time I want are perfect for us. HBO NOW, Netflix, Hulu, DirecTV Now at times, ESPN +, it all saves money in the long run. Also doesn't hurt to call the provider and have them run some diagnostics on the router in your home. Sometimes they don't take an update, or they find something else bogging it down and can clear it up to speed up your internet. Last time I had an issue the ISP told me it shouldn't matter if I have 1 or 10 TVs running Netflix simultaneously, it should never buffer.
 

Up Y'oars

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This article is from April 2019 and shows what the channel lineup is for five streaming services. If you like more sporting channels, then YouTube TV is the better route. As I compared the channels I watch most I came up with the same result. Yes, no History Channel but I can log into their app and shoot it from my iPad to my Samsung SmarTV.

There are more links where you can go further in depth with each provider, too.

Streaming Services
 

v193

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I have Hulu Live. And I have zero complaints. Went from Midco, to directtv, and now to Hulu. I am still getting the hang of the DVR thing but it seems like any episode is available anyway through on demand so not a big deal.
 


Fisherman25

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I use fire TV. I picked up the TiVo box they make now and it pulls all my local channels right into the fire tv platform. Plus I can record shows up to 1/2 TB. For cable, I use an app that costs me 20 bucks a month for 3 devices and I get everything under the sun. Seriously....everything. It’s a little sketchy but....it’s cheap.
 

Roscoe

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I use Hulu live and it has worked out pretty well for us. We bounced around different TV streaming services mostly to try to get the most NFL games without having to pay for cable. I had Youtube TV in Washington for a year or so and liked that too but when I moved back to Watford City they told me they don't have coverage in this area so my only option was to cancel it. Hulu had no issues with coverage here and seems to have fairly comparable service.
 

shorthairsrus

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question to you techos ---- if one only has verizon up at devils lake --- other than hotspotting --- what are the options other than getting cable -- ---- how do not have coverage for hulu --- when you get it over the internet???
 


Auggie

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We do NDTC at the cabin in Devil's. I cut the cord on cable almost 5 years ago. I do regular Hulu and Netflix and an antenna. That covers 90% of what I use to watch. I do the ESPN+ during football season. Most hunting and fishing shows are available on YouTube do I don't need the Outdoor Channel.
I tried Hulu Live and Sling. They were OK. A good friend does the Direct TV streaming service and really likes that.
 
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guywhofishes

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the less TV I watch the better

tv-brainwashing-satirical-cartoon-from-1977.jpg
 
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fly2cast

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I got rid of Midco in Bismarck and have a Roku box. I subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, and Prime. Also have an antenna. I've never looked back. In Bismarck if you get internet from Midco, you can use your Midco account info to get ESPN, TNT, TBS, HGTV, etc through your Roku box for free. That includes live ESPN. So I get Monday Night Football on ESPN and all the other football games through antenna.
 


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