Discussions

I know the "cutting the cord" threads have been done to death but I have not seen one thing about the tv guide/schedule issue.  
 
I'm pretty close to doing it and have tried to not use my cable much to see how I would do. I checked out a friend's IPTV and after I left, I got thinking... how do you know when your shows are on? How do you know what movie you are watching?  
 
Perhaps I'm still in the cable tv mindset and very schedule minded. Maybe cutting the cord is not for me. I just signed up for Discovery plus and can't believe how many of my favorite shows are there. So much content to explore.  
 
Money issues aside, please provide me with your cutting the cord experience and feelings. Any surprises?

We did last years.. and just use Netflix, and stack tv ( through Amazon prime) never miss an episode as they are just there for you to watch whenever you want. We do not miss cable at all

We cut the cable earlier this year and LOVE it!! No more crazy expensive bill. The only negative thing, for me, is that I have a terrible memory and forget what I’ve watched. Having the DVR was useful for this. However, it’s not a big enough deal for me to stay with cable.  
 
We went with the Amazon firestick. It’s very easy to use. We have Amazon prime, Netflix, stackTV, Disney+ and a few other apps. I don’t think we’ve come across anything we can’t watch yet. Some of the apps will put a check mark beside the episodes you’ve watched of a series, which is very helpful for people like me lol.  
 
One thing that I read recently that hadn’t occurred to me is that you can add the apps anytime you want. So if you’re someone who watches a show all at once, don’t bother getting multiple apps at once. Watch your shows on one and then add another app when needed. I was going to add discovery+ right away but I’m currently watching a few other series so I’ll wait until I’m done those and then add it. No point in paying for it if I’m not watching it right away.

Almost all streaming services have a search option, so you can search your shows. Just be warned, sometimes its not always there, have to subscribe to multiple streaming services, and they are starting to have commercials as well (StackTV, looking at you).  
 
Also, when you start subscribing to mutliple streaming services, it can be costly.  
 
Myself...  
 
Crave 9.99, HBO 9.99 and Starz 5.99  
Netflix 18.99  
Amazone Prime 7.99  
Disney+ 11.99  
 
Right now, without getting Discovery+, I pay approx $65 a month, and I STILL do not get all the shows I want!  
 
Disney+ has seasons 1-11 of Criminal Minds, but now 12-15. Ptime has scattered seasons of thr CSIs, NCISs and Law and Order SVU (SVU for example, I think seasons 11-14 and season 18?). I used to subscribe to Primes StackTV to get access to more, but lots of episodes would say "Not Available".  
 
As much as I enjoy streaming, there are many times i miss traditional TV service and have thought of getting it again.  
 
BTW, I am 35, so Im not young, nor old, but I realize the best of both streaming and tv.

How do I get my hockey games and BBC Earth? Or Food network?

For hockey, you can get the TSN Direct streaming app. $7.99 for a day, $19.99 a month, or $199 a year.  
 
Also you may need to get the Sportsnet streaming app to cover all games, thay one is $14.99 a month.  
 
I am unsure about BBC Earth or Food.

We haven't had cable in 10? 15? years. We don't miss it. We have a Roku box (we're on our second as we had a 1st gen one and it was soooooo slow lol) and a Zoomtac. We use mostly the Roku, although I'm considering getting an Apple box because we want to stream TSN. Roku doesn't have a TSN app so we have to use our laptop to stream that.  
 
We pay for Netflix and Disney+, plus a 6-month TSN sub for CFL football ($99). We got them during the pandemic, for years prior to that we had no paid subs:criptions (although we had Netflix in the distant past). Otherwise we watch a lot of free stuff. There's tons out there, usually with ads but they are fairly minimal.  
 
My kids get super-annoyed going to grandma and grandpas because they can't watch what they want when they want because they have cable lol.

Both BBC Earth and Food are available via Amazon Prime channels. Bbc Earth is a stand alone at $3.99/month, and Food is part of the Stack bundle for $12.99. The Stack bundle i:ncludes NatGeo.  
 
The thing with moving to streaming only is sometimes you have to adjust your expectations a bit. Lots of channels also put a select portion of their content online for free.

Some great information here. Thanks everyone.  
 
With what I've found on my Discovery plus package I think I'm going to have no problem finding things to watch. It has so much content.

I too was concerned about the scheduling questions. I downloaded an app called TV Club. It tells me when all of my upcoming shows are on, when new seasons are aired, and it allows you to check off watched episodes. I also add shows that I want to watch down the road when they are released to streaming TV. I don't miss anything now.

Can you get CTV Wpg news at 6:00 anywhere?  
From posts above, it looks like I can get everything I need except local news.

Oh thanks. I did not find that one but I found an app called TV Time that will work for me. Cheers!

You can't watch live without a subs:cription, but the newscasts are archived afterward at https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ by clicking on Video and All Video.

We would like to cut the cord but can't find a streaming service that has Chicago Fire/PD....anyone know where to look for these specific shows?

has four seasons of each show, but I understand they're still more than a year behind. I hope that helps!! Netflix has four seasons of Chicago Fire.

Discovery pls costs $4.99 with commercials & 6.99 with out . i:ncludes shows from the discovery channel, magnolia network , hgtv, tlc, food network, investigation discovery, trvl channel, own, planet earth, animal planet, sci (science channel i assume),diy network, cooking channel, destination life, ahc(american heroes channel) discover life & original shows for the service. just started last week, just pick a show you want to watch. all 4 major sports (nhl, nba, mbl, nfl) have there own stream channels. don't know what they cost .  
https://channelstore.roku.com/en-ca/browse/sports  
roku store has nhl, nba, mbl channels. don't know if the nhl channel get jets games or it's a blackout. yea it's every out of market game  
 
Edited by hardwoodeck, 2021-10-26 20:48:21

Netflix has Chicago Fire! I was pretty pumped when I found it! I believe Med is also on there but not sure about PD

Thanks for the info however I was looking for somewhere that would have the current episodes every week. Any suggestions?

I won't give up my cable because I won't give up channel 12, which has all the local news, sports, concerts, etc. Plus I can sit in on a council meeting to see what's happening in Brandon. There are shows featuring senior issues, library news, various medical issues - the list is long and impressive. There is more to life than watching movies, although they are very entertaining.

Quick google search brings it up as streaming free on citytv. Looks like you can watch previous episodes as well. Basically any new show you really need to see it is easiest to look at the cable channel that carries it first. Some are free to stream. Some like global are part of stacktv.

I watch it on this link NBC the only thing is the latest episode is locked until the next show so basically you watch a week behind. So after tonight’s show last week is unlocked if that makes sense.  
 
https://www.nbc.com/shows/all/popular  
 
Just select shows on top bar and it takes you to the shows sometimes it says “ not available in your area “ but just click on the show and it works for all previous new season shows  
 
Edited by Mac72, 2021-10-27 09:43:46

Lots of that stuff is online. I've watched council meetings. Shaun Cameron often posts links to that sort of stuff.

Ok - I know kinda what you can get after you have cut the cable cord . But what do you need to do before you cut the cord .. Thanks

What do you mean by this?

Internet to be able to stream the content. You would then also need some sort of streaming device.  
 
Myself, I have 2 PS4s, 2 PS3s (kids), and an Xbox One. I also have a Fire Stick (I have not actually used this yet).  
 
You can download apps on those devices to open them and choose what you want to waych.  
 
Some people have Smart TVs to do that same, but there is also Chromecast, Apple TV, and many more out there. Not only that, but there is also watching on your tablet/cell phone.  
 
I missed many streaming devices, so maybe someone else can jump in amd give more ideas as well.

I cut the cord about a year ago. The only thing I needed to find was somehow a way to get some local news. I ended up buying a chromecast with google TV. The global app actually does broadcast local news without a subscription. Scroll down to the news line and all major Canadian cities will be there and can actually watch the Manitoba news at 6 live. I used to watch CTV but at least its something without paying. I have Netflix and Prime TV and that meets my needs. The CTV and Global apps do show all their programming on demand 24 hrs later usually. I just signed up for Discovery Plus and it has a lot of programming that meets my interests and am seriously considering dumping Netflix as its price seems to keep rising and I watch it the least so $8.99 for Prime and $4.99 for Discovery Plus meets my needs anyways.

City of Brandon streams all their council and planning commission meetings on Youtube....and have a library of older meetings well!

I didn’t think there was still people using cable I don’t even remember last time I had cable, I stream all my series and movies and for my sports channels I have the IPTV.

I don't have cable but can get get news from you tube and global. Was surprised how diverse Disney was when I tried the free trial, love the National Geographic! Always try the free trials to see if I like the channels first to see if I like them, going to try out paramount got 3 months free from McDonalds.  
I have to say that the Roku is the best as is has a lot of free options too

If you live in a rural area with poor access to affordable high speed internet , streaming is not possible so we are stuck with overpriced satellite or nothing.