[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by Oxy

I understand it is easy for people to cut the cord if their entertainment needs are being met by the various streaming services, but is cutting the cord feasible if you have older folks at home who regularly watch live tv channels, especially the paid ones like the Sun TV network?

This is the only reason I cannot think of cutting the cord despite subscribing to all the major OTT platforms. Elder parents cannot navigate online OTT services and need to be hand held whereas they are very comfortable with Tata Sky.
Except for few English news and Telugu entertainment + movie channels, we watch the rest on OTT.

One more reason, I feel that the broadband charges for other providers will start moving upwards now that Jio has begun charging for its services. If the threshold of Broadband prices vs STB pricing gets affected, I think it will make sense to continue with the set top box.

[BlueEyes]

After much deliberation I am cancelling Airtel digital TV subscription and ordering Amazon fire stick today. Folks here using fire stick I have some questions, appreciate some answers.
Does CNN,BBC etc have apps which can be installed on the fire stick for international news channels?
I have Nord VPN subscription, how is the VPN compatibilty on the fire stick?
Another problem would be when my parents visit me, they have to learn to navigate to watch some regional channels. I was suggested Voot, Hooq to consume regional(Kannada) contents. Is there an option to drag particuler channel/app to the home screen for quick access?

With limited search I did, I could not find answers to above hence questions. Thanks.

[Geo_Ipe]

Like a lot of folk here, I ditched Tata Sky almost 3 months ago, and have been happily surviving on Amazon Prime and Hotstar Premium.

However, I'm missing Champions League football and cricket telecast on the Sony/Ten networks. How do I get those on my TV via the Fire stick??

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

However, I'm missing Champions League football and cricket telecast on the Sony/Ten networks. How do I get those on my TV via the Fire stick??

After reading your query, I did a search on the fire stick & Sony Liv is available.
Download & use it.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Geo_Ipe

...
However, I'm missing Champions League football and cricket telecast on the Sony/Ten networks. How do I get those on my TV via the Fire stick??

Airtel subscriber?

If yes, you could sideload the XStream app. Postpaid connections have a free subscription. I've been using it for the football since ditching Tatasky last year.

[blackwasp]

Recently, we got a Jio TV as part of our internet subsription. Must say, its a fantastic alternative to Tata Sky. The primary advantage is the better quality and no disruption during rains. As of now, there are no bundled channels, but 85% of what we watch is available either the Zee5, Hotstar or some other app.

Most of the weekends we make it a point to watch some or the other movie ad-free.

[Elito11]

No. I like having both STB and internet TV. Why?

Elderly parents + Kids + Multiple Televisions = Everyone has different requirements.

- My parents watch few dedicated channels and are comfortable with their Tata Sky STB. I see no point in making them switch over.

- What happens when the internet is down? Combined with the fact that Tata Sky prices have come down I see no point in fixing something that is not broken.

- I see internet TV as me moving from watching movies/YT/tv series etc from my desktop to a large screen TV (yeah, I just cannot give up my desktop. I have had a 22inch 1080P monitor for almost six years now and its has been enough for me) plus an option for my parents/child to watch movies etc in a family setting.

- For the simple reason that there are too many bandwidth hoggers at my house and it is simply not practical to only depend on internet!

[Rajeevraj]

Although there was a period when I did not have a working STB, I am back on it with a minimal subscription. It is still needed when you have elders in the house who cannot handle all the app based navigation.

Also now with so much content being thrown at you , it becomes a challenge to figure out what to watch. So sometimes it is good to do surf channels and watch what is thrown at you. Nothing more joyful than surfing and finding one of your favorite movies/scenes running on some channel.

[Sreesh1009]

Cut the cord way back in 2014 as our TV had conked off. After that we didn't have a TV nor a setup box (obviously). It was only December last year that we bought a Smart TV and didn't require any type of DTH connection as all our content was available on the Smart TV.

In those 5 years of not having a TV we had a much better time as a family. There was no loud news playing the background and we found ourselves spending more time talking to each other rather than sitting in front of the Idiot Box. The TV was a blessing during the lockdown though

[DCEite]

For those looking for internet TV + DTH in one box, Airtel has the Xstream Box. It combines both Internet TV/Chromecast + Air DTH in a single box.

However, i am not sure about the plans for DTH. Do they have some differential plans for Airtel Broadband customers ?

[TrackDay]

Seems like HBO have ceased their operations here in India after 20 years of service.

https://www.financialexpress.com/bra...f-air/2139575/

I am still old school with terms on TV. I prefer sitting on the couch and surfing through whatever is available. Sometimes an old favourite movie might be playing and I might catch it midway. Sometimes a song I heard ages ago might be on the music channel. Never cutting the cord.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Seems like HBO have ceased their operations here in India after 20 years of service.

HBO & WB are both ending their operations. Although I am no longer a subscriber, my initiation into English movies was through the HomeBoxOffice channel available on cable television. For someone who had, until his early 20s, very less exposure to films in general and non-Indian ones in particular, the channel opened up new vistas. I must sheepishly admit that there were days when I would start watching at 6 in the morning and do a non-stop 12 hour shift - until the movies started playing in loop. Quite a few of my office days got converted into Casual Leaves in order to cater to my love for HBO.

Of late, I had started tuning in to WB too. Truth be told, it was a cheap alternative to HBO, Star Movies and the likes because it cost just a rupee per month in subscription charges.

My TV time has reduced drastically these days. Movies are sourced from OTT platforms. I do come back to these channels once a while and get rewarded with a fine movie or two, but nostalgia apart, I don't think their exit will be a big loss to the Indian television audience.

[noopster]

We cut the cord a few months ago and are a 100% OTT family now.

Each TV in the home is connected in a different way! The LG in the living room is quite new and fully smart with all OTT apps installed (or downloadable). My trusty 2008 Bravia in the master bedroom has an HDMI port and a Firestick permanently plugged into it- by way my favourite way to watch since that Fire stick remote is so damn convenient!

The Samsung in my parents' bedroom was the only one that till recently had only a Tata Sky connection. Dad preferred to watch the old fashioned way but now Mom is comfortable with VOOT, SonyLIV, Hotstar etc on her iPad so we went ahead and deactivated the Tata Sky subscription completely. It's still connected so in case we need it back for some reason all we do is top up the balance.

The problem with this particular Samsung is that, although it's a fairly new (2013) "smart TV", it's an earlier technology and the apps loaded on it don't work at all these days (even when they did work, it was a nightmare to update etc.) So I plugged in an old gen 1 Chromecast into the HDMI slot permanently. Now I can just beam content from any OTT app on my phone or Mom's iPad. It's slightly annoying when you have to change episodes or shows (keep going back to the source device) but it's workable!

The only issue I have is that Hotstar doesn't seem to have a "cast" button unlike the other OTT apps. I checked online and one source says you need Chromecast gen 2 or later- is that the reason, you think? Incidentally I can get Hotstar to work on Airplay on my other truly smart TV.

[carboy]

The reason I still have cable is because when internet goes down, then TV also goes down - there is nothing to entertain you. Is there any solution for this?

[noopster]

Originally Posted by carboy

The reason I still have cable is because when internet goes down, then TV also goes down - there is nothing to entertain you. Is there any solution for this?

Why does your Internet go down. Home WiFi providers like Tata Sky broadband and Airtel provide almost zero downtime. Get inverter backup for your router so that power cuts don’t affect your internet connectivity. In the event that your internet does go down you can change the network on your smart TV or Fire stick to your 4G mobile hotspot.