[GTO]

I am cutting the cord today.


Source

Over the years, I have used my Tata Sky primarily for two forms of entertainment:

1. Movies. Now however, Hotstar + Netflix + Prime Video + Play Movies (pay per view) + Apple TV (pay per view) have completely taken care of my movie fix. In fact, I have a backlog of about 50 top-ranked movies that are still waiting to be watched on these streaming platforms. Pro tip = use "Just Watch" to find movies - here is a sample index of 1200 well rated movies on the usual platforms (you can tweak the Rotten Tomatoes & IMDB scores as per your preferences).

2. Sports. In particular, F1. Hotstar live streaming takes care of that.

3. It's not about the cost. But the fact is, I have used my Tata Sky box all of thrice in the last 2 months (for F1 races).

4. The new complicated TV packages & blackouts during the monsoon season have only firmed up my decision.

What about you? Are you sticking with Satellite TV? Ready to dump it? I'm not that big on TV shows, but am told they're better on streaming than cable TV anyway.

[libranof1987]

Cut-the-cord about two years back. Since then, it has been Prime Video, Netflix and recently Hotstar (for GoT and F1) and SonyLiv (for cricket). Prime, Hotstar and SonyLiv are incredibly cheap (and as Netflix, you can view them across devices). Further, Prime and SonyLiv came complimentary through my phone/broadband connections.

Cable TV literally makes negligible sense, unless you're a household that binge watches Ekta Kapoor's madness.

One big reason why I can't go back to cable TV: I *can't* stand ad breaks now.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by GTO

What about you? Are you sticking with Satellite TV? Ready to dump it? I'm not that big on TV shows, but am told they're better on streaming than cable TV anyway.

Earlier this year, we moved from the good old cable (+STB) to DTH (+STB). After a few months, we also moved from a local ISP to ACT Fibernet. For now I'd like to remain with this setup because of the loose coupling it offers and also to test the reliability of both these providers (for now, don't want a situation where we depend solely on the ISP for watching TV content, so keeping them separate), and at the moment our TV viewing time isn't much.

I think it's more of a WHEN rather than an IF for the decision on cutting the cord though.

[deepakhon]

It's been a year since I cut the cord. Movies are taken care of by Amazon Prime and Netflix, and sports by Hotstar. Now that I can stream Amazon Prime via chromecast, everything is taken care of.

[Aditya_Bhp]

Not a big movie fan. I use Airtel DTH and it ensures that I don't have to bother about subscribing to multiple platforms, data speeds and consumption. It has all that I need at a fraction of the costs what Netflix charges monthly. Infact much simpler to use and free from the software issues associated with Smart TVs.

[sandhyab]

I cut the cord like 5-6 years ago or maybe even more. I had 2 Tata Sky connections, 1 HD another non HD. Watching habits for both the connections were different however at that time there was a set amount which you can pay to get all the HD channels.

But Tata decided to be greedy, and changed policies that whatever amount you were paying for lump of HD channels you still continue to pay but your base package should have the non hd channel as well for me to continue watching in HD.

So since then no connection for me, and it has been my PC which used to serve the content to the TV but now its the plethora of streaming services.

[Thilak29]

Its been over three years since the cord is cut. Most streaming services meet my entertainment needs. The current project is to turn my dumb LED Tv into a smart one without Firestick or Chromecast.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by GTO

I am cutting the cord today.

One of the hardcore supporters of Satellite TV is finally joining the streaming only bandwagon.

True, all the viewing needs can only be taken care of through various streaming platforms in today's age.

For me, I still would have to continue on DTH for some time. The reason, my parents watch their daily fix of saans bahu shows / news on regional channels and they have mastered the art of navigating the DTH remote control. If I have to teach them to use all the different apps to navigate the UI, browse the shows and then watch, it will be too much for them.

[KL01toKA03]

The TV at home is watched mostly by my mother-in-law, servant, and kids. The first two can't imagine watching TV using streaming services. For now, almost all the content I consume is on Netflix or Hotstar. I was hoping Jio Fiber would bring some way of using the Jio TV app on televisions. Sadly, it looks like Jio Fiber is also using a set-top box to send content to the television.

[dhanushs]

The TV at home is mainly for local news and sometimes regional films. The TV is on most of the time in the living room with news. Not yet familiarised with consuming local news digitally.

That said for all content in English, TV is not being used. Netflix, Hotstar, Prime Video and Apple Music takes care of it.

[nrahul]

I'm ditched TataSky couple of years back. If you have kids, one of key cord cutting benefit that get ignored is the bombardment of ads on TV channels for kids. While I was on TataSky my kids were asking for something or other each week and mostly it was junk food, useless toys, etc. Now that we have moved to Netflix the ads are gone.

[RYP]

Cut the cord an year ago and never looked back. I primarily use YouTube, Prime Video, Hotstar & SunNxt, having an Android TV made the transition much easier. Android = Tinkering, in a generic sense Android has neatly captured the everyday mindset of a jugaad practicing Indian. In that sense, i found out an app called 'THOP TV' which facilitates streaming of all the TV Channels live (HD included). Sure, it has the same guilt as streaming equivalent of Torrenting but serves the purpose of catching up live tv once in a while

[centaur]

I definitely want to but unfortunately, can't. The elders and kids in the family are not very comfortable using apps only for their entertainment. Parents prefer to watch it on TV in terms of movies and sops especially because they are not comfortable searching for something they want through an app on the phone.

The other factor is that I have deliberately not yet brought a smart TV because my kid would not move from front of it if there is a smart TV. I use a chromecast for watching any app based entertainment on the screen. Given this, parents deny using apps and then casting it on the TV as its cumbersome for them in spite of having paired their devices.

Adding to it is the fact that, some of the programs are not available anywhere else (including youtube) apart from television because some of these are spiritual/religious programs and some regional. So that just makes it more difficult to cut the cord though, I would do it at the next possible instance. Right now I have the subscriptions for all of the popular apps and some more, but am paying for the satellite TV too and it is just for my parents as me and spouse don't watch TV at all.

[Bigzero]

I still have some money left on my TataSky subscription. Havent checked whether i can cut now and get a refund. At this point my plan is to just let it run its course and cut the cord after that.

I remember the last time the TataSky folks were super eager to follow up and ensure a renewal ( which had never happened in the last 10+ years ). So they are also feeling the heat.

And if I look back, my TataSky screen time is next to zero nowadays. Free from all those ads that take somewhat like 25% of your viewing time.

And I have stopped following mainstream news channels a few months back, big relief from the cacophony and artificial outrage. I now go back to my morning paper with the coffee, and catch up with developments on the net.

Amazone Fire + Hotsar + Netflix + regular internet fills in the gap completely as far as entertainment goes.

Sports is the only area where there are some grey spots. i am sure it will come around soon.

[Kosfactor]

My problem with cable is Ads - I do not want to watch Ads after having paid for the content in the first place. I happen to use hotel rooms quite a bit due to travel and this is an irritant , TV = Ads.

This week i`m in Andhra and boy every infotainment channel is in - Telugu. The lone exception was Discovery Turbo, but it is full of ads for Slimming belt at random intervals.

I disconnected cable many years ago when Chromecast launched and then switched to Netflix \ Youtube. This chromecast device has solved many problems, including the music fix in the form of Google play music \ Youtube music etc. I`m not going back to cable.