Is having an Apple TV enough to cancel cable or satellite TV subscription?

[Just_Me_D]

I was asked not long ago whether having an Apple TV would allow for me to cancel my current cable or satellite TV service. I said, "no, not at this time". What about you? Is renting all of the TV shows you watch cheaper than your current cable or satellite prescription?

 

[kch50428]

Not until one can live stream content channels without authenticating with a cable subscription...

 

[JBaby_9783]

Yes, I totally could cancel. Between Hulu+, Netflix, and my iDevices that I can use to AirPlay other services I'm more than good to go. In fact there are only three shows I watch on TV. The only one I'd miss is Talking Dead. I can totally wait wait for Netflix to get The Walking Dead. I have the Hopper but I still prefer to stream shows even with the commercials. I don't care about sports or award shows. Once I get a Better ISP I'm dropping Dish. I don't, nor will I ever, buy show seasons from iTunes because it's way too expensive.


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[kristopherlarry]

I've actually done this the past two years... I just got cable back because I had to have NFL again... But b/w my family & coworkers we all shared user info to use all the provided paid services on Apple TV... Loved it... Saved a lot of money... If I had a good computer that allowed me to stream NFL games via airplay, I still wouldn't have cable.


Sent From The State Of Ohio...

 

[jclisenby]

Just depends on your watching habits and preferences. We watch a lot of cable shows and prefer to see them love instead of waiting a few days for them to show up on demand. Plus, a lot of the networks are requiring you to have a cable subscription anyways to use the on demand streaming functions. I couldn't live without my ESPN football games.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

 

[RemmyZero]

I just cancelled cable myself and I personally think the roku is better suited than the apple TV for cord cutting (depending on what services you subscribe to) but in the end, yes, an apple TV is generally enough for you to cut cable. If you really need live network TV you can air-play Aereo for live feeds from free-to-air stations (abc, nbc, etc) and you can always do the non-jailbreak Plex hack to watch other network shows streaming to your ATV.

I found that amazon prime instant streaming video has so much content (combined with netflix) that I seriously don't miss cable at all. The downside being that ATV doesn't have a native amazon app so you'd have to watch via airplay. To be fair though, I only watch about an hour of TV a week though, so for me it's perfect. If I watched several hours of live TV a day (which I used to several years ago) it may not be ideal.

 

[JBaby_9783]

I do think Roku is the better box for a cord cutter who isn't already invested in the Apple ecosystem. I have a Roku too, but I use my tv more often. All of the channels I watch on a regular basis I can do with my tv. And now that Amazon has gotten their mess together I have one less reason to use it. Last night was the first time I used it in weeks. I only did so because Hulu+ was broken because of the latest tv update. The one thing I don't like about Roku is there isn't a restart setting. It locks up occasionally and there's nothing I can do about it until someone comes home to unplug it for me. If my tv starts acting weird I can just restart via the remote app or if it's really bad the actual remote. I really need Apple to fix the Remote app. This portrait only orientation is NOT for me. And can we get a 10sec replay button? That's what the next hardware update could add.


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[Jaguarr40]

I was asked not long ago whether having an Apple TV would allow for me to cancel my current cable or satellite TV service. I said, "no, not at this time". What about you? Is renting all of the TV shows you watch cheaper than your current cable or satellite prescription?

Not until one can live stream content channels without authenticating with a cable subscription...

I would like to please be able to add to this thread as I actually posed this question to the 2 above gentlemen because not being interested in Apple TV in the past I had no reason to want to care to find out about it.

Once I became interested in it and knew who to go to for answers I did and got my answers as both commented above. I had always thought it was a replacement for cable TV ( I know go figure what I thought) and also having a rather large LG Smart TV with all of the items the Apple TV on it, i never even used the apps as my fingertips such ad Netflix, Hulu Plus etc and on and on. I have You Tube and many other apps the same as Apple. Now that i have my answer on how it works my only question which I posed to Keith and anyone with knowledge is welcome to answer...Since I have all of this built into my Flat Panel and hooked up via WIFI to my router and HDMI is this overkill in your honest opinion to get Apple TV or a compelling reason to get it even with what my TV has built in? One last thing, I got frequent firmware updates via the internet and LG adding more content all the time for viewing and streaming and hence the question about overkill. Thank you to anyone with knowledge of this to answer me.

 

[Jaguarr40]

Just depends on your watching habits and preferences. We watch a lot of cable shows and prefer to see them love instead of waiting a few days for them to show up on demand. Plus, a lot of the networks are requiring you to have a cable subscription anyways to use the on demand streaming functions. I couldn't live without my ESPN football games.


Tappin and Talkin from my iPhone 5

Another very good statement for me to bring up as I have already but Justin has a good point because there are just some things no way am I going to give up such as anything that has to do with watching College FB and B-Ball and of course Pro football and basketball same as college. Let's face it, We all have our favorite drama shows on network TV as well. Thank you for bringing up this point Justin.

 

[TurboTiger]

I can't imagine cutting the cord yet.
For our needs, it just wouldn't work.
Good Luck

 

[rayz336]

I don't think it's enough yet, it is however enough to get by with a basic cable plan. In conjunction with Hulu Plus and Netflix subscriptions, the Apple TV gives me a good variety and amount of content to watch.

 

[rdiddy_25]

Once I can stream live sports then I'll cancel cable, but not till then

 

[Just_Me_D]

Once I can stream live sports then I'll cancel cable, but not till then

You can via the WatchESPN option. Of course, that's only for games shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU.

 

[Fausty82]

You can via the WatchESPN option. Of course, that's only for games shown on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU.

And you have to sign in with your cable/satellite service login information to authorize you to watch the ESPN (and other channels like Disney, HBO, etc). It's the classic catch-22 scenario.


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[rdiddy_25]

And you have to sign in with your cable/satellite service login information to authorize you to watch the ESPN (and other channels like Disney, HBO, etc). It's the classic catch-22 scenario.


Sent from a galaxy far, far away via Tapatalk.

Yep. So either way u still have to have some form of satellite or cable subscriber.

 

[Just_Me_D]

And you have to sign in with your cable/satellite service login information to authorize you to watch the ESPN (and other channels like Disney, HBO, etc). It's the classic catch-22 scenario.


Sent from a galaxy far, far away via Tapatalk.

Yep. So either way u still have to have some form of satellite or cable subscriber.

So true....

 

[Scatabrain]

Here is how we get by without cable:

Using Apple TV:
Hulu
Netflix (for kid shows mostly)
Only paid for Breaking Bad seasons. That gets expensive very fast.

PC dedicated for PlayOn software. We watch tv shows this way. It basically streams any shows available on websites. For example CBS keeps 6 or more recent programs live. You can watch them thru PlayOn using an xbox or roku or thru app on device. Not on Apple TV. PlayOn is software you buy once. No subscription.

Digital Antenna: for real time watching when it's needed. World Series etc.

Public Library: borrow films. Free!

That works for us. We don't miss cable much.
For some people there would be specific shows or channels they would miss. We got over that pretty quickly.


Instead of 130 cable bill we pay for data only and hulu and netflix. You could certainly do without one or both of those.

Hope that is helpful. Cheers.



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[EmceeGeek]

When I moved into my own apartment all I had was internet. I wasn't worried about cable at all. Sport events I watches online and everything else I streamed on my AppleTV or Roku. Even now with Dish I only watch Netflix, Hulu+ and other channels that I'm subscribed to.

 

[Godstyle#WP]

If only they would fully enable AirPlay on the NFL Sunday Ticket app. The audio goes to the Apple TV but the video stays on my phone. Ridiculous.

 

[bigdad84]

When I move in May of next year, I won't have anything but my Apple TV. I'm not much of a football guy, and i have Siri to keep me up to date with scores