Streaming versus Broadcast TV

Very few if any streaming services will have "ad free" or commercial break free streams at the BASIC price tier level.

Some streaming service do offer a much higher price level tier that limits or eliminates ads or commercial breaks.

As far as "sports" and streaming goes, you better break out your wallet, that IS gonna hurt.

HERE is just one example of Baseball streaming service which has limited teams and coverage and may or may not have ALL games covered and for that you get to pay $65-$90 per month?? Does not say anything about commercial free so I figure it will be loaded with commercials on top..

Football, basketball, hockey, racing, yeah, if you love to watch all of that you may have to signup for multiple services and even then some just may not be available at all streaming..

Most sports have exclusive contracts with very specific terms and agreements to anyone that wants to rebroadcast them and it is very lucrative to be exclusive..

In streaming, unlike cable and satellite services, there is no "one stop shopping" to get all content with preset content tiers and basically you are getting your streaming services "ala cart" which is the most costly way to get your content if you love variety.

"block buster type of mega movies or newer current TV shows) Have not found any of those I want to watch. My grandsons watch "blockbuster" movies but not me. Evan they admit it is more rewarding if they read the comics first for the movies.

Tubi for movies, youtube for current content, cartoonsonline for humor and Al-Jazera for news.

We are connected to Comcast at home thru our community. We have access to all the channels, and know what is what - HBO, Stars, etc. We are trying to find out if the streaming channels pollute the entertainment with commercials as much as do the Cable Channnels. It's not about the cost as much as about the interruptions.

I'd pay extra to lose commercials if that's what streaming can accomplish. We know we can buy the HBO, etc, and lose the commercials that way and watch only their content.

We were trying to figure out if any paid streaming offerings delete the commercial breaks - especially during sports - because the breaks have overwhelmed the content and takes the entertainment out of entertainment. IF I turn on a baseball game, I want to watch the game, not the ADs.

BTW: We also have unlimited data on our hotspots. So, data is not an issue - it's the content breaks that get too annoying.

Apparently, that is not the focus of Streaming. Streaming appears to be another way to receive the same ADs and same loss of entertainment time for mostly similar content and programming. And, also offers the same PPV type programming as well.

We have Comcast and HS Internet at home, and can get anything we want (and pay for it, of course). We were hoping to test out a few Streaming versions to see if it would be different than cable - and if so, would select one or two that would come online when we travel ... but it seems 'something different' does not exist in our world today.

Thanks for the info guys -- B & G ...

Gdetrailer wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi monkey44,

I'm currently using Tubi It is free streaming with some commercials, but not many.

https://tubitv.com/

I took a quick look at Tubi and all I could find was many "B" grade movies and programs (not much in "block buster type of mega movies or newer current TV shows) so you get what you paid for.. If "B" grade and old reruns of TV shows type of stuff is your thing then Tubi might be OK for a while.. But how many times can one watch reruns of John Wayne movies? And yes, I like John Wayne movies but you get get them OTA all the time with ATSC subchannels for free also..

If you want quality content from Tubi, then browse the classics.

Streaming is an activity performed primarily by "cord cutters" looking to save money vs cable or satellite. Guess what? The streaming content providers have figured this out as well. Select a service like YouTube TV or Hulu, which provide similar content to a little more than basic cable or satellite. Add to that Disney, Netflix,HBO Max or other streaming content, you have blown past cable or satellite prices with ease.

We stripped down our Spectrum package on TV to 125 channels, many are duplicated, HBO MAX, Netflix, & Prime Video. Still $$$, but works for us.

Spectrum is our provider for cable & Internet,no real alternative except Century Link, a major joke for Internet. At least with Spectrum if the Internet takes a dump, we still have cable or vice versa. Rarely do we lose both.

OTA for local networks is not an option. Too distant from transmitters, no outdoor antennae in apartment complex, and indoor antennae produce a pixel fest image, not a viewable display.

pianotuna wrote:
Hi monkey44,

I'm currently using Tubi It is free streaming with some commercials, but not many.

https://tubitv.com/

Be aware, the "free" services do not have "current" or "live" programing nor any programming library that is exclusively held by the paid streamers..

May or may not be a "bad thing" but if there is something that is owned by Disney, HBO, ABC, NBC, CBS, Paramount and so on, it will not be on any free streaming services..

I took a quick look at Tubi and all I could find was many "B" grade movies and programs (not much in "block buster type of mega movies or newer current TV shows) so you get what you paid for.. If "B" grade and old reruns of TV shows type of stuff is your thing then Tubi might be OK for a while.. But how many times can one watch reruns of John Wayne movies? And yes, I like John Wayne movies but you get get them OTA all the time with ATSC subchannels for free also..

If you are looking for big selection of up to date current TV shows and movies, paid streaming is where you will end up at. But as I mentioned before, you will find yourself faced with subscribing to multiple streaming services in order to access the exclusive content that is not licensed to other services (and there is a lot of that content).

We use DTV and record shows. Watch later and skip the commercials. I timed ABC World News once and in 30 minutes there were 14 minutes of commercials.

Try not to confuse alacarte' TV streaming with commercial free content. The main purpose of streaming is to pay less for only the channels or shows you want to see vs spending a lot of money on hundreds of channels you don't (cable and Sat)

Most streaming services have channel lineups the same as cable or Sat. It's the same content, meaning the same show with the same commercials.

That's not to say however that streaming services don't have commercial free shows. Service specific shows like Netflix's OZARK, or HBO's Succession are only found on that service and are included on that network commercial free.

But Large networks own sports channels - like NBC carries NFL etc. And if you find a service that carries that network/show, it's the same content with the same commercials. In other words - there is no HULU version of the Olympics that is commercial free. It's the same broadcast as Sling's or netflix etc. Exact same content but you have greater control over the channel lineup.

On edit: another huge advantage to streaming is that your account goes with you on any device anywhere you have a signal. You don't need a SAT dish or a cable box (direct cable). All you need is an internet signal. I can take my firestick anywhere and plug into any TV (RV, hotel, friend's house etc) Or I can watch on my phone or tablet. As others have said, it's best to have an unlimited data plan. We have a hotspot with unlimited data and I can work or watch whatever content I want, anywhere I want.

Hi monkey44,

I'm currently using Tubi It is free streaming with some commercials, but not many.

https://tubitv.com/

Benefit?

You can "choose" any program at any time provided the streaming service has made it available.

That's it.

The downside, most streaming services have a multi-tier approach in pricing.

Lowest cost, you pay for the service and yet you still get commercials, plus you have limitations on how may devices can access the streams at the same time.

Higher cost, you pay more for the service and no commercials, often allows for for devices to be streaming at the same time.

You use up your Internet data at an alarming rate. To reduce the amount of data you use to fit your data caps you may need to reduce your stream quality to Standard Definition (SD 480i) and not any HD quality.. Might look OK on your phone screen but put that onto a 50+ inch TV and it will get pretty ugly looking.

Streaming via campgrounds WiFi is questionable at best with most campgrounds.

You might be camping in a location which has weak to no cell service and campground WiFi does not exist rendering your paid subscription totally worthless.

You don't use the streaming service as much as you thought you might, well you still pay for it..

You will have to pick your poison on which streaming services you subscribe to.. Otherwise you will end up paying much much more than if you just paid for Dish or Direct.. Many programs are held exclusive to certain streaming services and do not crossover so you may find yourself paying for Disney+, Discovery+, Netflix, Amazon prime and so on just to get the programs you want to see..

Most streaming services have been quietly bumping up the prices and are no longer as cheap as they were.. $10 here, $20 there, it all adds up..

As far as the Olympics goes, as usual coverage was very lame.. Been that way since the 1970s.. There is so many sports that takes hrs and hrs in the Olympics and only a small window of prime time coverage they must compress or not cover a lot of sports..

This time they had limited coverage on CNBC and USA network, Hockey was on CNBC which I was fine with since I don't care for Hockey.. USA network had some extra coverage of some of the events, but often repeated the previous days covered events from OTA NBC.. I personally wouldn't pay one dime or sign up (even if free) for for NBC Streaming just for Olympics (or any of the OTA networks) as the big three networks don't have one single redeeming program to watch that I can't watch OTA.