Talk to me about cancelling DirecTV

[RUDisney]

You convinced me. I downloaded Hulu Live last night and I'm calling DirecTV today to cancel. We'll see how it goes.

Does anyone know how we can get Lifetime via streaming? My DH watches the movies constantly. I personally, hate them. They are all the same, but he watches it in another room, so it doesn't affect me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You convinced me. I downloaded Hulu Live last night and I'm calling DirecTV today to cancel. We'll see how it goes.

Does anyone know how we can get Lifetime via streaming? My DH watches the movies constantly. I personally, hate them. They are all the same, but he watches it in another room, so it doesn't affect me.

There is Lifetime Movies Club paid monthly subscription (added either on its own or if you have Amazon Prime it's a channel there) but I don't know the movie content on it if they add quickly newer movies or hold off They do do a rotation of movies adding and removing as time goes on. Also if you have Prime there are some Lifetime movies available on Prime Video.

For free stuff check out Tubi TV (ad-supported but free) which has a Lifetime section of movies. You won't get new ones there but maybe there are some he hasn't seen.

There may be a few other streaming options that show random movies here and there.

 

[Disneefun]

For $20/month, you can get Philo which has lifetime, plus the hallmarks and a bunch of other "lifestyle-type" channels. A lot of people use it to supplement Hulu live or YouTubeTv because it has a lot of channels that those are missing.

 

[mrodgers]

And I called last month to try and get DISH to lower our bill, and since we are out of contract, the best they would offer was $40 less and to go back under contract. I think not.

That's where they get you. I've done that several times, but the lower rate is only 1 year and you're forced into a new 2 year contract.

Since I was away from TV for 2 years, it was a lot easier to not get anything. I can see how just cutting the cord would put you into a quest to find alternative for the cable/sat programming. With being forced out of TV altogether, I realized there was not a single thing I cared to pay money for to watch on cable.

 

[MillauFr]

Local/network you can get with an antenna and tuner box if you need it. I need a tuner and haven't bothered with it yet (3 years). I only miss the local news and weather, there isn't a thing on network television that I would watch and I hadn't watched network TV for 20 years anyways.

I haven't bothered setting up an antenna either. I found the local TV "news" stations in Seattle to be absolute garbage. Completely unwatchable.

 

[RamblingMad]

I haven't bothered setting up an antenna either. I found the local TV "news" stations in Seattle to be absolute garbage. Completely unwatchable.

I use PlutoTV to watch Sky News to keep up with what’s going on in the world. I read local news mags for local stuff. I can get the weather on my phone.

 

[RamblingMad]

You convinced me. I downloaded Hulu Live last night and I'm calling DirecTV today to cancel. We'll see how it goes.

Does anyone know how we can get Lifetime via streaming? My DH watches the movies constantly. I personally, hate them. They are all the same, but he watches it in another room, so it doesn't affect me.

Are you sure you don’t want sling? They have an add on that’ll get you there.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We cut the cord about 5 years ago and we were fine with Netflix and Amazon. The sticking point was live sports and a lot of them being on ESPN. We ended up getting a good early-adopter deal on Direct TV Now (now called AT&T TV), which is basically getting cable programming through your internet connection. There are many like that--Sling, YouTube TV, Hulu Live, etc. They carry a monthly charge, too, but we're happy with the service and we're saving $ over what we'd be paying if we hadn't cut the cord.

 

[RUDisney]

Are you sure you don’t want sling? They have an add on that’ll get you there.

I'll download that trial, too.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice! Welcome to the "cancelling DirecTV" club RUDisney!

 

[Lumpy1106]

I haven't bothered setting up an antenna either. I found the local TV "news" stations in Seattle to be absolute garbage. Completely unwatchable.

You would think the So Cal area would be better, but no. I kinda like KTLA because they don't take themselves very seriously and it has a more "local" feel, but I can live without it. The major networks - ugh! I don't have proof, but I suspect that each national network has a formula it wants the local affiliates to follow. It's just a bad model all around - and SO depressing! I guess if it was good news, nobody would watch.

 

[wilbret]

We dropped cable/satellite in 2008. Haven't missed it. Enjoy.

 

[MillauFr]

Looks like many people are considering canceling Direct TV. AT&T acquired it for $66 billion in 2015. Now they are going to dump it for $15 billion. It will be a stretch if they can get someone to cough up $15 billion for it. The streaming services are destroying their business.

 

[Disneefun]

Looks like many people are considering canceling Direct TV. AT&T acquired it for $66 billion in 2015. Now they are going to dump it for $15 billion. It will be a stretch if they can get someone to cough up $15 billion for it. The streaming services are destroying their business.

To be fair, ATT had a hand in destroying it themselves. I was a customer for 26 years and the last year I had it after ATT bought it were horrible. Prior to that, it had always been wonderful and I sang its praises to anyone who would listen. But after the buyout, customer service became rude and sometimes even surly. The service itself had more issues. And the price increases were way worse than before the buyout. All of it finally drove me away. My experience with ATT is that they tend to ruin everything they touch. DirecTV was just the latest in a long line of disasters.

 

[mrodgers]

Looks like many people are considering canceling Direct TV. AT&T acquired it for $66 billion in 2015. Now they are going to dump it for $15 billion. It will be a stretch if they can get someone to cough up $15 billion for it. The streaming services are destroying their business.

I think my $156 monthly bill is what destroyed their business. The streaming services was the answer, not the reason.

 

[MillauFr]

To be fair, ATT had a hand in destroying it themselves. I was a customer for 26 years and the last year I had it after ATT bought it were horrible. Prior to that, it had always been wonderful and I sang its praises to anyone who would listen. But after the buyout, customer service became rude and sometimes even surly. The service itself had more issues. And the price increases were way worse than before the buyout. All of it finally drove me away. My experience with ATT is that they tend to ruin everything they touch. DirecTV was just the latest in a long line of disasters.

Agreed that they sped up Direct TVs demise. Even with good management though the business model is dying a slow death. Just like department stores. Sears poor management sped up their demise but even department store chains with good management are still dying. It is just good management can slow down the process.

Just like with Blockbuster Video. It didn't matter who they got to manage the company. It was still going to go out of business.

 

[kdonnel]

DirecTV is dead, the customers just don't know it yet.

Way back on November 29th 2018 DirecTV told investors that there were no plans to launch another satellite. As the satellites reach their end of life they will be retired and not replaced.

The DirecTV satellites generally have a 15 year expected life span.

Nine of their satellites were put in service before 2010, only three were put in service after 2010.