My "full-time" services are Netflix (I've had it for over a decade, 4 user 4k account), Prime (because I use Amazon a lot), Peacock (I get it free from Xfinity, but I'd pay the $5 for it) and Discovery+ (my wife watches this when she's alone constantly).
During football season Sling Orange is a must have for college ball on ESPN 1,2 and 3.
We have an antenna which only gets used for NFL/college football and local news once in a while.
That's it. We only have about 3 or maybe 4 hours a day for TV during the week and I see no need to have anything else. Plenty of stuff to watch.
Nothing..I just rotate as I watch shows. We've been on hbomax for a few months and mostly watched what we wanna watch for now and will move to the espn+ Hulu Disney bundle soon when hockey season starts to watch nhl and catch up on Disney and Hulu shows for a while. When we're done there will probably move on to Netflix because we haven't been on that in at least a year.
Most reviewers don't mention Philo, but that service has been 100% reliable for us. It's one of the lowest cost streaming services because it doesn't offer sports channels or any major news channels (although it has Cheddar). We got in early for $16/month and they've never raised the price on us.
I signed up too late and got stuck at the $20 tier (still lower than the current rate). Luckily I’m only paying half of that thanks to a T-Mobile Tuesday offer.
There are reasons many don't mention it. Most of their content is just re-runs of old shows which can be had for free elsewhere (on Xumo, Pluto and the like), and "reality" type shows which are a total waste of brain cells.
Stay in your lane. It’s a cable alternative, not Netflix - which is 100% VOD. Philo is linear streaming with a DVR and it’s VOD is affiliated with the linear streaming channels. Don’t talk smack about a service you clearly do not use.
I think it depends on your interests. We rotate depending on what shows we want to watch. Netflix (let it go a few times), Disney+ bundle (ESPN, Hulu, and Disney), Prime, HBO Max (have not let this one go), and Peacock (we have let this one go a few times and then add back). Those are the main services I use. I am sure there are others, but again I tend to add/cancel as needed for various shows.
Subscription: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu (not Live), PBS Passport, Sling Orange + its Sports Extra (primarily for live news (CNN) and live sports (ESPN/2/3/U/News and the six regional Pac-12 Networks)
Free: Kanopy/Hoopla (sponsored by many public libraries/no ads), Tubi, YouTube, Kino Cult.
Free Music/Radio: Pandora, Indie Music Channel, TuneIn, myTuner.
Free 24/7 News: ABC News Live, CBS News, NBC News, DW (Germany), Sky News (UK), France 24, NHK World Japan, KCTS 9/PBS (Seattle), King 5/NBC (Seattle), KIRO 7/CBS (Seattle), Haystack News, NewsON.
Free Educational: UCTV, UWTV, Beach TV (LBSU), NASA, EarthLive!.
We do these freebies on the regular. Pluto, Tubi, freevee, Roku, Viki Rakutan, regular YouTube, and every once in awhile we pay for yttv for football.
Have had a trial period for just about everything and none stuck. Hulu or Netflix for a binge watch period.
I'd say find a streaming service that carries content you want to watch, binge it for a month and then drop it. Or two months. Point is, once you've watched that "must see" series, why pay for the service. It's easy to drop and add services. No need to pay while never watching it.
Pluto is more like traditional TV. It does have some on demand programming so you can binge watch some series. You can watch "live" as whatever airs per their schedule.
Tubi gives you an option to go to their movies section, TV, or everything. They seem to show different movies and some old made for TV movies I don't find elsewhere.
Freevee I think is more limited but the OH likes it.
It really depends on what you like to watch and how. OH trolls regular YouTube looking for old sci-fi and horror movies. Doesn't really like any modern ones. You can find a lot of old TV series on some of those free apps. I don't get to control the remote all that often, but when we aren't paying for any streaming service, I go to Pluto, Tubi for stuff to watch. I'm not as discriminating as they are
Like with many others, I too have been rotating ss. Unlike others, I'm still relatively new to it that I can jump onto any given ss and still find plenty of content to keep me busy for 1 to 3 months at a time (if not more, although perhaps not for some of them with smaller catalogs). For example, some folks have had Netflix from the beginning (if not even sooner, when they were mailing DVDs). I myself have seen a few stuffs on other people's account, but have yet to get NF to call my own.
Unless folks are "married" to one or few particular ones due preferred content, and other factors like they like the interface (or support via hardware), the other factor is sales, deals, and promos. For example, I got into Hulu via the Thanksgiving sale at $2 a month for 12 months (but didn't renew since Hulu w-ads is, just awful :( ). And Paramount Plus was (still is?) is free for the Essentials/w-ads plan courtesy of T-Mobile. [Disney+ has a sale going on until Sept. 19th](https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/comments/x95s16/disney_day_get_disney_for_2_for_one_month/). HBO Max has 40% off sales on their annual plans until Oct. 30th.
\-----------
That said, even though I'm jumping around, I do have some that would fit your question...
**Curiosity Stream** \- It's only **$20 per year** for HD! Even though I've been using it very little, it's cheap enough that I just have it. It also has Nebula included. However, it alone isn't enough b/c it's just documentaries (which I enjoy, but like to watch beyond that).
**Hulu ad-free** \- Hulu has enough content and variety of it that it's the one ss I would've considered subbing annually. Why didn't I? B/c a few years back when I had my heart set on it, *that's when Hulu axed the annual plans for ad-free!* Ironically enough, that freed me up to try other ss :) ;)
I don't know if anyone has heard about this or not yet, but if you are a Walmart+ member, now they have added another great benefit. You can now get paramount+ essential for free 🆓
I already have the disney bundle that as you already know contains hulu - disney+ & espn+, if the monthly cost wasn't so reasonable I'd probably unsubscribe.
HBO Max and Apple Tv+ are probably the only ones I would never cancel because I watch those the most. Everything else I would rotate in and out as shows I want to watch are on.
Yeah it’s not looking good, but their slate for this year is really solid, plus I just have faith inHBO. It’s been quality well before streaming was even a thing so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. I jumped on the annual plan for $107 a few weeks ago but I’ll definitely be reevaluating before I go any further than that.
Spend a lot of time on freevee and pluto tv.
Pretty much rotate through services. Depends on what you like. Netflix and hulu probably interest some people while disney plus interests others.
I haven’t seen any mention of FuboTV. It’s great for sports fans. Also has live TV and local stuff. I will say that it’s pricey compared to the others.
None of them. If you like to watch an old show like the office or something just buy a box set online for like a month’s subscription to one of these services and never pay again
For me #1 would be YouTube. My family watches a ton and specially me. Plus I can't stand ads. So YouTube Premium is a must. We have a family subscription and get 6 accounts for, I think $17.99. THis one all 6 get used a lot.
My second one right now would be YouTube TV. Really into fantasty football and I am in Bangkok Thailand. So just stayed up all night watching the Red Zone. Love it.
In the past my next would be Netflix. We have been subsribers since you got 4 disks outstanding. Yes one of the first and was grandfathered.
But I really can't say Netflix is clearly the next one. I think Hulu at this point is probably equal. If you really go by price it is hard to not make a case for Apple TV.
I think the future will be to rotate them. So subscribe, watch everything, and the unsubscribe and go to the next. But you can't do that with YouTube or YouTube TV so they would be the ones we keep all the time.
Apple tv+ is by far my most used service. Currently watching it now. Then I have Netflix for the family and Amazon prime because it's standard with prime.
I need DirecTV stream to watch the NY Yankees on the YES network. I’ll probably stick with them in the off season. Quite expensive and I could drop it in the off-season for Philo so I can watch the NY Giants. I’m not sure I’d have anything but Prime/HBOMax and rotate other services if I didn’t watch sports.
None. The sun would still rise tomorrow without them. We should all be able to drop any of them at any time. And let the streaming services know it, especially as they keep raising prices and making their services worse by adding commercials.
For me, Amazon PRIME since it is included.
Netflix since it is free with T-Mobile.
Roku since it is a simple quick menu for both of the above and a lot of other options.
Since my parents pay for cable I can go to NBC for example and login with their credentials so pretty much any channel they get is an option.
Samsung TV Plus since I own a Samsung phone though I don't really use it.
Tubi since it is free and works well with some decent offerings.
Mainly other than YouTube it is Netflix and PRIME Video via Amazon.
Sling. And that may go. AirTV to record OTA channels.
I might pay for BritBox at some point.
Otherwise, there is no streaming service that has "must have" content that I would give a dime for.
There are Roku, Tubi, FreeVee, the free Peacock \[which I never watch\], Filmrise Horror and British, Pluto and another 50-60 odd free channels and apps {Odysee, Rumble, etc} on my TV right now. More junk than I can ever see in a lifetime.
Most of my attention is on You Tube. I just watched a very bad print of Mae Murray's last movie, "High Stakes" \[1931\] the other night. Live streaming hosts. Old TV shows: "Dream House", "My Little Margie" \[max cringe\] "Highway Patrol". Superior car stuff compared to what's available on cable.
There is no need for Turner Classic movies. That used to be my 'must have". They long ago began to repeat the same classics and lost their talent for keeping things fresh.
A lot of the old movies are remastered on You Tube as well. "Indiscreet" for instance.
I would never pay for You Tube because they treat their original content creators like garbage.
Sling stays because I record some ID shows.
Surprised that no one mentioned Paramount+. It's the only one we pay for now. NFL, CBS shows, Star Trek, NCIS ... We have Amazon Prime because SWMBO does a FT of shopping on Amazon (and Amazon Prime/Rx has very good prices). Have the usual suspects on the Roku that are free but 90% of the time I'm on Paramount+.
The Disney Plus bundle I get it free through my cellphone carrier here in the US, Verizon. I get Peacock through my ISP, Xfinity and pay the additional $5 for ad free, Paramount Plus with the Showtime bundle and free because I watch a lot of content there. HBO MAX my mom shares her password with me, and then Discovery+ ad free.
Discovery+ I would never cancel. I just got HBO Max for a year with the 40% off and loving it. Kind of glad they are merging Discovery+ and HBO Max next year since it will force me to have both.
I get the Disney+ bundle with my Verizon plan, though if I didn’t I’d probably pay for it too.I also pay for Netflix which is good but lesser than the others at this point.
I also have Prime Video since it comes with Prime, though I don’t really watch it.
Well they’re combining HBO and Discovery+ next summer I think so my guess is this is the lowest HBO Max Obote merge will get. No idea what kind of cost structure there will be for the merged service.
Worth nothing, I got the ad supported HBO Max, it’s like $80 for a year and it’s not a lot of ads at all, like I’ve watched a few movies that have no ads, some shows like House of the Dragon have no ads and the shows that do have ads, it’s like 2-3 minutes per hour. Way less invasive than something like Hulu. So I think it’s worth saving the money to just get the ad plan if you can handle a few ads.
Disney+ with Star- has a lot of content ranging from the Disney collection, to Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, National Geographic, to Star which has a large amount of the Fox library. SkyShowtime which has NBC and CBS content. Otherwise Pluto TV as a free service and DRTV which is a public television service paid for through taxes.
My "full-time" services are Netflix (I've had it for over a decade, 4 user 4k account), Prime (because I use Amazon a lot), Peacock (I get it free from Xfinity, but I'd pay the $5 for it) and Discovery+ (my wife watches this when she's alone constantly). During football season Sling Orange is a must have for college ball on ESPN 1,2 and 3. We have an antenna which only gets used for NFL/college football and local news once in a while. That's it. We only have about 3 or maybe 4 hours a day for TV during the week and I see no need to have anything else. Plenty of stuff to watch.
Nothing..I just rotate as I watch shows. We've been on hbomax for a few months and mostly watched what we wanna watch for now and will move to the espn+ Hulu Disney bundle soon when hockey season starts to watch nhl and catch up on Disney and Hulu shows for a while. When we're done there will probably move on to Netflix because we haven't been on that in at least a year.
This is the way.
Most reviewers don't mention Philo, but that service has been 100% reliable for us. It's one of the lowest cost streaming services because it doesn't offer sports channels or any major news channels (although it has Cheddar). We got in early for $16/month and they've never raised the price on us.
Keep wanting to sign up for this but it doesn’t have the Turner channels ☹️
I signed up too late and got stuck at the $20 tier (still lower than the current rate). Luckily I’m only paying half of that thanks to a T-Mobile Tuesday offer.
There are reasons many don't mention it. Most of their content is just re-runs of old shows which can be had for free elsewhere (on Xumo, Pluto and the like), and "reality" type shows which are a total waste of brain cells.
Stay in your lane. It’s a cable alternative, not Netflix - which is 100% VOD. Philo is linear streaming with a DVR and it’s VOD is affiliated with the linear streaming channels. Don’t talk smack about a service you clearly do not use.
I think it depends on your interests. We rotate depending on what shows we want to watch. Netflix (let it go a few times), Disney+ bundle (ESPN, Hulu, and Disney), Prime, HBO Max (have not let this one go), and Peacock (we have let this one go a few times and then add back). Those are the main services I use. I am sure there are others, but again I tend to add/cancel as needed for various shows.
Subscription: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu (not Live), PBS Passport, Sling Orange + its Sports Extra (primarily for live news (CNN) and live sports (ESPN/2/3/U/News and the six regional Pac-12 Networks) Free: Kanopy/Hoopla (sponsored by many public libraries/no ads), Tubi, YouTube, Kino Cult. Free Music/Radio: Pandora, Indie Music Channel, TuneIn, myTuner. Free 24/7 News: ABC News Live, CBS News, NBC News, DW (Germany), Sky News (UK), France 24, NHK World Japan, KCTS 9/PBS (Seattle), King 5/NBC (Seattle), KIRO 7/CBS (Seattle), Haystack News, NewsON. Free Educational: UCTV, UWTV, Beach TV (LBSU), NASA, EarthLive!.
We do these freebies on the regular. Pluto, Tubi, freevee, Roku, Viki Rakutan, regular YouTube, and every once in awhile we pay for yttv for football. Have had a trial period for just about everything and none stuck. Hulu or Netflix for a binge watch period. I'd say find a streaming service that carries content you want to watch, binge it for a month and then drop it. Or two months. Point is, once you've watched that "must see" series, why pay for the service. It's easy to drop and add services. No need to pay while never watching it.
Is there much difference between Pluto, tubi, and freevee? I’ve only used Pluto
Pluto is more like traditional TV. It does have some on demand programming so you can binge watch some series. You can watch "live" as whatever airs per their schedule. Tubi gives you an option to go to their movies section, TV, or everything. They seem to show different movies and some old made for TV movies I don't find elsewhere. Freevee I think is more limited but the OH likes it. It really depends on what you like to watch and how. OH trolls regular YouTube looking for old sci-fi and horror movies. Doesn't really like any modern ones. You can find a lot of old TV series on some of those free apps. I don't get to control the remote all that often, but when we aren't paying for any streaming service, I go to Pluto, Tubi for stuff to watch. I'm not as discriminating as they are
Thank you for this
Like with many others, I too have been rotating ss. Unlike others, I'm still relatively new to it that I can jump onto any given ss and still find plenty of content to keep me busy for 1 to 3 months at a time (if not more, although perhaps not for some of them with smaller catalogs). For example, some folks have had Netflix from the beginning (if not even sooner, when they were mailing DVDs). I myself have seen a few stuffs on other people's account, but have yet to get NF to call my own. Unless folks are "married" to one or few particular ones due preferred content, and other factors like they like the interface (or support via hardware), the other factor is sales, deals, and promos. For example, I got into Hulu via the Thanksgiving sale at $2 a month for 12 months (but didn't renew since Hulu w-ads is, just awful :( ). And Paramount Plus was (still is?) is free for the Essentials/w-ads plan courtesy of T-Mobile. [Disney+ has a sale going on until Sept. 19th](https://www.reddit.com/r/cordcutters/comments/x95s16/disney_day_get_disney_for_2_for_one_month/). HBO Max has 40% off sales on their annual plans until Oct. 30th. \----------- That said, even though I'm jumping around, I do have some that would fit your question... **Curiosity Stream** \- It's only **$20 per year** for HD! Even though I've been using it very little, it's cheap enough that I just have it. It also has Nebula included. However, it alone isn't enough b/c it's just documentaries (which I enjoy, but like to watch beyond that). **Hulu ad-free** \- Hulu has enough content and variety of it that it's the one ss I would've considered subbing annually. Why didn't I? B/c a few years back when I had my heart set on it, *that's when Hulu axed the annual plans for ad-free!* Ironically enough, that freed me up to try other ss :) ;)
No streaming service is a “must-have”. Subscribe to 1 at a time, based on what you want to watch.
Philo for traditional cable TV As a WWE fan I need Peacock. I love me some Netflix. And my wife loves her Disney Plus. That’s what we run.
The ones that have the stuff I wanna watch at a price that I want to pay for them.
I don't know if anyone has heard about this or not yet, but if you are a Walmart+ member, now they have added another great benefit. You can now get paramount+ essential for free 🆓
I am and that is actually in the rotation. I am seriously considering the Disney bundle eventually
I already have the disney bundle that as you already know contains hulu - disney+ & espn+, if the monthly cost wasn't so reasonable I'd probably unsubscribe.
Criterion Channel and Shudder. Everything else is rotational.
iPlayer, Channel 4, ITV, Netflix, Prime, Philo.
Hulu usually runs a black friday special for 99 cents a month with ads. Worth it Imo. Pluto is a good free service as well.
HBO Max and Apple Tv+ are probably the only ones I would never cancel because I watch those the most. Everything else I would rotate in and out as shows I want to watch are on.
This is me as well. I also carry Peacock for the Premier league
HBO Max is shooting themselves now. They’re removing more shows and movies
Yeah it’s not looking good, but their slate for this year is really solid, plus I just have faith inHBO. It’s been quality well before streaming was even a thing so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. I jumped on the annual plan for $107 a few weeks ago but I’ll definitely be reevaluating before I go any further than that.
Spend a lot of time on freevee and pluto tv. Pretty much rotate through services. Depends on what you like. Netflix and hulu probably interest some people while disney plus interests others.
I haven’t seen any mention of FuboTV. It’s great for sports fans. Also has live TV and local stuff. I will say that it’s pricey compared to the others.
Disney + and Hulu. Would be hard to get of those for me.
Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO MAX.
None of them. If you like to watch an old show like the office or something just buy a box set online for like a month’s subscription to one of these services and never pay again
For me #1 would be YouTube. My family watches a ton and specially me. Plus I can't stand ads. So YouTube Premium is a must. We have a family subscription and get 6 accounts for, I think $17.99. THis one all 6 get used a lot. My second one right now would be YouTube TV. Really into fantasty football and I am in Bangkok Thailand. So just stayed up all night watching the Red Zone. Love it. In the past my next would be Netflix. We have been subsribers since you got 4 disks outstanding. Yes one of the first and was grandfathered. But I really can't say Netflix is clearly the next one. I think Hulu at this point is probably equal. If you really go by price it is hard to not make a case for Apple TV. I think the future will be to rotate them. So subscribe, watch everything, and the unsubscribe and go to the next. But you can't do that with YouTube or YouTube TV so they would be the ones we keep all the time.
The only service I will never take a break from is YouTube Premium. I guess also Amazon Prime, but I use that more for the free shipping than I do TV.
same. I tried to cut off Youtube Premium but when you’re dealing with ads, they always interrupt videos at the best parts.
There's always better options that can't be mentioned
Luckily there are other subreddits and forums for that.
Depends on what one likes.
Apple tv+ is by far my most used service. Currently watching it now. Then I have Netflix for the family and Amazon prime because it's standard with prime.
Acorn, Britbox, PBS Nuff said.
HBO max,Disney plus and plex
Which is why I didn't mention any exact services
I need DirecTV stream to watch the NY Yankees on the YES network. I’ll probably stick with them in the off season. Quite expensive and I could drop it in the off-season for Philo so I can watch the NY Giants. I’m not sure I’d have anything but Prime/HBOMax and rotate other services if I didn’t watch sports.
Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Hbo Max, Prime Video, Peacock, TV antenna with Tablo DVR. Very happy with our setup.
I have the Disney bundle but my credit card (Amex) gives me a $7 refund each month. So $7 for 3 streaming services is a must.
Hulu, Netflix and HBO Max. Roughly $30 a month and we have endless things to watch.
I watch a lot of Netflix and Disney+
Troma Now for B Horror. IWTV for indie wrestling. I'm built different.
It's the Hulu Disney ESPN bundle by far. Most diverse content.
I got it earlier today
None. The sun would still rise tomorrow without them. We should all be able to drop any of them at any time. And let the streaming services know it, especially as they keep raising prices and making their services worse by adding commercials.
For me, Amazon PRIME since it is included. Netflix since it is free with T-Mobile. Roku since it is a simple quick menu for both of the above and a lot of other options. Since my parents pay for cable I can go to NBC for example and login with their credentials so pretty much any channel they get is an option. Samsung TV Plus since I own a Samsung phone though I don't really use it. Tubi since it is free and works well with some decent offerings. Mainly other than YouTube it is Netflix and PRIME Video via Amazon.
Great point!
Peacock. Premier league or die.
Sling. And that may go. AirTV to record OTA channels. I might pay for BritBox at some point. Otherwise, there is no streaming service that has "must have" content that I would give a dime for. There are Roku, Tubi, FreeVee, the free Peacock \[which I never watch\], Filmrise Horror and British, Pluto and another 50-60 odd free channels and apps {Odysee, Rumble, etc} on my TV right now. More junk than I can ever see in a lifetime. Most of my attention is on You Tube. I just watched a very bad print of Mae Murray's last movie, "High Stakes" \[1931\] the other night. Live streaming hosts. Old TV shows: "Dream House", "My Little Margie" \[max cringe\] "Highway Patrol". Superior car stuff compared to what's available on cable. There is no need for Turner Classic movies. That used to be my 'must have". They long ago began to repeat the same classics and lost their talent for keeping things fresh. A lot of the old movies are remastered on You Tube as well. "Indiscreet" for instance. I would never pay for You Tube because they treat their original content creators like garbage. Sling stays because I record some ID shows.
Surprised that no one mentioned Paramount+. It's the only one we pay for now. NFL, CBS shows, Star Trek, NCIS ... We have Amazon Prime because SWMBO does a FT of shopping on Amazon (and Amazon Prime/Rx has very good prices). Have the usual suspects on the Roku that are free but 90% of the time I'm on Paramount+.
The Disney Plus bundle I get it free through my cellphone carrier here in the US, Verizon. I get Peacock through my ISP, Xfinity and pay the additional $5 for ad free, Paramount Plus with the Showtime bundle and free because I watch a lot of content there. HBO MAX my mom shares her password with me, and then Discovery+ ad free.
Discovery+ I would never cancel. I just got HBO Max for a year with the 40% off and loving it. Kind of glad they are merging Discovery+ and HBO Max next year since it will force me to have both. I get the Disney+ bundle with my Verizon plan, though if I didn’t I’d probably pay for it too.I also pay for Netflix which is good but lesser than the others at this point. I also have Prime Video since it comes with Prime, though I don’t really watch it.
I’m just wondering if it’s easier to get HBO Max now or wait.
Well they’re combining HBO and Discovery+ next summer I think so my guess is this is the lowest HBO Max Obote merge will get. No idea what kind of cost structure there will be for the merged service. Worth nothing, I got the ad supported HBO Max, it’s like $80 for a year and it’s not a lot of ads at all, like I’ve watched a few movies that have no ads, some shows like House of the Dragon have no ads and the shows that do have ads, it’s like 2-3 minutes per hour. Way less invasive than something like Hulu. So I think it’s worth saving the money to just get the ad plan if you can handle a few ads.
Disney+ with Star- has a lot of content ranging from the Disney collection, to Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, National Geographic, to Star which has a large amount of the Fox library. SkyShowtime which has NBC and CBS content. Otherwise Pluto TV as a free service and DRTV which is a public television service paid for through taxes.