Time To Rethink My TV Content Sourcing Options

[upstatemike]

Just got an email from AT&T that they will be shutting off my out of market network feeds on June 1st. Coincidentally I also got an email from the phone company saying fiber is coming so stay tuned for faster Internet plus phone and TV options. So now I need to start thinking about what is going to make sense for me going forward. My requirements are simple:
 
1- While I ocassionally may watch a series on one of the big 4 networks I will not pay for local stations and prefer not to get content from them because they often make poor choices to pre-empt the national feed for something local that I don't care about. So I need access to ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX through a non-local outlet.
 
2- Because of limitations of some family members I cannot use any interface that is menu driven, It needs to be a remote control with on/off, volume up/down, and channel up/down only.
 
3 The channels in rotation just need to include HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel. Starz, and a couple of news channels. Also AMC, Turner Classic Movies, FX,USA, TNT, TBS, A&E, and the History Channel.
I don't need Disney or Nickelodeon or ESPN.
 
4- I need to be able to record shows and skip through commercials (I tried to follow how Hulu's cloud DVR works and the commercial skipping rules and exceptions left me totally confused so only going with on premise record with no limitations on skipping commercials)
 
Any suggestions on the best services and products to set this up?
 
 

 

[pvrfan]

...cannot use any interface that is menu driven 

 
This requirement is absolute?  Because it doesn't leave many options.
 
Craig

 

[upstatemike]

This requirement is absolute?  Because it doesn't leave many options.
 
Craig

Yes. Can't get around it. Must be hard button remote that just cycles through available channels. Similiar to what you have in a hospital room.

 

[mikefamig]

I think that ATT Uverse allows you to block channels as-in parental guidance. Wouldn't most digital cable services offer that feature?
 
Mike.

 

[mikefamig]

I just looked at the menus in my Frontier Cable service and it has the capability to hide channels. Would that do what you need? I know that Frontier is only available in a small region but maybe other cable companies have this feature. I'm just throwing ideas out there, I haven't tried it myself.
 
Mike.

 

[upstatemike]

Blocking is fine but then I still need a source for out of market network feeds and a way to add them into the channel rotation. Also not thrilled that blocking local channels does not keep me from having to pay for them.

 

[Madcodger]

We started using FuboTV about a month before the Coronavirus mess started up, replacing PlaystationTV, which Sony shut down. But then we took off for another property and haven't used it much since, as we have Dish and less-reliable internet at the "getaway" property. I may fire it up again this weekend just to check in with it and report back. Hulu and Sling both looked promising, too, but we go back and forth between two properties and they wigged out when we tried to use them at both places with the same subscription (even though it's the same humans, just in a different house), so I stopped each after their initial trial period.

If you have a decent internet connection (anything over about 7 mbps available for the TV) Fubo is pretty good but the "no menu" requirement basically leaves you stuck for almost anything other than OTA or cable. I had the same objection from my wife, but faced with the options, she learned the menu system in about a week. I can't speak for you, but I find that unless it's a special situation (elderly, for example) most objections to learning how to use the menus and interfaces required for streaming services can be overcome if that becomes the only option. There's a lot of complaining, but then it just goes away. But you may have a special situation, and that may mean either cable, OTA, or Dish. BTW, we basically despise Dish and if we can get our internet connection just a little bit better, it will be gone like yesterday's fish.

 

[upstatemike]

If I could simplify the interface then I could just use FireTV for everything including OTA. Maybe FireTV operated by Harmony Remote somehow?

 

[pete_c]

Here have kept Direct TV, OTA via direct connect and HDHomerun and cable for internet.
 
Kept Direct TV as a WAF.  Been with them since the beginning of Direct TV.  No contract and prices went up a double digit percentage this year.  Personally I do not watch it; all junk TV to me.
 
OTA - only occassionally watching it and rarely record any of it these days.
 
Streaming movies and old sitcoms via ISP connection; my preference is just movies.
 
In FL went from OTA / DSL / cable to Direct TV for a bit then to Verizon Fiber which worked fine until Verizon sold the contracts to Frontier.  The Frontier took down the service in an attempt to slam the account and I took them to the FL State's attorney's office and got it working and shut it off and went to Comcast.  (and OTA).
 
Advice maybe is to go to streaming and using OTA.

 

[upstatemike]

Should have spent more time exploring what I already have before chasing something new. I upgraded my OTA antenna and relocated my Amazon ReplayTV so now I have good OTA signal on all TVs via the cheap Firestick I stuck on each one for Netflix and Amazon Prime. I also looked at some of the free TV from apps like Pluto and ImdbTV (included on Amazon FireTV devices) and found I really have a lot of channels with Netflix being the only paid service (I don't count my Prime Video service as paid since I would buy Prime anyway for the shipping discount).
 
So what value is there in YouTubeTV and those other $50 dollar /month offerings? Mainly just sports, and that is dead for this year so not paying a premium for it. I can turn HBO etc. on and off as needed for things I really want to see there (betting I will not miss them that much though) so now I just need a way to translate the FireTV menu to a hard button remote that just rolls through a playlist of channels that I set up for the old folks. I'm hoping a Logitec Harmony or some othe universal remote control will be able to interface with the FireTV unit and bridge that gap. Getting close!

 

[bbrendon]

1. OTA - hdhomerun + antenna
2. DVR for OTA - plex connected to HDHomerun. leaves something to be desired but works
3. Movies & TV - plex. share servers with friends.
4. HBO - AT&T wireless for some reason has this bundled with our phone service.
 
So basically I pay zero for TV service. We do share some netflix and other accounts with people but AFAIK we're not dependent on anything except for internet and 1 - 3 above.
 
I tried IPTV service for a few months but it wasn't very reliable and there was only one channel on it we really used much.

 

[sic0048]

1. OTA - hdhomerun + antenna
2. DVR for OTA - plex connected to HDHomerun. leaves something to be desired but works
3. Movies & TV - plex. share servers with friends.
4. HBO - AT&T wireless for some reason has this bundled with our phone service.
 
So basically I pay zero for TV service. We do share some netflix and other accounts with people but AFAIK we're not dependent on anything except for internet and 1 - 3 above.
 
I tried IPTV service for a few months but it wasn't very reliable and there was only one channel on it we really used much.

 
 
You could try SageTV for your DVR GUI on the TV.  Plex obviously works, but if the GUI isn't good then SageTV is an option.  It should work with your current hardware and it is open source (ie free) now.  I pay something like $25/yr to Schedules Direct for my Guide information, but that is the only cost you might have.