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We're in Canada and have been cable cutters for almost five years now. We've gotten by on Netflix US and YouTube with the occasional pirated streaming site, but
by thrusong 10y ago
We're in Canada and have been cable cutters for almost five years now. We've gotten by on Netflix US and YouTube with the occasional pirated streaming site, but we're barely ever using Netflix anymore.
We've turned to Kodi. We don't want to pirate, but it's hard to make a compelling argument against it when you get everything you want even easier than torrents.
Add to that the abusive monopolies of Shaw and Bell, who each now have their own streaming subscriptions, services like Hulu and HBO Now either being blocked here or controlled by Shaw or Bell, and the Netlix subscription increasing by 50% in May for a lacklustre catalogue.
With all of that, the three movies I go to the cinema to see each month, and my Netflix subscription, it's hard not to feel like I pay my share for content. Not a popular opinion, I'm sure, but I'm not getting a dozen streaming services subscriptions.
- kejaed 10y agoWhat's wrong with Bell/Saw/Rogers having their own streaming services? I've found Bell's Crave TV to be pretty good, Shomi not as much.
- Cuuugi 10y agoCrave TV has great content, but they have been very frustrating for me technically. Random drops in the stream, session cookies getting corrupted (they only recently allow password changes from their site).
- kejaed 10y agoAgree with that 100%. Any time I've had to use web/iOS apps for Crave, I've wondered what is up with Bell Media's software people. The TSN app is just as poor, especially compared to what Rogers' Sportsnet app is doing on iOS.
- pmelendez 10y agoMay I ask what you don't like about Shomi? Is it the content?
- dibujante 10y agoThe technical delivery is poor. Hiccups, corruption, and drops in service are pretty common :(
- CountHackulus 10y agoI don't think I've gotten through a single episode without the PS4 app either crashing or the stream freezing.
- nucleardog 10y agoSimilarly, I think I've successfully watched maybe three things from Shomi on my Chromecast while Netflix/Spotify/etc are working flawlessly. Not being able to stream to my TV kind of defeats the point for me.
- unprepare 10y agoyou mean besides the obvious conflict of interest?
- thrusong 10y agoIt might just be my experience dealing with Bell when we had ExpressVu before becoming cable cutters, and Shaw's Internet service when I was growing up. I also hate the things Bell has tried to do through the CRTC, like that whole Internet thing with smaller providers using its pipes. I guess it's a principal thing. EDIT: Another example... I used to always choose Famous Players for movies. I avoided Cineplex. Then Cplex gobbled up Famous and I started going to Landmark. I should be able to choose where I consume my content.
- yuhong 10y agoYea, the CRTC is much better than what it was years ago. They are pushing for channel unbundling for example now.
- Corvus 10y agoYeah, and look how well that turned out: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-skinny-basic-pick-and-pay-1.3472647 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-skinny-basic-pick-and-p... (Spoiler: the unbundled packages cost more and have fewer shows)
- CamperBob2 10y agoTo understand what's wrong with that, you need to go back over 100 years. Do a search on the legends and lore behind a device called the "Strowger switch." This question is the very heart of network neutrality. You don't want your cable company running a competing streaming service. Really, you don't.
- sickbeard 10y agoYou have to be a subscriber to cable
- mmanfrin 10y agoWhich highlights the same situation, but reversed for US watchers: CraveTV owns rights to some shows that don't appear in the US (Letterkenny), but there is no way to get it in the US. The only way to legally pay for Letterkenny is by VPNing (which would/could be considered illegal in the US as 'circumventing protection'). Media companies need to grow up.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]