Xfinity Instant TV

[NetworkGuy]

It looks like Comcast is getting into streaming TV.

https://www.xfinity.com/learn/instant-tv

You get local channels for about $20 a month and can add packages of traditional cable channels.

The only restriction is that you must buy your internet from them.

Now if only I could record their TV with SageTV, I would sign-up tomorrow.

Has anyone tried it?

John

[KryptoNyte]

I seem to recall the general consensus is that most Comcast markets will send you a copy-freely stream for non-premium channels with a cable card tuner (like an HDHR Prime, if you can find one for a reasonable price), which Sage can handle via OpenDCT.

Maybe give some idea of what market/city you're in and another Comcast user will report in.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I seem to recall the general consensus is that most Comcast markets will send you a copy-freely stream for non-premium channels with a cable card tuner (like an HDHR Prime, if you can find one for a reasonable price), which Sage can handle via OpenDCT.

Maybe give some idea of what market/city you're in and another Comcast user will report in.

But this is an OTT service, not delivered via cable. They seem to have a cloud DVR so you don't really need SageTV, assuming that it works properly

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by wayner

But this is an OTT service, not delivered via cable. They seem to have a cloud DVR so you don't really need SageTV, assuming that it works properly

Or want to be able to record more than 2 streams at once and/or store more than 20 hours of recordings.

[tmiranda]

Just more confusion and fragmentation of the market. I still think the whole streaming world is way too complicated for the average user and in the end isn't any cheaper than the "bad old days" when we just had cable. I know, I'm a dinosaur but I miss being able to get everything I wanted to see in one place, on one device, with one interface, and at one price.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Just more confusion and fragmentation of the market. I still think the whole streaming world is way too complicated for the average user and in the end isn't any cheaper than the "bad old days" when we just had cable. I know, I'm a dinosaur but I miss being able to get everything I wanted to see in one place, on one device, with one interface, and at one price.

I am with you about the "one place, on one device, with one interface, and at one price".

I just want a LOWER price.

I have something like 250 cable channels and I only watch 15-20 of them. I want a service that lets me pick those channels and pay for just them.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

I am with you about the "one place, on one device, with one interface, and at one price".

I just want a LOWER price.

I have something like 250 cable channels and I only watch 15-20 of them. I want a service that lets me pick those channels and pay for just them.

Not going to happen. If I understand the cable company business model they are basically giving you 225 of those 250 channels for free. If they, or any other "streaming" company unbundle the channels you still end up paying the same for the channels you want.

One of the big misunderstandings that people seem to have is the idea that if I get 250 channels and my bill is $125, the price must be $0.50 per channel, and therefore if I only want 20 channels my bill should be $10. That's not how it works because the cable companies pay different prices to carry different networks. And those pricing deals are complex.

[NetworkGuy]

It turns out that we only watch 5 "true cable" networks. The rest of the shows are available via OTA. If I could find a way to integrate those 5 networks into SageTV, I could save about $40 a month.

Unfortunately, those networks are only available via streaming services. I am still debating on what to do.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

It turns out that we only watch 5 "true cable" networks. The rest of the shows are available via OTA. If I could find a way to integrate those 5 networks into SageTV, I could save about $40 a month.

Unfortunately, those networks are only available via streaming services. I am still debating on what to do.

And there you have it. You can probably get those 5 channels through one or more streaming services that will cost you close to $40 per month.

The people who own the "good channels" are not mathematically challenged. It will be hard to find the content cheaper on one service vs. another. Why would a broadcasting company sell it's product much cheaper to a streaming service vs. a cable company? They don't. The advantage the streaming companies have is that their cost of infrastructure is lower than the cable companies.

The cable companies will eventually go extinct, but that day is not today. 10 years from now things will look a lot different. (And we will all probably be complaining that in order to get good streaming services we are limited to 2 or 3 "big bad companies" that charge us too much.)

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

The cable companies will eventually go extinct, but that day is not today. 10 years from now things will look a lot different. (And we will all probably be complaining that in order to get good streaming services we are limited to 2 or 3 "big bad companies" that charge us too much.)

The cable/phone companies will continue to exist as they own the data pipes into your house. If we go completely wireless then the cable companies may lose to the likes of Verizon and AT&T.

But these companies are increasingly buying the content/channels. Like Comcast which now owns NBC and all of their channels, and AT&T just bought Time Warner which owns HBO, CNN, etc. So they will continue to exist as content owners.