Cord Cutting Tips & Tricks: Use Your Streaming Device Remote for Your TV
Our friends at TechHive put out a neat article this week about the benefits of enabling HDMI-CEC which (depending on the gadgets you have in your home) may allow you to use your streaming set-top-box's remote to control your TV set.
If you can get it working, the ability to use a single set-top-box remote like Apple TV's to control your TV and provide access to both streaming sources like Netflix (and if you use Tablo) live, local TV can make it even easier for non-techie family members to embrace cutting the cord on cable.
The Lifetime Cost of Cable = $70,000
The folks over at Cord Cutters News broke out the calculator this week to estimate the lifetime cost of cable. It came out to almost $70,000. And that doesn't include fees or inevitable rate increases!
I don't know about you, but I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather be doing with that kind of money! And if you're looking for even more ways to save cash as a cord cutter, check out this blog post.
Customer Sues Charter & Time Warner Over 'Broadcast TV Fee'
It's not enough that cable companies gouge their customers by raising their prices at four times the rate of inflation, but they also advertise rates that are much lower than the actual cost by hiding those extra costs in fees.
And customers are starting to fight back. This week a lawsuit was filed alleging that Charter/Time Warner are hiding rate hikes in an $8.75/month 'Broadcast TV fee' and implying that is is government mandated. The plaintiff says this amounts to false advertising.
Meanwhile, cord cutters are watching these same channels for the grand total of $0/month. What a bargain!
PS Vue Drops Viacom Channels, Adds NBA TV, Viceland & BCC America
Streaming service PS Vue underwent some lineup changes this week as the service dropped Viacom channels including Comedy Central and MTV. It has however added NBA TV which is great news for basketball fans.
While the shifting lineup shows that streaming services are not immune to carriage disputes, at least this type of content distribution model allows customers to cancel and find a different service, instead of getting stuck with a cable or satellite contract that no longer suits their needs.
Canadian Corner: Study Shows Skinny Basic Isn't Slowing Cord Cutting
Skinny basic - the CRTC-mandated basic channel bundle - has not slowed cord cutting in Canada, a recent study shows.
Canada’s publicly traded TV service providers combined lost approximately 98,500 customers in the two quarters since the bundles launched, which is 13% more than in the same two quarters last year. Even without the same options available to our neighbors to the south, it's obvious Canadian consumers are fed up.
BLACK FRIDAY STARTS NOW - $50 Off NEW Tablo 4-Tuner OTA DVRs
Black Friday deals are heating up! Amazon.com is offering Tablo 4-Tuner OTA DVRs for $50 off! This is an awesome price so if you've been thinking of upgrading to a 4-Tuner or getting a Tablo period, you won't want to miss out.
We also have a limited number of lovingly refurbished 2- and 4-Tuner Tablo DVRs starting at just $139.99 US (or $179.99 CAD). Order yours from the Tablo store (US STORE / CANADIAN STORE) or from Amazon.com today!
STAY TUNED - Tablo Announcement Next Week
As a thank you for subscribing to our newsletter we thought we'd give you an early heads-up that we have some exciting news coming out next Tuesday, November 15th. We'll be adding support for yet ANOTHER new device!
Just like Apple TV, folks have been asking us to support this particular platform for a while now, especially since another company has yet to deliver on its promise to bring OTA DVR functionality to this same device.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to catch the official announcement!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Cord Cutting This Week!
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