Cuttin' The Cord Update - It's Not Cheaper 'Cause It's The Content That Costs And There Is Still No Ala Carte Purchasing 23Oct21

I lost my "shared credentials" from a user who purchased cable with some premiums - they just changed their approach to content acquisition so I had to look elsewhere. We prior shared within legal boundaries of course (concurrent screens, limited profiles, family, etc.), but the event was a loss for us. I didn't realize how big actually - being a strange teams college sports fan, the loss of ESPN, FOXSN, CBSSN, et. al. was brutal. I decided I should again pursue my own purchased credentials to replace those lost. What ensued was a day or so of looking at comparable over-the-top streaming bundles including primarily SlingTV (prior owned), YouTubeTV (often described as "best"), and Hulu + LiveTV. Here is main decision plexus:

Vendor
Price/Mo	$65	$45	$65
Sports	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - CBS Sports, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al.	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al. - Stadium	- ESPN, et. al. - FOX SN, et. al. - CBS Sports, et. al. - NBC SN, et. al.
Locals	All (including RMPBS)	Basically None	All (except RMPBS)
Cloud DVR	Unlimited Hours	50 Hours	50 Hours
Comments	YouTubeTV & Roku still arguing so no app downloadable; 6 screens	Prices increasing regularly; poor management of credentials; 1 screen	Challenging signup (had to call to get right price & lineup); common billing with Disney+ & ESPN+; 2 screens

I decided that while we don't "need" local channels (because I have terrestrial HD in COS and do any redirecting or recording via Plex from there) they'd be nice when my Plex server acts up. Also SlingTV's 1 concurrent screen has bitten us in the past if Kala and I are in different locations and want simultaneous access. SlingTV was eliminated. The crux of the decision between YouTubeTV and Hulu LiveTV came down to the fact that long term support of Roku by YTTV (and vice versa) is unknown. There's a rift over environment control of the Roku OS and YTTV's access to private data. While the 6 screens from Google is better (and were I sharing I might be forced to go this way), the 2 concurrent screens of HLTV should be sufficient for Kala & me. It's worth noting that after lengthy chat with Google/YTTV saying they'd honor a $55/mo price for 1st 12 months - they never replied with needed follow up. Since we use Plex for most recording ('cause I can strip commercials during recording), the 50 hour limit is bearable; plus there's upside in that I'll get a common billing with Disney. So, our monthly TV bill now includes: Hulu + LiveTV for $65, Hulu no ads upgrade for $6, Disney+ and ESPN+ add-ons for $7, AppleTV+ for $14, Netflix for $14, Showtime & HBOMax for $25, and Prime for (say 50% of Prime annual fee) $6 = $137. Sure, we have nearly everything for this price but it is just as much as a rich cable bill, and our broadband is an added $40 in COS and $35 in Summit. We've cut the cord long ago but save very little over "the cord" because the industry still doesn't allow true ala carte purchasing... the $65 bundle from Hulu is like cable and gets me 70 channels of stuff I'll never watch.