This article was written by Don VanSyckel, the club president, as a part of "The President's Pen". This article appeared in the May 2020 WYSIWYG newsletter.
Cutting the Cord part 4
by Don VanSyckel
I remind you from previous articles that I've cut the cord a few months back. Well with more time on my hands, I can't even get close to running out of free content to stream. I'll say up front that the current movies and shows are not available for free. Having said that I'm finding more content than I can consume. There are many movies that I never saw when they were new but they are still enjoyable to watch even though they are a few years old. Granted most of the free content comes with commercials but I've been watching TV with commercials for so long that I can tune out a few ads. Also, if you aren't familiar with streaming services, some convenient features are pause and continue later or the next day, fast forward though scenes that are moving a little too slowly, rewind that some of you call instant replay, and stop on one device and pick up on another device.
If you do decide to use a streaming service such as Tubi, Vudu, Crackle, Popcornflix, and others, look for the "want list" or "queue". Many have long lists of available content that I don't want to navigate over and over. I go through the list once and add the items I have interest in to my "want list" and then view items from there. By the time I get through the "want list" the service has made a new group of items available so I go through the list once again.
If you have to have certain content the major networks, Hallmark Movie Channel, History Channel, and others offer monthly subscriptions generally for $5 to $10 a month. These generally offer current content as well as previous shows. These services have a limit on how many devices can use the service simultaneously, check before you sign up. They all state the limit but it's difficult to find sometimes.
Don't forget the library, when it reopens in a month or so, they have a lot of content from Hallmark Movie Channel, History Channel, and others.
There are also services like Sling TV that offer both local channels and premium channels. I almost signed up for Sling TV but the one device limit made this too expense for two TVs. Then there's Amazon Prime which is approaching $10 per month but you get free shipping of stuff you purchase. On the other hand, I don't have Prime and get free shipping anyway.
I haven't even touched on the $50 high definition antenna I bought and set up in the attic. All the local channels are crisp and clear.
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