David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

Youtube TV offers both "on demand" as well as the ability to record an unlimited number of shows/programs.

BeachLady Loc: Surfside Beach, SC

No, I don't mean live - I rarely watching anything "live" - right now, I'm using On Demand and watching Food Network's Worst Cooks finale from last Sunday night. I assume with these "sticks" etc, I can find what I want and watch it whenever I want to. Right?

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The "stick" gives you access to both free and paid apps.

An example: if you buy YouTube TV (which only requires one month at a time commitment, btw), you use your Fire Stick to enter the app. Once there, you can see the regular tv line-ups. You would need to set up recordings ahead of airing for series or individual shows you want to watch at a later date. It's actually quite easy.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

That's generally how most of the services work. If it says 'TV' in the name, like 'YouTubeTV', that's generally a key there's "broadcast" content on it, like you would receive over the air or via cable TV. Otherwise, it's play on demand. MOST of the free YouTube is on demand, although some folks stream live content with a running "chat" commentary.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

A reminder and an observation:

- Watch a video or two from the link I provided earlier, to help you understand the Fire Stick.

- From the little you mentioned about your friend, it sounds like she's clicking on the Roku channel icon or other free apps. Those are not comparable to the services you pay for monthly, such as YouTube TV or Hulu.

Apps such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime and Netflix work differently from the "broadcast" sites. You can find information (programming and prices) about those online if you're interested.

Ollieboy

I get over 52 stations through my roof antenna. Channels 2.2, 2.3, 4.2, 4.3 and so on are known by other names such as Cozi TV, Icon TV , and so on. A UHF antenna is all you need. I'm dumping cable shortly as most of the programing is crap and expensive.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

You sound like a guy. My wife loves it, me not so much.

Canisdirus

Roku now has everything included in a sound bar...kind of nice.
They seem to have all of the programming momenta...adding stuff all the time.
My wife loves Hallmark...so I bought Philo for $21/month.
I know someone who has Netflix...so I just asked for a password...and now just use their account. I think you can have 5 ppl on one account.
Amazon prime sub gives you all of their prime video on Roku as well.

The usual suspects...abc,cbs..etc... get a HD antennae ...you get all of that for free...plus others you never thought of.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Either way, I believe you still to pay for the internet connection. What does your provider charge for the internet alone. I have a triple play package. If I loose the phone & tv, I only save $20 & I only have about 30 channels.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

That's a good point - the bundle discount.

Something else of interest when calculating the bottom line: I discovered that cable tv has many fees and taxes attached. Those all went away. However, I had to pay state sales tax on my monthly YouTube TV subscription.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Roku is really pretty simple and easy to use. Your friend must not know how to navigate it. I find it a lot easier to use than Firestick. I have both.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

While we're at it - why watch sports channels? Every single game comes out the same. One team wins and the other one loses. The same thing over and over. Occasionally they will tie but that's like having no ending at all.

ashriverguy Loc: Rural Minnesota

We live about 40 miles from the main TV broadcast towers and have a small antenna with an amplifier in our attic.
We get a fantastic picture (better than the cable we dropped years ago). We jokingly call it "Amish TV".
We get all the local channels including free PBS and we subscribe to basic Netflix which is less than $10 a month. We also are "members" of PBS ($7 a month) and there included programming on their “Passport" is outstanding. Just a suggestion to save enough money to buy new camera any time you want.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

The only cable I can get is Xfinity. I tried YouTube but it was slow jerky and $70/month. I still need Comcast for internet which is $80 something. I can get all local via antenna.. There was no saving for me, so I returned to the Xfinity which in my opinion is technically is far superior to You tube. Sooo.. I am stuck

ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK

If you mainly want the local channels, you can get those on a digital antenna. My mom calls hers a mud flap. But, if you want things like HDTV, Food Network, TNT, TBS etc, you’re going to need a streaming device.

I’ve tried the Firestick and was not pleased with it. I had frequent lockup’s, applications crashing, buffering that the stick did not tolerate, etc. I replaced it with another Firestick and experienced the same thing. I suspected that the stick was overheating and was too small to dissipate the heat. My third streaming device is a Roku Ultra LT. it’s a Walmart exclusive, but is the best deal on Roku devices. So far I’m very happy with it. I still get occasional buffering, but the Roku handles it beautifully. I would also swear the images are brighter and sharper although I can’t imagine why.

The buffering I spoke of is my internet connection. I have 500 Mbps, by it still will stop responding from time to time. Frequent reboots of the modem/router help.

For apps, you will need YouTubeTV or Hulu plus live TV. You can get away with just basic Hulu if you don’t mind waiting until the next day to watch your shows.

Overall we are pleased that we are no longer feeding the cable TV provider any more than we have to. $95 per month for Internet, $75 per month for Hulu Live TV with Disney+ and ESPN+.

Like I said, the only negative experience we had was with the Firestick.