What's your streaming strategy?

I'm stingy about subscriptions. We've never had cable. We use an antennae for the major networks. The only thing we are watching on regular TV is the news and Jeopardy.

So we use Hulu (with ads) and Prime for all of our other viewing. We first had Netflix for several years. I cancelled them earlier this year after we got Prime because 3 services were just too many for us and we were watching more regular TV and Hulu than anything.

I will go back to Netflix at some point to catch up on shows like Dead to Me but right now I don't think there have been enough of their shows post new seasons lately and there are still things we want to watch on Hulu.

I don't watch that much on Prime. I subscribed for The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel and to finish up Suits. The last season of Suits hasn't been added to Prime yet but I expect it before my year is up. There couldn't have been a better year though to have Prime because of the shipping. Normally though I don't buy enough from them to justify Prime and there isn't that much to watch there. Netflix and Hulu have the most content.

At some point I'm going to do CBS.com to see The Good Fight. I'll probably do just a couple of months though. CBS's player is the poorest imo.

Way too many, but with caveats:

Netflix ~ the OG. I’ve had this for over 10 years. Between my son and I we watch enough to justify it.

Prime Video ~ I have this for the shipping so the Video portion is just a bonus. If it was a standalone service I would subscribe a couple months a year and binge whatever I wanted then cancel.

Disney+ ~ I really thought we would watch the heck out of this one and just haven’t. I have made a goal to rewatch all the things on there, though. Currently I’m watching the Marvel movies in chronological order. I also am watching the Disney animated movies I have never seen. Star Wars in chronological order is on my todo list as well. I don’t know that this will be an every month thing when I get through all of those.

Hulu with ads and Showtime ~ these are both free with my son’s Spotify Student membership so again a bonus. I don’t think I’ve watched a single thing on Showtime. I feel the same about Spotify as I do Prime Video ~ if I paid for only it I would subscribe a few months a year, binge, then cancel.

Apple TV ~ came free for a year with my new phone; I’ve not watched anything on it.

Starz ~ I subscribe for a few months for Outlander then unsubscribe until the next season.

I’ve done several one offs for the free trial ~ BroadwayHD, Acorn TV, Marquee, BritBox ~ all of them would be another subscribe for a few months at a time thing.

We start and stop services depending on what is new or what we want to watch. We currently have a lot because we are watching more TV and seasons ended in the States, so we got CBS All Access to watch Young Sheldon, Survivor, and something else that I’m forgetting. When we are done, I’ll stop it, even though I’m only paying $0.99 a month.

We have STARZ until June 3, then I’ll stop it. We got it to watch Outlander and that just wrapped last week. DD a is home now and watching it.

Sling catches most of the other stuff.

We have Prime, but that’s mostly for the shipping. I consider streaming just a bonus. We have Hulu and Netflix as well, but I start and stop as we go.

We do have cable, but it’s crazy cheap and bundled with my cell phone and internet. I don’t worry about free trials—most services cost between $7-9 and I consider that a fair trade to watch what I want for the month. I subscribe through Amazon, so it’s easy to start and stop them. we do have a lot, but I’m piecing together shows right now from different services. And it’s still less than what we paid for cable back in the States.

I’m in the no strategy camp, but would really like a strategy, because I feel like we are paying for things we don’t use.

We have cable with HBO and Starz. But, should turn those both off as I signed up to watch Game of Thrones and Outlander. I need to evaluate our package in general.

Prime for shipping.

Netflix mostly for the kids.

Hulu for Lost, but we are almost done with that.

Disney + because it was free for a year.

Dh has some sports things he subscribes to so he can get all the soccer and football, but he probably doesn’t need those right now.

We don’t have cable. We use Netflix, Hulu+ live, Disney+, HBONow and Prime. I don’t pause or cancel anything because we use each service on a regular basis. All of the services together are still cheaper than what our old cable bill used to be.

The only thing I see myself canceling in the near future is Netflix because so much of what we watch is leaving the service and I can’t think of anything they produce exclusively that I can’t live without watching.

We cut the cord 3.5 years ago and haven't missed it. Currently we have Hulu Live with the DVR add-on, Netflix and Amazon Prime (had for shipping long before we cut the cord). We also have Apple TV+ because it was free for a year, but will not be paying for it once that is up. Just haven't found anything to interest us there.

If it weren't for needing something like Hulu Live to get HGTV, we would drop that and just use the digital antenna for local stations. We find we are watching less and less tv now.

We have Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, and Disney+. I’m a really picky watcher so I need all these services just to find a few that I’ll actually watch. I have no strategy other than to have DH scroll through all of them and tell me what looks interesting.

We have a lot of choices. directv, Netflix, Hulu, prime, Disney.


We watch all of it. I have a lot of Directv channels, including the movie channels. We would already have Prime for the shipping, so that’s a bonus. Hulu and Disney we have as the cheap bundle. Between all of us, it gets watched and is worth the costs to me. Eventually when the kids leave the nest, I’ll make some cuts.

We have cable which is by far the most expensive of the bunch --for DH sports which really aren't happening now.
We also have Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.  I'm not sure if I'll renew with Disney+ after the year is up.  I've only watched a few movies.  I'll have to check with my kids (grown kids) to see if they use it.  They will probably say yes and I will pay...
I use Netflix most of all. I watch about one hour of cable every 1-2 months.  

We cut our cable after Christmas. We already had a free digital antenna (DD works as a software engineer and used it for testing and then sent it to us when she was finished.)

We have subscriptions to:
Netflix ~ our oldest subscription and we use it the most; started back in the day when they would mail you a disk.
Prime ~ for the shipping, but we end up watching a lot of shows on it.
Hulu ~ DS has a cheap student subscription, but I hardly ever watch it.
HBO Now ~ DD has a subscription. I haven't seen much I'd like to continue. Except The Mighty Gemstones.
Disney+ ~ Free with verizon. Probably won't continue past the free trial.

I've been trying to create a streaming strategy this year. When I had cable I also had HBO in order to watch Game of Thrones. When that ended I cancelled HBO and just had basic expanded cable, but the monthly price was getting ridiculous. I think it really depends what type of viewing you do and what shows are your "must haves". I ended up finally cancelling my cable in March and I'm so happy! I now have:

1) YouTube TV (at 42% of my cable cost!) It has all my local channels for news and weather, Jeopardy, and my beloved Atlanta Braves. It also has unlimited recording of shows, which I love. I think it offers around 70 channels.
2) Netflix
3) Amazon Prime, I mainly use this for the shipping, but since the lock down I'm watching it more. I just started season 1 of The Expanse.
I plan to add on other services like CBS All Access and Disney+ from time to time to watch specific shows. (And Hallmark in December! )