OTA is an acronym for Over the Air, meaning antenna. OTT means
Over the Top and refers to watching TV using the internet (also
called streaming). Millions of people around the world have been
replacing cable with OTT monthly offerings, due to cable's
extremely high fees and multi-year no-cut contracts. All of the
OTT offerings have a free period, usually seven days to test and
see if you like the service.
Many people are also discovering antennas today are not like the
old days and offer many more free channels. Additionally,
antennas produce a better picture than any of the cable or OTT
services (excluding 4K) because they do not compress the signal
coming into your house. Also, there are many relatively
inexpensive (less than $20) indoor antennas that can be attached
to a window, so no need to climb up on the roof as we did in the
past. Unfortunately rural areas still mostly lack local service.
There are eight OTT players with live TV vying for your TV
dollars: PlayStation Vue, AT&T TV NOW, AT&T Watch, Hulu,
Sling TV, Philo, FuboTV, and YouTube TV. Each has a curated list
of offerings, with some catering to sports fans, or families, or
variety. Most offer multiple options to use and pay for more or
less channels.
They all stream live TV and selected movies over the internet
and require a smart TV or a box, like fireTV, Roku, Chromecast,
etc. Luckily, each device is a one time purchase, some as low as
$24.95. Some services do not play on all boxes, so check before
you buy. Almost all offer addons, like Netflix and Prime
purchased through them or separately. Many, but not all offer
live sports.
Disney+ is coming this fall, but will not offer live TV, just
movies, old TV reruns, and some original content, like Netflix
and Prime. Incidentally, Netflix will have 158.8 million
viewers of the 182.5 million people using OTT services in
2019. Amazon Prime Video is the second most-popular service
behind Netflix, with 96.5 million subscribers.
AT&T TV (not to be confused with AT&T TV NOW or AT&T Watch) is
a new service that is meant to eventually replace satellite
services AT&T Uverse and AT&T DirectTV. It is sold as a
two year bundle and prices like traditional cable. Also, like
cable, has penalties for early termination, requires a box like
cable, and extra fees.
The major benefits for considering OTT is to save money, as much
as $100 per month or more by not paying for all the extra
channels on cable that you do not watch. Some people switch out
one service for another, such as for those that provide sports
in the fall, then switching again in spring or adding Netflix to
watch new series, then dropping when the series is over. This
adds variety and still keeps costs down. Services begin as low
as $15 per month and can go as high as close to $100 per month.
Many seniors especially, have found that an antenna alone
provides enough entertainment and is totally free of monthly
payments. Others have added an antenna as a backup for OTT
sports blackouts or when there are contract disputes and local
channels are temporarily unavailable. Many places have over
thirty channels available for free with an antenna. You can find
more info. Use the
search box for 'antenna'.
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