68 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 09/2017
LIVING
an episode a la carte through such
services as Amazon or iTunes for less
than you’d pay to get the channel live.
Or you can watch many network TV
shows after they air with a subscrip-
tion to Hulu. (Hulu no longer offers
recent episodes free, but the networks’
websites let you watch many of them
gratis.) Netf lix and Amazon Prime
carry past full seasons of many shows.
Switching to streaming involves a
few caveats. You may not have access
to all the network channels that a live
TV streaming service advertises. In
many regions, local affiliates control
programming distribution, so
online TV providers contend
with “a rat’s nest of complexity,
trying to sign deals with every
local affiliate in every market to
deliver local broadcast content,”
says Moffett. Even if a stream-
ing service strikes an agreement
with a station, it may not be able
to distribute certain sporting
events online—meaning that,
say, your local station’s broad-
cast of a Sunday-night NFL
game could be blacked out. And
you’ll have a tough time catch-
ing the home team’s games if
your streaming service doesn’t
offer regional sports networks.
You may notice more pixila-
tion, freezing or other disrup-
tions when you stream video
than with cable or satellite TV.
You’ll need a minimum broad-
band download speed of about 20
to 25 megabits per second to stream
video to one or two devices at home,
plus browse the internet, says Dennis
Restauro, founder of Grounded Rea-
son, a website with guidance for cord
cutters. (Higher speeds may be neces-
sary if you stream in 4K.)
Finally, if you drop cable or satellite
TV, you’ll lose any discount that you
may have received for bundling inter-
net, TV and phone service from your
provider. Studying a sample of Com-
cast pricing in two U.S. markets,
MoffettNathanson found that after
promotional pricing expired, many
customers paid about $20 to $35 more
per month for internet service alone
than what they had paid when they
also subscribed to TV. Switching to
a bare-bones channel package, rather
than discarding cable altogether, may
be the most cost-effective solution.
Ultimately, subscribing to cable or
satellite TV could still be the best
value for you. Families may find that
only cable or satellite TV provides a
channel lineup that satisfies everyone.
If you have to sign up for multiple
streaming services or subscribe to
the priciest live-TV package to getall the programming you want, you
could spend more than if you keep
your cable or satellite TV subscription.SET UP A NETWORK
To beam online programming to
your TV, you’ll need the right hard-
ware. You have a host of options, from
internet-connected TVs to dedicated
media-streaming boxes. And many of
them are upping their game by adding
voice activation and 4K screen resolu-
tion. Check whether any of the devices
you already own—such as a smart TV,
Blu-ray player or video-game console—
can stream your desired programmingfrom the Web to your TV screen.
Before you purchase a streaming
device, take stock of the streaming
services you use and make sure the
device you choose supports them.
Look for promotional discounts, too.
Recently, for example, you could get a
free Roku Premiere box if you prepaid
for two months of DirecTV Now.
For access to a wide array of stream-
ing services at a reasonable price, a Roku
player (starting at $30) is hard to beat.
Roku’s Premiere+ box ($90) offers 4K
video quality (with a compatible TV)
and some other nifty features, includ-
ing a remote with a headphone
jack, allowing you to listen to
your TV privately. The Roku
platform is also built into some
smart TVs, including certain
models from Insignia, Sharp and
TCL. Plus, if you hook up a Roku
smart TV to an HD antenna, it
integrates over-the-air programs
so that they appear on the Roku
home screen for easy naviga-
tion. A 55-inch TCL S-Series
4K Roku TV was recently $502
at Walmart.com.
Or you may decide that an-
other streaming device best fits
your tech ecosystem. Along with
4K capability, the Amazon Fire
TV media player ($90) comes
with a remote that you can
control with Amazon’s voice-
activated assistant, Alexa. And
Amazon recently introduced a
4K smart TV from Element Electron-
ics, called Amazon Fire TV Edition
($650 for the 55-inch model at Amazon
.com). It also comes with Alexa voice
controls and, like the Roku TV model,
it can pull broadcast content from a
connected antenna into its menu.
Apple and Google are in the game,
too. Apple devotees may prefer the
Apple TV box ($149 to $199). Apple TV
doesn’t yet support 4K resolution, but
an app to stream Amazon video con-
tent—long missing from the lineup—is
coming later this year, and the remote
comes with Siri voice-command fea-
tures. Within the Google environment, JOEY GUIDONE