Different Choices in the Same Neighborhood

With so many TV entertainment choices available now, it can be hard to navigate through them and find a single service that meets all your needs. The number of streaming service subscribers has now surpassed that of traditional cable TV, and it’s common for a household to have multiple streaming subscriptions.  

Three local neighbors – who have used everything from traditional cable, satellite, and antenna TV to streaming services – prove that what works for one family, may not work for another. As they shared their different journeys, they told us why and how they got to their households’ entertainment destinations. They are surprisingly different!  

Steve & Kelly Babb

Satellite, Antenna, Sling TV, YouTube TV

SKT customers since 1995, the Babbs have SKT’s 50 Mbps internet service. About five years ago, they canceled their satellite TV subscription because it was so expensive and switched to streaming. Combined with their internet connection, they’ve had a positive experience.  

“Since we have gotten SKT Fiber Internet, we never have any internet problems,” Kelly said. “Even when our daughter and son-in-law were living here between homes, we had great streaming capabilities.”  

After dropping satellite TV, they subscribed to Sling TV and put an antenna in their attic to receive local channels. Earlier this year, they switched to YouTube TV because it has all the sports and cable channels they like, as well as the local channels. They get unlimited cloud DVR to record their favorite shows.  

“What I really like about it is you can have up to five profiles – meaning if you had older children still at home, they could have their own profile to record their shows,” Kelly said. “It keeps each person’s favorites separate. YouTube is $49.99 before taxes. Such a great deal!”  

Glenda Light

SKT Cable TV, Hulu with Live TV

The Babbs’ neighbor, Glenda Light, loved SKT Cable TV. As SKT TV services were being phased out, she began looking for an alternative. Glenda had nothing but praise for SKT’s Michelle Snell who suggested she utilize the Streaming Guide/Network Comparison resources provided at SKTC.net. The resources help customers determine which TV service would best serve their needs going forward. Glenda did just that – listing her priorities, which included Bravo, Food Network, and HGTV, along with the local weather.  

“I didn’t want a lot of sports channels,” Glenda explains, “and I just filled that out and it brought up Hulu as being number one for me. That helped me to decide, because up until then I just had no clue!”  

The only thing she’s missing from her Hulu lineup is FRNDLY, which has a couple of her favorites – QVC and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.  

“That’s my kind of stuff – and I like it during the holidays, especially. I have not added FRNDLY yet, but I am highly considering it. It’s only $5.99 more a month.”  

Now that she’s made the transition, Glenda loves the features included with a streaming service that traditional cable doesn’t provide. She likes Hulu for some of the older movies and TV series which she hadn’t seen yet, and some of the newer ones too.  

“Like, The Real Housewives of New York City – you can just binge-watch the whole thing or not – and when you go back to watch, it picks up where you left off,” Glenda exclaims. 

The Dieker Family 

Satellite, Netflix, Hulu with Live TV, Disney+, YouTube

Across the street, Dustin and Lindsay Dieker have young children. They have been SKT Internet subscribers since moving to Clearwater in 2008.  

“We are very happy with our service,” Lindsay said. “We have multiple kids on multiple devices – like two kids on Netflix and one on YouTube – and we haven’t had any problems. And, I do work from home sometimes and don’t have any issues at all.” 

Just like half of American households, they subscribe to several TV services to get access to all the content they want to watch. They currently have a satellite TV subscription, but mainly stream Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and YouTube. Hands-down, Disney Plus is the kids’ favorite because it has almost all the Disney movies.  

“My kids have used it a ton,” Lindsay explains. “Verizon customers get Disney Plus free for a year, so we downloaded the app using our Amazon Firestick.” When asked if they will continue when their year is up, she says, “I think it would be totally worth it to subscribe – yes!”  

Sports are important to her husband, Dustin, but with the COVID-19 interruption, the couple spends most of their evenings binge-watching Netflix Original series. They just finished Ozark, which they thought was really good, and have started Outer Banks. Although they’ve had a satellite TV subscription for over two years, they are thinking about canceling soon because they don’t use it. There have been some issues with their favorite networks being blacked out with their satellite TV provider, so they’ve signed up for Hulu in order to get Grey’s Anatomy and New Amsterdam. Hulu also offers 17 sports channels and all the locals, so it doesn’t make sense for them to keep both services.  

With many streaming options like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and Hulu offering exclusive original content, subscribing to multiple services is becoming the new norm. Do you subscribe to a different TV streaming service? If you’d be willing to share your experience, let us know. Check out our TV Resources for information on some of the most popular live TV streaming options.