For several years (at least half a decade) I used a service that provided live TV for most major networks, and reliable, easy to access streaming of literally every televised sport I ever heard of, and many that I didn't know existed or didn't expect to be televised.

It was easy to use, had all the live TV we cared for (incl and especially sporting events, which was the only thing we weren't already getting by legit streaming services or other means, and which we cared about watching live vs later ) for 30 bucks a month. I started using it right after I forked out a couple hundred bucks to the NHL only to find that doing so just made it so that it cost me a lot of money to be blacked out from the games we cared to watch.

It was what we all want streaming services to be - reliable, comprehensive, high quality, easy to use, and cheap.

That's why.

Edited to add - the service went down last year. I know of no similar replacement, but given this article they must exist.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You should definitely avoid http://xtremehdiptv.org/ It's about half the price you were paying and has live TV, movies and series.

[–] Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How do younpay for these services? I'd imagine you might not want to use your credit cards.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago

I have a credit card that I don't use for daily use, so it always has a sub $100 balance. It's easy for me to notice if there are any extra charges. I think if you were really concerned about privacy, they accept cryptocurrency.

[–] quirzle@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago

Convenience, I'd imagine. Not everybody wants to deal with ads or self-hosting.

I also know someone that subs to a pirate streaming site that they use for learning English. It has a solid library but also has dual subtitles on everything and categories based on vocabulary difficulty and accents. It's cheaper than a single legit subscription, but has way more value (both the language stuff and the massive pirated library).

[–] ganoo@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Real-debrid is worth paying for imo