Responsible as an adult
February 8, 2016 | 20:17 | Written by: snake911Some people pay for their TV service by mailing a check, others pay online, but for me I go to…GameStop?!
It’s odd to say that I go to my local GameStop not just for fun anymore, but to have a legit reason and pay off a bill. Every month around this time I pick up a $50 PSN card for the sole reason to re-subscribe for another month to PlayStation Vue, my TV service that I’ve had since November when I moved into my new place.
I wrote about the service a few months back when I used the 7 day free trial before moving out, but at the time I hadn’t planned on actually using Vue as my primary way of getting TV. My original plan was to use a plain old TV antenna, but that blew up in my face when I found out I was in a dead zone for picking up any broadcast signals as there is a hill that blocks the line of sight between my place and the transmitter towers which are all un-conveniently located in one spot on Mt. Wilson.
My cable Internet provider noticed I didn’t have a TV plan so of course they tried to get me to sign up with them, but when all was said and done my total bill per month for both TV and Internet would have been $139. Jebus, I can’t afford that! The saving grace was when Sony announced Vue would be compatible with Amazon products like Fire and Fire TV Stick. With this, I exchanged the TV antenna -- which was an Amazon product -- for another Amazon item: the Fire TV Stick.
I subscribe to the low tiered plan titled Access because everything I want is on there. Sure, it would be nice to have some of the other channels found on the higher tiers, but budgeting my life so I don’t starve takes priority. And with Vue, I’m happy with what I got: local affiliates, around 50 cable channels, a DVR service, ability to pause live TV, and on demand. It may not be as elegant as traditional cable or satellite services, but with my interest in vegging out in front of the TV all evening becoming less of an interest, the clunkyness of navigating though the menus on an Amazon box don’t bother me that much.
As a nice gesture, Sony sent me a Fire TV Stick, free of charge. That’s cool since I have two TVs, but I haven’t gotten around to using it yet so it sits on my dining room table unused. It would have been really cool if they sent me it before I bought one, but whatever, I appreciate their generous gift. But I rather would have preferred if they made Vue compatible for PlayStation TV, which I already owned before I moved out. It would have made it actually useful and I would have purchased a PlayStation remote to use with it. But that more and more of a pipe dream as time goes on.
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