Getting rid of Netflix... I think....recommend other channels?

[bisous]

I think we're going to drop Netflix. The price went up. DH and I rarely have time to watch anything anymore. I don't like the way they have loud trailers that autoplay while scrolling through our Roku on Netflix. I don't necessarily like the way they present content for kids. I think I'm just ready for a break. I never thought I'd say that!

I think I'd like to get some new content for the kids. Right now they watch an hour a day during the week and maybe a little more on Saturdays. During the summer we'll have to see how that is going to go. Summers are hard for me with 4 kids, a small house, and no budget for camp. My kids are getting easier and easier to take places and just in general so I'm thinking I might need TV less this summer (and it was never TONS of TV but some days more than others....) so I'm hesitant not to replace Netflix with something else.

Lately my kids are watching a lot of Disney Now (which we get for free). They like seeing if there are any "new" episodes. They also watch a lot of BYUTV which may not be a huge draw for anyone else on the board but there are three or four shows that they like to watch regularly. We've been Hulu and Amazon Prime members before and they were fine but worse than Netflix in many ways. Though Prime has other advantages and Hulu is cheaper so I'm considering...

Any other good cheap or free channels? Or strategies? We have been borrowing (for free) videos through our local library but they are very often in extremely poor condition! We are so spoiled by HD streaming platforms!

I'm also thinking about replacing our Roku. Mostly because the remotes are broken. (Maybe we'll just replace the remotes) We were thinking about AppleTV? We are an apple family. But all our movies are purchased on Amazon. Is that a problem? Would love your thoughts on that as well!

[newnana]

We are an amazon family. That being said, DD rarely watches it. she prefers Disney, though she watches much less than you are saying. Maybe 2 hours/week of anything? Maybe she would watch more if we had more options. I think she would love to watch more baking shows or craft competitions like Making it or quiz shows and Nat Geo, we just don't have any of that.

Also, our amazon firestick also does that super annoying "feature" of autoplaying the loud trailers as you are navigating the menu. We all loathe that. So if you don't like that, maybe skip amazon?

I'd first look at what shows your kids would be interested in that are available on each service. DD wasn't really interested in the Amazon kids ones and likes the free Disney, PBS, and ABC options.

[LBW]

What about You Tube? If you monitor their usage, there is a lot of good content available for free. My 11-year old watches a lot of history and science channels.

[NCGrandma]

Also, our amazon firestick also does that super annoying "feature" of autoplaying the loud trailers as you are navigating the menu. We all loathe that. So if you don't like that, maybe skip amazon?.

Interesting—I’ve never encountered this, and I can’t see anywhere in the Alexa app on my iPad to turn this on or off on the TV (NOT that I want to turn it on!). When I go to the Fire home page on the TV, then to Settings, then Preferences, there are a couple of options under Featured Content that sound relevant (allow video auto play and allow audio auto play) but those are set to ON on my Fire setup and I still don’t hear anything... But you might check that and see if it helps avoid the annoyance.

In case it matters, I have the Fire TV box (plugs in like the stick but is a bit bigger), not a TV with built-in Fire functions.


Sent from my iPad using Baby Bargains

[legaleagle]

You’ve already checked what’s available directly on roku channels?

[TwinFoxes]

My kids don't watch much TV, they don't get screens during the week and on the weekends they rather play on devices. I'm not anti-TV, it's just not what they choose for their screen time. So take this for what it's worth, but they really do like Netflix the best. They pick movies from their "kids" profile that I've set the parental controls on. Amazon has very little good free kids' content. There are a few series, and a few movies, but really not much at all. Netflix has way more content.

You can stream PBS. For $5 a month you get bonus content. My kids don't know I have it, so I can't tell you if they'd like it. But, there are great history shows that are appropriate, the Great British Baking Show (some seasons are also on Netflix). My kids love the Great British Baking Show.

I get Hulu for super cheap with my Spotify membership, like for $2 or something. I can't imagine paying full price. I don't like their platform at all, very clunky. They have a lot of shows for grown ups but it doesn't seem like they have much to offer kids.

What about Disney's new streaming service, or is that the one you mentioned you get for free?

[TwinFoxes]

Interesting—I’ve never encountered this

In case it matters, I have the Fire TV box (plugs in like the stick but is a bit bigger), not a TV with built-in Fire functions.

Same, we don't get auto-play previews on our Fire TV (box, not stick). I don't like that "feature" on Netflix either.

[AustenFan]

We also have Hoopla Digital on our roku, and it's free through your library card (not all libraries have an account, so try all your cards if you belong to multiple libraries). We mostly use it for audiobooks on the kids' accounts and ebooks on my account, but there are a lot of older classic family movies/documentaries/BBC miniseries type things on there, which I guess are the kinds of things libraries carry, so it makes sense. We do tend to check prime video first when we're looking for something to watch, just because the selection is better, but I'm trying to take advantage of Hoopla's options more. (Hoopla has a limit of checkouts per month--LA County library card gets you 8 per card; San Francisco Public Library gets you 20. We get around the check-out limit by having separate accounts with each of the kids' library cards, so once we've checked out all the monthly checkouts on DD1's, we log out and log in with DD2's, etc.)

We have had prime forever, but DH will get us a month of Netflix or Hulu every once in a while if there's really something we want to watch on one of those. We'll only do it for a month, then cancel.

[doberbrat]

since summer is right around the corner, could you just keep it until after summer and then dump it?

we dont have any sort of paid tv stuff but it seems like you use it and this might not be the best time for you to get rid of it.

[bisous]

We also have Hoopla Digital on our roku, and it's free through your library card (not all libraries have an account, so try all your cards if you belong to multiple libraries). We mostly use it for audiobooks on the kids' accounts and ebooks on my account, but there are a lot of older classic family movies/documentaries/BBC miniseries type things on there, which I guess are the kinds of things libraries carry, so it makes sense. We do tend to check prime video first when we're looking for something to watch, just because the selection is better, but I'm trying to take advantage of Hoopla's options more. (Hoopla has a limit of checkouts per month--LA County library card gets you 8 per card; San Francisco Public Library gets you 20. We get around the check-out limit by having separate accounts with each of the kids' library cards, so once we've checked out all the monthly checkouts on DD1's, we log out and log in with DD2's, etc.)

We have had prime forever, but DH will get us a month of Netflix or Hulu every once in a while if there's really something we want to watch on one of those. We'll only do it for a month, then cancel.

Thank you for the suggestion! We do get Kanopy which sounds similar but we’ll check out Hoopla. I actually think that doing Netflix or Hulu a month at a time might be the way to go. We don’t have prime anymore and don’t miss it. On the occasion we need something from Amazon we just have my sister order it and Venmo her the money. So when we quit Netflix we won’t have any streaming. We are planning on getting Disney Plus though!