Washington, DC — The holiday season is here! It can be tough to find the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday shopping list. For the cord cutter friends and family in our lives, in particular, it can be difficult to sort through the ever-evolving technology and available program offerings. Let’s dive into our favorite streaming subscriptions and devices for cord cutters.
Subscription Services
Amazon Prime – Amazon Prime is an amazing service for many reasons – and if free two day delivery on millions of necessities isn’t enough of a draw, a subscription also gives your friends and loved ones access to original Amazon Prime programming, like Transparent and The Man in the High Castle. Purchasing an Amazon Prime subscription as a gift is easy, plus the gift is emailed on a day of your choosing – what a great gift option for family and friends that live far away!
Netflix – Netflix is a must-have for cord cutters. Its digital library of movies and TV shows is unparalleled. You can pick up a Netflix gift card at your local supermarket, drug store, or anywhere else you head to buy gift cards. Then, all your gift recipient needs to do is enter the code from the gift card and they are all set to use their new Netflix subscription.
Hulu – Hulu is a great service for cord cutters who want to stream both network TV and Showtime, in addition to original programming. Much like Netflix, Hulu gift cards can be purchased at your local supermarket, drug stores, or technology superstore.
Sports Packages – For cord cutters, live streaming sports can be the most difficult adjustment. Why not make it easier for your friends and neighbors to catch all of their favorite teams and important games? With its ESPN partnership, Sling TV is the best bet for the general sports lover. But for fans of specific sports, the gift of an all-access pass to their favorite sport is a sure-fire slam dunk this holiday season. Our favorites include NFL League Pass, MLB.TV, NBA TV and NHL.TV.
Streaming Devices and Equipment
Roku – James, our Customer Service Specialist, is a big fan of Roku Premiere+. As we have written about in the past, in our experience, in densely populated, actively streaming communities, like the ones DC Access serves, an Ethernet port connected set-top box streaming device always provides the fastest and clearest media streaming experience.
Noise Cancelling Headphones – What if your friend is trying to catch up on the latest season of House of Cards and their roommate is wrapping gifts and listening to holiday music at full blast? We recommend noise cancelling headphones like these from Samsung to make sure your friend don’t miss a minute of President Underwood’s latest machinations and schemes.
Indoor HDTV Antenna – An indoor HDTV antenna is crucially important for cord cutters who want better reception of network TV and local programming. For people who live in DC, we suggest purchasing this HDTV Antenna. If your cord cutter lives in a more rural area, the 1byone Amplified Antenna might be a better fit. DC Access can also help set up your friend or family’s home with Free TV DC, to receive peak reception of local channels using an outdoor antenna.
Lap Desk – If that special cord cutter in your life streams content on mobile devices, you can help amp up their viewing experience with one small purchase – a lap desk! Rather than holding devices or propping them up against couch pillows, we suggest using a lap desk like this one from LapGear for a steadier picture.
Over The Air DVR – Just because your friends and family cancelled their bundled cable contract doesn’t mean that they need to watch TV live without a DVR. TiVO Roamio is an OTA DVR and Streaming Media Player with no monthly fees. This device is compatible only with HDTV Antenna – it doesn’t work with cable or satellite TV. Plus this TiVO integrates with streaming services and is clever enough to search TV and streaming content at the same time.
Do you have any favorite streaming services or devices to add to our list? Let us know!
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