Alt TV & Chill: The New Way To Watch TV

Full disclosure: I haven’t had cable in over ten years. At first, it was a means to save a bit of cash, but as time went on, I pretty much forgot that it ever existed in the first place. Then, last week, I was presented with a chance to try Bell’s new Fibe Alt TV and I went for it. Look at me livin’ on the edge!

A completely new way to watch live and on-demand television, Alt TV is Canada’s first app-based TV service. There’s no TV subscription required or set-up box, and there’s over 500 channels to choose from (including HBO, which I’m super stoked about).

You can watch on your laptop, tablet, smartphone or Apple TV 4th Generation (and it’s coming to Android TV later in the year). Starting at $14.95 a month for just over thirty channels, customers can customize networks to their liking and run the stream on two devices at a time. The best part? It operates as a licensed broadcast service – this means it won’t eat up your data usage! 

Now, to be perfectly honest, I barely left my house during the first couple of days; I couldn’t help myself. I started by catching up on Days of our Lives. It used to be my soap of choice back in university when I would spend all my sick days in bed watching the crazy unfold. To my surprise, I didn’t recognize anybody but Hope and Abe. The story lines were focused around their kids and grandkids (!!!!) who are all grown up now.

Feeling old, I switched gears to The F-Word. I watched Snoop Dogg eat dinner with his kids and learned to properly filet and season cod, thanks to Gordon Ramsay. Next, I struggled through Alessia Cara and a Jonas Brother host the MMVA’s with a bunch of tweens I didn’t recognize from The X Factor and/or Vampire Diaries (I’m still not sure tbh). 

I fell asleep to Bad Moms (funny) and then awoke by the time my husband had moved on to Game of Thrones (bloody). Date night was all about cheese plates and Ben Affleck’s The Accountant (read into that what you will), while the following day’s breakfast was devoured over the Twin Peaks pilot with a twist of nostalgia. I promised myself that I would come back to Big Little Lies, Veep and World of Dance (because J.Lo) when I had more time to commit to a show. 

While my TV consumption has slowed over the last week due to adult things like working and grooming, I’m still very much enjoying the service in a more regimented way. I can watch live events without streaming glitches and bite off big chunks of shows on my tablet without data woes. But most importantly, for the first time in ten years, I’m finally starting to get pop culture references again. Quality, quantity, and new way to watch – you can count me in.