Jake phoned me up around 11 the Friday night it happened, sounding like he’d won the lotto. “Dude, I came across this streaming service called Apollo Group TV. Twenty bucks and I’m watching every single NFL game in 8K!” Yeah, right, I thought. Nothing costs twenty bucks anymore.
Jake’s Big Discovery
My cousin’s always chasing the next big thing. It was crypto mining last month. Before that, some protein powder that he thought would make him look like The Rock. So when he started raving about Apollo Group TV, I assumed it was one more of his crazy ideas. But he kept texting me screenshots. NBA games, HBO shows, and sports channels. All working on his crappy old Fire Stick.
Giving It a Shot
I can’t help it; I got curious. I joined their 10-day trial in August. First red flag? They wanted a Bitcoin payment. Who uses Bitcoin for streaming services? Netflix has no trouble taking my credit card. The app installation was a nightmare. You had to download sketchy files from random websites. My neighbor’s child had to come over and help because I was so bad at it. This is definitely not for people like my mom, who can barely operate her iPad.
The Content Was Actually Crazy Good
Once it worked, holy crap. Every channel you could imagine is available. And international stuff as well, such as cooking programs from Italy, soccer matches from England, and strange Japanese game shows at 3 in the morning. The quality of the picture seemed good, just not the 8K they had promised. More like regular HD. Jake and I spent one Saturday afternoon surfing through channels for hours. Discovered channels I never knew existed. I was introduced to sports from countries I had never even heard of. It was like having every cable package in the world for the price of a pizza.
Then Reality Hit
After a month, things started falling apart. Channels would go dark in the middle of games. The app crashed frequently, especially on Sunday afternoons when football games were on. I tried contacting customer service. Good luck with that. They have some contact form on their website that nobody responds to. This happened to Jake, too; his service went down in the playoffs and so he was stuck refreshing for two hours.
The Legal Stuff Nobody Talks About
Here’s what really bugged me. This entire operation is shady as hell. They’re showing copyrighted content without paying for it. That’s basically piracy with extra steps. My lawyer buddy Tom says these kinds of services are getting shut down all the time. You go to bed watching Game of Thrones, and you wake up the next day, and the feds have seized the servers. Users don’t usually get in trouble, but your money’s gone forever.
Comparing Real Options
Did a little number crunching after Tom’s warning. Netflix plus Hulu plus ESPN+ adds up to around sixty bucks. Throw in YouTube TV and you’re at, what, ninety? Yes, it’s more than Apollo’s twenty, but at least you won’t wake up to a “service terminated” message. It’s just, as my wife pointed out, smart, because most weeks, we drop more than 20 bucks at the coffee shop. Maybe saving money on entertainment isn’t worth the headache.
Fake Websites Everywhere
I attempted to help my dad locate the “real” Apollo Group TV site after he overheard me discussing it. There are, like, fifteen different websites that all claim to be the official one. Half seemed like they’d been produced by teens in 2005. The other half were blatant scams trying to steal credit card info. That’s when I realized this whole thing was shadier than I thought. Legitimate companies don’t have dozens of copycat websites stealing their name.
Apollo Group TV Reality Check
After two months of testing it, I scrapped the whole thing. All that constant worry about getting shut down simply wasn’t worth the savings. Plus Jake’s service went down three times during important games. The last straw was when their app began displaying these strange popup ads for dating sites. That’s not quite the premium streaming experience.
What I’d Tell My Friends
If you’re trying to reduce the costs of cable, stick with the legal stuff first. Sling TV, YouTube TV, and the freebies Tubi and Crackle. They may not have everything, but at least they won’t disappear overnight because of a lawsuit. Jake is still on Apollo and still loving it. But Jake also believes purchasing lottery tickets is a sound investment plan. Different risk tolerance, I guess.
My Honest Take
Twenty bucks for more channels than you know what to do with sounds amazing until you start thinking about the headaches. Low-quality service, legal concerns, awful customer support, and potential data theft from dodgy sites. And sometimes it doesn’t make much sense to try to save huge amounts by paying full price for peace of mind. I’d rather lay out sixty bucks for Netflix and Hulu than have to keep looking over my shoulder about my streaming service getting raided by federal agents.
Bottom Line
Apollo Group TV is hit or miss. But it’s a bit like purchasing a used car from someone in a parking lot; you may get a steal, or you may get burned. I only buy from real dealers who offer a warranty and customer service. Your mileage may vary, but I think I’ll stick with boring old legal streaming going forward.