Cut the cord today

[osopecoso]

One word.....KODI

 

[wgeo]

We cut the cord for 9 years, but ended up going back to cable TV because of hockey. The only way for me to see the hockey that I wanted was to find dishonest ways to do so, and I don't steal so I never got to watch any games. I finally said enough is enough and told DH I wanted cable back!

Sling TV does have NHL network, so that's one option that didn't exist a year ago. We had a really bad experience with Sling though (pretty much whenever we wanted to watch something, their system went down and we couldn't see it), so I'm really hesitant to go there again.

I've found Sling to be hit and miss with the connection, but it's probably been close to a year since we tried it. We did find it worked better if we used the Roku than if we tried to use the Chromecast, not sure why.

 

[Stitch69]

We cut the cord for 9 years, but ended up going back to cable TV because of hockey. The only way for me to see the hockey that I wanted was to find dishonest ways to do so, and I don't steal so I never got to watch any games. I finally said enough is enough and told DH I wanted cable back!

Sling TV does have NHL network, so that's one option that didn't exist a year ago. We had a really bad experience with Sling though (pretty much whenever we wanted to watch something, their system went down and we couldn't see it), so I'm really hesitant to go there again.

The majority of people that i know that have cut the cord just steal the content now with either Kodi or borrow friend/family logins

 

[MomofKatie]

My husband won't cut the cord because of hockey and football. What do those of you who love sports do?

What channels do the sports he likes come on? We have PlayStation Vue, and we get a lot of sports channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News, NFL channel, SEC channel, Big 10 channel, NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, CBS Sports, CSN, MLB Network, NBA TV, Olympic channel). We can watch live, or record and save games to watch later.

Another choice for sports fans is FubuTV. They are a sports-centric TV streaming service. We tried them out, but opted for Vue instead because of the local major network channels availability.

*Editing to add- looks like you can get lots of NHL games by subscribing to NHLTV dot com- around $130 for a full year subscription to watch lots of hockey. Maybe that could work for you.

 

[rer1972]

We cut the cord just over a year ago. We cancelled Dish and have been using Playstation Vue on Roku (4 in our house) since. We have been very happy with it. We only really watch a few specific channels anyways (they had the ones we wanted), they had DVR feature, currently have 1 local channel, video on demand for the major stations, and are paying $49/MO instead of the $105/MO we were paying for Dish. We also have Netflix, but we had that when we had dish as well. As I said we have been really happy with PSVue, the biggest issue was getting used to the interface (not as nice on roku as on Apple TV and others).

 

[Albort]

Cable TV is going the way of the dinosaur, and fast.

they have a way to make it come back. *points at Net Neutrality*

i used to have ATT uverse TV, has since cancelled it and using directTV now. Pair that up with my ATT cell service which gives me free streams that doesnt count against my data allowance. works well for me that way. only pay $35 a month. I still kinda think the more channels, the more expensive it gets, why people would pay for those channels instead of getting it via cable...

 

[aprilchem]

The majority of people that i know that have cut the cord just steal the content now with either Kodi or borrow friend/family logins

Yes - I'm not willing to do either.

 

[Imzadi]

Gah! What I wonder about is how one gets the daily, local news. Sure, I am annoyed by the fluff, and they can definitely use more detail/analysis, but it's something I won't do without. What do you guys do?

Yes, I don't watch a lot of live news, but with events like what happened today/last night in Las Vegas, and a few weeks ago with Hurricane Harvey, I want to watch it live, up to the minute, with video, not be hunting around for the latest updates online. There is also local, city-wide stuff I want to know about.

In my area YouTube TV includes the local Atlanta ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CW.

How live are these feeds? Is there a time delay, like a few minutes? Or a few hours? Or do I have to wait till the shows are archived on YouTube to select & watch them? Like the On Demand feature with cable TV, which aren't available till the next day/?

And is your local news on say, ABC, what you used to get before? I want to watch MY local news anchors, not some generic ABC news. (Not talking about ABC's World News Tonight, that comes on after the local news.) Every once in a while our Weather channel cuts out and I get "generic weather" from all across the country, instead of the local/regional feed.

I was paying $70 for Internet and $153 for TV. Now I am paying $70 for Internet and $35 for TV.

I would love to cut my bill down to that. I am also paying $70 for Internet. Another $90 for my cable TV, most I don't watch. I have my remote set to about 18 "favorite" channels. I can get rid of a few of those channels even to save $720. But, the major networks, ABC, CBS & NBC, I want live and in real time. I won't give that up.

 

[kdonnel]

But, the major networks, ABC, CBS & NBC, I want live and in real time. I won't give that up.

They are live.

An antenna gets you the most live. Any other tv system has at least a few milliseconds delay, cable, satellite, streaming.

 

[sam_gordon]

They are live.

An antenna gets you the most live. Any other tv system has at least a few milliseconds delay, cable, satellite, streaming.

Antenna = 1-2 sec delay
Cable/satellite = 7-10 sec delay

Nothing is truly "live"

 

[Imzadi]

Antenna = 1-2 sec delay
Cable/satellite = 7-10 sec delay

Nothing is truly "live"

By "live" I mean being in sync with what the general public sees. I'm on a few TV show threads here on the DIS and other places. Watching something 5 minutes later than everyone else, refreshing the page and reading they've already discussed it and moved on, or worse are talking about a spoiler 5 minutes before I see it, isn't what I want. (That's different than if I tune in late and purposely rewind to watch what I missed, so I am out of sync with everyone. )

 

[sam_gordon]

By "live" I mean being in sync with what the general public sees. I'm on a few TV show threads here on the DIS and other places. Watching something 5 minutes later than everyone else, refreshing the page and reading they've already discussed it and moved on, or worse are talking about a spoiler 5 minutes before I see it, isn't what I want. (That's different than if I tune in late and purposely rewind to watch what I missed, so I am out of sync with everyone. )

How are you watching? Even a stream isn't going to be five minutes behind (unless it's "video on demand" and you start it when you're ready). The family and I were watching a football game off satellite and turned on the radio to hear their call. The radio was about 5-10 SECONDS ahead. Radio has a lot less processing to go through. I highly doubt anything is on a 5 minute delay.

 

[SeeDisney]

i really want to do the cut the cord as well. I need to be at someone's house and show me exactly what sling is, and youtube TV and give me a full demonstration with my eyes. I still don't get it. I have direct TV but the contract expires in one year's time. Paying $79 a month for really only 6 channels we watch. Too too many junky channels and informacial channels.

 

[Imzadi]

How are you watching? Even a stream isn't going to be five minutes behind

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something contractual that Youtube TV has to show stuff with an extensive delay as a non-compete with broadcast TV. As in, " You can watch YouTube TV for the incredible price of $35. . . You just won't be watching it when everyone else is watching it." Normally, it wouldn't matter, since I record most shows now and watch later. It's the TV show threads I participate in, where it matters. Most of the fun is being able to chat with others during the show. I certainly wouldn't watch The Bachelor(ette) otherwise. And I don't want to be reading reaction posts of which designer just won on Project Runway, while I'm watching the judges just starting to deliberate on who to even choose.

 

[spacemountainmom]

We are doing this right now. We are going with Hulu Live. They have all the sports we are looking for.

The new internet was installed today. Just can’t pay $300 for my triple play any longer. I offered to dump the phone and the premium channels and they told me I couldn’t have high speed internet any longer. Bye!

I hope this works out because we will save some decent money!

 

[Imzadi]

I'm in a flat, fairly metropolitan area. I get all the local stations with a $10 antenna.

We also use an inexpensive antenna to get the local stations and a couple of other random things. Our area is neither flat nor metropolitan, although we aren't in the middle of nowhere. Also, our local news station does a live stream of one of their newscasts (I think it is 6:00 pm) on their website each day.

so I was looking into Sling or maybe just getting an HDTV antennae for local stations

We put up antenna that looks like a piece of paper and get all the local stations from the large city 40 miles away.

I Googled info about an HDTV antenna since so many people mentioned having one or getting one. The last time we had an antenna it was those old rabbit ears, or a single, long, collapsible stick that had to be moved back & forth for different channels. I wasn't interested in going back to that.

One of the articles mentioned they are now flat panels, that do look like a piece of paper. The article mentioned that I may have received one with my flatscreen TV and I may have put it aside as I was going to hook my TV to a cable. It reminded me that I did receive a black flat thingie attached to a piece of cardboard saying not to throw it out as it was a TV antenna. Now, I just have to figure out what "safe place" I have it stored away in, so I can test it out.

I checked some HDTV antenna maps that list what local stations I should be able to receive. I also checked Amazon reviews of people who bought an HDTV antenna for use in my city. I have a clear view to the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center where the TV towers are, so I should receive about 60 local stations. (Most are foreign language that I don't want. ) But, I should definitely be getting the 3 major networks, Fox and my local PBS stations that I would miss. It also means I will be getting my local news coverage which was nonnegotiable.

This gives me more options for choosing a secondary/cheaper source for the few cable stations I watch. Thanks OP & everyone who's chimed in with their experiences.

 

[Hikergirl]

@Imzadi you are lucky to be able to get so many local channels!
Unfortunately after checking the map I will only get 3 stations using an HDTV antenna. I get NYC channels as my local TV through Fios but I am too far away to actually get those channels without it. I don't have any real local TV here. Oh well.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Gah! What I wonder about is how one gets the daily, local news. Sure, I am annoyed by the fluff, and they can definitely use more detail/analysis, but it's someone I won't do without. What do you guys do?

You can watch it on your computer or phone. I have cable TV and I get my info from my electronics. I stopped local and national news on purpose.

 

[snoodledoo]

We cut the cord earlier this year and so far DH hasn't missed any sports. We have Playstation Vue, which has a cloud DVR. The only station we need the antenna for is NBC. The only problem is now COX is capping internet usage and charging more for service.

 

[smiths02]

We got a relatively good antenna (maybe $50) and a Roku (maybe $40) and we have been without cable for about 6 years now. We pay around $75/month for internet through Comcast (includes the modem rental and taxes, etc). We have no home phone service because we would use our cell phones anyhow (it's been well over 10 years since we had a home phone). We do Amazon Prime (which we do more for the free shipping) and Netflix (we had to upgrade to multiple screens with 3 kids watching their Kindles)...still less than $20 month for our tv. Sometimes we will pay for a show from Amazon that we might be able to watch for free if we had cable (but then we own the show and can watch it how we want in the order that we want). The other sports in our house are NFL/college football (games are generally on broadcast tv) and UFC (but you have to pay for a lot of that anyhow).

I do wonder if eventually we will end up paying as much for tv as we did for cable back in the day. I just keep seeing that everyone wants to make their own streaming service now....BBC, Disney, etc....there are shows that I have enjoyed through Amazon Prime and Netflix and they want to make their own. Upthread sam_gordon mentioned that $100 for cable covered 100 channels. My fear is that you will have to pay to stream every channel. Many of the channels are in the $6-7/month....so now instead of cable, you get 15 channel subscriptions (granted, you don't have commercials to deal with). Oh, and upthread, I also wonder about internet usage overcharges. We haven't had them yet, but that adds to the expense.

I know this is a first world problem...but I am used to getting all the entertainment I want (plus internet and free shipping on Amazon) for less than $100/month