Want to cut Cable, but still want to watch ESPN/SportsCenter

[shopaholic814]

To start off, my DH needs to be able to watch Sports. That is how he decompresses. I read, he watches football or sports news. My kids watch sports with him, & its our family time. But we are trying to cut our expenses, and getting rid of cable & home phone would help if we could figure out how so many people are doing this Amazon Fire TV, ROKU, Apple TV, etc. and still getting Sports channels.  I am pretty tech ignorant, so if you start talking in acronyms other than ROKU & Wi-Fi, I will be totally lost.  Is it even possible to do what I am wanting to do?  I got on  Amazon & was reading the Reviews, some people were saying that you can watch live Sports on Amazon Fire TV, but others were saying that they needed a cable/satellite service provider also to do so.  If that is true, what the heck is the point of spending the money on the Amazon Fire TV??  Im so very confused! I just want to save some money every month!  Time Warner Cable is so expensive, and it is the only provider available out in the country where I live. And Direct TV/satellite is even more expensive.

Any help that anyone can give me would be Greatly Appreciated!!  

[grumpyhermit]

Sling TV is one option - www.sling.com/

You will need to still have a fairly high quality internet service for any cable cutting options like this to work well.

Alternatively, if you know someone that has ESPN, and has a supported cable provider, you can use their info with ESPN GO (either on supported devices or over the web). That's how I still watch ESPN and FoxSports.

[Deleted]

I cut cable two years ago and buy the MLB and NHL season passes for those sports but I can only do it because my teams are not in the local market. I go to the bar or go in person for NFL games and just don't watch that much NBA anymore because my team is local and I can't get them without cable.

My previous ESPN fix is satisfied by team message boards and video from various sports websites.

[unrepentant_spendthrift]

Get a roku and subscribe to Sling. Problem fixed. Between Hulu and Netflix, most programs you'd want to watch are covered but I had to get sling just for ESPN

[TheOtherMe]

Sling doesn't offer what I want to watch at all, in any of their categories.  This will not help me cut the cord.

[shopaholic814]

unrepentant_spendthrift & grumpyhermit : Between internet service, ROKU & Sling, how much are you spending per month? I guess that is what it comes down to for us. Right now, we have a package deal for cable, phone, & Wi-Fi internet for $141/mo. I was hoping to cut it down to $50 or so by cutting services & figuring a way around the cable company but still getting football/sports for DH & some Primetime shows for family.  I'm being unreasonable aren't I? 

[unrepentant_spendthrift]

$40 for the Internet, $10 for Hulu, $6 for the CBS app. I use my brother in law's login for the ESPN go app but when I had sling it was an extra $20. It was still better than my cable bill that used to be well over $120 every month. Amazon Prime is also an option if you need more content. I seriously don't miss cable, and I watch a fair amount of TV. Also, I got a $30 antenna from Best Buy that gives me about 11 free to air channels for my football fix. And local news.

[grumpyhermit]

I pay $87 a month (including taxes and equipment) for my cable and internet. I have very good internet (100+ Mbps) since I stream a lot, and like to play console games online without lag. The "deal" I have includes about 30 channels (I may watch 5 , not including the broadcast networks), plus HBO.

I would be fine with just the internet, but the price is literally like $5 more to get the package with the super basic cable. Of course, since I was getting basic cable, I wanted an HD receiver (so another $10 bucks). I elected to keep the super basic cable because I wasn't really happy with how my antenna picked up the local stations and I still wanted to be able to watch local sports.

I also pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime (though I don't really use their streaming library much, and mostly keep it for the shipping/music).

Roku should, I think, only be a one time cost? Since I have multiple game consoles, and a dedicated media center PC, I don't have a stand alone streaming box.

Sling looks to price at the base level for $20 a month.

If I was in the position of not being able to mooch the sports channels with someone else's login it would be a close call. Cable + Sling would put me around $107, and for like $130-140 I may be tempted to just suck it up and get "proper" cable. The reality though is I watch very little broadcast TV that is not sports. Maybe some History Channel, Food Network, etc (and those actually come with my super basic cable package).

When I first moved I had  only internet (it was like $30 a month - but it was an intro rate). The speed was not as high as what I currently have, and it really did work fine. When that expired the price of JUST that basic level of internet was going to be about $60 a month. That's what really prompted me to "creep" the service I have just a bit. I would rather pay a bit more for much faster internet and basic cable, than $60 for something that was just okay.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

LOL.....my sister did this a couple years ago and her DH is a HUGE sports nuts, for both football and hockey.

They probably spent 5x more money at the bars watching games than they would have if they just paid for their cable package!


I was hoping to cut it down to $50 or so by cutting services & figuring a way around the cable company but still getting football/sports for DH & some Primetime shows for family. I'm being unreasonable aren't I?

I think you're going to be hard pressed to be paying only $50.  I know that we looked into cutting cable and leaving only internet, but that alone would run us almost $70/mo and the TV/DVR only adds another $50 or so.  We don't have a lot of choices where we live, so we ante up the $$.

[shopaholic814]

Nov 11, 2015 14:43:51 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

LOL.....my sister did this a couple years ago and her DH is a HUGE sports nuts, for both football and hockey.

They probably spent 5x more money at the bars watching games than they would have if they just paid for their cable package!


I was hoping to cut it down to $50 or so by cutting services & figuring a way around the cable company but still getting football/sports for DH & some Primetime shows for family. I'm being unreasonable aren't I?

I think you're going to be hard pressed to be paying only $50.  I know that we looked into cutting cable and leaving only internet, but that alone would run us almost $70/mo and the TV/DVR only adds another $50 or so.  We don't have a lot of choices where we live, so we ante up the $$.

We aren't drinkers, don't go to bars, and we have 2 pre-teen boys. LOL I'm afraid we are going to be stuck with this expensive cable service.

Thanks so much for all the info everyone!! I really appreciate it!!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 12, 2015 9:33:54 GMT -5 @patstab said:

Expensive? We live in the boonies and I pay over $200 a month for phone, internet, and cable. I want hubby to put up an antenna

when he retires and see what we can do, I think this is an awful expense. Also our cell service is poor out here so we have

to keep a landline, wish our bill was low as many of you. I think this is way to high, don't know what options we have.

I saw son get free sports in Korea, but he runs it through his computer and can go in to code and even cut out the commercials

I have no such capability

We live in the boonies too, Stablest.  Strange as it may seem, even if you are fairly close to a large city, if they don't wire in a certain direction, you are SOL.  Our cable bill would be as high as your bill if we didn't cut it to the bare minimum.  We have ONE choice of provide.

[Blonde Granny]

We don't live in the boonies, but our only options are Uverse bundle or Dish/Direct satellite and DSL again. We asked Uverse for a better rate since our bundle expired Oct. 23 and the total bill was $212, this last bill was $299. They knocked it down to $279 but it's only good for 3 months.

[Ombud]

Yeah. I'm at $200 right now with cell / Internet on ATT + 115 for Comcast Cable. Ripping it out soon for ATT TV @ 65

[truthbound]

Unless you want to be constantly staying ahead of the law you will need to pay for the channels.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Hi shopaholic814, I don't think we've talked before, so nice to meet you. 
We are also avid sports watchers. We watch EPL, NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA football, NCAA basketball, and the playoff for NHL. We don't geographically live in markets that are where our teams are.

There is no way to cut cable/satellite and still watch multiple live sports without spending just as much as you would for cable/satellite.
I would have done so if it were possible. It will happen eventually; the market options just haven't caught up yet. 
 

If this is how you spend your family time, $50 per month for family activities is actually not expensive. When I was able to shift my thinking to "this is our family time" as opposed to "this is a ridiculous bill", it was easier for me to accept.

I know how hard it is to find reasonable ways to cut expenses, and I hope you're able to do so. 

[alabamagal]

We are also sports nuts here. Football (pro and college) NASCAR also some baseball. Our Dish package is $140 per month but that is for 4 Tvs ( kind of sad since only 2 full time adults) plus DVR and sports package. We also watch HGTV food and history, that is about it. Internet is $40. That is our entertainment and family time.

Since we watch 0 network tv other than football I looked at some options but we are stuck with what we have.

[shopaholic814]

Nov 13, 2015 9:35:37 GMT -5 Blonde Granny said:

We don't live in the boonies, but our only options are Uverse bundle or Dish/Direct satellite and DSL again. We asked Uverse for a better rate since our bundle expired Oct. 23 and the total bill was $212, this last bill was $299. They knocked it down to $279 but it's only good for 3 months

Blonde Granny: Holy $#!t!!! That is crazy! I'm not going to complain anymore. Other than the fact that our electric shuts off sporadically because we are at the end of this line (literally) we aren't so far out into the boonies that we can only get dish services. We are able to get Time Warner Cable still, but a few miles down the road & it would be dish only.  Our Internet service is horrible though, terrible signal, and I'm tech ignorant so I have no idea what to do to improve it.

[shopaholic814]

Nov 15, 2015 17:13:38 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

We are also sports nuts here. Football (pro and college) NASCAR also some baseball. Our Dish package is $140 per month but that is for 4 Tvs ( kind of sad since only 2 full time adults) plus DVR and sports package. We also watch HGTV food and history, that is about it. Internet is $40. That is our entertainment and family time.

Since we watch 0 network tv other than football I looked at some options but we are stuck with what we have.

alabamagal: Who do you have your service through? Does the $140 include your $40 Internet charge, or is that separate?  We watch some Primetime TV shows, and I watch some shows during the Holidays.  We have 2 TV's that get used (1 in the basement for the kids game consoles & some tv use), a 3rd in our bedroom that only gets turned on in the morning so hubby can listen to 'Mike & Mike In the Morning' while getting ready for work.  It's really wasted space in the room.  

[shopaholic814]

Knee Deep in Water Chloe: Nice to meet you too! I know, the $141/mo for Internet/Cable/Phone really isn't that expensive when I see what others are being charged.  I was just hoping that I would be able to save some $$.  I am trying to pay off some debt, and trying to cut expenses where I can.  We don't smoke/drink alcohol, don't have car payments or cc debt right now, don't live in excess, just have a lot of student loan debt that I am trying to pay off on top of some medical issues that are arising again and my job isn't going well in sales.  It's just life that I'm trying to work through.

[alabamagal]

Nov 16, 2015 16:03:45 GMT -5 shopaholic814 said:

Nov 15, 2015 17:13:38 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

We are also sports nuts here. Football (pro and college) NASCAR also some baseball. Our Dish package is $140 per month but that is for 4 Tvs ( kind of sad since only 2 full time adults) plus DVR and sports package. We also watch HGTV food and history, that is about it. Internet is $40. That is our entertainment and family time.

Since we watch 0 network tv other than football I looked at some options but we are stuck with what we have.

alabamagal: Who do you have your service through? Does the $140 include your $40 Internet charge, or is that separate?  We watch some Primetime TV shows, and I watch some shows during the Holidays.  We have 2 TV's that get used (1 in the basement for the kids game consoles & some tv use), a 3rd in our bedroom that only gets turned on in the morning so hubby can listen to 'Mike & Mike In the Morning' while getting ready for work.  It's really wasted space in the room.  

$140 is for Dish network. We get high end package with DVR and sports package plus some other stuff. We have 4 receivers for 2 people ?. We could probably cut back some but that is our entertainment.

[shopaholic814]

Thanks alabamagal! I'll look into Dish Network to see if it will save us any $$ since we don't need all of the receivers.  We had them when we lived in another town years ago, but didn't like that we couldn't get really localized weather b/c of the dish service. Now that we have weather service on our cell phones it might not be a consideration anymore.

[shopaholic814]

Nov 13, 2015 23:42:05 GMT -5 Ombud said:

Yeah. I'm at $200 right now with cell / Internet on ATT + 115 for Comcast Cable. Ripping it out soon for ATT TV @ 65

ATT isn't available where I live, I've checked into them. It's Direct TV (crazy expensive) & Time Warner. I don't even know if Dish Network is available, but I'll be looking into that today.

[Blonde Granny]

I think it's outrageous too Chloe, but since my DH has such medical problems, he spends a lot of time watching TV as it's about the only thing left for him. Our Uverse is for 450 channels (sigh) and 5 receivers.. Internet , Unlimited long distance, call fwd. caller ID, call blocking etc.  In other words, all the bells and whistles.  So, I suck it up and don't complain.

I watch a couple of programs in the evenings, otherwise, it's Fox News, LMN, Hallmark etc.  I could probably get by with 15 channels total. 

[zibazinski]

I'm visiting my aunt and the cable guy was out and he mentioned al a carte. I'm hoping too. She doesn't watch but a few channels. But when there's only one cable choice...