Thought I would get a sense of how many of you are having successing with unplugging the cable cord?

I have tried this a couple of times and I'm currently without cable or satellite TV. I have found this to be extremely easy with Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts as well as the fact that the networks pretty much put all of their content online for free.

However, sports remains the holy grail. MLB TV is probably the best, but buying each sport individually can get expensive. Football remains the most difficult.

Watch ESPN is okay (not great) but doesn't help with our TV contract. The bootlegged sites have poor picture quality. If you're unplugged are you having success with getting your sports online and if so how are you doing it? Particularly if you will be watching college football exclusivley using the internet this year.

Still "plugged" but getting sick of this $150 (TV only) bill per month.

Intenet & phone paid for by work.

I'm a cable junkie....

(08-27-2014 09:53 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  Thought I would get a sense of how many of you are having successing with unplugging the cable cord?

I have tried this a couple of times and I'm currently without cable or satellite TV. I have found this to be extremely easy with Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts as well as the fact that the networks pretty much put all of their content online for free.

However, sports remains the holy grail. MLB TV is probably the best, but buying each sport individually can get expensive. Football remains the most difficult.

Watch ESPN is okay (not great) but doesn't help with our TV contract. The bootlegged sites have poor picture quality. If you're unplugged are you having success with getting your sports online and if so how are you doing it? Particularly if you will be watching college football exclusivley using the internet this year.

XBMC isn't the best quality but it is virus free.

I cancel in the beginning of April and get it back at the end of August purely for college football, basketball, and NFL. Canceling for 5 months saves me a little over $300 a year. When I come back they try to jack my prices up but I threaten to cancel everything and they bring it back down to what I was paying.

(08-27-2014 10:41 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  I cancel in the beginning of April and get it back at the end of August purely for college football, basketball, and NFL. Canceling for 5 months saves me a little over $300 a year. When I come back they try to jack my prices up but I threaten to cancel everything and they bring it back down to what I was paying.

Can't you get whatever the current "intro" rate is when you come back or do they still consider you a current customer? Or was the rate you were paying before cancelling an intro rate?

I cut the cord, but I use my parents' cable login information so that I can watch some things.

For example, I can get WatchESPN and FXNow (live stream of all 3 FX channels) with their cable information.

I have a throwaway cable package that basically just had local channels + HBO. I did this just so I could have HBO GO access. It also gave me TWC's 3rd tier of internet, which will soon be 100mbps. It raised by bill from $61/mo to $80/mo.

I give my parents and sister HBO Go Access and Hulu. In return they give me TWC login and Netflix access.

Hulu kind of sucks, but I basically use it as a replacement for DVR. Most of the shows on broadcast networks are on Hulu and available the day after they broadcast. For every other show I watch, I can login with my parents TWC info and watch them next day on that channel's website. I also have an auto-draft set up each month to send my parents $10.

All in, I spend about $95/mo for faster internet, HBO, Netflix, and Hulu. I used to pay $155. One of my friends is about to give me access to Showtime and Cinemax as well.

It'd be tough to do without the sharing of info, and I'm sure they'll eventually crack down on it, but for now, it keeps my costs lower.

I don't do it because I don't have a Roku (I have a FireTV), but if you download a program called SkitterTV, you can also subscribe to CBS Sports channel for $4.99/mo

All I really need to be happy is HBO, Netflix, AMC, and ESPN. All the other channels I watch are over the air.

No cable - like it just fine.

Use watch ESPN to see lots of things....

I hate Hulu. You pay for the service and then they still pipe in what feels like more commerials (same ones over and over) than you have to watch on TV.

I like 96's plan. I have actually considered this before. Get on board for about six months or so and then cancel, but the equipment piece of that is a pain, cause they require you to return it in person.

(08-27-2014 11:00 AM)VA49er Wrote:  

(08-27-2014 10:41 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  I cancel in the beginning of April and get it back at the end of August purely for college football, basketball, and NFL. Canceling for 5 months saves me a little over $300 a year. When I come back they try to jack my prices up but I threaten to cancel everything and they bring it back down to what I was paying.

Can't you get whatever the current "intro" rate is when you come back or do they still consider you a current customer? Or was the rate you were paying before cancelling an intro rate?

I wasn't eligible for intro rates because I'd had internet so they didn't consider me a 'new' customer when I added TV. They were having an internet/TV bundle promotion they said I didn't qualify for being an existing customer so I threatened to cancel everything so they gave me the deal. After cancelling TV in April and then calling to order it again this month they wanted to raise my price $25 dollars saying I didn't qualify for my old price because that was a promotional bundle I opted out on. Again, I threatened to cancel all services and was given my original price with $30 discount on installation.

(08-27-2014 11:09 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  I like 96's plan. I have actually considered this before. Get on board for about six months or so and then cancel, but the equipment piece of that is a pain, cause they require you to return it in person.

This is true, and they make you schedule a 4 hour window to have them come install it again; but you save a few hundred so it's not too bad.

I came close to unplugging but Dish's Hopper won me over. I absolutely love it. I'm paying a premium but I feel I am getting my money's worth.

This will be my second season "unplugged" and I honestly haven't missed it. I go to bars to watch some games and other than that I search the internets for a stream to watch whatever game I'm looking for if not available through watchespn or c-usa digital network.

I cut the cord when I lost my job in '10.

When I got reemployed I discovered I didn't miss it that much and never got it back. Now I've got Netflix and Hulu+ which keeps me as entertained by the idiot box as I want to be. Football season is the struggle, though. I watch games on ESPN3 and sometimes on the sites with the Russian women who want me, but I'm old enough school to also be content to listen to a ballgame on the radio.

I have not had cable in years. For the most part, I will go to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch a few games if I need to. You can hook up an over the air antenna or go to the Broadcaster's website. I watched a lot of games on the CBS web page. I think I watched some games on Fox Sports 1 as well. Then there is ESPN 3 that streams a lot of sports, unfortunately the site has recently went full suck with blackouts and such. Although depending on your level of computer nerd you can always hide behind a proxy.

(08-28-2014 11:16 AM)BRBrian Wrote:  I have not had cable in years. For the most part, I will go to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch a few games if I need to. You can hook up an over the air antenna or go to the Broadcaster's website. I watched a lot of games on the CBS web page. I think I watched some games on Fox Sports 1 as well. Then there is ESPN 3 that streams a lot of sports, unfortunately the site has recently went full suck with blackouts and such. Although depending on your level of computer nerd you can always hide behind a proxy.

That would be a great "sticky" for this message board. Listing of all of the sites to watch college football (that are somewhat safe).

(08-28-2014 11:21 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

(08-28-2014 11:16 AM)BRBrian Wrote:  I have not had cable in years. For the most part, I will go to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch a few games if I need to. You can hook up an over the air antenna or go to the Broadcaster's website. I watched a lot of games on the CBS web page. I think I watched some games on Fox Sports 1 as well. Then there is ESPN 3 that streams a lot of sports, unfortunately the site has recently went full suck with blackouts and such. Although depending on your level of computer nerd you can always hide behind a proxy.

That would be a great "sticky" for this message board. Listing of all of the sites to watch college football (that are somewhat safe).

and very likely against the Terms of Service of the message board.

If they board is promoting it, they can be held liable by the rights holders of those streams.

Other message boards I post on have strict rules against posting links to illegal streams.

(08-28-2014 01:07 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(08-28-2014 11:21 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

(08-28-2014 11:16 AM)BRBrian Wrote:  I have not had cable in years. For the most part, I will go to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch a few games if I need to. You can hook up an over the air antenna or go to the Broadcaster's website. I watched a lot of games on the CBS web page. I think I watched some games on Fox Sports 1 as well. Then there is ESPN 3 that streams a lot of sports, unfortunately the site has recently went full suck with blackouts and such. Although depending on your level of computer nerd you can always hide behind a proxy.

That would be a great "sticky" for this message board. Listing of all of the sites to watch college football (that are somewhat safe).

and very likely against the Terms of Service of the message board.

If they board is promoting it, they can be held liable by the rights holders of those streams.

Other message boards I post on have strict rules against posting links to illegal streams.

Even the legal streams would be helpful. ESPN3, CBS, C-USA Digital Network, etc

I will probably go back to DirecTV if only for the NFL Sunday Ticket. Otherwise, I don't really need to be plugged in. My apartment complex kicks in cable as part of the rent which is the only reason why I have it now.

I live and work in Morocco. I use a vpn router and my dad's cable credintials to use watch espn. I give him a few bucks as a "Thank You" and almost anything else is offered by the major sports leagues with no blackouts for a fraction of the price I would pay for Cable in the states. If you have a vpn router/service you could always connect to an England IP address and ESPN offers a college football package that gives you access to all their college football programing.