This is one of my favorite topics. I have been using Vue by Sony at the office and have enjoyed it thus far. I have all the sport channels all ESPN and Fox Sporrs I want plus it has a Cloud based DVR that holds content for 30 days. It has local stations for news and sports. Chanel 2 and Chanel 13 both live. The only draw back is you can only watch it from your location you register it during that process. So you can’t watch it on your phone or tablet out side of the network. Anyone else have any tips. BTW I pay 44.00 a month for all the channels they offer. I have also noticed that some channels stream better than others. Ie. Fox News buffers a bit versus CNN or the Golf Channel.
Sling has a decent basic cable service for $20/month with ESPN and ESPN2.
If you want ESPNU, ESPNews and the SECNetwork, it’s part of a $5/month sports package.
Compatible with Amazon Fire, Roku and more, along with Apple and Android phones and tablets.
Sling is what tipped me over the edge of cord cutting. I have that, Netflix, HBO, and Showtime, and together it’s 70 bucks a month. I was paying 125 for Comcast and didn’t have HBO. Between all that, rabbit ears, and Amazon Prime as a bonus I may never go back to cable.
Thought about cord cutting … but there are A LOT of local channels Vue and others do not broadcast and series that I watch and enjoy.
Plus I record A LOT and watch later and I would be giving that up plus the 4 multi HD channels one can record at one time
Called Uverse since it was time for my yearly renewal and did my yearly bargaining routine and YEPP they knocked off $50/mo for the same services sooo I am still with cable … 
2 Likes
It’s a shame that Verizon Fios isn’t available everywhere. I had it when I lived in the DC metro, and it was the best damned tv service ever! Better than Direct TV, or any other cable.
As for these cord cutter services, do they offer One America News? If not, then I can’t see the advantage in them.
aoddly enough i too was in the DC area visiting and I got a taste of FIOS. I dont recall the TV but the bandwidth was unreal. Yes One America News is on Roku.
I cut the cord around 6 years ago. I have the ability to route the internet to my television, but I dont have TV.
Im fine for the majority of the year, but football season can be tough. I generally see games I am interested in with friends or family, but admittedly I just dont see the number of live games that I used to before I cut the cord.
For me it happened because comcast had raised my rates and I cut the cord fully intending to sign on with At&T or someone else.
The first day I came home without TV—I realized how bad I wanted to turn it on and it got me thinking. Am I addicted to this? How much time do I spend in front of this thing?
I didnt like the answers I had to both of those questions and just quit TV.
UHEE i too had a problem with too much tv in the household, and there are only 2 of us:/ i now use sling for 7 months (football/basketball), and we have netflix and amazon. I do pay the extra 5$ for espn special channels, and that’s probably where extra revenue is headed imo.
Side note to UHEE, i saw elsewhere you are in to ancient languages, which in particular?
Catamount, Sounds like we have kindred thoughts about TV and thanks for sharing what you guys do. Your approach seems to make alot of sense financially. To your question: I generally take interest in the early Mesopotamian languages. Particularly Hebrew in its modern state and in its earlier forms .
I actually tried bargaining with Comcast when I called to cut the cord, and Comcast wouldn’t give me a dime. Even their account retention had nothing to offer me, other than to just hang up and forget we had the conversation.
All I can think of is that most people calling to cut the cord aren’t listening to bargains, so Comcast isn’t wasting time. Then again, wasting time is Comcast’s #1 business tactic
My experience was similar. They wouldn’t budge and wouldn’t listen. Honestly, I am gald it happened as I find that I really enjoy not having TV for the most part (with the exception of football games).
Oh yeah … before I forget …
Speaking to my Uverse rep recently I was mentioning it would be nice if one could have a cafeteria type choice in the TV option and eliminate a lot of channels I never watch and he stated that Uverse is making that option available in the near future but not finalized yet this would also bring the $$$ down.
1 Like
I would be all over that…
Sounds like the Independent ESPN streaming service is coming down the pipe this year, albeit limited:
It is inevitable. They just need to make sure they are ready and not get caught wit heir pants down like the music industry
How many devices can you link to the sling. I would love to cut the cord and heard it works with chromecast but we have 5 tvs in my household.
You can only watch from one device with sling unless you have the package with hbo and that will allow up to 2 devices. I may go with PlayStation vue as it allow 2 PlayStation devices and 3 other devices
I got the Apple TV box for Father’s Day and I noticed that the streaming of WatchESPN is much better on it than it is on my iPad. Is there a reason for that? I’m looking forward to a much better quality ESPN3 experience this football and basketball season.
Comcast is integrating Netflix into their X1 service; attempt to hold off cord-cutters while also maybe playing nice with Netflix who has accused Comcast of throttling their service in the past:
COMCAST MAKING NICE WITH NETFLIX, WILL BRING STREAMING SERVICE TO X1
The addition of Netflix to the X1 service could eliminate the need many have for such devices like Apple TV, Roku, or Google Chromecast. It may not be a fatal blow to the plugin streaming business, as many customers using those devices do so for other streaming services as well, like Hulu.