How do cord cutters watch Michigan games?
MOD EDIT - BUMPED BECAUSE THIS WILL COME UP TODAY TOO - LSA
I just had my first cable companies suck experience and now know first-hand why people hate them so much. I recently started a graduate program and currently have a basic cable package that includes no sports channels (roommates set this up before I moved in). This obviously sucks because I only watch sports on TV. I know there are several cord cutters here on the board so what are some affordable ways yall catch M games? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Also, have basic sports channels always been a premium service like HBO? That doesn't seem right to me.
EDIT: Thank you so much guys! It seems PlaystationVue is the best option for me. I'll pitch it to my roommates to see if they want cancel the cable (not contracted). I'm getting it regardless but if we share, it'll be cheaper for all of us.
September 2nd, 2016 at 8:54 AM ^
I usually walk across the street to a bar.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^
Usually with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^
What are international viewers doing?
I currently use my bro-in-law's BTN2Go login as well as a subcription to ESPNplayer.com. will these be sufficient for this season? (not sure what will happen when FS1 and FS2 start taking over)
Thanks for any help!
September 3rd, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^
September 2nd, 2016 at 8:55 AM ^
Sling TV. for $20/mo you can stream ESPN and other sports channels. Not sure about BTN since I don't use it but it may be your best option
September 2nd, 2016 at 8:57 AM ^
Is anyone else being driven crazy by their commercial time music, though? How can they not just get actual ads?
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:00 AM ^
their sec network commerical music is 90's metal. I just don't understand why they don't fill it with ads.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:59 AM ^
I would guess if they got advertisers it would be hard to sell people on the $20 and not have it lowered. I noticed MLBtv has a blank screen and I always wondered why not get a few advertisers and lower the price and maybe you would draw more subscribers.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:07 AM ^
Sling TV $40/month for extended package that includes NBC Sports, Fox Sports 1 & 2, NFL, and ESPN 1 & 2. A small HD antenna will also pick up CBS. You can also add on ABC for an additional $5/ month.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
Once you add on $50 per month for internet, aren't you basically paying as much as you would for cable?
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^
1) You need internet either way
2) You might be able to get cable for the same price but it'll be an intro price and you'll have to sign a contract which means when they jack up the price later, you're stuck. They also hit you with taxes and fees. With Vue and Sling, you can go month to month and it's out the door pricing.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^
I don't know. The old and trusty "I'm sick of your service, I'm canceling and going to your competitor" call to customer service to get my bill knocked down to it's knee's still works for me.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^
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September 2nd, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
There are some switchover fees and you have to schedule your time to meet the cable guy, but in my experience that pays for itself in a month or two. Then switch back the next year.
I pay $134/mo all in for cable w/ a reasonable set of channels (BTN, no SEC; Espn1,2,News, U but no classic; TCM, Movies!, this!, AMC, but no FXX; History Channel but no American Heroes; etc), decent internet speed, and a landline (wifey won't cut).
The cable rep was a tool, he promised discounts that didn't show up and weren't verifyable on our online order until after we had switched. So there's the annoyance factor you have to overcome. I'm willing to look at cord cutting options (as I understand it, Vue requires the purchase of a PlayStation--that wouldn't get much use), but all in all I'm "good enough" w/ cable for now.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^
that actually likes cable. I recently switched to U-Verse. $135 per month all in for a ton of HD channels, total home DVR, wireless boxes, and pretty damn fast internet. If they jack up the price in 2 years like WoW did, I'll just switch again.
I have a fire stick / Netflix too, but I like the simplicity of cable. And I actually think that it's a pretty good value considering the amount of content that's provided.
Then again, I still pay for music too, so I'm something of a dinosaur.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^
too. There are not too many of us left, and I suppose I will change eventually to save money. I am just a classic channel "flipper." Some of the only time I get by myself is very early in the morning or very late at night, and it is not uncommon for me to have a game and two movies going at the same time. Additionally, we use it three rooms and it is very common, during winter especially, that we have all three TVs going at once. The simplicity of the cable product still appeals to me enough to fork over more than I really should for the content. And there are a literal shit ton of free movies available for my kids whenever they want.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^
I pay $85 for 90% of the functionality of what you listed between internet and Vue. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against cable, it's just not worth the money anymore with the options available. I miss the seamless cable experience, especially when feeds drop out or buffer, but $50 a month saved turns into a nice chunk of change at the end of the year.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
I do this as well, and really don't miss paying $Texas per months for shitty cable boxes.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^
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September 2nd, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^
Is fantastic. I paired it up with a Roku smart TV so last night I was flipping between Watch ESPN for the Jared Donaldson v Troiski tennis match and the Appy State game. It's all good. I NEVER trust the stability of pure internet services. No matter how high your DL/Upload speeds are, streams will always have moments of cutting out/buffering.
I always hear the cutting cord stuff, but you pay for both the internet and whatever streaming service you use, and at the end of the day are probably saving 30/40 a month. For me, that savings is not enough to make the justification.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^
I ditched Comcast cable 5 years ago and would NEVER go back. The weather only very selodm affects the sat signal, and Direct TV caters to sports viewers by adding a number of extra channels for sports events like the Masters, etc. For $100 I also added an auxilary HD antenna in the attic and if the weather is bad enough to disrupt the sat signal I just switch the input mode over to the antenna.
September 2nd, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^
I've had DirectTV for years and love it. Also, have an HD antenna for backup. The only drawback is that the CBC signal is weak in suburban Detroit.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
I switched to U-Verse, too. It sucks ass. In the 8 months I've had it, I've had a tech to the house 4 times and none of them know why my service continues to cut out.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
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September 2nd, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
Most traditional cable is month to month. Only the satelittles and I think fiber overbuilders stick you to a contract.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
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September 2nd, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^
To get the best prices you usually still have to do an agreement. Plus some have installation fees that you forfeit each time.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
They have changed this lately in markets where Google Fiber is available or coming, at least Comcast has.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:19 AM ^
but you'd have internet anyway, so that's a wash.
It's 40 for sling vs 80-150 for dish/DTV/Cable.
I'm looking into PSVue b/c they have BTN. The question for me is how do you get your local stations?
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
I seem to get ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox in Detroit, although I'm not sure. I usually flip over to HD antenna for those.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^
It's not a contract so you can change your service at any time, pay as low as $20/ month for most of the year and when football season hits you can spend a little more for more sports channels and then switch back.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
Also the glory of Sling is that I can just log in to my account and add/remove services ad hoc without having to talk to some sales rep who is reading a script to try and sell me shit I don't want.
I added the $5 sports package to my Sling last night once I noticed the Tennessee game was close in the 2nd half. In under 2 minutes I was watching SEC network and didn't have to speak to a single person.
This is the way these services should work. Hopefully the likes of Sling and Playstation Vue push these caveman thinking cable companies into the 21st century.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
I did the exact same thing.
> Hopefully the likes of Sling and Playstation Vue push these caveman thinking cable companies into the 21st century.
It won't.
September 2nd, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
Something to be said for that. I have DirectTV and added HBO for Game of Thrones. I did that online at the web site, took 5 minutes and I was watching. Come time to cut HBO you can't do that online. A 40 minute phone call got it done. Bunch of shit.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
I just moved and Charter wanted to charge me (their promotional rate) $150 per month for Internet + Cable on 3 TVs. That was the "holy shit" package that had about 400 channels I'll never watch. They wanted $110 for their "basic" package on 3 TVs.
Just internet was $40 for the promotional. I usually only get the $25 Sling package during non sports season. I'll up it to the $45 for the next few months. And I can watch it on 4 or 5 devices for no extra fee like cable. And I can watch it on any device unlike cable. I don't need a crappy power hogging cable box unlike cable. Couple Chromecasts and I'm good to go.
I'm probably going to check out Playstation Vue as well. Their $45 package gets you BTN.
HD antenna + Tablo makes it so you can DVR and stream OTA TV to all devices in your home.
There are some large up front costs to cord cutting, but once you go about 5-6 months, you get into the black.
September 2nd, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
Thanks for posting.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:30 AM ^
Unless there is a tree blocking all windows or you're in a basement.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^
It can be a pain at times to zap off the pop ups to get it going.
If its broadcast on ESPN you can watch the replay about 30 minutes after the game is completed. It will be available for 3-4 days after completion.
September 3rd, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
Just signed up for this from South Korea using a VPN. A nice 7 day free trial with it so I can see how it works out.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:15 AM ^
I had Sling last year, it was pretty meh. The $20 only gets you ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN News and ESPNU require an add-on pack. Also, no BTN, which is pretty important for B1G fans. Plus the performance was attrocious (Roku, Andriod, PC all were bad)
Playstation Vue was prohibitively expensive last year, but they really stepped up their game. The $35/mo base package gets you all the ESPN channels (including SEC Netwok) and BTN and FS1, FS2. They also have pseudo DVR functionality, which is a must have IMO.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
Sling's performance was awful on the PC and I don't have another device besides a PS3. I understand there were some workarounds to make Sling faster, but if I have to do that, then it's not worth paying for.
September 2nd, 2016 at 10:02 AM ^
I have Vue on the FireTV and it is great. With comcast's cheapest internet package (20 bucks!) and the middle tier of Vue, I pay 55 bucks and get all ESPN, BTN, Fox Sports, and basically everything I want. And the 10mbps internet handles it no problem. Incredible deal. I'm just waiting for the Vue price hike; it's too good to be true right now.
September 3rd, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^
Really? I just signed up for SlingTV and the performance is fine. I'm using it from South Korea with a VPN even. It is missing Big Ten network though but other than that I have no issues with it.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:58 AM ^
It's the middle tier. I think it's called the "Slim" package. It's worked really well so far.
I'll still need to get a HD antenna for local channels, but the rest is definitely worth it.
September 7th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^
If you love him so much why don't you just marry him?
September 7th, 2016 at 4:00 PM ^
If I weren't married, I probably would.
September 2nd, 2016 at 9:45 AM ^
This is spot on. I had sling before I had Playstation Vue and it's night and day. The stream quality is awesome on Vue and was always poor on Sling. Plus Vue has so much more selection. It is definitely the way to go.