Cord Cutting Ideas

[CM]

I only want two things from my TV: football (lots of it, NFL and college) and Game of Thrones. What is the best way to obtain (and pay for) these two things but nothing else? Is there a way?

Game of Thrones is available on HBO Now, but so is the rest of HBO (not that interested).

I haven't found a way to obtain all the football that I want short of buying a standard cable or satellite bundle.

We became dissatisfied with our local cable company and canceled service recently and I've become more productive. I'm still just as exhausted when I arrive home, but now I don't veg in front of the TV flipping between shows that I don't want to watch.

Still, I'll miss football while I'm working out in the basement this fall.

[Peds]

You could just buy NFL Sunday Ticket. im not sure about HBO go if you need a cable subscription as wlel.

 

[CM]

I think you have to buy a standard package from Direct TV if you want NFL Sunday Ticket, correct?

I searched earlier this week, and Sunday Ticket is not even offered yet with Direct TV Now (which is still more than I want, but at least available without contract or satellite dish). Also, that wouldn't provide college ball which I enjoy as much as NFL.

[EJ at Dads Dollars and Debts]

HBO go and sling- 10 bucks for hob go and then 20 for sling...maybe 40 for using.

[adventure]

Ask your parents/friends/kids/uncle/etc for their cable password?

[HandFellow]

The Game of Throne solution is easy: the HBO Now subscription can be cancelled at any time.  So you binge the season over a month and then cancel.

Get an HD antenna and you can watch all the CBS, NBC, and FOX games.  I think that only leaves MNF and maybe thursday night.  if you need that, go for the Sling tv.  If you want all those ESPN college games, bootleg somebody's password and use it for ESPN.

The nice thing about all of these things is football is only a 6 month sport, so any service you use is only a 6 month commitment.  The other 6 months of the year you can save some pretty good money every month.

 

[squirrel]

Last year they offered a stream only package of the NFL sunday ticket.  I have directv and subscribe to sunday ticket (Its the best).   Thought if I ever cut the cord can at least stream it.  You can only watch out of market games.  For the local games just get an HD antenna.  For college you can get an ESPN package.

[RogueDadMD]

We cut the cord a year ago.

Our solutions:

-HD antenna -- extremely easy to set up and cost $20 for a decent one from Amazon. Perfect picture most of the time. Can even set up a mini DVR if you want to pause for bathroom breaks (but not worth the money IMO)

-Borrow passwords -- I use Dish and ATT passwords from family/friends with TV subscriptions from those companies. Let's me use my Roku to stream HBO and to watch in market baseball games for my hometown team

-Netflix and Amazon -- already had these

-Hulu -- covers everything else

[Zaphod]

If you dont want to get hbo now, which as above you can cancel and honestly they have some of the best shows, GOT, Silicon Valley, etc...I believe theyre also on Amazon, but am unaware of the pricing.

I havent had cable except fellowship year, hulu, netflix, and hbo are more than enough, but I dont watch sports anymore either.

 

[DaBears38]

We recently cut the cord and were searching a viable alternative as well. We found that Sling TV offers a considerable amount of live sports options. They offer the ESPN family of networks for college football (including a ESPN goal line, which is the college version of NFL RED ZONE) plus a whole host of FOX sports channels for national and regional college football. They do have NFL Network for Thursday Night Football/Preseason games plus NFL RED ZONE, but not NFL Sunday Ticket. Sling combined with a local HD antenna should cover a good amount of football games, but if you are a specific fan of an out of market NFL team you may not be in luck with this setup. Ultimately we were able to cut our monthly bill by half and have actually gained in channels that we are interested in watching. Lastly, we went with a ROKU premiere + unit for streaming and the thing is amazing! Best.

[Kamban]

I have had an antenna since 2003. There is really no such thing as HD antenna. It is just a marketing gimmick. You need an antenna that gets the channels your local broadcasters use, whether they be UHF or VHF.

Before you rush to bu one, go to TVFool.com or antennaweb.org and type in your home address to see what channels you are likely to get and what type of antenna you would require. Then get that one. Installing it outside gets much better reception than the attic. I have put it up on a 10 feet pole on the back porch (20 feet from the ground) and get almost all channels. And the signals are non compressed compared to cable and are free.

Use other's passwords, amazon / Netflix for the rest. We had Netflix and Amazon Prime ( with free Prime Video) and almost never used either. So we cancelled both.

[ENT Doc]

************************, you all have time to watch TV?    I think Sling is reasonable for ESPN but that plus any NFL Network package gets up there to where you're pretty much paying a regular cable bill again.  I think you can get ESPN on an app if you have certain internet providers - I'd check this.  You could just stream it to the TV with Apple TV or something.  As for the NFL, it depends on whether or not your team is local.  If local, just get the antenna as others have suggested.  If not local then you have a few options without getting the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket option:

1. Local bar that gets DirecTV and can tune to the games

2. NFL Redzone app - this shows the games the day after and condenses them all into 30 min segments if you want

As for DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket, you can get free NFL Sunday Ticket if you're a new customer or if you move (this varies depending on the deals offered).  But then you have to buy a regular package which defeats the whole purpose of cord cutting.  You may want to check your team's schedule if not local and see how many games will not be on should you get an antenna.  Then plan around this.  As for GOT, I agree with the above recommendation for waiting until the end and binge watching in a month on HBO Now (if old episodes are accessible) - especially this season since it's going to be shorter than those previous.

[Craigy]

If you can't get it over-the-air, it's a lot easier to just give up on a lot of football IMO.  There are various apps and whatnot, but for football that isn't broadcast over the air you usually need a cable login.  A lot of stuff like monday night football is only on ESPN which you won't get unless you buy an expensive cable package (and ESPN is one of the big reasons cable is so expensive).

There are diehards out there on the internet who have various setups but to me it's too much effort, I don't feel like dealing with or paying X for certain services, easier to just miss some games.   :cry:  

Also in general I find a lot of the TV addicts who "cut the cord" simply replace the money they spend on cable with too many subscription services.  If you're paying for netflix, prime, hulu, sling, year round hbo go, etc., at some point it's cheaper just to have cable.  Now if you already have all those things, plus cable, then sure I suppose there's some savings.

Don't even waste money on hulu.  It's got ads, so why bother when you can get ad-free prime and netflix.

[Kamban]

I have found that as time goes on I am less interested in sitting in front a TV and watching overpaid sport stars strut around. So even if such a game is on for free I use the time to do other productive things. Hobbies do help.

[PHANTASOS]

Instead of "borrowing passwords from friends/family" you could look into other ways commit fraud and steal cable:
- run a wire from the neighbors home (they pay for it, right?)
- buy hbo/NFL passwords on the internet (it might be safer if you pay for these with stolen credit card numbers)
- watch pirated content on the internet

Also, another way you can save money is by siphoning gasoline from other cars when you are at the grocery store.

I bet getting into and through medical school is much easier if you have sufficient moral flexibility (test taking, etc..)

Does the OP really have to frame this discussion by saying "how can I honestly purchase Game of Thrones and NFL content in the least expensive manner possible?" Shouldn't that be understood by everyone?