Four plus years ago, the wife and I made a very big decision. We cut the cable cord. Over the years, we'd had cable, DSL, and Dish. The one consistent factor was that we were required on all platforms to purchase packages of mostly programs we did not watch. We didn't need multiple home shopping and religious programs and we we're beyond MTV, VH1 and the broadcast package reality shows. We wanted to watch John Stewart, David Letterman, 60 Minutes, the local news mostly for weather, and news updates just to know what's going on in the world. At $90+ a month, we wanted to watch what we wanted to see and were willing to pay for those programs.

We cut the cord by internet streaming using a Roku. The Roku provides a menu that one selects "My Channels" that creates one's personal channels. But sports was my main interest. I purchased the major league baseballs stream from MLB that includes the At Bat app that supports tablets and phones. Liberty streams all home football games, men and women basketball, hockey games and more so that was a big plus. But what about away games and other sports? I simply searched online and found out that most any sports program in the world, that if it is beamed is available from sites hosted out of the US. Find the site, watch the (MLB, College, FB, etc...) game.

Next was to purchase an online streaming program called PlayOn. PlayOn provides most all broadcast television shows. The kicker is one must wait usually a day or a few hours after the program is broadcast before it is available. If one watches CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and more, then PlayOn provides most all their programming, it's just delayed. The Big South Conference recently began streaming most all games free so watching Liberty play away games became even easier.

Cord cutting continues to gain steam and the cable and dish companies continue to lose customers. So how does this effect sports? In the future, do colleges or conferences begin packaging their own products and selling subscriptions online? We all know the power of ESPN and FoxSports and the regional networks. They provide the money trough and the conferences and team lap up their share. How does it all evolve in the future? It's changing so rapidly that the genie seems out of the bottle and uncontrollable by the execs in command charged in making the corporate dollar.

If the current plight of newspapers is any indication of how fast the public demand for their product can shift, the sports-tech-execs would be wise to play close attention to the cord cutters.

Sports streaming is here. It will only grow and become more popular. How it develops from today forward is the question.

I just use Sling (Not Slingbox) it cost 20 a month for the best of TV channels and another 5 for all the ESPN's/sport channels. It also allows me to use my login to watch ESPN3 on the watch ESPN app/website. I cut my cable service long ago now I just have Internet, Netflix and Sling. Since any app I use can be used on my Roku, Laptop and a portable device like a iPhone or iPad I can watch live TV anywhere. I have the Tmobile unlimited plan so my son watches the Disney channel when we are driving around Austin. When I'm stuck with my wife while she shops I watch sports or CNN. I'm very happy cord cutting is going mainstream.

(02-22-2015 12:27 PM)Curtisc83 Wrote:  I just use Sling (Not Slingbox) it cost 20 a month for the best of TV channels and another 5 for all the ESPN's/sport channels. It also allows me to use my login to watch ESPN3 on the watch ESPN app/website. I cut my cable service long ago now I just have Internet, Netflix and Sling. Since any app I use can be used on my Roku, Laptop and a portable device like a iPhone or iPad I can watch live TV anywhere. I have the Tmobile unlimited plan so my son watches the Disney channel when we are driving around Austin. When I'm stuck with my wife while she shops I watch sports or CNN. I'm very happy cord cutting is going mainstream.

You mention great options to cut the cord with Sling and the ESPN combo. There are many like us and many more in the future that will cut the cord.

Great info. I'm going to cut the cord as well. I'm trying to research all my options.

Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

Once you get the hang of it you'll wish you'll wish you had done it earlier. Many more upsides than compromises. As Curtis said, you can add the package for$20 per month that adds ESPN, TBS, TNT and more.

Are you guys telling me that the 190 dollars I spend monthly on Netflix, Cable, and Internet service is entirely too much?

Been talking about Cord cutting for a while with cable. My current bill is now 110 bucks a month for just that, and thanks to Suddenlink dropping several Viacomm channels thanks to a feud, I no longer get two or three of the channels I want. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm stuck because I need cable for access to Watch ESPN and NBC Sports Live Extra (For my Soccer fix) But doing all of this, and trying to keep Netflix, MLBTV, and my other streaming services is becoming incredibly expensive.

I blame Liberty for all of this.

(02-23-2015 08:45 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Are you guys telling me that the 190 dollars I spend monthly on Netflix, Cable, and Internet service is entirely too much?

Been talking about Cord cutting for a while with cable. My current bill is now 110 bucks a month for just that, and thanks to Suddenlink dropping several Viacomm channels thanks to a feud, I no longer get two or three of the channels I want. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm stuck because I need cable for access to Watch ESPN and NBC Sports Live Extra (For my Soccer fix) But doing all of this, and trying to keep Netflix, MLBTV, and my other streaming services is becoming incredibly expensive.

I blame Liberty for all of this.

Add it to the list of reasons why some posters say they don't want LU in your conference. It will fit perfectly with all the other silly reasons

(02-23-2015 08:45 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Are you guys telling me that the 190 dollars I spend monthly on Netflix, Cable, and Internet service is entirely too much?

Been talking about Cord cutting for a while with cable. My current bill is now 110 bucks a month for just that, and thanks to Suddenlink dropping several Viacomm channels thanks to a feud, I no longer get two or three of the channels I want. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm stuck because I need cable for access to Watch ESPN and NBC Sports Live Extra (For my Soccer fix) But doing all of this, and trying to keep Netflix, MLBTV, and my other streaming services is becoming incredibly expensive.

I blame Liberty for all of this.

We planned it until you guys invite us. Just changed web providers and reduced my monthly bill to $85 for unlimited long distance commercial land line (business) and unlimited web. Have 3 Rokus. Subscribe to MLB.com, Netflix at $7.99 mo, and Acorn.TV at $4.99 month as wife loves Downton Abbey and other British productions. PlayOn was one time, lifetime purchase. Cut the cord Chief. It's time.

We got rid of cable and internet. Saves money but it sucks a little. We got a ROKU but it didn't work. My wife is the techy of the family. My wife and kids are getting tired of no more access. I don't like it much either, but the world survived long before TV and internet.

We cut the cord about 6-7 years ago and got it back about two years ago. Uverse gave us their lowest tier for free for a year in order to sway us away from Comcast Xfinity. If you can get a decent signal off an HD antenna then I can't think of a good reason to keep cable/fiber or satellite unless you are a news channel junkie. Live news & sports are the only thing keeping the cable/satellite models propped up. It won't be long until that is overcome by new technology. Then I would expect subscription services for the live streams to become the norm. It essentially sets up the a la carte concept that the cable industry has fought tooth & nail for so long. Now they'll be squeezed out of the picture except as an ISP.

In addition to our smart TVs that have Netflix, Amazon Prime and other apps installed, we have been loving our Fire TV since the middle of the football season. The set-top box business (Apple TV, Roku, etc.) has come a very long way in the past couple of years. Even the Chromecast I was using before Fire TV made life adequate with Watch ESPN app since nearly all LU games are carried live.

For Roku users. If one lives in a rural area where an antenna is insufficient to draw local stations, there is another option. "LiveStream" allows us to watch the early morning news, noon and 5-6pm local news. Just load LiveStream as a channel and then search for the station id, then load it up. It's been great with the extreme weather to be updated locally on what's going on.

Once you get the hang of it you'll wish you'll wish you had done it earlier. Many more upsides than compromises. As Curtis said, you can add the package for$20 per month that adds ESPN, TBS, TNT and more.