How To Cut Cable Without Giving Up Access To Live Sports

October 12, 2017

You may have heard about people who are saving a ton of money by not having cable TV (cutting the cord) and using streaming services like Netflix, Hulu or a host of newer streaming services to watch their favorite shows. I was one of those people who hated paying for cable, but I loved sports too much to pull the trigger until a year ago.

We are now saving roughly $65 a month and while I no longer get the History Channel – which would be a problem for me is they still actually did history – it has been a good economic move for us. Here’s what I found in my research (extensive/obsessive research according to my wife).

Make sure you have the right internet speed

First of all you need to make sure that you have enough speed to stream without constant issues with buffering. According to Lifewire, you probably need at least 5 MB speed and preferably 15 – 25 MB in order to stream 4K movies, which is the latest high-def picture quality. (you can get away with less if you don’t have the latest equipment or don’t watch movies in 4K)

Check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the other ISP options in your area to find out what’s out there. You also want to make sure there aren’t any data limits or more likely, “throttling,” when the cable company starts to slow your speed once you’ve used a certain amount of data each month.

You need:

Good speed;
No data limits or “throttling;”
A good price

Many plans run $15 – $35 per month. Super-fast gigabit speed service runs about $70 per month.

Get the right equipment

Your equipment matters! If you have a “smart TV” with apps already loaded then you may not need an extra device. Many TVs today are sold with apps built in, but check to see if the apps you want are included. If not, you can also buy BluRay players to play your BluRay and DVD movies and also get apps for Netflix, Hulu, etc. You can also get devices such as a Roku, Amazon Fire or Google Chromecast if it’s not in the budget to upgrade your TV.

Decide what programming you want

The streaming service you choose will depend on what type of programming you watch — are you more of a TV show and movie watcher or do you prefer live TV like news and sports? If you don’t care as much about live programming such as news and sports or you can wait a little bit to catch up on the current season’s episodes of your favorite shows then you can save a LOT of money.

You would probably do just fine with services like Netflix, Hulu and/or Amazon TV. These run about $10 – $15 each, so even if you got all three, it would only be looking to pay about $40/month. If you want to combine Amazon TV with either of the other two, then the Amazon Fire is worth looking in to if you need a device to get the programming to your TV.

Sports and live TV

My hang up was my sports. I couldn’t go without them. Now that there are ways to get access without subscribing to 1,000+ channels I’ll never watch, I was finally able to cut the cord. Here are the different options that are out there:

Sling prices its service based on what channels you choose. It tends to be less expensive for the base “orange” option, but you lose Fox networks and therefore I’d be giving up watching K-State, the Royals and sometimes the Chiefs — not an option for me. If you are willing to pay a bit more for the “blue” package, then you get a lot more options, or you can combine both packages to get most of the top channels. So for saving the most money without giving up live TV, you might try Sling.

YouTube TV has comparable prices and lots of similar channels. It has all of the broadcast networks and lots of minor sports channels so it may be an even better option for live TV fans. It also has a much more robust DVR option and is built to work with Chromecast, so if you already have one of those, even better.

The issue that we had is no HGTV or Food Network and a few other popular channels. Just like I had to have my sports, I’ve got to take care of my lovely wife and she nixed this option.

DirecTV Now is a bit more like a cross between these streaming options and cable. The starting price and options are comparable, then you can choose more add-ons for additional money. If you have 120+ channels now that you don’t want to give up, this could be for you. AT&T wireless customers also get an intro rate of $10/month on the base package, making it worth a try if that’s your cell phone provider.

What I chose

I chose PS Vue and so far it’s working out great for my sports watching. I have all the Fox and ESPN networks and the apps that go with it. The best thing for a sports lover is that if you can get the local CBS affiliate – you generally get 1 or 2 local stations through the PS Vue – then you will be able to get all of the major sports events/channels between Vue and the apps.

You also get a cloud based DVR but it only saves shows for a month, which means you can’t save up for major binges. Also, some sports fans may not like the fact that if you record a game, you can’t start watching it until the recording is over. If you own a PS 3 or PS 4 gaming system or you have a recent model Sony smart TV you will NOT need an extra device so PS Vue might be your first stop.

For movies and other shows, I combined that with Amazon TV on an Amazon Fire. We already had Netflix, so with all those options combined, we get tons of TV, movies and sports for $65 less than our old cable bundle.

It’s worth mentioning that you can always keep your cable or satellite provider if you are willing to play hardball with them once a year to keep the promotional prices that are higher than streaming but much less than regular cable.

Hopefully this helps you find a TV option that will provide you with entertainment and a few more bucks in your pocket for your other needs and goals.

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