Haven't "cut the cord" due to ESPN? Sling TV (streaming) @ 20 bucks a month coming soon.

If I am subscribing to streaming services like HBO GO, ESPN, and buying the other things I watch through a player will I be saving any money at the end of the month? The answer seems to be yes, but not enough to be worth the effort.

 

I have Hulu and Netflix. That's all I need. I'd like HBO Go. I can always get basic cable for 30 bucks and get every channel I need. That's 60 bucks total depending if the HBO standalone runs at 10 bucks a month like Netflix and Hulu.

 

I have heard it will be $16.

 

I have been debating on "cutting the cord" for a while now. My problem is I like the Discovery channels, ESPN, and Velocity. We have Netflix, and we also have HD Cable with HBO. The only reason we got HBO is for Game of Thrones. I could drop that and do like my brother does... he buys each episode through the Playstation network or Amazon. This does save money. But I need an alternative to Discovery, and a way to access ESPN. So, Sling TV could give me ESPN and a "possible" alternative to Discovery, and I would have Netflix for movies and other tv shows. But it would suck to do without Velocity. The only thing I would keep cable for is internet. It's a hard decision to make. Like I told my wife, best thing we can do is just DO IT. If we don't like it we could always go back.

 

I don't give a damn about HBO. I had it for 3 months as a free introductory offer a couple of years ago and got I think it was 4 HBO channels. A few good movies shown over and over and mostly crap I would never watch. I used to like Discovery and the History channels but now they are mostly reality shows about rednecks or real housewives. All I really want enough to pay for is ESPN and CNN and Fox News.

 

Fair enough. As I said, the only reason we got HBO is because the wife and I like to watch Game of Thrones. There is no other reason for us to keep HBO. And since that show only runs during a fraction of the year, its hardly worth the money we pay for HBO in the long run. We would be better off just buying each season on Amazon or VUDU or something. I agree about Discovery and History channels. It really pisses me off that they've sunk to the level of other trash networks. I don't care for the reality shows either. But there are still a few shows I like to watch now and then. I'm hoping to find an alternative to them that actually has documentaries and such without all the trashy reality BS.

 

A lot of shows, if you wait a week or so, somebody will post it on youtube

 

I cut cable two years ago. I have an XBMC setup in each room. My "server" streams antenna signal to each box and hosts my four TBs or so of videos. I have Netflix and Amazon (which I don't count in cost because of the shipping fees I save with Prime). I use Spotify and a Youtube video addon for music. The only borrowing I have to do is for ESPN... I use my sister's login to watch online.

Also, a strange thing happened when I got rid of the white noise of cable... I went outside.

 

Does the $30 a month from your cable provider also include internet?