Help me get rid of cable TV, will you please?

Call 'em up and cancel. BAM!

That's what we did - no issues. They *****ed and moaned and begged - but it's my money not theirs (despite what they think).

I haven't "watched TV" in several years. I stream what I want/need to see, and the rest is just crap.

Just cancel. Done. Cake walk.

If you go into "I miss my commercials" syndrome, just call them back and beg forgiveness - I have a hunch they'll take you back

Jedi

 

Ditto. Break the cord. Frontier FiOS goofed up our service for almost a month, while back, and you know what - we found other things to do other than watch TV. I have a $20 digital antenna, which gets local channels (for the wife, who likes to watch the evening news) and once our contract is up, adios Frontier/FiOS!

In the last 2 years I have watched: (a) the last half of Super Bowl L, and (b) a Cowboys game @ my in laws. I stream the only things I care to listen to - Mets baseball games and Cowboys football games over my phone...T

 

When I went to Best Buy the salesman pointed toward some box and
said that if I bought that and cut a certain wire it would get cable
and the cable companies wouldn't know I was getting their signals but he can't tell me more. I can't remember what it was called. I seem to remember it was around $45.
At my apartment house, the maintenance man was selling some box for $125 that would do the same thing. I don't think the cable companies hunt you down (like they used to do in England when you didn't pay your radio receiver tax) but I think the cable companies cut you off once they find an unauthorized subscriber.

 

DirecTV Now just launched yesterday, which kind of looks interesting. You should add it as a contender.

Wouldn't mind cutting the cord myself but local channels, DVR, and live sports are an absolute must.

One thing to check out: when cutting the cord and streaming tv/movies/what have youm, make sure your ISP doesn't have data caps or penalties. Where I am both ISPs have data caps and will quickly raise your rates. I have known two instances where people went back to cable because their monthly internet bill skyrocketed.

 

The simple fact is cable companies simply won't sell you channels a la carte, yet. They make all their money by forcing you to pay for the crappy channels you don't want just to get the ones that you do.

Seriously consider whether there is actually any content on those channels that you absolutely can't live without (And frankly, with that list you gave, I highly doubt there is).

If you can't come up with anything... why even attempt to keep them? Cancel the cable entirely.

You can get Hi definition local channels Over-The-Air pretty much anywhere in the country at this point.

 

Cancel them and get an antenna for local news and the major networks. Stream the rest online...I guess if you really want ESPN, which now sucks imo, then keep cable. You can still watch Thursday and Sunday NFL on antenna. It's just Monday Night Football you need to go to a bar to watch.

 

You can try the Dragon Box:

The Dragon Box

 

Step 1... Cancel tv service... but make sure you have fast internet.

Step 2... Buy an AppleTV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire... OR get a dedicated PC to run your TV. (tip: Apple's is the easiest to use in my opinion)

Step 3... Get live tv access by downloading and subscribing to the Sling App or DirecTV Now

Comparisons here:
https://www.cnet.com/news/directv-now-vs-sling-tv-vs-playstation-vue-channels-compared/

Step 4... Get your choice of the rest of the apps like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc...

My dad has one of these.... they work OK.... you're just streaming pirated content.... it's free, but you are technically stealing and the experience is far from polished (ie: don't expect non-tech people to be able to pick up the remote and know how to use it)

 

Or a Kodi box...thousands of channels from all over the world streaming to your TV.

 

Kodi on an Amazon Firestick. Then add on Exodus, Mobdro and a digital antenna and you're set. In fact, I'm fine with just a digital antenna. I do like Exodus to watch old episodes of shows like "American Greed" and such.

 

Can you guys help explain Kodi to me?

What types of content can you stream for free?

 

Fire TV, Amazon Prime, and PS Vue. Less than $50/month. $39/mo for 50MB Internet Service. No problems streaming to 3-devices at the same time. Use antenna for locals.

 

This is my exact set up. PS Vue takes a little getting used to when switching from cable and its occasionally quirky but works great about 95% of the time on the Fire box.

Do you have the 1st Gen or 2nd Gen Fire TV? I have the 1st Gen and I wondering if am missing out on anything by not upgrading to the newer model.

 

PlayStation Vue