Trying to dump cable television.

[Stumblewyk]

With the availability of quality programming (both past and current) on various online services like Netflix and Hulu, my wife and I have been toying with the idea of ramping up our broadband internet bandwidth (we're currently on what my one friend lovingly refers to as "stripper internet") and dropping cable as our means of watching television. I've got an Xbox 360 to use as a streaming device, but I'm not against a Blu-Ray player with integrated Wi-Fi or even a device like a Roku box.

If it was only as simple as calling Comcast, telling them where to stick it, and then cleaving fully to the Internet's welcoming bosom, I'd have done it months ago. But I have a hang-up. I like sports.

Primarily, baseball. And ice hockey. And for me, the teams I follow are nearly 100% on cable, AND in my local market. Which means...they're subject to internet blackout restrictions. I.E., if I want to watch the Phillies online, and pay MLB.tv for the right to watch them online, I will get to stare at a big, fat, black screen while they play, because I live within the primary television market for the team, and Comcast SportsNet has the exclusive rights to air the live video of the game.

I'm willing to pay the money to watch baseball online. I'd prefer to do that than keep funneling cash to Comcast so they can own the network that carries the game, AND the cable service that provides that network to me, AND continue to raise prices on me while they do it. What I *don't* want to do is steal the games through illegal streams.

So, here's my quandary - how do I get my sports (baseball, ice hockey), avoid the blackout restrictions, and still move to an online delivery platform for my television entertainment? While remaining 100% legal and above-board?

 

[Janx]

ah, the annual killing cable topic.

There was a thread last year on this topic.

I still haven't been able to kill cable.

Xbox has an ESPN app, but I now wonder if that depends on verifying a cable subscription (like HBO GO does). I hadn't realized internet sports was locked down that much (I don't do sports).

One terrible idea would be to subscribe, then remote into a PC in a far enough State and watch the sports show from their (because it will have an IP address that shows up as Not Local). Performance would probably be bad, as you are trying to pass motion video and audio across the RDP protocol as that PC is streaming the feed.

Otherwise, you could quit watching Sports. That was about as useful as folks telling me to stop watching the new shows on TV, not taking into account that I've seen all the old shows when they came out and that would result in Zero TV watching, which isn't the point of the mission.

 

[Mallus]

So, here's my quandary - how do I get my sports (baseball, ice hockey), avoid the blackout restrictions, and still move to an online delivery platform for my television entertainment? While remaining 100% legal and above-board?

Watch the games at the nearest quality drinking establishment?

I'm in a similar boat here in Philadelphia. We dropped cable about a year ago and don't miss it. But I'm more of a NFL football and tennis fan. For Phillies games last year, I either went to the stadium, watched them in a bar, or, most frequently, made do with the scant broadcast TV offerings.

(sorry this wasn't more helpful)

 

[The Red King]

I dropped Cable about 3 years ago, and for the most part dont miss it at all.

Sadly my 9 year old has discovered sports in a big way. He would watch everything (he says), but I cant get behind a 100.00 cable bill for that.

I'd pay for him to see them, but not that much.

 

[Janx]

I dropped Cable about 3 years ago, and for the most part dont miss it at all.

Sadly my 9 year old has discovered sports in a big way. He would watch everything (he says), but I cant get behind a 100.00 cable bill for that.

I'd pay for him to see them, but not that much.

do you watch TV at all? local news? Recent TV shows?

 

[The Red King]

do you watch TV at all? local news? Recent TV shows?

No recent stuff. We get everything off of Netflix, or the net. I get most of my news off of Fark.com.

Really, how many TV shows are worth watching right now?

 

[Crothian]

The different sports leagues have apps and subscriptions that you can buy and watch all the games. Many or all of them by now should be able to be watched on line or through smartphones, tablets, and the like. I'd check that out as a possibility. Sports is one of the main reasons I have kept my cable.

 

[Stumblewyk]

The different sports leagues have apps and subscriptions that you can buy and watch all the games. Many or all of them by now should be able to be watched on line or through smartphones, tablets, and the like. I'd check that out as a possibility. Sports is one of the main reasons I have kept my cable.

NHL Center Ice looks promising. For some reason they're not nearly as blackout-heavy as MLB.tv is. But baseball is the big one I'm worried about, even if I play MLB the big bucks for their app, they lock video down by IP address. If I access it from a device with an IP address inside the home market of the team, you get no video. =/

It's incredibly frustrating, but from what I understand it's an FCC restriction, maintained to force you to use your local cable-based provider for the sports broadcast unless you have no other options.

Go ahead and ask me how much that pisses me off. I have a number of gripes regarding FCC broadcasting laws, and this is probably the largest of them.

 

[Janx]

No recent stuff. We get everything off of Netflix, or the net. I get most of my news off of Fark.com.

Really, how many TV shows are worth watching right now?

That's always a matter of opinion. Bones, Burn Notice, Game of Thrones, Castle are just a few I'm interested in.

Some are available in netflix/hulu, some aren't. Some are available from the network's website, but generally that's such a PITA it requires me being issued an Executive Order by the POTUS to setup the laptop on the one TV that has a VGA jack and to dick around with drivers and plugins until it works.

To sum up, if there ain't an app for PS3/Xbox, and it requires browsing a website on a computer to stream a show, it ain't ready for prime time.

Internet TV watching has to be so trivial to do that it a set top box can solve the problem. Hulu looked like it was close to that, but it doesn't have all the new shows.

That's generally the core problem I see, having a short list of providers that have all the new shows most people would want that are then wrapped up in an App to launch them.

The sports licensing problem is one I hadn't considered, as I don't watch sports.

 

[fanboy2000]

So you've double checked that the games you want aren't also on broadcast stations? Because if they are, you could get an antenna and watch them that way.

I have rabbit ears and an HDTV in one room and it works o.k. The local stations come in really well, but the further ones have their off days. But free HDTV is kind of cool. Partnered with my Blu-ray player with Netflix, it's great. So, if you can get games on broadcast, then that might do it.

Another alternative might be season tickets. But that sounds a little extreme.