OT: PlayStation Vue adds ESPN (and ABC) channels today, drops price by $10
Another compelling alternative for cord-cutters is Sling TV, which is cheaper than Vue, is available nationwide, has more channels, and is accessible on more platforms. However, Sling doesn't carry the Fox Sports channels (so no BTN) and doesn't include any DVR functionality.
Did you just ask for it and they gave it to you at the same price you've been paying?
I just upgraded recently as well. I was looking for info on it. They said by dropping my Vonage phone and switching to their VOI, i would also get faster interenet and X1 for about $75 a month less than I was paying before. I am locked into 24 months but I didn't see that as a deal killer since I was with them already for 12 years.
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For me, it is ease of use. The interface for finding things is more intuitive. Also, they have this microphone built-in to the remote. If I say "find soccer", it will show any games that are being televised, so I can use the arrow keys to select and watch.
My wife and kids refuse to watch HD content even on our 65" UHD screen, so I was able to "force" the use of HD channels. If my wife turns on Lifetime by using the old SD channel, it automatically converts to the HD channel.
Lastly, the boxes for all of the TVs are linked. Now anything I record via DVR, I can watch on any TV. On the old system, you had to watch on the actual TV connected to the physcial recording device.
They do not have wireless receivers -- that would be a nice to have. But all told, we are very happy. I sound like a commercial but better product at a lower price? That hardly describes the cable industry.
Forgot about that one! +1!
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Just to avoid some confusion, the BTN channel is available with the "Core" package which is $45 a month. The standard "Access" package does not include BTN, which will run at $40 a month. I have Sling TV which is around $25 a month but does not include BTN. I watch the BTN App on the Roku and it gets the job done. If the VUE is high quality, I may consider switiching to that. It would be nice to have FS1 and BTN channels as opposed to watching it on the app.
The Mrs. and I are looking into cord cutting once our UVerse contract runs up in October. Our big issue was BTN. However, according to the BTNGo site, they don't offer football games apart of the service?
Not sure exactly what you are saying. You must enter log in information from your cable provider in order to access BTN2GO which has live football games. I just used my parents cable information.
Your last sentence cleared it up.
Basically, I didn't know how you could watch BTN football without having the BTN login.
Thanks good info!
My plan is to subscribe during CF season and cancel after the bowl games are done (which I just did).
I cut the cord a few years ago and missing football games has been my only pain. A la carte sports subscriptions are a godsend.
I recently dropped DIRECTV in favor of Dish Network. I am kind of pissed at Dish, though, because they made it sound like certain things I want were available at the time of agreeing to their service. Those things are voice remotes and sports bar feature (four programs on one screen, which will be great during football season). The voice remotes are still listed as "coming soon" and no one appears to know when the sports bar feature will be released as a firmware update. So, when I got my satellite installed and everything else, I was trying to access the sports bar mode only to find it is currently unavailable. I also saw the remote and noticed it doesn't have the touch screen, which is what the voice remotes will have. I asked the installer why I don't have the voice remote and she said they are currently unavailable, which really pisses me off because when I go to request one, I will likely have to pay an extra fee. I am assuming that when they become available and someone gets Dish service, they will get the voice remote for no extra charge.
Why would they not roll out something like this to the entire nation? Sems like the installation cost is $0. Am I missing something?
As I see it the problem with this kind of service is that you still need high speed internet access, and for now that is pretty much exclusively coming from the cable companies. The cable plans are already set up so that getting just internet without cable is a bad deal (it's usually cheaper but not that much cheaper).
So few people will truly be able to ditch their cable company at this point. At current prices cable internet + Playstation Vue will probably be more expensive than cable internet + cable, and probably less reliable.
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Good news. I had Sling this year but ended up just watching through the ESPN app most of the time because their app and service was so damn buggy. I have a PS4 so this season, I may give Vue a go if it comes to Detroit (or use a VPN).
This is the first option I have seen that could get me to cut the DirecTV cord.
I still have cable but I recently purchased a Raspberry Pi 2 and Installed Kodi
I know there are better devices out there but so far the PI is working flawlessly
The ESPN3 add on does not require login info and streams in HD.
I haven't checked to see if there is a Fox sports add on but there probably is.
Install fusion first
https://www.tvaddons.ag/fusion-installer-kodi/
Then OneChannel, Exodus, ESPN3 are the addons I use most often to watch TV/Movies.
I use KODI as well, there is an add on called sports devil and you can stream pretty much any sport using that. It is not always in HD, but you can watch anything.
awesome, thank you so much.
will check it out when I get home tonight.
Watched the Minnesota football game this season on SlingTV. It would run fine for about 10-15 minutes, then the video would start lagging. While the audio was realtime, the video was slowing. At one point, the real world and my audio was at halftime, but there was still 30 seconds to go in the second quarter.
If Vue ever came to Detroit, I would give it a try even though they still seem pricey for the # of channels you get.
is that you can use that info to access ESPN 3, which is usually much faster.
Sling video feed is garbage. You should always use the ESPN app to view their feed and point to Sling subscription to authenticate on the ESPN app. Night and day in terms of quality.
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but I'd vote for the first candidate of either party to do the following three things:
1) End the idea that the internet and/or cable can be monoplized on any level.
2) Focus on ONE thing like "AMERICA WILL HAVE THE BEST ROADS EVER". Then, we just do that one thing well. "Oh, man, we haven't done a thing in four years about healthcare, poverty, or the budget, but our ROADS are AWESOME," we'll say.
3) grow a mullet.
Until the FCC allows it, you're gonna be waiting a long time. There are 5-6 media conglemerates that own 95% of the channels. This is whats happening from an insider view; if a cable/dish company wants to drop one of the channels, the conglemerate will just pull all their channels. For example, lets say (just for explanation purposes), no one in your area watches ESPNU and your provider knows this and wants to drop ESPNU from their lineup and save the customers $3-5 a month and the company itself money, what happens is Disney will pull ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, Disney channel, Lifetime, LMN, etc without rammifications from the FCC. Cable/satellite companies have their hands tied until the FCC starts punishing conglemerates from force feeding the customer horseshit they don't want.
I work at a smaller cable/internet company, we want (well our company anyways) to be able to add channels a la carte for the customer, it saves everyone money and it makes it a hell of a lot easier to negotiate on contracts, but alas we can't. We'll get fined and the conglemerates will drop us instantly. I mean no one wants to pay for Lifetime, right?
Edit: this was supposed to be in response to #12, death by wolverine's post.
Just my wife. How she can watch that horse shit hour after hour is beyond me. Smart woman too - a chem e with an mba? But jeez...
I'm confused by reading their page so can someone clarify. Can you only get this if you live in CHI, LA, NY, philly, or SF?
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As ESPN is hemorraging money due to decreased revs. Maybe they should hire Dave Brandon to help! HA!
I have been using slingtv for the past two months and the experience is a mixed bag. As a Canadian I have to pay for unlocator to use it. So that particular experience runs me $30 a month. The gf being a bama fan really likes having the GED(sec) network. I have used Univision sports to watch one LA Galaxy Champions League Match, although weirdly they did not have the second leg. The lack of the B1G network is annoying, and if I could pay for it without getting a cable package I would.