Dropping our satellite-what about DH's sports

[cmaee]

So, we have DirecTV and we pay $90 for the basic package + HD + 2 receivers. I am tired of writing that check each month, especially since we watch such few channels. We only have 7 months left on our contract, so it would cost $140 (early termination fee - $20 per month left on contract) to get out of our contract. We will save $490 long term by getting out of this contract. Anyway, I live in the middle of nowhere (our friends like to say, "You know where the horizon meets the sky? Well, after you make it there, go 2 more hours and then you will come to your house.") and there are no cable providers in my area, so it is either antenna or satellite.

Last night, my DH hooked up the TV to the antenna and we got all of our main channels...PBS, PBS Kids, another PBS, NBC, another NBC, CBS, ABC, CW, and Fox and we got the HD channels for those. The picture was great, so there are no worries about those channels. I plan on signing up for Netflix. I will buy the Roku and we will set it up on our main TV so we can stream movies/TV shows on it. After the Wii comes online for being able to stream, we will move the Roku to our other TV and then we can use both of them. The TV's are not on at the same time, but I didn't know if it was possible to stream two different shows at the same time on two different TVs?

Now onto my main question...
My DH is okay with this, especially when he saw how much we would save by switching to Netflix and going with our antenna. His one comment was "What about my sportscenter and Monday night football?" Is there a way to watch these shows on the internet? I found a website called espn360, but you have to have sponsored internet providers and ours isn't a sponsored provider. The rest of the information I found was old, so I didn't know how reliable it is. If you are cable/satellite free, can you find the sports online somewhere?

 

[dizluvah]

you have the same exact direct tv set up that we had - we called and said we were going to cancel and they offered us a less expensive approx. $45 per month package - that they do not advertise - called "Select" -

We had to go with the less expensive package because if we cancelled it would cost us $120 because he have not met our 2 year agreement since we upgraded to HD.

We have been customers for more than 10 years with Directv - so I am not sure how much that had to do with being offered this Select package - but I suggest you ask them about it if it is something you would be interested in.

I don't know the answer to your football question but isn't Monday night football on like ABC or CBS?

 

[cmaee]

you have the same exact direct tv set up that we had - we called and said we were going to cancel and they offered us a less expensive approx. $45 per month package - that they do not advertise - called "Select" -

We had to go with the less expensive package because if we cancelled it would cost us $120 because he have not met our 2 year agreement since we upgraded to HD.

We have been customers for more than 10 years with Directv - so I am not sure how much that had to do with being offered this Select package - but I suggest you ask them about it if it is something you would be interested in.

I don't know the answer to your football question but isn't Monday night football on like ABC or CBS?

To be honest, I doubt we would stay with DirecTV even if they lowered the bill. We signed up with them in July 2008 and were told that we would have an 18 month contract. We told them at the time, that we would be buying a HD TV within the next few months and what would happen when we added it to our package. They said that it wouldn't do anything. We could add it at anytime and we would just have to pay the extra fee per month for the HD channels. Well, come to find out, when we made that change, we were locked into a 2 year contract. We were quite peeved that they lied to us when we signed up for it. We really didn't have a choice but to stay with them because the termination fee was so high. Now that our termination fee isn't that bad, I am ready to tell them goodbye.

Monday night football is now on ESPN. They changed it a few years ago from ABC. ABC and ESPN are owned by the same company, but broadcast it only on ESPN.

 

[cindycastle30]

We gave up our cable in August and did with out it for a year and a half before that. My husband is really into sports but he lives without it for the most part now. It took some getting used to but he lived. I can't count the number of times he has said that he was glad he didn't waste his time watching such and such game. If it is really important then we would go watch it at a sports bar or something. I think we both get annoyed now and then with just having antenna but not enough to justify the expense of cable or dish. We use our library alot for checking our movies and tv series, and netflix instant streaming is great to.

 

[ICF]

I dont think SportsCenter of MNF is broadcast online anyplace. I didnt think even ESPN360 carried those, but could be wrong.

He'll probably have to live with watching highlights on the 'net if he doesnt actually have ESPN.

 

[puffkin]

To be honest, I doubt we would stay with DirecTV even if they lowered the bill. We signed up with them in July 2008 and were told that we would have an 18 month contract. We told them at the time, that we would be buying a HD TV within the next few months and what would happen when we added it to our package. They said that it wouldn't do anything. We could add it at anytime and we would just have to pay the extra fee per month for the HD channels. Well, come to find out, when we made that change, we were locked into a 2 year contract. We were quite peeved that they lied to us when we signed up for it. We really didn't have a choice but to stay with them because the termination fee was so high. Now that our termination fee isn't that bad, I am ready to tell them goodbye.

Something similar happened to us. We got our DirecTV and had a 2 year contract. 3 months later our DVR stopped working. Sent it back and got a new one. 3 months later that one fried too. I think it was the model as their tech personally delivered the second box and verified our set up was just fine (ie not in an enclosed space where it can overheat). The last DVR was a different model and worked great. Come this past summer and we got an awesome 2 year deal from Comcast for phone/internet/cable. DirecTV could not match the price (well refused even budge on our contract). I cancelled and on my last bill there was a $80 early cancellation fee. We were out of the 2 year window from our initial installation, but they said our two years went from the date we got our SECOND replacement box. I was furious as it was their fault the equipment didn't work. In the 2+ years I didn't change my service or anything like that. I just got the replacement boxes for the faulty equipment.

I went round and round with them for MONTHS. I spent HOURS on the phone and they still insisted I owed the money. I am ashamed to say that I eventually ended up just paying it when it went to a collection agency as I didn't want it to affect my credit (we were looking into a refi at that time) and I honestly didn't want to spend anymore time on it. I can honestly say I spent over 15 hours trying to straighten that out. Needless to say, I will NEVER EVER EVER have DirecTV again. They are the pits!!!!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I'm not sure where he can watch his sports, but wanted to say that we, too, paid an early termination fee just to be rid of DirecTV and it was so worth it to us. In the past two months we've missed a show here and there but we've also spent less time veging out in front of the TV and have become more active.

 

[crisi]

We got rid of Comcast cable.

No sports. For really important events its social (he goes over to a friends house or to a sports bar).