By Geoffrey A. Fowler
In my column last week about cutting the cable-TV cord, I said
it is more possible than ever to be a full-fledged couch potato
without a pricey cable subscription.
Many readers are interested in trying. I received hundreds of
emails and tweets from readers sharing their experiences and asking
for help in cutting the cord.
Here are my answers to some frequently asked questions.
Can sports fans really cut the cord?
For NFL fans, it is becoming easier. Most pro football games are
broadcast on free-to-air networks like CBS, which is fine for fans
who follow the local team. So you can get an antenna for your
TV.
If your favorite team's game isn't on TV, the best way to watch
from home is through NFL Sunday Ticket, sold by DirecTV.
A small bit of good news: DirecTV has announced it will sell
streaming packages without a subscription under certain conditions,
such as in areas where a dish can't be installed, in certain
college dorms or in the big metro areas of New York, Philadelphia
and San Francisco.
For other sports, it is easier if you don't live in the same
market as your favorite team. The MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS each offer
Internet subscription services where fans can screen any game, as
long as the teams are playing out of their local market.
If you follow the local team, some games are blacked out on the
streaming services because they air on cable channels. One option
is to put a Slingbox on a buddy's TV.
For local games on ESPN, desperate fans could go down the
shadowy path of borrowing a WatchESPN app login--something HBO
knows a lot about.
But hey, in the end you can always go out. A number of readers
who cut the cord said they are going to sports bars to watch games
and enjoying it.
Can I really use a Slingbox to watch someone else's TV?
Yes. Slingbox, owned by satellite company EchoStar, explicitly
allows someone to share a TV signal with a friend via a "guest"
login. But both you and your TV host have to be watching the exact
same thing at any given moment.
The only way around this is if your host has a second cable box
to accommodate a Slingbox.
I like to record TV shows like "60 Minutes." How would I do
that?
You can still connect an aerial antenna feed to a DVR, such as
the TiVo Roamio, which charges a monthly fee but does a great job
of blending live TV and Internet-streaming services into one
interface.You can also buy more basic DVRs without a monthly
fee.
How will I get access to PBS? Fox News? HGTV?
Assuming you live close enough to a broadcast tower, you can
access anything from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS as long as you
install an antenna.
If there is a particular show or channel you can't live without,
you'll have to do a little homework.
Few cable channels stream their live lineup free over the
Internet. But many offer shows you can purchase from iTunes or
Amazon, or that eventually turn up on Netflix.
Some make clips or whole shows available free through streaming
channels, which are kind of like apps for "smart" TVs and add-on
boxes like Apple TV or Roku.
For example, Fox News offers some shows and clips, A&E
offers free access to select episodes of shows like "Duck Dynasty,"
and Animal Planet offers live, high-definition video feeds of
puppies.
Other networks such as ESPN, HBO and the Disney Channel offer
full access to a range of shows, but only if you have a login from
your cable provider.
What's the website to check the aerial broadcast TV coverage
around my house?
It's www.tvfool.com. (Some print WSJ readers of my column last
week may have seen an inadvertent line-break hyphen in the
URL.)
This handy site, which isn't affiliated with me or the Journal,
had some server problems Wednesday, so try again if you had trouble
getting through. An alternative site run by the Consumer
Electronics Association is www.antennaweb.org.
This all sounds like a lot of work. Why would I want to cut the
cord?
True, there is no alternative as easy as clicking up and down
your cable-channel lineup. Cable gives you gobs and gobs of
choices--but a cable company will also charge you an arm and a leg
for it because you're paying to subsidize all those channels you
don't watch.
Cord-cutting appeals largely to people on a serious budget who
don't mind making sacrifices, or who love trying new apps, beaming
video from phones and tablets to devices like Apple TV and
Chromecast.
In the long run, I think Internet-based TV will win out because
it can give you control over an even bigger universe of content,
the way apps did on our phones.
If you have other questions, you can reach me on Twitter at
@geoffreyfowler and on email at Geoffrey.Fowler@wsj.com
Nathan Olivarez-Giles contributed to this article.
Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com
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