I am WAY behind the times. Looking to get rid of cable, tired of paying the ridiculous bill. Here's my situation, I have 5 tv's in the house and basically my only requirement I have is I need to be able to watch football so NBC, CBS and ESPN are a must. Would also like to have some movie channels. I've looked around and there are a lot of choices just wondering what my best options are? Thanks in advance.

i paid 19.99 for an HD antenna and for local channels, no espn and I pay 24.99 a month for Directv NFL ticket (no directv tv package)

you could look at sling or Playstation VUE if you have a ps3 or ps4

Yup. See if you get good enough reception to get all the broadcast networks OTA, and then fill in the holes with various streaming services.

Out here we can get 30 OTA channels, many in awesome HD.

Who is the OP's cable company?

My bill (which includes high-speed Internet) recently hit the $200 a month mark (granted, I'm the guy who has to get all the movie channels - HBO, SHO, etc.) and decided to cut the cord and jump over to either Sling or Playstation Vue. I called Comcast to update my account for Internet-only service and instead they knocked $50 off my bill as long as I would agree to a 2-year contract at that price. I didn't lose any channels, either.

Just a thought before you make the switch.

Yeah, pricing is so arbitrary. I was unemployed for a bit a few years ago and went in to see if they could knock a few bucks off the bill. Guy types a bit, types some more...this went on for a few minutes. In no time flat my bill went from the $140 range to $99. This was for broadband, cable (all channels minus movies) + sports package. I was expecting $10-15 off.

My cable company is Optimum. I've called three times trying to get the price down and they will not budge. I'm done with the $200 a month.

Another thumbs up for PS Vue. I use it on two TV's (via my ps3/ps4).

SAME. Ditched DTV after 13 years bc my bill just went up and up every year and I was sick of it. Now I pay $29.99/mo. & it's awesome.

Here's the antenna I recommend if you want a good indoor one that you can put in your attic: https://www.amazon.com/TERK-Amplifie.../dp/B0007MXZB2

That's what I did and I receive more than 50 HD channels from it--100% on nearly all of them.

Then I grabbed a TiVo with LifeTime subscription and Netflix, Vudu and Amazon Prime. Seems like a lot, but it pays for itself in about six months compared to what you were spending. Then it's all minimal.

I get almost all my TV free over HD. TV/Movies on Netflix and Amazon, and the few I want to own I grab on Vudu because it's a UV partner so they can be shared with other services. And all these services work on a TiVo box, so there's simply one piece of hardware hooked to your TV.

Can't speak to sports other than OTA.

I used to have Charter but decided to cut the cord and they will try to keep you by any means necessary. At the very end our conversation the dude was like "what if we only charge you $5 a month for cable?" I paused. I was like really? Then I said fuck it and cut the cord anyway. They were pissed but I don't regret it.

Do you not have any other cable providers in your area? If you can get an introductory offer from someone else that you can quote, usually they will play ball.

Otherwise if you reach the point where you're ready to cut the cord, but have a number in your head that would be willing to keep cable at, call them and select the disconnect option from their menu. Usually the person that you get at this extension will be authorized to offer you better deals than anyone else. But don't start out asking for deals. Tell them you want to disconnect your service, and let them make offers to keep you. If you get an offer you like, you might think about keeping it. If not, you should have no regrets telling them to shut it off.

Although for the last option to work, you really have to be ready to disconnect everything. Do you have any other potential internet providers you could use if this doesn't work?

We're dropping from an "essentials" cable package with preferred internet 50 down/15 up with Cox for $124 a month, to a TV Starter package and Essentials internet 15 down/5 up for $80 a month starting in October. Took a $15,000 a year pay cut this summer, too close to retirement to find someplace else to work, so riding this out.

For me - 3 tv's + ipad/computer we use tablo to have a DVR for OTA channels and sling....

$15K paycut? Holy shit!! Were you in danger of being laid off and took that as a compromise? Sorry to hear that.

Our newish school superintendent eliminated a job I'd been working in for about 8 years (I have 15 years in the system, after retiring from the Navy after 23 years), and basically split it into two separate positions - either an instructional tech specialist, or technical support. EVERYONE in the previous position had to reapply to either one or the other, or be placed back in the classroom. The partner I had in the school I am at was better suited for the instructional tech job, and I am more of a hands on tech guy, so I opted to take tech support. That entailed a reclassification of my pay scale, but wife and I talked about it for a long time before we made the decision. They grandfathered my pay for a year so we were able to do some preps, but the big drop happened a couple of months ago. I'm getting close to 60 and was not willing to go back in the classroom after almost a decade. So, it resulted in about a 30 percent pay cut. Fortunately, my wife, who was hired to a tech support position as well, actually got a raise that closed the gap to about 20 percent. But we've still had to make decisions and adjustments. As long as we've got internet and some cable access for live network sports, we'll be okay.

I really want to get rid of cable but I watch a lot of sports that aren't OTA via Comcast Sportsnet. I don'twant to deal with DNS/VPN stuff to be able to use Center Ice or Extra Innings. I know some other regional sports networks have offered live streaming but I don't think Comcast has for obvious reasons.

I also think about if I get Hulu Plus, HBO Go, Netflix, Amazon Prime and maybe a couple others pretty soon I'm close to what I'm paying for cable anyway but at least it would be easier to cancel services as needed.

Yeah, that's one of the few things people consider about streaming. It's much easier to weave in & out of services as programming interests you. You don't have to make a phone call & go through the hard sell. Most allow cancellations online & just say 'bye, see you next time!' No ridiculous equipment fees and 2 year contracts.

PS Vue & Sling are ok if you really, really like commercials. Unlike DVR's or even VCR's, you can't skip them.

That's not true. If you "record" something on Vue, you can fast-forward all you want. That's not the case with on demand stuff, but with DirecTV I couldn't fast-forward on demand either.

The loss of local live channels (NBC, CBS, Fox, ABC) is the only thing stopping me from cutting the cord. I would just lose too many live sporting events that I want to see. I wish an antenna worked, but I live in a mountainous area 30 miles from a broadcast tower. And since I rent, I can't attach a super high powered antenna to the roof.

Yeah, I don't quite get this 'sell.' Someone brought this up in conversation the other day. On average each of those services are roughly $10/mo. Add in the broadband you're likely paying to the cable company anyway ($40-50+ depending on speed) and you're at $80-90/mo. Even with only two of those services you'd be around $70.

There's something to be said for simplicity too. No juggling multiple services to watch all your shows. Just turn on the TiVo/DVR and all your shows are there. Also, I can record a full season of many shows and keep it for eternity. Using the other services you are at the mercy of what they allow you to watch. Only the most recent 4-5 episodes for some, which is weak. The other big ? among this same crowd; how do you watch ESPN? The most common answer I always get is using someone else's account.

The big(?) downside on relying on cable is missing the exclusive Netflix, Hulu, etc. shows. So once a year I'll give Netflix a month and binge the few shows I need to check out.

I always think the same thing. Streaming seems cheaper and maybe it is if you only have one service but by the time you get multiple (say Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO Go) you're still looking at a good amount of money. That's also losing a lot of channels, which granted most don't watch all of them but I bet most find a few at least that they'd like to have. On top of the streaming services I would bet that a lot of people have to upgrade their Internet service to support their streaming habits plus browsing and whatnot.

It depends of course.

If you watch a lot of cable tv shows: from USA, AMC, etc. it's hard to replace all of those. But if you only care about network TV, an antenna and/or Hulu are enough.

And of course you can wait until the other shows are in Netflix, Amazon, etc. Also, for most people Amazon Prime Video is "free". They pay Amazon for the free shipping, the video is just an add on.

But again YMMV.

Well substitute Prime for Vue or Sling or whatever. It's subjective I agree but I think some people feel like they're getting a better deal because they choose what to pay for but multiple services will still add up.

Hey thanks, I have been using it wrong. I though the record function basically sent you the on demand. But you right, I recorded 3 shows last night & I can FF. This has totally changed my opinion of Vue & I think I will keep it for a while now.