Many of us cable cutters were unable to watch today's overtime win on ESPN3. This happens at least 2-3 times every football season, and probably more often during basketball season. Does anyone have any streaming sites they recommend?
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I watched the game today on some low budget Russian website. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
In Russia, sports watch YOU!
Also, you like Russian bride, da?
i have netflix, friend has cable. they get a profile in exchange for watch espn / nbc live extra viewing abilities. pretty good deal for both if you can find someone with cable to stream
Firstrowsports is usually pretty reliable. Not the greatest quality but it's fo free.
You have to be pretty adept at killing popups, but they generally get the job done.
Slingbox from my parents. They get to use it at all other times so we both win
Do you have a box or do you use the mobile app and mirror via AppleTV or Chromecast? My parents have a slingbox too... I don't know why this never occurred to me.
I used to just watch on my computer through their website. I moved recently and haven't really gotten anything set up.
I recently signed up for 3 months with SlingTV ($20/mo) and their offer was a new Roku 3 for $50 (normally $99). The Roku 3 has SlingTV as a native app, as well as Amazon/Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, and many more. Very happy so far. Beats the old AppleTV, except for lack of AirPlay video streaming from my iPad/MacBook/iPhone.
I have a Logitech Revue box but I can't get it to stream ESPN. Have not found a fix anywhere. Too bad because I like the box. It has a full size keyboard.
4FSS
first row sports
Not that it would work for everyone but I kept basic cable as part of my package with TWC. It was actually cheaper to keep basic cable and bundle with the internet access. This gives me access to their online TV app, which I use to stream the games when they are blacked out on ESPN3. The only time I run into trouble is when the game is on ESPNU.
I have been using a browser app called "hola" which will trick the server into thinking you are streaming from somewhere else, so I could stream the game on espn3 from Blacksburg.
I cut the cord two years ago after the World Cup and here's what I've done for college football. I have Comcast for cable internet:
I bought an antenna for $35 and, depending on your area, can get you all the OTA channels (usually the big four of Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC for home games at South Bend, which will be important for us next year). There are usually some local channels, too, and for me in Central PA WHVL has an ACC game at noon every Saturday (and sometimes a doubleheader).
All SEC games that are on CBS are broadcast streaming live through CBSSports.com, this includes the Sun Bowl. CBS is a lifesaver for me, as the CBS tower is too far away for my puny antenna, tree density, and power lines (same with ABC and Fox).
If you log into the WatchESPN app, even without a cable subscription, any game on ABC is free to watch, so you'll get a good slate of local games (for me, it's usually Big Ten games) all Saturday afternoon, including the Gameday game in primetime. We haven't been real lucky with getting ABC games recently, but maybe we'll get some next year.
ESPN3 is problematic for me. For these games, a friend or parent has given me their cable subscription login so I could see these games. This year, there were two games that I couldn't watch, so I streamed the radio broadcast from Hokiesports.com.
Finally, I paid $20 a month to SlingTV, which is a terrible service but gets you a login for ESPN and allows you to watch ESPN and ESPN2. You will also get games that are ESPN3 only, I believe, as well, but not ESPNU. This is something that I'll cut off after the MNC next week. I will definitely be signing back up for cable when the World Cup comes back around so I don't have to get creative with it.
Cutting the cord has forced me to get creative in how I consume college football, and it's required a little bit of sacrifice (listening to the radio stream and foregoing any game on Fox). vtgreg makes an important note in that it could be cheaper to bundle with basic cable, which I've considered as well. Comcast used to charge extra for the basic channels in HD, I don't know if they still do that or not.
Good luck. It's saving me about $90 a month to not have cable, and it takes about a month to adjust to not having it, but I'm quite happy with watching less TV, especially the 150+ junk channels that come with any subscription.
I hadn't tried Sling TV, but every time I've considered cutting cable, the shows we actually watch aren't included on Prime, Hulu, or Netflix. I'd have to pay additional anyway. We had an HD antenna years ago with mixed results, maybe I'll try it again in this area, and also see what's on my basic packages.
I do like having ESPNU...
Check here to see what channels are available over the air for you:
http://www.tvfool.com/
I used Sling this year, it is 20 dollars gets you about 30 channels and is only 5 dollars more for the sports package cancel anytime. It works well enough, has trouble at times with big games but usually switching to the watchespn app fixed it for me.
SlingTV has an extra sports package ($5/mo) that includes ESPNU. Add it for the games you want, then drop it afterwards.
Thanks for the reminder. I went the +5 route for one of the Hokie FB games on ESPNU and forgot I had done so. My only gripe about the Sling/WatchESPN experience is that I can never seem to start the stream via Roku until at or after kickoff. Otherwise, looks like it's the future to me.
Good call. Interwebs say I will get 52 HD channels based on my location.
Damn 52 channels you must be in a major metro area. Up here there is very little. I watch a lot of PBS. I did convince a friend down in Herndon VA to get an antenna and he said he gets crazy channels in crystal clear uncompressed HD OTA. He's real happy with it.
Yeap, in the heart of Atlanta. Any idea what antenna he got?
He got this one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/antennas-direct-clearstream-2v-long-range-hd...
He said it was open box for like $40 and he bought it on a whim. I might recommend researching antennas a bit before committing to one, though. I need a directional antenna because all my towers are south of me, while a non-directional antenna might work better for you if your towers are all around you.
Last I checked, ESPN3 was based off of internet subscription, not cable.
It is based off the cable TV subscription. I have FIOS internet but not TV and can not use ESPN3 with my credentials.
When I had DISH before they made nice with Disney, I could still access all ESPN3 games thanks to my internet package, but couldn't access any of the on-air channel streams on WatchESPN.
I just tried ESPN3 via incognito mode (basically, not signed into anything), and I can watch those broadcasts. As soon as I click to stream a program from ESPN, it asks for TV credentials.
Now, it is possible that some internet providers are starting to cut ESPN3 off, to encourage folks to get a cable package.
I've never been able to figure this out for sure. Sometimes I get an ESPN3 game when I wasn't expecting to have access to it, including, occasionally, a VT game. I think it might have something to do with where you live/blackouts/etc., but I can't say for sure.
Doesn't ESPN have a package by now?
I have cable, but I pay an extra $5 a month to get all their televised games on any ESPN channel. (Had to sign up for a year to get it at that price.)
I did it for one game that wasn't televised anywhere, but I've also used it for a bunch of other games now and the quality is HD.
On FIOS there is a 'sports package' that includes all the ESPN networks, NFL Network, Redzone and a couple others (notable exceptions are CSN and FS1). This package is $15 a month. This package with basic cable and internet runs me about $80 a month.
http://liveball.tv/ncaa-football/
I use a VPN service (Private Internet Access in my case), and connect to a server that's located outside the blacked out area.
Have always wanted to cut the cord, this thread might give me the push I needed.
Quick question to all of the people who call themselves cable cutters.
How do you have access to WatchESPN if you don't have cable?
All ESPN3 programming is freely available without any subscription. So you can use WatchESPN for those games, and you just can't access the stuff being broadcast on ESPN, 2, U, News, Classic, or The Ocho.
I don't know the exact number but I think they allow something like up to five simultaneous streams on different devices at a time. Being in college, my parents let me use theirs and other friends of mine use a buddies or something. My friend buys one of his friends a twelve pack every couple months in exchange for the long in info. It works for him.
I would cut the cord but internet service in my area is dreadful. I pay $70/month for 10mbps internet with 300gb/month data cap. I hate it. Until I can get faster and cheaper Internet without a data cap (or bigger), I'm sticking with Dish.
For college football I have watch ESPN. If the game is blacked out in my area, I use hotspot shield (a paid for subscription I share with a couple of people) to rerouted my IP address to a different state to fool watch ESPN into letting me watch the game. It works really well and it's not too unreasonable of a subscription when shared. Also the connection is excellent compared to some of the streaming websites. These is a trick that I used when I lived overseas to fool Netflix and other websites into thinking that I was trying to stream from in the US.
For nfl and other pro sports, my uncle will let me use dish anywhere. It works great, but I would never pay for it myself.
For those of you who consistently watch games on ESPN3/WatchESPN do you just have to deal with that ridiculous delay? I literally can't check twitter when I watch Tech games on ESPN3 because they are sometimes SEVERAL plays behind. Had several big plays good and bad spoiled for me this year by checking twitter while watching on ESPN3.
Pretty much. I tend to text back and forth with friends during games, so it usually ends up with them spoiling things (which I kind of appreciate so I can prepare myself) and me appearing to be excited about touchbacks on kickoffs. And during the Duke game, WatchESPN decided showing us 10 minutes of commercials was better than showing us tying up the game in the 4th.
I just watch the game and don't worry about the other stuff.
But I already know I'm dealing with a delay with my cable box anyway.
There is an addon for any Firestick or Roku owners called Kodi. It used to be called XBMC and was used on the Xbox. The legality of this site is in question due to the enormous amount of content available (live TV from around the globe, Movies that are released in Theaters at Midnight are viewable by 6AM same day) so take that into account before using but I have yet to not find ANYTHING I wanted to watch....period. I watched Mayweather/Pacquiao for free and all other PPV without fail. Again I am not endorsing this as a "legal" practice although I have been told that it is overseas so it is exempt from US protection just putting it out there for any banditos out there. Also, it can be used on a PC/laptop as well. Youtube Kodi.
Beware: Nerd note here - but if anyone has an AppleTV Generation 2 or earlier, you can jailbreak it to access XBMC.
I just cut cable a couple days ago, and I've been using a jailbroken firestick with kodi for a couple weeks now.
Which sports addons do you use??
great for movies and shows not too sure about sports. I will have to look when I get home.
cool, i appreciate it.
I've tried using the Sports devil plugin with Kodi but it hasn't been very good. It is tough to find a stream and when I do it is super poor quality. Is there something better for Kodi?
I would not be surprised if this year ESPN/Disney come out with a subscription plan like HBO this year or next. Bob Iger (CEO of Disney) has said he want to go this route ~6 months ago.
EDIT: Here is another link from Wired from today about the topic.
I saw that Wired article today, and I think it will be awesome when they make that transition. I think it'll be a game changer for the industry when people drop their cable packages left and right.
I also hope Iger is overestimating when he says it'll be five years before we see a direct-to-consumers model from Disney
Well the first article was from 6 months ago. Apparently things have changed in the months since then.
Yeah but the Wired article is just conjecture by the writers as a 'prediction' (aka click bait) for 2016, so I'm not putting too much weight on it.
You right. I looked a closer at the article. But here's to hoping!
Others have mentioned Hola, which I've used in the past, but didn't always work that well. The other day I used F-Secure Freedome, which worked great. All I had to do was open Freedome, start the service, change my location to the west coast, start the stream on ESPN 3, and then close Freedome. The stream will start in pretty terrible quality until you exit Freedome since the traffic is being routed through a VPN.
Am I the only one that is willing to pay the extra couple bucks for a consistent HD live, pre-programmed image through a hard-wired fiber-optic television service provider? When it comes to Hokie football, I don't take chances and I might as well invest a little into my source since I've already invested so much into the glossy display.
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Typically I just go to a bar, but I was too hungover to do so during the VT/NCst Basketball game.
RIP VTPhreak4evr. He used to provide his cable account log in to anyone who wanted it, and streaming on WatchESPN, without cable, was not an issue.
the hero we deserved
Is there a cap on the number of users on the same watchESPN?
I don't think so. As previously mentioned, VTPhreak used to share his login info all the time on gameday. With anyone. He'd make the post and we'd all rejoice.
That was one of his finer qualities.
(taking Mama's advice).