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Help for watching IU bball without cable


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Hello everyone.  i apologize for the off topic but thought i could get some good advice here.  

I have cut ties with direct tv because i really only watch college bball and am paying way too much for all those other crap channels.  I am looking at streaming with my Roku.

 I figured i would need BTN, CBS, ESPN, and then TBS/TNT/Tru-TV for the tournament. 

So far some possiblities to use on my ROKU seem to be:   1)  DirecTV Now    2)  Fubo TV    3)  YouTube TV    4)  Play Station Vue

Any advice for those who have already looked into this?  Thank you!

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2 hours ago, Maud'Dib said:

Hello everyone.  i apologize for the off topic but thought i could get some good advice here.  

I have cut ties with direct tv because i really only watch college bball and am paying way too much for all those other crap channels.  I am looking at streaming with my Roku.

 I figured i would need BTN, CBS, ESPN, and then TBS/TNT/Tru-TV for the tournament. 

So far some possiblities to use on my ROKU seem to be:   1)  DirecTV Now    2)  Fubo TV    3)  YouTube TV    4)  Play Station Vue

Any advice for those who have already looked into this?  Thank you!

In addition to the stations you mention, you'll also need FOX and FS1 for some of the games.  

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2 hours ago, Maud'Dib said:

Hello everyone.  i apologize for the off topic but thought i could get some good advice here.  

I have cut ties with direct tv because i really only watch college bball and am paying way too much for all those other crap channels.  I am looking at streaming with my Roku.

 I figured i would need BTN, CBS, ESPN, and then TBS/TNT/Tru-TV for the tournament. 

So far some possiblities to use on my ROKU seem to be:   1)  DirecTV Now    2)  Fubo TV    3)  YouTube TV    4)  Play Station Vue

Any advice for those who have already looked into this?  Thank you!

Remember the big ten is now on the Fox stations as well.

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As someone who just recently 'cut the cord', I've done some research into this subject as well.  As others have mentioned, the $45/mo PS Vue plan seems to be the best option for me.  I'll probably subscribe to it from November through March.  Also, without a cable subscription I  don't think you can purchase any access directly from them (BTN) - IMO, very stupid business model.

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We dropped cable about a year ago.  I go with an Amazon Firestick and the Kodi App for most things.  It took a little while to get used to, but it saves us about $150 a month and we still get to watch everything we used to when we want to watch.  We use SlingTV as well for ESPN channels and a few other things.    

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17 minutes ago, dbmhoosier said:

Skip Directv Now.   It is still buggy as all hell even 11 months after release.  Hulu is supposed to be pretty good.  Sling doesn't have BTN and PS Vue recently went way up in price.

Unless Hulu has improved a TON since it first dropped a few months ago, I thought the UI sucked.  It's just like Hulu regularly, which is great for searching for a specific show but awful for channel surfing to see what's on.  

I went back to Vue very quickly and am not bothered by the price increase. (Though if all these prices get close to cable I'll probably be back on cable or satellite) 

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6 hours ago, Zuckerkorn said:

As someone who just recently 'cut the cord', I've done some research into this subject as well.  As others have mentioned, the $45/mo PS Vue plan seems to be the best option for me.  I'll probably subscribe to it from November through March.  Also, without a cable subscription I  don't think you can purchase any access directly from them (BTN) - IMO, very stupid business model.

Yes. $45 a month if you live in a market with local channels, $35 if not. Mainly these locals are in larger markets. 

Regardless, most states aren’t seeing a sales tax being charged for Vue service. Also, you aren’t paying equipment rental or add on service fees. Vue is far from buggy. It’s a generally clean experience. If you have a good, solid internet connection with low lag and good general speed coupled with a powerful enough device (Vue tends to perform best on a FireTV <not a Fire Stick>, AppleTV fourth generation or better, or a PlayStation).

Another standard feature that enhances Vue’s value is the 28-day unlimited cloud-based DVR. 

It is, simply, the best, most comprehensive affordable alternative to cable television at current. Hands down.

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40 minutes ago, zerawkid said:

Yes. $45 a month if you live in a market with local channels, $35 if not. Mainly these locals are in larger markets. 

Regardless, most states aren’t seeing a sales tax being charged for Vue service. Also, you aren’t paying equipment rental or add on service fees. Vue is far from buggy. It’s a generally clean experience. If you have a good, solid internet connection with low lag and good general speed coupled with a powerful enough device (Vue tends to perform best on a FireTV <not a Fire Stick>, AppleTV fourth generation or better, or a PlayStation).

Another standard feature that enhances Vue’s value is the 28-day unlimited cloud-based DVR. 

It is, simply, the best, most comprehensive affordable alternative to cable television at current. Hands down.

That's the old price.  For the Core service, which is what has all the networks you need to watch IU games, it's now $45/month nationwide, whether or not it includes local channels.  The price went up for new customers in July, and will for existing customers three billing cycles from July, or about now.

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20 minutes ago, BoomBaby said:

That's the old price.  For the Core service, which is what has all the networks you need to watch IU games, it's now $45/month nationwide, whether or not it includes local channels.  The price went up for new customers in July, and will for existing customers three billing cycles from July, or about now.

Thanks for the clarification. After I typed that I wondered if an increase across the board had gone into play. Either way, I live in a larger market and have never minded playing the extra ten bucks a month for the locals. I lived in an area I couldn’t get them with an OTA antenna.

As far as Viacom channels not being part of the deal, when they went away I was a little bummed, but frankly haven’t missed them at all.

Its still great value. I’d imagine Sony knows they’re absolutely up against it and can’t really afford to bump prices and lose channels anymore. 

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11 hours ago, KoB2011 said:

Unless Hulu has improved a TON since it first dropped a few months ago, I thought the UI sucked.  It's just like Hulu regularly, which is great for searching for a specific show but awful for channel surfing to see what's on.  

I went back to Vue very quickly and am not bothered by the price increase. (Though if all these prices get close to cable I'll probably be back on cable or satellite) 

HULU is still kinda screwy for finding what you want to watch, but if you get the chanels and things you watch most set as favorites when you start up, its not too bad.  Still dont get fox ir a couple other chanels live but i use kodi (when i can get the add ons to work) to watch what i cant find. 

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I am exploring cutting cable and purchased the $40/month Hulu service which has most of the ESPN channels, a bunch of Fox Sports, and BTN.  The only channels I will miss is Discovery but for that I use KODI.  I also bought a TV tuner for my Xbox and a 50 mile antenna to get local stations.  The local stations look better than what Frontier FIOS gives me.

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YouTube TV is in testing right now in some markets, but I hope the testing goes well.  I haven't used their TV yet as I'm waiting until May for my Xfinity contract to be up and then I'm going to consider cutting the cord.  They are currently missing Turner Networks and Viacom channels (TNT, TBS, Comedy Central, Tru TV, etc..) but from what I have read those will come if YouTube decides to go move forward and launch nationwide.  At $35 currently, it is a pretty good deal.

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1 hour ago, BtownBallers said:

YouTube TV is in testing right now in some markets, but I hope the testing goes well.  I haven't used their TV yet as I'm waiting until May for my Xfinity contract to be up and then I'm going to consider cutting the cord.  They are currently missing Turner Networks and Viacom channels (TNT, TBS, Comedy Central, Tru TV, etc..) but from what I have read those will come if YouTube decides to go move forward and launch nationwide.  At $35 currently, it is a pretty good deal.

I've got it. The live streaming is much more that just sports.  I enjoy it very much.

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5 hours ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

i was not a fan of PSVue or DirectTV now.  Look at Sling TV.  You're not going to get the locals but i think it does have ESPN and maybe BTN?

I had Sling before Vue, it was better than Hulu but I didn't like it as much as Vue.  I think some of it depends on what device you're using as the interface changes from app to app on each device.  

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