Super Bowl LI: Fox Sports Wins With a Cord Cutting Touchdown!

[gene]

Listen up, rookies! Team cable is on the defense as cord cutting threatens a deep run into their end-zone. This ain’t no puppy show! To get your head into the big game this year, you’re gonna’ need your grit, your wit and a high speed Internet connection. Oh, and a set-top streaming device like Android/AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, Windows, Roku or a game console wouldn’t hurt either.

We examine how more and more people are streaming the Super Bowl LI this year.

Read: Super Bowl LI: Fox Sports Wins With a Cord Cutting Touchdown!

 

[Bryce_H]

I'm curious if anyone ended up streaming the game. I cut the cord years ago, but did put an antenna on the roof...

Anyone?

 

[rojo]

I'm curious if anyone ended up streaming the game. I cut the cord years ago, but did put an antenna on the roof...

Anyone?

I watched it over the air as well. I was going to try and find a Roku channel stream for it but OTA was simpler this time for reasons.

 

[yippiechicken]

I'm curious if anyone ended up streaming the game. I cut the cord years ago, but did put an antenna on the roof...

Anyone?

I've never had the cord to cut. I've always done over the air/antenna but I sometimes am not able to pull in the FOX station.
I didn't want to risk it, so I downloaded the FOX sports app on the XBOX One.

Sure enough, I couldn't get FOX on Sunday so I streamed it through the app and had ZERO issues with it. It worked great.

 

[hk2000]

I'm in the minority I guess, but when I add up what Comcast charges for internet only service, plus what the subscription fee is for any of the streaming options, it comes up to a lot more every time, so It is not always cheaper to cut the cord. I do use an antenna for all local channels, though, because the PQ is so much better.

 

[Bryce_H]

Our cost went way down. Granted we did up our internet speed, but the cost was not a huge difference (and now I have fiber!). We subscribe to Netflix, do over the air, and then get season passes to specific shows through amazon prime. The big hit to programmed that we did take was sports...

 

[The Real Thomas Dolby]

I have streamed games in past years, but recently I have installed an antenna. If you're serious about being a cord-cutter, it's a must.

If you have two or more of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, you get a good selection of sports programming in all seasons. The picture and sound quality is also unbeatable on the primary care so if you are having fights with your spouse over speakers, get a damn antenna!

Lots of people think it will be a hassle. I live on a farm that is 50 miles from the city I point my antenna to; it's a $60 antenna on the edge of the roof which I was able to mount without standing on a ladder. I get about 20 channels.

My mother-in-law lives in an apartment on the outskirts of a different, smaller city and has an pair of rabbit ears and gets about the same number of channels. In fact there is one powerful station I can get at my house with an indoor antenna.

Note that those "flat panel" antennas and other odd-shaped antennas you see advertised today are a real improvement over the old rabbit ears and log-periodic antennas. New TV antennas are based on fractal geometry and take up less than half the space of equivalent performing old antennas at the cost of using more wire.

If you remember Broadcast TV from the 1980s or 1990s, today it is better than it has ever been, so there is no reason not to try it out.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have Direct TV in 4 rooms for $50 per month because my wife must have her channels (E!, CNN, Food). Otherwise, I would just have OTA antenna.

 

[little wing]

Another vote for Direct TV, it's the only way for me to watch Eagles games here in AZ Otherwise I would have cable. I don't want to figure out how to stream regular broadcast channels. I just pay the piper

 

[rojo]

I'm in the minority I guess, but when I add up what Comcast charges for internet only service, plus what the subscription fee is for any of the streaming options, it comes up to a lot more every time, so It is not always cheaper to cut the cord. I do use an antenna for all local channels, though, because the PQ is so much better.

My Comcast bill reached $200 this past month, so I cut cable TV. Cable Internet (the 75 mbps plan) will be $80, then I'll pay $50 for Playstation Vue + HBO, then tack on whatever Hulu and Netflix cost. I've also got Amazon Prime, but I don't include that cost since I already had it regardless. Cutting cable is going to save me about $50 per month. So far I've enjoyed watching things on demand so much more than trying to remember to DVR it. Indeed, I didn't realize what I was missing with Netflix. And for the times I want live TV, Playstation Vue has been a good substitute.

 

[Pogre]

I've tried to cut the cord a few times, but my wife throws a fit. Though I have to admit I do like my Discovery channels and watching UFC on Fox Sports1.

 

[Bryce_H]

Another benefit to cutting the cord is the ability to take your shows with you offline. I run my antenna through a computer (running Kodi with a NextPVR backend) to record OTA tv. I then run MCBuddy to remove the commercials and either put them back into Kodi as TV show or transfer them to my tablet to watch while on business travel.

When we cut the cord we saved about $150. I had to buy a couple additional parts for the computer, but we broke even in about a month and a half.

Every once and awhile we talk about "going back" but realize we do not miss much and certainly don't miss the cost.