For many people, TV is considered a necessity in any household. How could you get by without watching the game in real-time high definition, or being inspired by the Food Network and HGTV to start impossible projects you’ll never finish? How could you ever get anything done without the History Channel droning on in the background, while you don’t really pay attention to it?
But, it’s costly — especially living in an expensive city like New York.
For me, a college student living for the first time on my own, in an apartment with other students, having a TV service (i.e., cable or satellite) with a thousand channels to choose from is a luxury I can’t afford financially or time-wise. But, we do have a television set — a little old thing that we bought on the cheap from another student. It’s not much, but it’s enough when we want to watch something all together.
We gather up on the couch, plug someone’s laptop into the HDMI port and cue it up to play. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to entertain, without having to subscribe to a monthly service. When we have parties or get-togethers at our place, sometimes we hook up a gaming console or play some music through the TV, which offers the benefit of versatility and a pretty nice volume level, even if it’s not at the cutting edge of technology today.
Get your TV fix sans cable
But, if you absolutely want to watch your favorite shows for a third of the cost, there are choices. Unbundled services are becoming more plentiful and cord-cutters now have multiple options to get their TV fix. What is usually missing are live sports and cable news programs, but even then, there is hope.
Here are some services that could fill your TV needs:
On-Demand Streaming:
- Netflix: An early pioneer, this streaming and DVD service has a variety of services. Starting at just $8 a month, you can stream movies and TV shows and original programming such as “Orange is the New Black.” Or you can do it the old-fashioned way and subscribe to a DVD service via postal mail. Or combine the two. Prices vary. View via Smart TV (if you have one), streaming media players (i.e., Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Nexus Player, Amazon Fire, Nvidia Shield), game consoles (i.e., PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, Nintendo), set-top boxes (i.e., dish, TiVo, Wave, etc.), Blu-ray players, your mobile, tablet, or computer.
- Hulu & Hulu Plus: Similar to Netflix, you can stream movies and TV shows for about $8 a month. For commercial-free viewing, opt for Hulu Plus, which is $12/month.
- Amazon Prime: If you subscribe to Amazon Prime ($99/year), you have the added benefit of streaming shows similar to Netflix’s offering and other original programming like “Transparent.”
- Sling TV: This company offers live and on-demand viewing and is part of the solution for sports fans since it offers ESPN and ESPN2. Cost is $20 a month for about 20 channels such as ESPN, AMC and TNT. HBO can be added for another $15/month.
Via Devices:
- Apple TV: The current Apple TV device costs about $70 and offers movies and TV shows and content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, HBO GO, and Watch ESPN. The newest iteration will cost $149 and will include Siri remote with touch service, apps and games.
- Roku: This comes as streaming stick, streaming player and soon, in a smart TV. Prices range from $50 to $100 for the portable devices. Stream Netflix shows and Amazon Instant, Crackle, PBS and more. Some add-ons are extra.
- Sony’s PlayStation Vue: This is limited to those who own PlayStation 3 and 4 devices and live in cities such as New York, Chicago, LA, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco or Philadelphia. If you fit the criteria, you can pay about $50 a month for about 50 channels, including CBS, Fox, NBC, AMC, CNBC, CNN, TBS and more. Showtime can be added for an extra charge.
For sports fans, it’s a much more difficult proposition to find a game via the means listed above. But, here are some options:
- Get an antenna. That’s right — we’re going back in time. By using a set-top antenna or even a rooftop (fire escape?) antenna, you could view all kinds of sports on ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS.
- Sling TV: Sling could be the saving grace for many sports fans. Sling has ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS among its offerings. The NFL Monday Night game is broadcast on ESPN and many NBA games are broadcast on TNT. For Major League Baseball fans, many games are shown on ESPN and TBS. Score!
- MLB.TV: For hard-core baseball fans, MLB.TV can be streamed via devices like mobile, computer, PlayStation, Xbox, Roku, TiVo, Chromecast, Apple TV, Nexus and more. Cost is about $24/month or $129/year.
- Go to a sports bar: Many bars in the city have a loyal fan base for teams they follow. They are called “watch sites” and you just have to find them. For example, if you’re an Irish fan, go to the Public House near Grand Central Station to watch the entire Notre Dame fall football schedule. Thrillist even went to the trouble to put together a damn good list of bars in NYC and their college football loyalties.
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(Featured photo by Alastair Montgomery via Flickr Creative Commons)