OT - Ditching the cable - is there anyway I can still watch the Royals?

And I believe your only friend since you’ve decided to cut the cord.

My wife would probably leave me if she were unable to watch all her Real Housegines, design shows, and random real-life murder shows (i.e. “Snapped”, etc.). Somehow I don’t think I could sell her on Hulu/Netflix offerings like “Remington Steele” and “Major Dad” as substitutes.

The neighborhood I live in has tons of trees, the direct tv guy told me I’d have to cut down two trees and a tree in my neighbours yard… FML

Haven’t regretted it much since:
a) I still get broadcast channels so I can watch mindless TV when I want to feel numb
b) I regularly use internet streaming for football and soccer, with only a handful of games I can’t get
c) i save about $140/month

I probably will get MLB TV in the spring and maybe the AppleTV box, but this works for me since I’m not in the Royals’ market.

I switch every other year like clockwork. My current bill is $62.99/month for the second to the highest package. I’ll lose HBO, Skinimax, etc…in 3 months and their DVR sucks compared to Dish, but I’ll just deal with it for the next two years. My bill after 1 year will go to around $109 but I’m saving over $400 this year alone for making the switch. I could never get by on over the air tv and netflix/hulu. With the sports pack, I get the FSKC games all year. Well worth it in my book. I’d recommend Dish network over Directv just based on the quality of tech support and hardware.

What is that anyway?

if you don’t mind not having a mute button for Ryan Lefebvre

what part of the city do you live in?

I’ve been without cable for almost 2 years. It sucks. It. Sucks. Big. Time.

What happens is I get my shows online, mostly through Netflix, but the problem is that Netflix kind of sucks. They either have every episode of something you want to watch, or they don’t. And when they don’t you get a little pissy.

Secondly, it has been pointed out that you can catch games online. I delved in this area, but the problems have been pointed out, grainy feed, and impossible to find, constantly shifting channels. Not to mention that it is illegal, and by illegal, I mean illegal, like…against the law. I look for the government to really put a stronghold on this, and it is already happening with the new proposed net laws. Just check out www.channelsurfing.com. It should still have the Government Seals of shutdownage up.

Next, is the sports problem. What happens is there will be a game on and I am dying to see it so I go hang out at a sports bar, which just doesn’t suit me. I don’t see myself drinking more than 1 or 2 and then you have the problem of slumming around for 3 hours to finish the game. Not only this, it costs you more money in the long run, because you will find ways, like, “Hey, honey let’s go to Applebee’s, your favorite place!” and then watch the game and drop 40 bucks on garbage food. Or maybe its, “Oh, I’ll just go to the boat and play a poker tournament and watch the game!” Minus 50 more bucks.

Trust me. It ain’t worth it. I can not wait to get cable back, and relax at home watching sports with the kids.

I imagine somewhere Richard Thaler is clapping.

I believe Royals games are blacked out on the internet. Football games are not, if I want to listen to a Cowboys/Giants game, I just use Apple app to get the game streaming on either Dallas or NY radio. This may be the case with baseball, I am not sure. But last time I tried to internet stream I couldn’t, it will play some random 3 hour program online, while the actual radio station is airing the game. I think this is because so many baseball fans are radio people, and they have deals to protect.

Also, I looooooooved my MLB.com subscription I had one year. That was when I was working random hours and could just catch the game whenever, so it blacks the game out live, but you can watch a taped version 15 minutes after the game ends. Or watch the condensed version. I don’t think they blackout spring training games, though, so it is great for that.

you live in the area and pay for the service? Does Fox really make that much extra money by stopping this?

Now this won’t solve the watching Royals in KC problem, but it will aid in your quest to watch TV on your TV instead of on your computer. It’s similar to Apple TV, but if you aren’t totally in the Apple universe, this might be a better choice.

For out of viewing area people, there is an MLB channel, and I believe if you have an mlb.tv subscription, then you’ll be able to watch on the big screen…

www.roku.com

They have MLB tv on the PS3

If you don’t mind being 3 hours behind, MLB lets you watch the local market games 30 minutes after they end…not ideal, but you can get your fix.

According to MLB.com: “The applicable game will be available as an archived game approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of the game.”
So I was off a bit on the time…but Im stuck out here and Denver and cant get the Royals on TV anyway…big fan of mlb.tv. Even better now that its on XBox Live for this year…dont have to hook the laptop up to the TV.

Why the iPad’s is Big Cable’s Secret Weapon Against Its Own Irrelevance

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/12/bloomberg_articlesLXP5PE6S972F.DTL

I’m guessing this won’t apply to local blackouts for regular MLB games though.

I am in the St. Louis area looking at switching to U-Verse. The packages I am looking at include FS Midwest STL, KC and Indy (confirmed this with a rep, however they did not know what the blackout situation might be).

Does anyone know if U-Verse blacks out Royals games on FSKC in St. Louis? If they do, why bother even having the channel available out of territory? A lot of displaced KU and KSU volleyball fans?

Do you have a wife? Kids? Then get rid of cable. Chances are, you don’t have a lot of time to sit around and watch TV anyway, and when you do, you only get to watch what you like about 50% of the time. Frankly, the longer I go without cable (about a year now), the more I realize that—while I certainly enjoyed the shows I watched before—they really aren’t an irreplaceable part of my life. Do I like Food Network? Yes, I do. Has my quality of life suffered as a result of not watching it this past year? No.

Sports make it tougher, but not that bad. Over the air reception on network NFL games is much better than the picture and audio I used to get from DirecTV. If you have the right Internet provider, you can watch a bunch of stuff on ESPN3.com. Lots of Big12 basketball is broadcast on channel 38 in addition to ESPN3.com. I also assume you have friends that you can hang out with if there is a big game you can’t see.

That brings us to the Royals. This is really the biggest problem with no cable. I think the way to go—which I haven’t fully tried yet—is to do mlb.tv and then pay for access to a high-quality proxy server outside the blackout area. You can also take the $125/mo. (or whatever) that you were paying in cable and apply it towards a Royals season ticket package, go to 40 games, have more fun, and listen to the rest on the radio.