My tv aka "social" experiment for the upcoming football/basketball season

**cjb1978** · 07-21-2010, 10:34 AM

Over the last few days I have been reading some articles about how you really don't need cable/satellite anymore and you can watch everything online. This got me to thinking about trying this for the upcoming NFL/NBA & college season. So this September I will be canceling my Direct TV and will only have a high speed internet connection that will run me about $60 a month from quest.

I will be streaming the programs I want to watch through my pc that is hooked up to my pc. I will be doing the following to keep up to date on my tv programs:

1. For the NBA, will use their online package for $80 a year in HD quality.
2. For the normal tv watching, will watch them a day later they are posted online at the station's website or Hulu.
3. For movies, will start up a netflix account for $10 a month.
4. For the NFL, will use their online package for $90 a year but will have to use a proxy to hide my ip so I can watch it while still being state side.
5. For all other sport programs, will be using ESPN 3 or other online services to watch the ISU games that will be on tv in HD format.

I figure I will be able to save about $2,000 a year. This is based on $100 a month for Direct TV w/out the need for a DVR and $325 or so for the NBA & NFL Direct TV packages.

I was curious if anyone else has thought about doing this or is currently doing this process?

**JD720** · 07-21-2010, 10:36 AM

I would consider Mediacom instead of Qwest for the sake of having ESPN3. I think it would be about the same price you list for Qwest.

**tejasclone** · 07-21-2010, 10:42 AM

Only a handful (at best) of ISU football games will find their way onto ESPN3. Most of our games will be televised on FSN or Versus, and to my knowledge there aren't good online options for those broadcasts unless you go with something like channelsurfing.net, where the quality is going to be abysmal.

ESPN3 will be great for watching ISU men's basketball games though, especially once they start conference play since all Big 12 games are available on ESPN Full Court. For the non-conference games, though, I think only about 1/4 of those games were available on Full Court last year.

**BryceC** · 07-21-2010, 10:44 AM

I’ve thought about it but I don’t know if my internet is fast enough and I don’t know if the picture quality will be to my liking.

I am looking forward to the day when content delivery is very specialized and we can buy the things we want to see. I don’t think it’s very far off.

**Clonehomer** · 07-21-2010, 10:47 AM

For network programs and ISU basketball, you can get quite a bit OTA. But, how will you watch ISU football?

**cjb1978** · 07-21-2010, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by Clonehomer

For network programs and ISU basketball, you can get quite a bit OTA. But, how will you watch ISU football?

www.myp2p.eu/

Have used it before to watch all ISU football games online for free, only downside is that you have to use MS Explorer.

**Clonehomer** · 07-21-2010, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by cjb1978

www.myp2p.eu/

Have used it before to watch all ISU football games online for free, only downside is that you have to use MS Explorer.

And the risk of getting sued for illegal distribution.

**cjb1978** · 07-21-2010, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Clonehomer

And the risk of getting sued for illegal distribution.

That is a different topic, you will not suffer anything as you are only watching. The person that is streaming the link to the viewers would be in legal trouble.

**ISUAgronomist** · 07-21-2010, 11:20 AM

Does Qwest give access to ESPN3?

**ianoconnor** · 07-21-2010, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by isuaggie

Does Qwest give access to ESPN3?

No.

**cjb1978** · 07-21-2010, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by isuaggie

Does Qwest give access to ESPN3?

No but Iowa Service Network & Meidcom do. I might have to look at one of them as my ISP going forward instead of Quest.

**Tedcyclone** · 07-21-2010, 11:33 AM

I like it.. my only issue is getting every college football game i can... tough call. If a person ended up going to a bar to watch games every weekend, you may spend the same? I like the idea. college football is the only real kicker for me.

**dmclone** · 07-21-2010, 12:19 PM

I have a much easier solution.

Find a friend (a really good one) that has directv and high speed internet.

Tell him you'll pay him $10/month to add another directv reciever to his set-up.

Buy a $100 slingbox

There you go. End of story.

I'm able to watch my directv from home while tailgating.

**jumbopackage** · 07-21-2010, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by cjb1978

That is a different topic, you will not suffer anything as you are only watching. The person that is streaming the link to the viewers would be in legal trouble.

Most of those sites are p2p streaming sites, so you technically are distributing it. I agree that the chances of getting caught are pretty slim, but it's really no different than using bittorrent to download a movie. Just that you get to watch it in (near) real-time while it's downloading, and it's not saving it.

**agrabes** · 07-21-2010, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by jumbopackage

Most of those sites are p2p streaming sites, so you technically are distributing it. I agree that the chances of getting caught are pretty slim, but it's really no different than using bittorrent to download a movie. Just that you get to watch it in (near) real-time while it's downloading, and it's not saving it.

Or, thinking of it a different way it's just watching a dvd at a friend's house or watching tv on an over-the-air broadcast, just that the friend is located in China and owns many copies of many different movies or the tv station has moved to digital distribution and doesn't like to place ads in certain programming.

Streaming is definitely a legal gray area, at least for the viewer. I won't say it's totally legally acceptable the way some might, because it isn't. To say it's no different than using bittorrent to download a movie isn't quite right though. Torrenting involves distributing digital copies of some type of media that is usually copyrighted and therefore illegal. Streaming involves one person making media available for viewing to many others, but no copy, physical or digital, changes hands.