Quote:I am at the end of my rope getting gouged by DirecTV. Has anyone cut the cord? Sling TV seems like it really has a majority of the channels I watch for $20 a month plus a few add-on's. Am I missing something? The main ones I watch that I am not seeing are NFL Network, NBA TV, and Golf Channel. Are these offered with any other packages?

 

For those who have done it, can you give some pro's and con's of your experience?

 

Thanks!

 

Well, I "cut the cord" a few months ago and haven't missed a beat.  I have an Amazon Fire (the box not the stick) and I side-loaded the Kodi app.  I also got an inexpensive over-the-air antenna and receive quite a few channels, though not all of them are in HD, but I can pretty much watch whatever I want in HD.  The key thing is to have a good internet connection and of course, be able to pick up stations over-the-air.

 

With that being said, I can watch the channels that you listed with no problem.  I am not doing anything illegal whatsoever because I am using "commercial off the shelf" hardware and open source software.  Data received over the internet is free as long as you aren't "hacking" into a system to get it.  Is it ethical?  Well, you the person using the equipment and/or software needs to make that decision on your own.  Technically speaking, if someone puts a live stream of copyrighted data onto the internet, it's fair game.  They in fact are the ones breaking the law.  If someone shares copyrighted data using bit torrent or some other protocol on the internet, they are breaking the law.

 

The bottom line is, there is a fine line between legal/ethical and not.  I personally don't download, stream or otherwise obtain content that I know is being illegally hosted.  For the upcoming football season, I'll rely on my over-the-air antenna and perhaps look into a subscription for the Thursday night games.

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