How to watch sports and save on your cable tv bill

One of the things I had to give up to save money on my cable TV bill was my premium sports package. I love watching the NFL and it was a hard giving up the NFL Network. But I have discovered that I can still get my sports fix via ESPN3.

While I don't get live NFL games via ESPN3, I can access NBA and Euroleague Basketball, College Football and Basketball, MLS Soccer and more in high definition. ESPN3 is only available via select internet service providers; you can visit ESPN3.com to find out if it is available. Also the only way to get the programming to the TV is if you have a PC connected to it or a Xbox 360 with a Xbox Live gold membership. If you already have a 360 in your house with a gold membership, you have everything you need to take advantage of ESPN3! If not you purchase one at Amazon, Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Bundle

On my PlayStation 3, I have access to MLB.tv and NHL Gamecenter. If I were a subscriber to those sites I could stream games in high definition to my television via my PS3. You can price a PS3 at Amazon here; PlayStation 3 160 GB

While the NBA and the NFL doesn't currently have programs on set-top boxes and video game consoles, you can purchase packages that allow you to watch games on your PC. In the US and Mexico, you cannot watch live NFL games online. You can watch commercial free replays in high definition. TNT Overtime streams NBA games broadcast on TNT online for free.

Blackout rules still apply for games being streamed online. This means that if a game is blacked out on local TV you will not be able to watch the game stream online as well.

If you're savvy enough to have a PC connected to your TV, you can stream all of the content to your TV with out a set-top box or video game console. If you're not savvy, my next post will show you how easy it is.

How I save money on cable TV

We made the decision to change our service to basic cable because we needed to save money. We were down to a single income and couldn't afford to keep our premium channels. This is our current set up now.

We have a HDTV in our living room. Connected to it we have a Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3 (PS3). I play video games more than I watch television. I have a Gold level membership on Xbox Live that costs me $60 a year. With that I have access to Netflix, ESPN3, Last.fm and the Zune Marketplace. The Zune Marketplace will allow me to stream HD rentals of movies to my TV. Rentals are paid with Microsoft Points. 1600 points is about 20 dollars and most HD rentals are 480 points. I can do Netflix streaming from my PS3 for free. If I wanted true 1080p streaming, the PS3 is my only option as I don't have a HDMI output on my Xbox 360. Based on my network configuration, the streaming quality is better on my 360. I also have MLB.tv on my PS3 and Hulu Plus is available for PS3 currently. I don't subscribe to either as I don't watch that much baseball or broadcast TV.

My HDTV has a VGA input so I could use it as a monitor for my PC. I can leverage this input to watch basketball on TNT through NBA Overdrive. By running my laptop into TV anything I can watch on the web would be available on my TV. Some folks have a home theater PC (HTPC) just for this purpose. The great benefit of this is that you can access anything on the web as well as movies on DVD or blu-ray depending on your configuration. The downside is that you need a well ventilated space for the HTPC. If you have free space near your TV you should consider this option.

My next post will talk about Netflix as an option for streaming movies and TV shows to your TV. It's an excellent service and very affordable. Thanks for reading!

What's on TV?

One of the best things about streaming content to your television is that you can decide what you want to see and not pay for anything you wouldn't want. I had to pay a premium to watch the NFL Network and was not interested in the other dozen sports channels that came with the package.

In addition the local channels I get with basic cable this is what I have for TV viewing:

Netflix - Netflix rents movies on DVD and Blu Ray, but has a substantial number of titles that are available to stream. Some of the content is available in HD. There are many more shows and movies to rent on DVD than are available streaming, but there is still a wide variety of shows to choose from. You can sign up for $8 a month if you're only interested in streaming movies and shows.

ESPN3 - ESPN3 provides select content from ESPN as well as live sports including college football and NBA basketball. However ESPN3 is not available to all internet service providers. Also if you want to watch it on TV, you will have to connect a PC to it or have an Xbox 360 with a Gold Level membership (which costs $60 a year).

Revision3 - Revision3 distributes video content on a variety of topics, mostly geek culture. It's free to download the shows, however you would need a device to stream the content to the TV.

If you have made it this far, thanks! My next posts will walk you through how to connect all the pieces together so you can start saving money on cable!