Dumping the Dish?
Okay, so I’m seriously considering dropping our DirecTV subscription. We’re paying almost $1000 a year and we really don’t use it all that much. And in this day, where so much television can be had online for cheap, or even free in a lot of cases, I’m beginning to evaluate what it would take to actually dump the dish.
So, here’s the list of things that we watch regularly:
- Jeopardy!
- Big Bang Theory
- Top Gear
- The Office (sometimes)
- MythBusters
- Texas Rangers games
- NASCAR races
- Other major sporting events (like the NBA Finals coming up or the Indy 500 tomorrow)
- In addition, Kelly occasionally watches different reruns of some shows, plus occasionally Food Network or HGTV.
The good news is that a lot of that can be viewed online. Big Bang Theory can be had at CBS.com or iTunes. Top Gear can be pulled off of BitTorrent. The Office can be seen on Hulu and MythBusters can be had on iTunes.
Unfortunately, that’s where the fun ends.
First off, Jeopardy! is offered NOWHERE. Not by Sony or CBS, not as BitTorrent (not popular enough and too frequent to put on the trackers), not on iTunes or Hulu, not anywhere. But if I could pick up an over-the-air signal, I could still conceivably pick it up though. I’d have to set up a DVR just for that though.
Major League Baseball has a wonderful program in their MLB.TV, but immediately cripples it by putting moronic blackout restrictions on everything. I’d be willing to give $80 a year to see all the Ranger games online, but I can’t do it because I live here? WAY TO PUNISH THE CUSTOMER, GUYS! I can pay $20 a year to listen to the radio broadcast, but I’ll just dig out an FM radio first.
Most of the remaining sports is just as bad or worse. The NFL and NBA make a fortune on their own networks, so why would they simulcast? On the good side, NASCAR is doing limited tests of video simulcast online. I’m watching the Nationwide race online in the background right now. Not a bad solution. I hope they roll this out for all the races.
And simulcasting is the only way that I’m interested in sports. Yes, you can get the NBA playoff games on Hulu…a few days after everyone else has already reported on it. Plus, sometimes they only offer highlight packages. Why would I pay $2 for a NASCAR highlight package on iTunes when I already know who wins?
So, bottom line is that you can really move to online only if you follow popular programming from major networks or other programming that can be had on BitTorrent. But live or time-sensitive content like news or sports is just not mature enough online yet.
This makes me wonder whether or not I can actually dump the dish or not. I’m going to keep trying to find substitutes, but it ultimately comes down to the sports leagues, and they don’t want to be dragged into the 21st century.
