Life with Sling TV

When I moved to Los Angeles last June, I thought I'd be taking my DirecTV account with me.  So I packed my box, put my account on hold and went apartment huntinh.  Then I moved into a house with 3 other people and they didn't have cable and weren't interested in getting it, so it was goodbye DirecTV (that breakup cost me $200).   As a self-professed TV junkie what was I to do?

Well, I had subscriptions to Netflix and HuluPlus but that wasn't going to get me any live TV.  And so I headed to my local Radio Shack (R.I.P.) and bought a digital antennae (nothing fancy, I spent maybe $30.  One of of my roommates was amazed that I was able to get all of the channels, as she had only 2 with her antennae.  It took some time, a combination of putting the antennae at the right height and then understand how my TV actually searched for the stations. So yes, I can watch Premier League games when they show them on NBC on the occasional Sunday morning.  

Alright, I got all of the network channels and PBS. And yet, I was still missing things. I went back to Radio Shack and got a Roku, yes, I already had a Chromecast but at the time Roku offered some things I couldn't get with the Chromecast. Also, my tablet went bust and casting video from my laptop just overheated my computer.   With the help of friends and family I was able to access Showtime and HBO, which was awesome because well, I caught up on all of Game of Thrones.  

And yet, it still felt like something was missing.   

Enter Sling TV.  Yeah, sure they have ESPN but that was the least of my concerns, HGTV is on offer, along with TNT, TBS, and AMC and other channels. Pay dirt. I don't know when I became so obsessed with houses and the many TV shows about buying, selling, renovating them etc, but a marathon of "Property Brothers" is oddly comforting. I've had it for about a week and it's been great, I no longer have to stream "The Walking Dead" off of my computer on Sunday night, I can just watch it on my TV and with the final episodes of "Mad Men" coming, Sling came at the right time.  

Cord cutting is a growing trend as many find cable bundles unaffordable or for some unnecessary. Sling TV is "cable light".  I have the basic package which cost $20 a month, add that to Netflix and Hulu subscriptions and I'm spending $36 on television which is way less then any Time Warner Cable or DirecTV bill that I've ever had.   If you want to spend another $25 you can have all of the channels.  

I didn't set out to be part of the TV revolution (I used to torrent and/or buy episodes of "Lost" when I lived abroad and needed to be up on the latest episodes).  For right I'm like the set up I have and it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.