While cord cutting is a great way to save money, it’s not for everyone. If you are in a household that simply doesn’t want to ditch a premium cable subscription due to must-have channels or simplicity of use, there are ways to save money on your monthly bill without cutting the cord.

Similar to purchasing to your own cable modem for Internet connectivity rather than renting one from your cable company, shifting to a platform like TiVo will allow you to return your cable boxes and bring an end to rental fees. In addition, you will be able to shift your monthly DVR fee from your cable company to a lower cost service fee from TiVo.

Check Your Bill

The cable provider in my area of the country is Cox. For my installation, I originally requested DVR service, a central hub box (1TB) with 6 tuners, and three additional tuners that can connect to the main DVR box over the cable lines.

As you can see from the bill above, my service was running me about $54 a month; roughly $20 for the DVR service and $8.50 for each box. If you have a larger home to outfit with more boxes, that number could be even higher. It all depends on what your cable company is charging for DVR service and for each box.

Here’s a breakdown of what a few of the major cable companies charge for a similar setup (Whole Home DVR service + 4 boxes)

[table caption=”Monthly Rental Fees” width=”620″ colwidth=”20|20|20|20|20″ colalign=”center|center|center|center|center”]
Company,DVR Service,Per Box, DVR + 4 boxes,Yearly Total

Charter,$20,$7,$48,$576
Comcast,$19.95,$9.95,$60,$720
Cox,$19.99,$8.50,$54,$648
Time Warner,$19.99,$11.75,$67,$804
Verizon Fios,$22,$8.99,$58,$696

[/table]

Compare to TiVo

In short, you will be replacing your DVR / rental fees from your cable company with an upfront purchase of hardware from TiVo as well as a monthly, yearly or lifetime fee for DVR service and TiVo’s recommendation platform.

• Monthly rate: $14.99.
• Yearly rate: $149.99 ($12.50-a-month).
• Lifetime service rate: $549.99 ($11.50-a-month spread over 4 years).

Regarding hardware costs, one sample setup would be to purchase a TiVo Bolt ($200 to $500 depending on hard drive storage size, number of tuners) and multiple TiVo Mini boxes ($150). To match a similar setup as detailed in the cable example above, a 1TB TiVo Bolt + 3 Tivo Minis will run $750. Add $150 for the yearly rate and the initial cost for the first year is $900.  In addition, you will need a cable card from your service provider, usually $1 to $3 a month.

A Time Warner customer would nearly break even on the first year, save more than $500 on year two and save roughly $650 every year after that (assuming they are on the yearly plan). That’s a savings of $2,400 over five years. A Time Warner customer on the lifetime service plan would come out slightly better over five years, saving roughly $2,700.

TiVo Installation Tips

1. The number televisions utilizing a live television feed in your home (via a TiVo Mini) is directly related to the number of tuners in your main TiVo box. If you have a couple kids watching television in different rooms, you may want to spring for the 6-tuner model in order to record multiple shows on the other tuners while live feeds are being used on the Mini boxes.
2. Be sure to check that the serial number on your main TiVo Bolt matches the serial number on your TiVo account. I ordered through TiVo.com (which should have registered my serial automatically), but ended up having to call their support line to switch to the correct number.
3. If you are running over MoCa (streaming video from your Bolt to your Mini via your home’s cable network), you will need to hardwire your Bolt to directly to an Ethernet connection. You also have the option of connecting your Mini’s via Ethernet, but a home is much more likely to have cable jacks than hardwired Ethernet jacks.
4. Connecting Tivo Mini boxes using a Powerline adapter isn’t recommended by TiVo, but some users have had luck with the newer Gigabit-capable Powerline adapters (example). It may be worth testing before running Ethernet cables all over your home.
5. If you are running Ethernet cable to all Minis in a home, pick up a switch that offers a minimum of 1GB of bandwidth per TiVo device. Most gigabit Ethernet switches should do the trick.
6. Be aware that TiVo includes a diagnostics screen for testing signal strength to the various boxes around your home. It’s definitely worth testing signal strength to make sure you don’t run into any choppy video problems or dropped connections. If you are running through MoCa, consider adding a point-of-entry MoCA filter if you are losing Internet connectivity.

How to save $500 a year by switching to TiVo

Did you make a proclamation for the New Year that you planned to get skinny? Did you make this proclamation loudly on social media, bragging about how skinny you would be? And were your workout clothes and diet shakes both tucked away in a dark corner of a closet within about two weeks of your brag?

Don’t despair. You can still save face by going skinny … but with your cable subscription. And if your tricky word play doesn’t fool your social media friends into believing you were talking about TV the entire time, at least you’ll be saving quite a bit of money each month.

But will a subscription skinny TV bundle be as unsatisfying as those diet shakes? We’ve broken down the key features of the three primary reduced pay-TV options available currently — DirecTV Now, Sling TV, and PlayStation Vue. Learn more about the best skinny TV bundle options here!

DirecTV Now

The satellite giant gives you four tiers of skinny service, ranging from 60 to 120 channels.

If you’re looking for the easiest service to understand, it’s DirecTV Now. It doesn’t offer a lot of extra purchase options and keeps the channel lineups within each tier pretty simple.

You will end up paying a bit more for the DirecTV tiers versus the other options, but you’ll also receive a larger variety of channels than the two other services. I was pretty impressed with DirecTV Now’s lowest tier package for $35, as it has plenty of great channels.

At the time of this writing, DirecTV Now is being offered to new customers with a seven-day free trial. Cancel during the trial, and you owe nothing. Or new customers can prepay for a three-month subscription and receive a free Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick.

Packages and Costs

• Live a Little — 60 channels, $35 per month
• Just Right — 80 channels, $50 per month
• Go Big — 100 channels, $60 per month
• Gotta Have It — 120 channels, $70 per month
• Add-on channels — HBO, Starz, and/or Cinemax can be added for $5 to $8 per month each

Cable Sports Offerings

• Live a Little — ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports 1, TBS, TNT, TruTV, USA
• Just Right — Sports channels in lowest tier plus Big Ten Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, MLB Network, NBC Sports Network, SEC Network, Tennis Channel, one regional sports network
• Go Big — Sports channels in two lowest tiers plus Fox Sports 2, Golf Channel, NBA TV, NHL Network, TVG
• Gotta Have It — Same offering as Go Big
• Not available — CBS Sports Network, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, Outside Network, Velocity Network, ESPN3, Pac-12 Network

Good

• Plenty of tiers
• No contracts or cancellation fees
• Best collection of desirable channels in lowest tier
• Easiest channel lineup to understand in each tier; no overlapping of channels from tier to tier
• Customers who prepay for three months receive Apple TV hardware or Amazon Fire TV stick for streaming

Bad

• Must sign up for account at DirecTV Now Web site before you can see packages
• Higher average prices than other two options
• Limited number of add-on packages
• Live local channels are only available in certain cities
• Cannot make use of cloud DVR services yet
• No NFL Network at any tier

PlayStation Vue

There’s a maximum 100-plus channels available through PlayStation Vue, but smaller tiers are available too.

Although the PlayStation Vue service has a pretty extensive channel offering, especially at the Core Slim level, it can’t fully match DirecTV Now’s offerings because Vue doesn’t have Viacom channels included at the time of this writing, such as Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central. Still, Core Slim is our favorite sub-$40 skinny bundle at this point, thanks in large part to its really strong sports channel lineup.

If you already own a newer PlayStation gaming console, you can stream the Vue service through it, meaning you won’t have to spring for extra hardware. And Vue’s cloud DVR service is handy for skipping commercials or recording shows, even though its performance levels are painfully slow versus traditional DVR hardware.

PlayStation Vue offers a 7-day free trial to new subscribers.

Packages and Costs

• Access Slim — 45 channels, $30 per month
• Core Slim — 60 channels, $35 per month
• Elite Slim — 90 channels, $45 per month
• Ultra Slim — 100-plus channels, $65 per month
• Add-on channels — EPIX Hits and/or Espanol Pack for $3 to $5 per month each

Cable Sports Offerings

• Access Slim — ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, NBC Sports Network, TBS, TNT, TruTV, USA
• Core Slim — Sports channels in lowest tier plus Big Ten Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, NBA TV, NFL Network, SEC Network, one regional sports network
• Elite Slim — Sports channels in two lowest tiers plus Golf Channel, ESPN Deportes, Outside Network, Velocity Network
• Ultra Slim — Same offering as Elite Slim
• Not available — CBS Sports Network, MLB Network, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, TVG, ESPN3, Pac-12 Network

Good

• Plenty of tiers
• Cloud DVR service available, even though it has slow response times
• Nice collection of desirable channels in lowest tier
• Best interface for accessing programming among skinny bundles
• Can stream through PlayStation gaming consoles
• Core Slim is our favorite sub-$40 skinny TV tier; best mix of regular channels and sports at best price

Bad

• Fewer channels than some other options at lowest tier
• If you want subscription movie channels, you’re limited to the Ultra Slim package
• No support for Apple TV hardware
• No inclusion of Viacom channels at the time of this writing (Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, et cetera)
• Live local channels are only available in certain cities
• No MLB Network or NHL Network at any tier

Sling TV

Up to 162 channels are available with the maximum Sling TV offering, but the basic tiers each offer less than 50 channels. (Sling TV is offered by DISH Network; click the link to read our Sling TV review from when it initially appeared.)

I don’t know how to say this any other way, so here goes: The channel offerings in Sling’s two packages are just weird and confusing. Some of the channels overlap between the two services. If you want a full collection of the primary sports channels, for examples, you will have to subscribe to both tiers, which you can do for $40 per month. Why wouldn’t the provider just put all the sports channels into one tier?

Sling offers the largest number of add-on channel packages, which are handy but which also can drive up the cost of this skinny bundle in a hurry. It can be a little confusing too, as you may have to purchase a full add-on package to gain access to just one favorite channel. Sling is attempting to give subscribers more of an à la carte feeling with this design, but it seems more confusing than helpful.

If you can just stick with the Orange or Blue offering though, this is definitely the least expensive skinny bundle out there. And it works with a variety of hardware options.

Packages and Costs

• Sling Orange — 30 channels, $20 per month
• Sling Blue — 44 channels, $25 per month
• Sling Orange and Blue — about 50 channels, $40 per month
• Add-on channels — Kids Extra, Comedy Extra, News Extra, Lifestyle Extra, Sports Extra, Movies Extra, Spanish Extra for $5 to $15 per month each

Cable Sports Offerings

• Sling Orange — ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, TBS, TNT
• Sling Blue — Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, NBC Sports Network, NFL Network, USA, TBS, TNT, TruTV, one regional sports network
• Sports Extra (add these channels to either tier for $10 per month) — NBA TV, NHL Network, Golf Channel, Outside Network, Pac-12 Network
• Not available — CBS Sports Network, MLB Network, Tennis Channel, TVG, Big Ten Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, SEC Network, ESPN Deportes, Velocity Network

Good

• Offers highest number of add-on packages
• Least expensive base options
• Large number of Spanish-speaking channel options in add-on packages
• Includes support for ESPN3 at lowest tier
• Offers seven-day free trial

Bad

• Channel lineup on tiers overlaps a lot, causing confusion
• Add-on channel packages can be confusing
• Pick a few add-on channel packages, and the price goes up fast
• Live local channels are only available in certain cities
• Weird tier splitting; NFL Network and Fox Sports 1 are on Blue tier, but no ESPN on Blue tier
• No MLB Network or ESPNU available at any tier
• No Nickelodeon, Fox News, or Discovery available at any tier

Hulu Live TV and Others

Hulu’s live TV skinny service is scheduled to start some time in 2017. Few details are available, other than the OTT live service is expected to cost less than $40 per month for the lowest tier.

It’s also possible that YouTube, Apple, and Amazon will begin offering OTT live services at some point in the next year, so keep an eye on this changing marketplace if the idea of a skinny bundle appeals to you!

Recommendations

Because the service lineups are in flux with these three offerings, consider our recommendations at this point as being fluid too. But, based on what we know today, here are our favorites:

• Best Deal for the Price: PlayStation Vue’s Core Slim. It has a good monthly price point at $35 with the best sports channels for the money. It is missing Viacom channels though. If you absolutely need Nickelodeon, et cetera, from Viacom, go with DirecTV’s Live a Little, knowing you’ll have to sacrifice some sports offerings.
• Best Overall Channel Lineup: DirecTV Now. The only major omission in any of its tiers is NFL Network. It has the most extensive lineup at each tier, but it also costs a little bit more to have all of those channels.
• Most Control Over Channels: Sling TV. With all of the add-on offerings, you can really customize your service. Just don’t pick too many, or the price goes up fast. And read through your options carefully, as there’s some confusing overlap between tiers.
• Best Sports Channel Collection: This was a tough one, as none of the three are perfect. But to gain the most sports channels for the money, I’d recommend Vue’s Core Slim. It doesn’t have MLB or NHL Networks, so you may miss some playoff games, but it gives you the most key sports channels for the lowest price.

[table caption=”Channel Lineup Comparison” width=”620″ colwidth=”35|20|20|20″ colalign=”left|center|center|center”]

Lowest Priced Skinny Bundle,DirecTV Now,PlayStation Vue,Sling TV

Monthly Cost,$35,$30,$20

AMC,Yes,Yes,Yes

BBC America,Yes,Yes,X*

BET,Yes,X,X*

Cartoon Network,Yes,Yes,Yes

CNN,Yes,Yes,Yes

Comedy Central,Yes,X,Yes

Discovery,Yes,Yes,X

Discovery Life,X*,X*,X

Disney Channel,Yes,Yes,Yes

E!,Yes,Yes,X*

ESPN,Yes,Yes,Yes

ESPN2,Yes,Yes,Yes

ESPNU,X*,X*,X

Food Network,Yes,Yes,Yes

Fox News,Yes,Yes,X

Fox Sports 1,Yes,Yes,X*

FX,Yes,Yes,X*

HGTV,Yes,Yes,Yes

IFC,X*,X*,Yes

MLB Network,X*,X,X

MTV,Yes,X,X*

National Geographic,Yes,Yes,X*

NBA TV,X*,X*,X*

NFL Network,X,X*,X*

NHL Network,X*,X,X*

Nickelodeon,Yes,X,X

Science,X*,Yes,X

Spike,Yes,X,X*

Syfy,Yes,Yes,X*

TBS,Yes,Yes,Yes

TNT,Yes,Yes,Yes

Travel Channel,X*,Yes,Yes

TruTV,Yes,Yes,X*

USA Network,Yes,Yes,X*

Weather Channel,X*,X,X

[/table]

Not Ready to Cut the Cord Completely? Check out the Best Skinny TV Bundle Options

When Sling TV was announced at the 2015 CES, it was instantly a big hit. It offered something that sounded a lot like “a la carte cable TV,” the elusive Bigfoot that TV viewers have been breathlessly seeking for years.

Sling TV is owned by DISH network but has its own one-page website for handing the avalanche of early interest in the service. Prior to publication of this review, it was invite-only. However, it was unveiled to the general pubic today with a free 7-day trial promotion. Although Sling TV gets its name from the relatively well-known Slingbox (owned by a subsidiary of DISH), it’s a separate brand and doesn’t require a Slingbox.

Cable isn’t required, either. (But you probably guessed that. Heh.) Sling TV’s slogan is “Take Back TV,” and it’s aimed squarely at the millennials who are known as the “cord-nevers,” in that they’ve never subscribed to cable, and other TV viewers known as the “cord-cutters,” who’ve stopped subscribing to cable to use streaming services like Netflix.

Sling TV offers 14 live cable channels for $20 a month with instant start-up and no commitments. Of those channels, DISH succeeded in getting three of the most sought-after networks among the “cord nevers” and “cord cutters”: ESPN, ESPN 2 and CNN. In other words, the crown jewels of 24-hour sports and news that can’t be found on a Netflix or Hulu Plus like you can with a TV show.

The other channels are well-known, not obscure, channels: TBS, TNT, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network / Adult Swim, ABC Family, Travel Channel, Food Network and HGTV. It’s not like you have to suffer C-SPAN as filler. AMC was added to the base package list as well, as of today. However, you may have to wait a bit until it’s available. That will include live streaming of such popular shows as The Walking Dead and Mad Men.

Sling TV is a simple, highly anticipated concept that needs brilliant execution. Does it succeed?

What You Need

You need a high-speed internet connection with at least around 5MBps, which is frequently an entry level speed. That’ll probably cost you around $20 to $30. The 4G data plan for your phone or mobile device will also work very well.

You also need a Roku 3 (2013 model), iOS or Android device or a Mac to use the Sling TV app and watch live TV.

At this moment, you might be thinking that sucks, particularly when it comes to watching on, well, TV. And it does, but that’s the current lineup for early invites.

Sling TV promises to broaden the number of devices when the service is opened to the general public. Accessibility will include PCs, Xbox One, other Roku boxes and the Roku Streaming Stick, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick and the Google Nexus Player.

I tested the Sling TV on an iPhone (iOS), Android tablet and Mac.

What Works

The user interface is simple, intuitive and looks the same across platforms. When you open the app for the first time, you’re presented with ESPN, their biggest asset (or the last channel you were watching), and a side-scrolling list of channels as an overlay. You also get that day’s program guide for the channel you are currently watching.

I thought the HD picture looked as good as expected with some compression artifacts occasionally occurring just after I loaded up a channel.

I used Airplay with my iPhone and an Apple TV to watch the Australian Open tennis final on my TV and that worked very well. On another occasion, the AirPlay connection crashed but that might’ve been more AirPlay than Sling TV.

You also get a movie channel where you can rent new movies like Fury, Lucy and Guardians of the Galaxy for $3.99 to $6.99 (SD) or $4.99 to $7.99 (HD). Most new movies in HD are $4.99. There are also older movies available, ranging from $2.99 for SD to $3.99 for HD. If you’re used to renting from Google Play or iTunes, it’s a pretty familiar selection.

What’s Missing

You can only watch Sling TV on one device at a time. Sorry [insert friend, family member or roommate]. Not surprising, but it could be a deal breaker for some of you.

Instant channel switching. Expect some buffering (albeit brief in the >1 to 2 second range) when you change channels.

There are playback options for pause, reverse, forward and start from the beginning (“Start Over”), but they were not available on most of the 12 basic channels that I reviewed except HGTV and Travel Channel.

Commercials are missing on ESPN and ESPN2. It appears the ESPN and ESPN 2 feeds are from WatchESPN, so you just get a blank screen during commercials. Not a big deal unless you love the ads on ESPN.

Hey, You Get to Watch Live Sports Again

While I experienced a few minor streaming hiccups here and there, I was satisfied with the picture and presentation. Mainly, Sling TV just gets out of the way so you can watch your live TV just like in the olden days. It works. Plus, Sling TV gives you all the more reason to stare endlessly at your phone in public so you don’t miss any of the big game.

As of today, Dish also announced a new package for Sports fanatics. At $5 a month, the Sports Extra package includes ESPN News, ESPN U, SEC ESPN Network, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Bases Loaded, ESPN Goal Line. Universal Sports, Bein Sports.

If you want even more channels, there are two other current options for subscribers. For an extra $5, you can get a kids’ package which adds Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, BabyTV and ducktv. Alternatively, for the same price, you can add a news package with Cooking Channel, DIY Network, HLN, and Bloomberg News.

Sling TV is off to a good start. Sure, it means watching TV in the 21st century isn’t as straightforward as it used to be, but it can be cheaper than traditional cable if you know what your specific needs are.

Say you’ve got a monthly TV bill that includes high-speed internet at home for $30, Sling TV for $20, Netflix for $8, Hulu Plus for $8 and Amazon Prime for around $8, then you’ve dropped nearly $75 per month. But that’s still cheaper than the average internet + cable TV package without even counting any streaming services.

There’s definitely more choice now for TV viewers, and expect those options to increase as competitors throw their hat in the ring. Do we hear Apple in the wings? (Rumors say yes.)

Sling TV Review: A New Hope?