Golf! On the internet! Now!
December 21, 2009 3:25 PM   Subscribe

Help My Parents With Their Inexplicable Obsession Filter: Is there a way to watch the Golf Channel online for free or cheap?

My parents pay for cable TV just so they can have the Golf Channel. (Yeah, I don't get why they love golf so much, either.) My dad wants to use this Internet thing to get around that. Is there a way? So far, I see that certain golf events are streamed on ESPN, but what they're looking for is to be able to just turn something on at any time and see more or less original golf content.

An alternate source of streaming golf video content will probably work, too - it doesn't have to be the Golf Channel.
posted by ignignokt to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
ESPN360 (don't know if that's the ESPN you referred to) has a live and replay streaming player. your ISP must have a contract with them but if it doesn't, somebody using an ISP that does (AT&T does, for example) can sign up for a free account with ESPN 360 and then login and watch streams from any ISP, regardless of ESPN contract status. I presume U.S., yadda yadda.
hope it helps. we don't have cable and didn't buy the digital box so now we get all our content off the interwebs.
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:52 PM on December 21, 2009


The answer is no, there's nothing that can do this. A few sites have an organized structure when it comes to delivering video content. NBC, Comedy Central, Hulu, etc. If you have something like the Boxee or Plex and a computer setup as a HTPC, it is fairly easy to access this content via Plugins.

First, the Golf Channel has not made any plugins that I'm aware of, and I follow this closely. Second, with existing plugins the experience, while very, very good, is not quite like turning on a cable box. There's no live feed so to speak, and you end up having to navigate to what you want. This doesn't really facilitate, "I don't know what I want to watch, I'll just set it to the Golf Channel," kind of viewing. Sure Comedy Central might have nearly all their shows online, but you have to navigate to what you want.

Sports content is the only reason I still pay for cable. Until ESPN/Golf Channel/NFL Network realize that we'd be glad to pay $15/mo. directly to them, we're stuck.
posted by geoff. at 6:55 PM on December 21, 2009


veetle.com has a 24/7 golf channel - maybe try checking that out.
posted by mooreeasyvibe at 6:00 AM on December 22, 2009


I just checked it now and it's playing what you Americans call an infomercial.
posted by mooreeasyvibe at 6:02 AM on December 22, 2009


It is called Gold Nearly 24x7 so that would explain why there's no golf there now.
posted by mooreeasyvibe at 6:09 AM on December 22, 2009


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