We want football but not much else.

September 16, 2012 2:29 PM

We're moving to a new place in DC and would like to explore television that includes watching NFL games and do not include just paying for a big ol' Comcast or DirectTV contract. Are there other options?

We can live without most cable stations and are fine to rely on something like Roku or watching online (or whatever else is similar on the market) for almost everything. However, we'd like to be able to watch most if not all the NFL games each week and don't know if there are options that will allow that.

If it matters, since things get bundled, we are planning to get internet but no home phone.

Bonus points if there's a reliable way to keep up with tennis, too.

posted by calcetinporfavor to Technology (8 answers total)

No. There are no other (legal) options. If you want the NFL, you must sign up for a contract with a major content distributor; if you want all of the NFL, you must sign up with DirecTV.

Your only legal chance at getting Sunday Ticket without a DirecTV contract is if your new place is out of the line of sight of a DirecTV satellite; in that case, you can pay $50 more than the typical Sunday Ticket price to get access to the games on tablet/smartphone/computer etc. In DC, this is unlikely to be true.
posted by downing street memo at 2:39 PM on September 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I just learned it's possible to get the DirectTV NFL Sunday Ticket through a PS3 system. Does anyone have experience with that setup?
posted by calcetinporfavor at 3:06 PM on September 16, 2012

Here are a few write ups on Sunday Ticket on a PS3.
posted by roomwithaview at 3:15 PM on September 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is much much tougher than it should be. This site might help, and it's both recent and the poster seems to want to keep updating it regularly.

Seriously, good luck.
posted by Sphinx at 4:19 PM on September 16, 2012

Is RCN available where you are? It was the only option in my last DC building, but the prices were reasonable and the service was pretty good.
posted by charmcityblues at 4:30 PM on September 16, 2012

I was coming in to tell you about the PS3 option - I haven't done it myself, but a friend of mine did and he had issues with the Sony system rejecting him and couldn't get it to work. He heard about from from Best Buy, so it should be a fully legit option.
posted by mrs. taters at 7:43 AM on September 17, 2012

We've tried to answer the same question, and the only other option for us turned out to be ditching cable and hanging out at the neighborhood sports bar. We don't watch every single game each week, though.
posted by Chris4d at 10:40 AM on September 17, 2012

If you can tolerate delayed games, NFL Rewind offers a cost effective option for watching online.
posted by cspurrier at 12:59 PM on September 22, 2012