The Roku User's Guide to Cord Cutting

December 27, 2015 - 17:40 -- RokuGuide


Cut the CordMany people have ditched their cable or satellite television service and have turned to Roku players and TVs for video entertainment, saving hundreds of dollars a year. Roku is an excellent choice for cord cutters, but it's not a direct replacement for cable. If you're trying to decide whether to cut that cord, read our Cord Cutters Guide for Roku Users below so that you know what you can expect to find, and not find, on Roku, and how to replace what you're currently watching on cable. (NOTE: This article was originally published January 2015 but has been updated to be current as of December 2015.)

Local Broadcasts

Cut that cable and you'll lose the live broadcast of all your local stations, which includes your local news broadcasts and prime time shows from the national networks, including ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. The best choice for cable-like access to your local stations (and national networks) is through the use of an Over-the-Air (OTA) Antenna, assuming you live close enough to a broadcaster to receive a usable signal. You may be thinking you need a large roof antennae or ugly rabbit ears to get OTA broadcasts, but the best-selling TV antenna on Amazon is actually an inexpensive super thin indoor HDTV antenna that can be hidden behind drapes or a photo. To find the proper antenna type for your location, as well as the expected signal strength, visit www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx.

If you do have a usable OTA signal, you can purchase a DVR to record your favorite shows for later viewing. Tablo offers a DVR for HDTV antennas that uses a Roku app for playback, so you can watch on any Roku-connected TV in the house and not be limited to the TV to which the DVR is connected.

Local News - If you can't use an OTA antenna, or choose not to, check to see whether your local newscast is one of well over 100 local live broadcasts on Roku's Livestream channel. A list of those cities can be found at new.livestream.com/news. Many other local newscasts are available on demand, either as standalone Roku channels or through the Nowhere TV private channel, although these are usually short clips and not full-length newscasts. A list of recently-available newscasts can be found here, but newscast availability changes frequently.

National Networks

Although the national networks have been slow to adopt streaming through over-the-top (OTT) devices, you will find most of them have a presence on Roku. Here is what each network has available:

PBS is the only network to offer free access to current full-length episodes of their shows. The PBS and PBS Kids channels require only that you provide an e-mail address in exchange for a huge video library. You may even find some local productions, depending on your TV market, but there is no live stream of the current OTA broadcast.

CBS offers three Roku channels. CBS All Access, CBS News, and CBSSports.com. CBSSports.com provides on-demand clips and show segments; there are no complete episodes of shows or live broadcasts of sporting events. The CBS News channel provides a live stream of segments from newscasts previously aired on the CBS network, as well as on-demand clips and segments from popular CBS News shows. CBS All Access is a subscription service that gives viewers access to the latest episodes of many primetime shows, as well as episodes of daytime and late night shows. There is also a vast library of classic CBS programming. The live CBS feed is available in select cities.

NBC offers news on the NBC News channel. The channel offers clips from NBC Nightly News and segments of several popular news shows. Many NBC shows are available on Hulu Plus.

ABC has three Roku channels. ABC offers free access to past episodes from many of its most-popular shows, although anything aired within the last seven days (and their live stream, which is available in a handful of cities) is locked to those without a cable subscription. Watch ABC Family also has past episodes of popular TV shows, along with movies from this cable channel, but the selection of videos unlocked for non-cable-subscribers is somewhat random. ABC News provides several livestream newscasts and on-demand content from ABC News programming.

FOX offers the FOX NOW channel with on-demand episodes of a large selection of popular FOX shows, but you must be a subscriber to a participating cable or satellite provider to access them. Once again, Hulu Plus comes the rescue with a large selection of Fox programming.

Live Sports

The heavyweight in sports broadcasting on cable is ESPN, which offers live sporting events and video on demand through the WatchESPN channel. Without a cable TV subscription, you'll be limited to watching news clips, but for $20 per month, Sling TV includes the live feeds of ESPN and ESPN2. An additional $5/month for the Sports Extra pack adds ESPNU, SEC Network, ESPN News, ESPN Bases Loaded, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Goal Line, beIN Sports, Outside Television, and Univision Deportes.

Major league and college sports mean big money for the teams and for the networks that have shelled out big bucks for broadcast rights. That means that nobody is going to give away live sports on Roku. MLB.TV, NBA Game Time, NHL, and MLS Live are all subscription-based channels offering live and archived games in their respective sports, but there are significant blackout policies (it's hard to watch a home game). More information on the availability of major league sports on Roku is available in this article.

For coverage of international soccer (football to those outside the U.S.), cricket, and many other sports like surfing, rugby, sailing, darts, and figure skating, DishWorld Sports offers a low-cost subscription package with a free 48-hour trial.

College sports are nearly absent from Roku, although you will find the SEC Network as part of the Sling TV Sports Extra add-on pack. Also hard to find are motorsports like NASCAR.

Cable Programming

Some people subscribe to basic cable only for the local channels, but most people want the shows that only cable has to offer. A number of major cable networks offer Roku channels, including A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime, and Disney. Most require you to subscribe to a participating cable or satellite TV service to access the full video libraries. However, Sling TV's basic Best of Live TV Package includes many popular cable channels for only $20 per month, including AMC, Food Network, A&E, HISTORY, TNT, HGTV, IFC, Disney Channel, TBS, and Travel Channel.

You will also find shows from many cable networks on Hulu Plus. Along with national networks ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, you'll find Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, The CW, MTV, Bravo, History, VH1, Lifetime, National Geographic Channel, TVLAND, BET, Syfy, CMT, and many others. Unlike Sling TV, you won't get a live stream, and you may have to wait a bit to get the latest episodes, but you do have access to a huge library of past episodes. That means you don't have to sit through a weekend-long Pawn Stars marathon, or you can create your own marathon any time you want.

Previously available only as a premium cable package, HBO is available as an add-on to Sling TV and many HBO shows are also available through Amazon Instant Video. Visit the HBO Collection on Prime Instant Video for the full listing. You can also find shows AMC shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead on Amazon Instant Video.

For Showtime fans, this service is available as a standalone subscription on Roku.

Roku does not offer a direct replacement for cable TV, especially if you want 100% free viewing. But for those who are flexible in what shows they watch, ditching cable and using a Roku can save a lot of money, even if you subscribe to one or two services like Sling TV, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, or Netflix.