Chris O'Brien, the technology writer for the San Jose Mercury News had a column today about getting rid of cable. This is a big thing among certain geeks who think they can watch everything online. They soon find out that's not possible.
So he pays $8 a month for Hulu Plus, only to find out he can only watch 30 Rock online. Then he pays $99 for Apple TV. Now comes the hard part.
As a Directv subscriber, I can tell you what you can't watch without a cable or satellite service.
Nothing on HBO. You need an HBO subscription to watch their shows online. The current seasons aren't even available on Netflix or iTunes.
Nothing on Discovery. The network doesn't believe in streaming. Mythbusters is available on iTunes soon after the initial broadcast, but $3 an episode adds up.
No live pro sports. Well, Tennis is available on ESPN 3, but that's it. No Baseball, No NFL (except MNF on ESPN 3), No NBA or NHL. The local carrier for all pro sports except the NFL doesn't stream. The Olympics WILL be available on NBC Olympics.com like last time, & almost all college football games are on ESPN 3 live & video for replay. Except of course SEC games on CBS, which doesn't stream sports.
CNN doesn't stream, local news isn't online. That leaves network TV which is on Hulu or the network site. Hulu holds shows back 8 days, CBS has there shows up the next day. Last night Amazing Race 2 hour finale is up now.
So it's not as easy as some would have you believe. Network is there, but not cable. As a sports fan, I could never do it (Give up Niner games? Hell no!). Face it. The advertisers are the main reason this won't happen. Information channels like Discovery & NatGeo should, & of course, the news channels should. but they can't see the worth in it.
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