I use the WatchESPN app (via Roku), using borrowed cable subscription credentials. I added Hulu, which is half the price of Sling and provides a lot of the same programming, although not live … but then, I hardly ever watch live TV except for sports and award shows; so Sling’s best selling point was wasted on me. I’ve got an OTA antenna that will get me live TV on broadcast channels.
The Daily Show is available through Hulu which I think is $7.99 a month. Most of Comedy Central’s shows are available on Hulu as well.
Yes, I just don’t see why free OTA is ad-supported but online viewing can’t be.
From the perspective of someone without cable, asking for a cable login to watch something that was just broadcast to the whole USA for free is silly.
nm.
The streaming apps from individual networks have lists of specific providers they have agreements with. Unfortunately, Dish is often left out. This is off the top of my head, but I think Comedy Central allows TWC and DirectTV (and many others), but not Dish. So they don’t want a generic “cable” login. They want a login from the specific list of providers they have. Dish is often missing from many of the channel-specific apps I looked at. I don’t know why that is.
Once you dump your provider, you won’t be able to access those channels anymore that required a cable login. Or if you can, you’ll have a limited selection, like just the latest episode of a handful of shows they offer.
But even for the channels I could add, I was often disappointed in how they worked. Each channel was different and often had different problems. I eventually signed up for Hulu ($11/mo no commercials) and it’s much better. All the shows in a consistent interface and no buffering/stuttering. It’s well worth the money to not have to deal with the issues with all the free versions of channel-specific apps.