Chicago sports fans wrestle with cable subscriptions – Chicago Tribune

Corina Hernandez is a massive Chicago sports devotee. From the Cubs to the Bears and the Bulls, there is rarely an idle moment in her year.

But since moving to a new place on the Southwest Side, Hernandez has run into a slight obstacle as the Cubs push for the National League pennant : No cable.

“It’s so expensive,” said Hernandez, 35, as she watched Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday at Output Lounge in the West Town area. “The prices just keep increasing. It’s easier to spend $10, $20 and come to a bar.”

Hernandez is hardly alone in cutting the cord and finding ways around pricey subscriptions, according to industry analyses. While Netflix, Hulu and similar services can be alternatives for following sitcoms and dramas, cable maintains its expansive hold on sports coverage.

Still for some fans, the expense of cable just isn’t worth it. For others, it’s too hard to disconnect so they grudgingly absorb the monthly dent in their wallets.

“My husband would die if we didn’t have cable,” said Megan Gilbert, 37, of Downers Grove, who attended a game at Wrigley during the National League Division Series last week. “It’s super frustrating. But it’s worth it because what would you do? How else would we watch the games?”

The largest paid television providers, including cable, direct-broadcast satellite and telephone companies, lost around 470,000 subscribers between April and June 2015, according to figures from the New Hampshire-based Leichtman Research Group. Those companies comprise 95 percent of the market, analysts say.

Multiple experts concluded cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable continued downward industry trends but did not lose as many customers as in recent years. Cable companies lost nearly 261,000 subscribers this spring compared with 510,000 during the same period in 2014, according to Leichtman.

Pat Hunnell, of Tinley Park, said she and her die-hard, Cubs fan husband had cable for 30 years. Once their bundle package for phone, cable and Internet reached $230 a month, Hunnell said they had enough.

“None of the providers want to deal a la carte services,” said Hunnell, 60. “There’s no subtraction capability with their offers. It’s ridiculous how much they charge for when we only want a few services.”

The Hunnells dumped their cable package in September. In its place they bought an Internet phone box to replace their landline, an Amazon Fire TV which combines with their Prime membership to give them unlimited access to some movies and TV shows, then bought Sling TV — which includes TBS, the station carrying Cubs postseason action — to get basic cable channels. Now they pay about one-third of what their cable subscription cost.

“My husband’s a real TV addict so I really had to research and make sure he’s getting all the things he wants to watch,” Hunnell said. “We’ve got it all covered for a lot less money.”

Roseanne Segovia, of Villa Park, said she and her husband decided last year to stop their cable service costing about $200 a month. Instead they have Netflix and Amazon Prime, the latter of which allows Segovia to see new television episodes the day after they air. They also bought an HD antenna to get the local channels and head out to a local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch football.

The changes save them around $100 a month compared with cable, said Segovia, 27.

“I really don’t miss it that much,” she said. “You just go for a drink or two and be around other people who enjoy sports.”

Despite the declines, other recent figures from Leichtman show about 83 percent of all homes across the country still pay for some type of paid television service, compared with 87 percent in 2010. Of those who did not have paid TV, 70 percent either never held a subscription or have not had one for at least three years.

Locally, WGN, ABC and Comcast SportsNet Chicago split broadcasts for the Cubs’ regular season, but TBS has carried all of the Cubs postseason action from the wild-card game against Pittsburgh through the NLCS.

The investment has paid off big for the Atlanta-based station. Saturday’s game in New York averaged 7.9 million viewers, TBS’ largest-ever audience for an NLCS Game 1. Additionally, the game was the biggest draw for all broadcast and cable programming that night, according to Nielsen figures.

The MLB postseason returns to commercial broadcast television Tuesday for the World Series because Fox holds exclusive rights through 2021.

Akash Rangani and Himanshu Nagi, both of Schaumburg, are among those who hang onto cable for consistent access to sports. The friends were in Wrigleyville to catch a division series game and said they are avid baseball, football and basketball viewers.

“(Sports) is the only thing I watch,” said Rangani, 24. “I wish there was a package of just the sports channels and nothing else. Or that the games were just on the regular networks so we wouldn’t have to pay.”

“(Cable) is not worth the price,” said Nagi, also 24. “We’ve tried streaming, but it’s unreliable, so it doesn’t really work.”

The cable stranglehold is not limited to Chicago or the MLB.

Over the past few years, ESPN has inched closer to wall-to-wall coverage of tennis’ Grand Slam tournaments. This summer marked the start of the network giant’s $825 million deal to exclusively broadcast the U.S. Open through 2025. The move effectively pushed out CBS, which opted not to continue paying the hefty fee to broadcast the tournament’s closing rounds as it had for nearly five decades. ESPN similarly acquired complete rights to broadcast Wimbledon between 2012 and 2023, outbidding NBC, as well as the Australian Open.

In another example of the widespread reliance on cable, several retailers throughout the area say bigger, higher-tech television sets have become hot items as the Cubs continue their postseason.

“(Customers) want to buy a new TV and have it out the door and up on their wall before the next game,” said Steve Shapiro, sales manager at ABT Electronics in Glenview. “When I listen to customers on the floor, I’m hearing guys saying they want a bigger TV for the house so they can have the same experience they’d have watching the game at a restaurant or bar.”

Shapiro added that the store also saw a surge in TV sales when the Blackhawks were in the playoffs earlier this year.

“Everyone has Cubs fever right now,” said Ryan Stanzel, a spokesman for Best Buy. “Just like with the Super Bowl, people are buying more TVs for watch parties, especially the 4K UHD, which is the new and latest technology going for watching sporting events.”