I have thought about ditching DISH for years! My SWMBO is hesitant because of the DVR ability. Do you guys have any insight about being able to use some of the other options out there and still have DVR? Or are all the options internet based and you can search for anything you want at any time? I am personally not much of a TV watcher but she likes to DVR stuff and watch it whenever. She also loves watching football. I like it but since all the controversy and all the drama BS I am kind of over it.
Ok, first things first... Football. With the controversy/drama I'm guessing she watches NFL. If she watches NFL, that means you need your local channels, as the Sunday games (and some Thursday) are broadcast over the major networks. So your first thing is to figure out if/how you can get locals.
And there's your problem. Your profile says Redding CA. That's not exactly close to a major metropolitan area. So a quick search at TV Fool for a random address in Redding says you've got ABC/PBS/NBC transmitters pretty close, but CBS/FOX about 50 miles away. Note: it lists channels 3, 6, 8, and 16 as being nearby, but doesn't identify if those are networks. If one of those is CBS and another is FOX, you're good and can probably get by with an indoor antenna. If not, you need to figure out whether an antenna solution can pick up everything given that the ABC/PBS/NBC are not the same direction as the CBS/FOX, and you'll need a directional antenna for CBS/FOX.
Then, you start looking beyond locals. If she wants Monday Night Football, or if she watches college football, you pretty much need ESPN. So you need one of the streaming services.
If an antenna will get you your locals, then Sling is the least costly solution. They offer a cloud DVR, so you can record, and they also offer a lot of VOD programming, so it's not like you really *need* the cloud DVR necessarily.
If you can't find an antenna solution, you need to look at whether Hulu, DirecTV Now, YoutubeTV, etc offer locals in your area. Sling doesn't offer locals, so you'd be SOL there if you can't get an antenna. But I'm not sure whether those others will offer locals in a place like Redding, as I'm not sure whether your locals are considered "local" or whether they're retransmitted from Sacramento or something. So you'll need to figure that out.
Finally, you need to make a list of "must have" programs, and what channels they're on. Once you know whether you need locals or not (and whether you need to stream locals), and what programs/channels are absolutely required, you can look at the channel lineups for the streaming services, and pick the least costly one that meets your needs.
For me, it was Hulu. Although Hulu does offer locals, I have an antenna as well, so I didn't need it. But I really wanted the Big Ten Network and Food Network. Sling didn't offer BTN, YouTube TV didn't offer Food Network, and DirecTV Now was the most expensive of the bunch if I wanted BTN. So I ended up with Hulu.
