I'm trying to cut the cord too and am slowly amassing the equipment needed to do so. Here is what I've found.

1. For broadcast TV, you need an antenna to capture OTA (over the air) television. OTA would be ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, and random foreign language channels. I'm not going to go into the specifics of antennas since I just purchased a Mohu Leaf 50 and it has not arrived yet. But you can either build your own or buy an antenna. Total Initial Cost: $10 to $50 depending on the antenna. Total Monthly Cost after setup: Free

2. DVR of OTA TV will depend on your preference of technology. Essentially, you need some sort of Media Center PC to record your OTA broadcast. You can build your own Media Center PC or you can buy an all-in-one box like a Tablo. If you build your own Media Center PC, you will need to have a TV Tuner (Hauppage, SiliconDust, Ceton) connected to that PC to read your OTA antenna signals. You will then need software to record that signal. There are many different types software (Windows Media Center, MythTV, SageTV,etc).

You will also need other devices to pull that DVRed content from that Media Center PC. Depending on the software solution and setup you choose, you might go with a Roku (using Plex on the Media Center PC), Xbox 360, or Amazon FireTV, etc. This part of the cutting the cable process is more complicated than can be explained in one post, so shoot me a msg if you have questions. Total Initial Cost: $0 to $500 depending on the PC and devices you need. Total Monthly Cost after setup: $0 to $20 depending on your setup. Most setups should not have a monthly cost, but if you choose to use a Tablo then there is a monthly cost for TV listings.

3. For ESPN and some cable channels (ESPN, ESPN2, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Channel, TNT, CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim) you can use Slingtv. SlingTV is a gamechanger, since it is the only service that will allow you to cut the cord and still watch ESPN. SlingTV has a base package for $20/mo (that includes ESPN), and some add on packages at $5 a month. There is an add-on sports package that adds ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC NEtwork, and some others. SlingTV will also you to use the watchESPN app for the channels you are subscribed to. Note that a big issuse for some people is that you can only have 1 stream working at a time. In other words, if someone wants to watch the Disney Channel while someone else is watching ESPN, that will not work unless you have separate subscriptions. There are rumors that SlingTV will allow you to add extra streams for $5, but that has not been announced. Another issue is that SlingTV does not currently have DVR in place. Some channels allow you to watch shows after the fact for a short period of time, other channels don't. For ESPN content though, you can get on the watchESPN site and watch timeshifted content there.

So, assuming one stream and all sports channel, Total Monthly Cost: $25

This post is getting long, and I gotta go. Let me know if you have questions.