I’d consider cutting the cord if I could pick up local stations with an antenna, which I cannot. And if it didn’t mean giving up my NFL Sunday Ticket. So I both stream and use satellite TV, with premium channels. Feels so good.
This may be looked back upon as the golden age of choice in viewing. Consolidation is coming.
Cutting the cord was one of the best decisions we made in a long time. I rarely miss it, especially when considering the money we’re saving.
Why get cable or other options? It makes no sense to pay for something that's available for free.
Cable’s always been a greedy racket. Free market will wipe them out.
I cut the cord 18 months ago. Haven’t looked back since. This is what I did:
1.) Replaced TV’s in the house with Smart TV’s with Wi-fi. If you don’t want to do this then you can purchase a Roku stick ($50) which transforms your non-smart TV into a Wi-fi TV capable of using apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. All that is required is an HDMI port.
2.) Transferred my entire DVD collection to the cloud using the VUDU service. They are owned by Walmart and for $5 ($2.50 if they are still running their special which cuts the price in half for every 10 DVDs you transfer) I purchased a digital copy, and upgraded to HDX quality (their version of Blu-Ray).
3.) Got Netflix, Amazon Prime (already had it for the shipping) and VUDU.
After about $1,500 in initial expenditures for TV and transferring DVD’s I cut out DirecTV. So it’s paid for itself. DirecTV at $150/month was $1,800/year.
My recurring costs are $60/month for internet from Charter, and Netflix. $99/year for Amazon prime. You can do this cheaper by foregoing the VUDU portion if you want to physically hold on to your DVD’s.
Comcast makes it a hassle to cut...right now I’m not paying my full bill and they’re calling me to tell me I better pay up...I think...I don’t answer their calls...next week I’ll make the trek to their office and dump them
I just wish a group of conservative/libertarian types like Breitbart/Alex Jones would form a good news TV available on Roku streaming. OAN is ok, but kinda boring.
No reason why this guy couldn’t have been a smarter shopper and paid less for the same things elsewhere.
Start your own controversial GoogTube channel!
I read the whole thing and it's just an ad for people to spend money on streaming services instead of cable.
I subscribe to Netflix.
My landlord subscribes to Charter Cable standard package and since the local analog cable service ended last month, I picked up a digital set top box for my HDTV from the local company office for free and I got a year’s free service on the box. After that, I pay $6.99 a month to continue to rent it.
I’m happy I got the best of both worlds.
I am clise to, however I have a few favorite shows that aren’t available to stream yet.
I have used ROKU 1 and 3 and found an increasing number of ‘channels’. Some of the movie channels are ad-supported. I have never had much luck with them — Crackle, Hulu, and some others.
Inevitably, into the movie, they break for ad inserts — 30 seconds to 3 minutes. With nearly every movie, after some ad insertion, the stream locks up. One stream lock-up even caused ROKU to reboot every time I got to that point in the streaming.
Then, trying to return to the segment of the movie where the lock-up happened, they play nearly twice as many commercials. And the stream locks up again.
I prefer paying a reasonable fee (around $10 each) for Netflix and Amazon Prime and have NO commercial interruptions at all. I also get HBO GO.
I have not yet cut the cable, but am tempted.
The biggest problem with cord cutting is the ability to get those ten channels you really watch. I like History, History2, Military History, Discovery, TCM and a few more. I’m not sure I can get them without a package. I would love to dump every sports channel. I know I’m paying a lot for them and I never watch them.
If I could watch my home team in Texas without Directv...I would do it in a second. How long of a deal does Directv have with the NFL?
I am on Time Warner’s 89.99 plan plus second tuner and Gateway for cable/30 mps Internet/Wired phone. We need the phone because both my wife and her sister who talk weekly on are in borderline cell phone reception areas. Time Warner threw in free Showtime starting in December.
Netflix + Roku + Usenet + Plex= more money for beer
I cut the cable completely and saved $120 a month. Bought an antenna and get about 60 channels here in DFW. My Metro PCS phone has a hotspot for my laptop plus unlimited data for the phone itself.
Exactly what I’ve done. Sling TV and Roku plus a local antenna and Kodi. You have to invest money in hardware in the beginning and Sling TV plus the sports pac (more ESPN channels) is $27/mo tax included. I was pay $200 monthly for cable. Now I’ve increased my streaming to the $60/mo plan, add $27/ mo for Sling and I’ll probably get the NFL Game Pass for $99/yr next August. Still works out to a substantial savings.