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.
With the Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime options (there are others), you can stream on demand pretty much all the TV shows and movies you will ever have the time to watch. Sure, you are not going to see the current season on most shows but I never saw the big deal. I finished shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" a year or two after they ended on TV and never felt like I missed out on anything.
The choices on movies are a little weaker but I don't mind spending the $3 for view on demand once in a while.
All of this is commercial free.
I miss live NFL football but if there's a game I really want to watch, I'll go to a local sports bar or over to a friend's house. In fact, I have friends who are football nuts who gave me an open invitation to come on over anytime there's a game on and I always bring a 12-pack of beer with me and some snacks for them so they like having me over. But one of my favorite ways to see a game now is to go down to the Buffalo Wild Wings and gorge on chicken wings and beer for a few hours. Then I come home to a quiet and clean house.
What I like best about streaming over cable is that wherever I am in the house, I can bring up a show or movie. On my laptop, my tablet or even my smartphone. With a set of headphones, it's actually a more immersive experience than watching a television from across the room. Then when I stay in hotels (which I do often for business), all I need is an internet connection and I'm in business. I never even turn the hotel TV on.
It's also the same with music. Despite having a massive music collection that took me over 30 years to build, I can so easily stream whatever I want through Spotify, Pandora or Apple Music. I'll never buy another record album again.
This is us. I’d love to cut the cord but with 5 tv watchers from Bubble Guppies to out of state college and pro sports watchers.... DISH is so awesome. We have two hoppers and several joeys and can thus watch anything in any room, can stream, can watch premium stuff on demand, and all prime time shows are on the hard drive automatically for 2 weeks. It’s not that expensive and it does it all. We also do Netflix. But we have zero trouble ever with DISH and we’ve had it at three addresses for well over a decade.
Just another benefit of not being a football fan.
I never had a cord so I’m not a cutter but I miss Sunday NASCAR races. The majority are on cable now. However, this year the cable broadcast races had dismal ratings while broadcast was good rated.
I have a similar problem. I live in an apartment complex, so outside antenna is not an option for over-air broadcasts. I live far enough from broadcast sources that an inside digital antenna cannot pick them up.