Cutting the Cable/Satellite Cord

[Chainsaw13]

I think once I get done with all my travel for work, I'm ditching the cable. Like you Adam, I find I watch a lot of stuff I've already seen. Might be even more incentive to do something other than watch tv. Like smoke more cigars? Oh crap, there goes any savings.

[hotreds]

If there were a way to get sports I'd dump my dish in a minute! I don't watch anything but sports. SWMBO might be upset, however, as she watches quite a few of the channels.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by CigarNut

The one problem here is that first run shows (like True Blood) from HBO are not available online unless you have an HBO subscription or want to wait a year for the DVDs...

Use a friend or relative's cable company login to watch HBO.

Plenty of sites have shows after the next day as well. Image quality can vary.

[CigarSquid]

I have not had cable or satellite for over a year. We use Netflix and Hulu. I also do the MLB TV on my Xbox.

For football, I use this crazy online streaming deal... Not HD, but as long as I am not throwing a super bowl party, I can dig it.

It works good. We seem to be gone a bit and every time I think about getting cable, when I price it all out, that alone turns me away again.

[Buckeye Jack]

15 months now and don't regret it at all. Here is my setup:

- OTA antenna on the roof

- I have a basic $45/month internet bill thru TW

- I pay $14 a month for a tivo subscription which I have a roamio and a mini. We use those as our main guide and DVR so that we can watch network shows we record on either the main TV or the cigar room TV where we are at 5-7 nights a week after the kids go to bed. We could probably get by with just the main DVR but the mini has a lifetime subscription so no extra.

- Netflix streaming subscription - $8/month

- 2 Apple TV's to watch netflix (could watch on tivo box but the interface is so much better on the ATV's)

- We also buy a seasons worth of about 2 or 3 shows from itunes (SoA, Justified, was Breaking Bad). Cost of those are about a month and a halfs worth of what we were paying for on DirecTV.

So in total I pay about $22 a month for TV. I don't consider the internet price because we would have it regardless. The initial setup fee is a bit higher but that was paid off in the first 6 months of cutting the cord.

The only sports I really watch is college football, and I get my fulfillment with what already comes in OTA. I miss baseball at times.

[pattersong]

I just cut the line over this past weekend. Where I am in Toronto, Rogers has a monopoly on the cable TV/Internet services market. They charge ridiculous fees for what you receive.

I signed up for a smaller known Internet service provider with unlimited bandwidth at 1/3 of the cost of Rogers.

Subscribe to Netflix and VPN into the American programming. I can't go without hockey, so I will pay for the hockey season. All said and done, I haven't saved a whole lot more than before the cut, but I receive much more programming.
OTA might be the next logical step.

Cable Internet: $45/mo (unlimited b/w)
Netflix: $8.99/mo
NHL $12/mo
VPN: $2/mo

[AdamJoshua]

So after a month of no cable, I have burned through all of the episodes of Columbo, Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Dr. Who and Keeping Up Appearances, along with a few random shows on Netflix. I'm working on the Rockford Files now.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

So after a month of no cable, I have burned through all of the episodes of Columbo, Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Dr. Who and Keeping Up Appearances, along with a few random shows on Netflix. I'm working on the Rockford Files now.

The Rifleman or Gunsmoke are pretty good.

[shilala]

Amazon has the fire tv stick (think chromecast) for 19 bucks, two days only.
Drawback? Ships mid-December.
I figured for 19 bucks, it'd show up right in time for tv watching season. It's usually $39.

I'm a slave to Directv. We can't survive without football here, Weeze and I don't miss a game.
As soon as the NFL offers all the games online, Directv is gone. And I mean within seconds.

[WaRevo]

Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

So after a month of no cable, I'm working on the Rockford Files now.

Love that SHOW. He reminds me of what my dad looked like before he passed away in 92. Not only looked like Jim Rockford but sounded like him. Almost thought they were secret twins LOL

James

[AdamJoshua]

I caught a lot of Rifleman (Chuck Connors the original multi-sport pro jock) on MeTV and how can you not love Matt Dillon .. 2 solid choices to put on the list.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by shilala

Amazon has the fire tv stick (think chromecast) for 19 bucks, two days only.
Drawback? Ships mid-December.
I figured for 19 bucks, it'd show up right in time for tv watching season. It's usually $39.

I'm a slave to Directv. We can't survive without football here, Weeze and I don't miss a game.
As soon as the NFL offers all the games online, Directv is gone. And I mean within seconds.

Well they do, but there's some hoops you have to jump through. Only costs about $200 a season, too, as opposed to what Sunday Ticket charges.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Well they do, but there's some hoops you have to jump through. Only costs about $200 a season, too, as opposed to what Sunday Ticket charges.

They offer them after they are played, no?
I had no idea they offered live games. If they do, I could tabcast that.
We used to watch on wiziwig, but that was kind of a pain.

[Fordman4ever]

I dropped cable and got a digital antenna. Works great.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by shilala

They offer them after they are played, no?
I had no idea they offered live games. If they do, I could tabcast that.
We used to watch on wiziwig, but that was kind of a pain.

Nope, what I'm talking about is a live, HD broadcast.

[weems]

Originally Posted by shilala

Amazon has the fire tv stick (think chromecast) for 19 bucks, two days only.
Drawback? Ships mid-December.
I figured for 19 bucks, it'd show up right in time for tv watching season. It's usually $39.

I'm a slave to Directv. We can't survive without football here, Weeze and I don't miss a game.
As soon as the NFL offers all the games online, Directv is gone. And I mean within seconds.

Same here, can't miss any SEC game. But I freaking hate DirecTV.

[irratebass]

Ok seriously thinking about doing this again. I have Comcast with Internet, 2 DVRS Cable w/HBO only for about $170 a month.

I watch AMC (Walking Dead, Saul, Madmen) the most, Vh1 Classic for That Metal Show, Spike for Ink Master & Bar Rescue & HBO for well their series as well....that's about it.

Wife and boy watch ABC Family, Lifetime & The cartoon channels.

I subscribe to Nextflix and stream everything through the Xbox (One is on it's way)

We looked at HULU, but there was a particular show we were watching at the time (Nurse Jackie or Dexter or Madmen.....I don't remember), but they didn't have the current season, so we didn't get it.

I bought her the ROKU last year and decided it wasn't worth since you still had to subscribe to things, so I returned it.

Thinking about doing the ChromeCast....I torrent films and some tv show seasons.

So, with what I have/watch what would you consider would be my best move? I would have to keep internet that's a no brainier ($72 a month)

What is PlayOn? Do they have current seasons? Same with Plex?

[DPD6030]

We are also thinking of getting rid of our tv services when our contract is up. It's crazy expensive. Some future relatives have a roku and some other plug in stick and are satisfied. I don't watch a ton of sports so it doesn't matter much to me. All that matters is $125/month with a discount is a shame for tv.

[Slow Triathlete]

We cut the cable about 3 years ago and I have not missed it a bit.

For sports I usually go to a sports bar or hang out with my friends to watch a game.

[irratebass]

I have heard that HULU still has commercials WTF???? Even though you pay for the service you still have to sit through commercials?????