Corvinus85 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 This has been a trend for the past few years, but I'm not sure how much it has spread. While in college, I used to torrent a lot, but after getting a good steady job I could afford a TV cable package + internet, and even go further with DVR and premium channels, so no more torrenting for me, and I will not change my attitude on that. Because artists do deserve compensation for what they do, even if most of what I pay goes in the pockets of the media bosses. Then last month's cable bill came at just 3 bucks shy of $200. (Cable provider is Charter Spectrum) That is too much, imo. Additionally I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime. So I did 2 things: 1) I made a list of all the TV shows I have been watching and will most likely watch in 2016 (I came at about 35, which I think is a lot. Maybe I should reduce and find a different hobby ) 2) I reduced my cable TV package so now I will be paying around $157. (no premium channels anymore) But other than fictional (with one exception) TV shows, I don't watch TV that much. I seldom watch movies or news, and the only sporting events I watch is football in the fall. But this year there is also the EURO 2016 soccer championship which I would hate to miss. If not for that, I would cut the cord right now, and keep only my internet from Charter, which is pretty good, and which would undoubtedly go up. But still it would be much cheaper, if I added a Hulu subscription, and cycle through HBO, Showtime, and Starz subscriptions. Now I can afford $157, but I do have other financial concerns, caused by a wage freeze at my company. I know that this is nowhere near as big as a concern as what problems people may have in their lives, but I am curious about how other people feel about cutting the cord, and watching TV by other means. Has anyone tried Sling TV? For the EURO2016 I would have to DVR the matches to enjoy them unspoiled. But without cable, I'm not sure what the solutions would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 We're similar. We recently cut the premium channels from our monthly Comcast package of Cable/internet/phone. I was willing to cut down to just Internet and use Vonage for telephone (which we used in the past). My wife wasn't willing to cut off basic cable yet. We like some shows on HBO, Shotime and Starz, but watch one show per year on each -- that's just not worth the subscription. It's better to just buy the individual season on Amazon/Hulu or else wait for Netflix. I watch live sports, but they are increasingly offered online by the networks. Of course, if we all cut basic cable then the cable providers will increase the prices for Internet packages, especially at volumes for streaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I haven't had anything but rabbit ears for the last 15 years. Life is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S John Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 For a long time I just had internet and would stream netflix / amazon through my xbox to my TV. I do have cable now though, and it is probably $125 / month for cable and internet. I also have HBO, Epix, and one other premium channel + DVR where I can record up to 6 things at once. The main reason I went back to Cable TV was sports. There is not a sports streaming service comprehensive enough to cover the sports that I want to watch. And a lot of times streaming is dicey for live sports. A bad feed can really kill the ability to enjoy it and I'd rather not mess with it if it is a game I care about. The only other option would be heading to the bar any time I want to watch a game. Times like now, when college basketball is in full swing, I would be down at the bar 2-3 times a week. Not only does that get expensive and unhealthy, but 9 times out of 10 I'd simply rather watch a game on my own couch than with a bunch a slobs down at the local watering hole. Let me just take a moment here to say that having premium cable after not having it for several years is motherfucking glorious. I am definitely one of those people who talked shit about cable and thought it would be out of my life forever once Netflix came along. But now, with all the channels I get + DVR, I don't think I can go back to life without it. DVR is such a huge score. I very rarely watch anything in real time. I have tons of storage to record whatever I want and watch it when my schedule allows for some downtime. Now the low cost that I am paying now for my cable/internet/phone package is a 'special offer'. Here is what will happen, and I've now been doing this for 2 years - in 6 months or 12 months or something my bill will revert to what it is 'supposed' to be since I have been benefiting from the 'special offer' for x period of time. When that happens I'll get an outrageous cable bill that will be like $300. Obviously that is ridiculous and I'm not going to pay that much per month. So I will then call my cable company and threaten to quit / switch to another provider. They will then give me whatever promotional offer they have going on during that time and my bill will ultimately stay in the same ballpark. I've gone through 3 or 4 iterations of this. Basically it doesn't cost them shit to run a cable feed to my house. It is better for them that they get $125 / month from me than $0 from me, and I'll bet that a lot of people just keep paying the $300 bill when it gets hiked. It's a bit of a pain to have to call them and go through it every once in a while, but its worth it and they never even really fight me on it. They know what the game is. Ideally the best thing for the consumer would be an a la carte set up where you can pick which channels you want, since I never watch 90% of the channels that I have anyway, but that kind of common sense solution is obviously never going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I've found the "switching/quitting" option doesn't work as well as it did even a few years ago. Which is strange, but whatever. Mrs. Jax would make the switch, jettison cable all together and simply do Netflix, except I like to watch sports. I agreed to reducing the cable package a few months ago and it cost me the MLB Network and I'm still writhing from that. I'd like to get HBO and Starz back, but we don't watch them enough to justify that. I personally just do not "get" Netflix and the like. It's perhaps my ingrained nature. I don't mind commercials, and if I do, I flip around during them. I'm one of those people. The idea of binge watching? Who the hell has time for that? I like the idea of watching my shows week to week, and I like having my DVR. I just don't see me ever cutting that cord. Now I gotta go look to see how to go about upgrading my cable on the cheap again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiDisaster Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I haven't had cable in years and don't miss it. I have Netflix for most of my viewing, as well as HBONow now that they finally allow me to give them my money. Showtime I get through my PS4. UFC.tv for the only live sports I regularly watch at home. So if I add that all up... HBONow: $15 Netflix: $10 UFC.tv: $10* Showtime: $9** Grand Total: $44 a month. Pretty happy with that. *Doesn't include pay-per-views but neither would a cable package. **$9 is a discounted price because I also have a Playstation Plus subscription which is something like $60 a year, normal price is $11 a month I think. I also have Amazon Prime but I buy that mainly for the free two day shipping since I order stuff from Amazon all the time. I rarely use their video streaming service. I understand live sports are the major sticking point for a lot of people. I'm lucky in that I have friends with the big, pricey sports packages so I watch NFL games at their place and will watch the Euro this year with them as well. I do supply beer for these occasions. Not a total mooch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorMakhnosLovechild Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 13 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said: I've found the "switching/quitting" option doesn't work as well as it did even a few years ago. Which is strange, but whatever. Mrs. Jax would make the switch, jettison cable all together and simply do Netflix, except I like to watch sports. I agreed to reducing the cable package a few months ago and it cost me the MLB Network and I'm still writhing from that. I'd like to get HBO and Starz back, but we don't watch them enough to justify that. I personally just do not "get" Netflix and the like. It's perhaps my ingrained nature. I don't mind commercials, and if I do, I flip around during them. I'm one of those people. The idea of binge watching? Who the hell has time for that? I like the idea of watching my shows week to week, and I like having my DVR. I just don't see me ever cutting that cord. Now I gotta go look to see how to go about upgrading my cable on the cheap again... Ugh! People like you disgust me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Directv was about $100 cheaper per month for me for the exact same thing I was paying for with cable, plus got two free years of NFL Sunday Ticket for switching. I have yet to have weather related outages, but I can live with them occasionally for a savings of over a grand per year. Regardless, the ability to buy individual channels is coming, which should make television watching a lot cheaper for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 1 hour ago, NestorMakhnosLovechild said: Ugh! People like you disgust me! There are more of me than you realize! We shall overcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martell Spy Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Yeah, I cut the cord about five years ago. It's been good, and it's getting better as more and more good shows are on Netflix. If I really want to see something fast I just buy a season for 30$ or so That's kinda expensive, but I like that I can choose when to do that. And I save a lot by just waiting and getting a lot of stuff on disc a year later. Only sucks that I can't join in show discussions sometimes. I really enjoy not having to deal with the big cable company though and that was what motivated me at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 9 minutes ago, Martell Spy said: Yeah, I cut the cord about five years ago. It's been good, and it's getting better as more and more good shows are on Netflix. If I really want to see something fast I just buy a season for 30$ or so That's kinda expensive, but I like that I can choose when to do that. And I save a lot by just waiting and getting a lot of stuff on disc a year later. Only sucks that I can't join in show discussions sometimes. I really enjoy not having to deal with the big cable company though and that was what motivated me at first. That's another drawback that is currently preventing me from cutting the cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I pirated tv for a while then got a full cable package. I recently moved and decided that it maybe wasn't worth the money as it seemed that a lot of shows I watched would show up on Hulu the next day. I already had Netflix and Prime so I figured adding Hulu would fill the gap. Only Hulu sucks mega balls. It never works, the shows are only there for a few hours and then disappear for weeks only to mysteriously return, and it never ever ever ever works. I can't get satellite where I am, so I'd have to go back to cable if I wanted to watch certain things legally again. Not sure if I'm willing to do that, but I figure I'll reevaluate in a couple of months. If most basic cable and regular broadcast stations had a channel on the roku or something, it would be so much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I don't see myself cutting the cord in the foreseeable future, I like having one bill to pay for cable, internet, phone and premium channels and not having to jumping to different providers and formats depending on what I want to watch at the moment. I do use my sister's account to watch the Marvel shows on Netflix, which is simple enough since the TV can connect to Netflix directly. And I did just start a free trial for Amazon Prime which I may use to look at older TV series I missed, but I mainly got it for the free shipping for books since Barnes and Noble has closed their two closest stores in the past two years, so I've given up on getting new books from a brick and mortar store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zelticgar Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I got the triple play package from Comcast but the promotional rate ran out and i was paying $250 for all the channels plus internet. I just cancelled all the extras and got the rate down to $160. It took me 20 minutes of on-hold time to get to a live person to cancel the premium channels. I'll probably add HBO once GoT starts up but I dont think I'll miss anything else. We have the Roku and Wii U and can stream Netflix through both. We are re-doing my living room and I plan to get an internet ready TV with a digital antenna for local channels and will stream Netflix, Amazon and HBO plus whatever other free channels we can get. If it works out I may replicate the same set up in our family room. The kids spend almost all their time on youtube so I doubt they will care if we get rid of cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 It's an expensive bill, but I like having cable. I don't have Netflix or Hulu plus or anything--just my basic cable with an additional HBO subscription and DVR. I watch an eclectic assortment of things, and I like randomly tuning into Chopped or SYTTD or something when I wouldn't necessarily want to go in and actually stream those shows. My DVR is great and basically every channel has On Demand now, so I can watch stuff I missed. Not to mention that if I did cut the cable, I'd still be paying a hefty internet fee and additional charges for Netflix or whatever. It wouldn't enough savings, IMO, to be worth the hassle. Plus streaming is annoying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know that antennas were still a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Nope. Can't. Footy on the tv is kind of a big deal to me. And then there are the years we opt to buy the baseball package too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solmyr Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I haven't had TV for years. Cable is cheap here (we're talking $3-10 per month depending on channels), but when you never turn on the TV it's an unnecessary expense. I have no scrupules torrenting anything, least of all TV shows. Anything that's on TV can be legally recorded and shared*, therefore once it's on TV it's fair game. And it's much more convenient than any TV service, incl. Netflix. If one day torrenting becomes legal and is priced as Netflix, I'd pay for the former, not the latter. *if you, for example let family/friends watch it on recording Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedles Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 We do the cancellation dance here. Every 6 months or so the sky bill increases, and J rings them, and either they reduce to the new customer offer, or he cancels, only to re-sign up the day after it goes as a "new" customer. We have it mostly for the rugby, and a lesser extent the soccer. I have cookery shows on on the background a lot, but could live without them. It's mostly on 24 hour news. If it was easy to buy individual sporting events we would probably ditch it and just buy sports and netflix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 33 minutes ago, Deedles said: We do the cancellation dance here. Every 6 months or so the sky bill increases, and J rings them, and either they reduce to the new customer offer, or he cancels, only to re-sign up the day after it goes as a "new" customer. We have it mostly for the rugby, and a lesser extent the soccer. I have cookery shows on on the background a lot, but could live without them. It's mostly on 24 hour news. If it was easy to buy individual sporting events we would probably ditch it and just buy sports and netflix glad my family aren't the only ones to use this technique. Ocassionally we get offered £x in shopping vouchers instead of a reduction, but both are good. The package we have includes most stuff except movies I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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