Cable Cutters

[dsavitsk]

We have cable. The only real reason we have cable is that I like to watch tennis. ESPN now has most of it, and the rest is on Tennis Channel. In order to get TC, one has to have essentially all the channels, so we do. It costs too much.

 

A back of the envelope calculation suggests that cutting cable will pay for several days of good seats at the US Open this summer, or possibly a (slim) majority of a trip to Wimbledon, either of which sounds way better than TV. And between the Roku and an antenna, cable seems otherwise a waste, although I do like Brad Gilbert. I guess we'll have to go to the neighbors to watch Game of Thrones. That seems OK -- we like the neighbors.

 

I think we are under contract for another month or two, so I guess I watch the Australian Open. Then it's gone. I am excited at the prospect.

[Grahame]

If you are on Comcast, have a look at "internet plus". internet, minimal TV , and a Valid HBO Go account. As ever the offer for new subscribers is far better than for existing customers. The Internet has made them almost obsolete before they have got around to implementing a la carte pricing. Shame.

[roadtonowhere08]

We have not had cable in our house since we bought it (about 2 years).  I do not watch much TV, but everything I want to watch (Daily Show, Colbert, How It's Made, and other science-nerd shit) is covered by Hulu and Netflix subscriptions.  So we are at about $75 a month total for that at a 54Mbit/s (speedtest measured) connection.  We catch most stuff after the fact, so cable is no big deal.

 

Oh, and I always haggle annually with Time Warner over the price.  They always want to jack it up after the "promo" period is over.  Fuck that.  I'm nice but firm.  Hell, I think we are paying less this year than last for a faster connection (if you can believe that) 

Edited December 17, 2014 by roadtonowhere08

[jvlgato]

I was ready to cut the cord last summer. I bought a rooftop antenna, got Roku, found all online sports options, got spousal approval. I called DirecTV to cancel, and ... they dropped the price so much that I decided to keep it. Now, it's a year by year thing, and I have to threaten to cancel every summer, but it seems to work well. 

[blessingx]

I think I'm approaching the six year mark (and didn't use much a couple years before that though was free). Hulu Plus (TV & Criterion), Netflix (though quality has really suffered over time), BitTorrent, and other web streaming covers enough screen time for me.

[Grand Enigma]

Having two small kids I do not get much screen time, but we have been happy with Netflix/Hulu/Roku channels... we had Aero up until they went under, was great for the Olympics and such.

 

We mostly use iPads to watch something while cleaning/cooking and Roku on our TV on occassion.

 

Haven't had cable/sat for about 2 years now.

[grawk]

I just switched from satellite back to cable.  Mostly because I now pay for phone, internet, and all available channels what I used to pay for just internet and phone.

[mikeymad]

Dropped cable TV years ago (internet only). The only main thing that I can see as an issue is live sporting events. I don't watch many live sports - but it still is not easy to find or watch them when I would like. I have friends that watch a lot of sports (baseball, football, and golf). They feel that there is no way to give up their cable TV. I would say cut it. The worst thing that can happen is that you sign up again... 

[blessingx]

Mikey, you posted the curling videos. Does anyone need more sports? 

 

 

[mikeymad]

I am just saying.. -- been a subscriber to WorldCurlingTV for a while now - watched almost 6 hours of curling (2 matches) this last weekend -- well Just Sunday really - riveting. 

 

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, I cut cable a couple months ago, and had a cable device for months before that that I never plugged in.  Can't get BBC America (for Doctor Who) without buying one of the super deluxe packages (really? just for one channel?  I think not), but then I realized it was cheaper just to get the one or two shows I want via Amazon Prime (that's how I watched Doctor Who this season, it's probably how I'll watch Game of Thrones when it comes back).

 

I think ESPN is talking about a subscription service, you should look into how far off that is in the future.  HBO is, too, but I'm only interested in one show there...

[Absorbine_Sr]

Mikey, did you stream F1 races this year? I did not try it but it has been one of my concerns regarding cutting the cord. I'd need to find a way to time shift some of those. And yes, we are also discussing dropping Dish as we pay a fairly large amount but probably only watch 10 - 15 channels.

[mikeymad]

Sr - nope. I have not found a streaming source for F1. 

 

(off the record. I use torrents from the BBC - why I have to go into radio blackout until I get to watch it)

[Grahame]

Mikey, one of the many available VPN's and BBC iPlayer for live streaming?

[Grahame]

or Pay? https://www.ukproxyserver.com/info/watch-live-bbc-formula-1/

[mikeymad]

Pretend I am Canadian?!? I think not... 

[dsavitsk]

Our contract finally ended, and the day of cable cutting is at hand. We switched to Comcast for internet + HBO. Should save us >$1000/year which is nuts.

[shellylh]

You can get internet + HBO (without cable)?   HBO Go?  How? 

 

Update:  I just tried HBO Go and it seems to be working for me.  Either I have Internet with HBO as part of my plan or somehow it is still work from when I had it before.  Hopefully it continues to work!  I got rid of cable at the beginning of February. 

Edited April 6, 2015 by shellylh

[Pars]

Last fall, both HBO and Showtime announced unbundled services would be offered in 2015. It looks like HBO is available (HBO Now). Not sure when Showtime will be.

 

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/16/hbo-cbs-and-showtime-are-helping-you-cut-the-cord.aspx

 

I guess if your HBO Go is working, run with it

[dsavitsk]

On 12/17/2014 at 2:38 PM, mikeymad said:

I am just saying.. -- been a subscriber to WorldCurlingTV for a while now - watched almost 6 hours of curling (2 matches) this last weekend -- well Just Sunday really - riveting. 

 

 

 

[mikeymad]

Sad to report that last year, World Curling Youtube stopped broadcasting and posting full length matches. Only highlights. I unsubscribed. 

[dsavitsk]

35 minutes ago, mikeymad said:

Sad to report that last year, World Curling Youtube stopped broadcasting and posting full length matches. Only highlights. I unsubscribed. 

Is there any other place to watch it? ESPN used to have some (I watched the Scotties there a couple years ago) but in their attempt to not show sports anymore that has disappeared.

[mikeymad]

I have not done any real searching this season, been a little busy. But I guess it goes to show that, like most sports for me, if I cannot watch it easily and for free, ...meh... 

And highlights just don't seem to do it for me, yeah if I followed a sport and I need to know the results of the one game that I missed before the next match. But I just don't follow anything like that, so watching a highlight of a game that I am not invested in, is boring.

Now when I am in day 5 of a cricket test match that I have watched all 4 days leading up to it, and it is within a 100 runs of winning The Ashes, I am all in! 

go sports...