A couple years back I got a great deal on cable TV. It was almost free when I bundled it with my other services.
When the special rate was over, I was astonished at how much the cost went up and decided to research other options. It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford it, I just couldn’t rationalize paying so much when there were other possibilities.
And so, my TV research adventure began…
The first thing I tried was a Leaf antenna – it’s like rabbit ears in a nice white patch you can hide behind your TV or on the wall. This resulted in an afternoon of holding the leaf at different angles, jumping up and down, and climbing up on things in various corners of the room. But, I never got a decent signal and the leaf antenna went back to the store.
My next focus was on plug in options like Chromecast, but I wasn’t happy with some of the limitations I found in their services.
My son suggested connecting the TV to my computer, which seemed like a good idea until I realized I would need to keep moving my laptop around when using it for different purposes.
A few days later my son sent me a gift. It was an HDMI cable. I thought it was very thoughtful, but when I thanked him profusely he sounded a little odd. That is because the real gift was a Blu-ray player which arrived the next day. (I will probably never live down being so excited about a cable)
I am now happily living free of cable TV. The Blu-ray player connects to my home Wi-Fi and brings entertainment to my TV screen. The set up was super easy with fewer cords involved.
Now, I get to enjoy:
Netflix – $7.99 per month – a large selection of movies and TV shows free of commercials
Hulu – $7.99 per month – popular TV show episodes with fewer commercials and a lot of old and foreign shows I would not normally have access to. At some point, I may let go of this as I feel less and less connected to the weekly TV shows on cable channels.
My Computer – Free – There are a few shows on channels like PBS that I can’t get elsewhere. I also have bookmarked local news channels for information and in case of an emergency.
Ultraviolet in conjunction with VUDU– Free for me (my son added me to his account) – families or friends link up and pool the movies they buy together so everyone can watch them whenever they want.
Without cable TV, I still enjoy the same shows, but find the expanded options allow me to focus more on quality and what I really enjoy.
I have saved over $100 per month and have more entertainment options than ever. You probably can too. You may want to start your own TV research adventure…
I love that you did this. We as well have NO cable and only use Netflix and Hulu (free version). We actually don’t even pay for Netflix because we share with family (which is another cool trick to saving money). But another cool option is the Apple TV where you can pick what you want to subscribe to…for instance…HBO or sports… The realm of TV is changing!!! It’s not ethical anymore for people to be spending outrageous amounts of dollars on cable packages and only watch a few channels…or watch too much TV and miss out on so much life. Great content 🙂
We think alike. Ultimately, the goal is to spend our lives in our lives and not watching stories in a box. I have a client who might appreciate hearing about the Apple TV. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing this info. You’ve inspired me to resume my efforts to eliminate my cable. Because I have a bundle that includes internet and my business phone line, I have to be sure I’m shooting myself in the foot when I unbundle. I left ATT long ago for my phone and on last search they seemed to be my only option for a land line in my area.
The last time I inquired about dropping to basic cable and just keeping my phone and internet, the bill didn’t drop enough to warrant it. I was ready to drop cable completely when my daughter sent me an antenna, but even though it got loads of channels, most were foreign language. When I got to a channel I cared about the picture sometimes pixelated. I hate that!
The search goes on.