This past week has been our first full week without cable TV. We made the decision not lightly. You see, my husband and I have many "programs". There are our cable favorites like The Walking Dead, Gotham, Bates Motel and Last Man on Earth. Then there is HBO for Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, Veep and more. I mean, we like to watch a lot of programs... but this March marked our second year in the house and like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight, the magical spell called the Verizon Fios "Triple Play Bundle" was going to jump in price. Now believe me, I talked to many a Verizon associate to try to finagle the same pricing that we were accustomed to over the past two years. We just wanted to keep what we had, after all. Unfortunately, cable television does not work that way. At the very best deal that they could "help us out with", we would be spending over $300 more per year. After doing some quick math, if we ditched the cable (and home phone), keeping only the internet, we would save $1000 year on year. C'mon, was there any question?
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With subscription services like
Netflix ($7.99 a month),
Amazon Prime with streaming ($99 per year),
Hulu Plus ($7.99 a month) and the forthcoming HBO stand alone streaming service, we can get literally any show that we want to watch, except for The Walking Dead (darnit!). We can listen to podcasts and npr through the TV if we need a News fix. The set up is working so far and we have been pretty happy with the amount of TV that we are able to watch, and for much less than we had been spending.
This past week, I have been going through slight withdrawals from Bravo TV. Bravo limits their content streaming so I have only seen snippets of the RHOBH reunion and that has KILLED me but I will tell you something... it's nice having more quiet in the house most of the time. If the TV goes on, it is with a purpose, not just for background noise. I think that this one of the best decisions that we have made in a long time. I will be curious to see how long it takes for streaming to become the main source of TV consumption and when will prices catch up with that trend. Until then, we will be a streaming, reading, peace and quiet type of household.
Did you quit cable TV? Are you thinking about it?
Yessss Adam and I are doing this when our two year pricing ends in August and I'm kind of excited about it (to the point where I might try to convince him to do it sooner? maybe) I need to put an end to my marathoning stupid tv shows (hello, Ghost Adventures)
ReplyDeleteDo you think Hulu is worth it if we already have Netflix and Amazon Prime?
Congrats!!! You will love not having cable!! I don't miss it at all. Hulu+, Netflix and Amazon Prime are my jam!
ReplyDeleteYou can sign up for a week trial of Hulu + to try it out. It's good for shows that you want to see sooner than when Netflix gets them, like you can watch The Bachelor the day after it airs. As for cancelling sooner, you could get charged a fee so I would do a little math to see which would save you the money in the long run.... but we cut the cable, and besides a small withdrawal from Bravo TV, I am quite enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteYay! All Modern Girls should consider it! XOXO
ReplyDeleteWe quit cable almost a year ago ... It's been good and FYI you can buy seasons if bravos shows on prime for $25 or so you don't have to miss any RH's 😉
ReplyDeleteI gave up cable a few years ago. We have an antenna, a google chrome cast and some imagination. I have Netflix which I stream onto the tv. also there are websites that you can get walking dead free :) I do it just cannot watch on the night it is on. I really do not miss it!!
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to get the hubby to dump our satellite. He's afraid our internet won't be up to all of us wanting to stream on Hulu and Netflix. I'm going to keep trying cause I'm sooo over paying for 200+ channels when I only watch 3 or 4 a few times a week.
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