Misguided Geek: Cutting the Cable
So, after a long talk with my wife, we have decided to bid farewell to our cable service, and join the ranks of the “cable cutters.” In the coming weeks I want to share with you, my faithful readers, my experience with this transition and I hope, should you have experience with this, that you would feel comfortable giving me any advice or suggestions you may have. Today I want to outline my reasons for cutting, and my plan of action.
Why get rid of cable in the first place?
This is a valid question, Im not giving up TV, I still hope to keep up with my regular shows, but looking at my bill each month and seeing the rising cost of Cable TV, I feel like there has to be an alternative. There are only a handful of shows I watch regularly, why should I pay $100 a month when I only watch roughly 10% of the channels?
Ok so what is the plan?
I’m glad you asked, I have spend a lot of time reading what other folks have been doing, and I plan to utilize free and paid for streaming services to replace the loss of cable television. I just bought the Roku HD from Amazon, and use to use it for a trial run. I have not canceled my cable service yet, I am going to hook the Roku up to one of our TVs just so I, and more importantly my wife, can get a feel for it and see if we like it, we also have an antenna to catch the major local networks. My hope is between the streaming services on Roku and over the Air channels, we can still catch the majority of what we watch for a fraction of the price.
What is the point?
Right? There are shows we like, cable is convenient, why mess with a good thing? My reasoning is that cable companies, Time Warner in my area, tend to own local monopolies on cable and internet. Unless I go dish for TV I have no other option for TV service, and to my knowledge I have NO other option at all for an internet provider. By cutting ties I am asserting my right as a consumer, to watch what I want, and only what I want, for a price that I find reasonable. Worst case I am unsatisfied with the streaming offerings available and I switch back to cable, and return my Roku, yes my pride is hurt but little else. Best case, I still get all the entertainment I am used to, and I have an extra Franklin in my pocket at the end of the month.
Advice? Suggestions? Leave them here in the comment box, or shoot me a tweet @JoshArtrip, or @Misguidedgeek, otherwise check back, and I hope to have weekly (or at least bi weekly) updates on my progress.
