Ditching Cable TV Service – One Year Later
Let me just get right to the point and say that ditching the $75+ per month Cable TV service over one year ago and going solely with online video offerings was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Seriously. I don’t miss the crappy reality shows, nor do I miss the jamming of commercials at the end of a movie or “special event” and I sure don’t miss the $75-100 price tag. If you are on the fence about losing the ridiculously high cable bill every month then read on and learn how not only did I save money but I actually got access to a greater selection of programming directly online through iTunes, Amazon, and several other popular streaming media services.
So how did I manage to accomplish this and still be able to watch the shows I enjoyed while having cable TV? Initially there were shows that I did live without since the only major service that was putting content online was Apple’s iTunes Store which initially featured a very limited selection. Since then things have dramatically changed and just about all the major networks have begun putting content online in some form or another. Since Apple’s iTunes was the first out the gate they seem to still have the largest selection of both TV shows and movies but other services such as Amazon’s On Demand video service and Hulu are definitely making inroads. One of the most interesting changes over the past year is just how much content is now online for little to no cost. The most I regularly ever pay for a single episode of a one hour show is $1.99 and my average cost per show is a low $.88 cents!
For me ditching cable was not just about saving money it was also about being able to watch shows on my own schedule. If I had to work late for some reason, no big deal I could just watch the latest episode of Ugly Betty or Stargate Atlantis whenever I got home. Being able to do this has made it much easier to schedule my time around the events that really matter to me without having to be “home to watch ____ at 8:00pm” like many folks I know.
Another positive change over this past year was the introduction of HD content (mostly 720p) for either purchase or streaming download. Although I don’t see the point of downloading all the shows I watch in HD I can’t help but be amazed at the quality of a show like Battlestar Galactica when viewed in HD. You can get HD content through both Amazon and iTunes with more services looking to add HD over the next year.
In conclusion I can say that for me ditching the high costs of cable TV service has enabled me to not only watch was I was watching before but it has opened up access to more content then I had through Comcast (my local Cable provider). Sure it does have the up front cost of getting content from your computer to your TV (more on this on a follow up post) but if you add up the monthly costs of a typical cable TV bill then you will quickly see how that one-time cost is quickly recovered in the savings. As more folks pull the plug on the high costs of cable TV thanks to the slowing economy you can bet that the networks will respond with more online content. Personally, I think the writing is on the wall for traditional cable service in the same way it is for the printed newspaper since people simply won’t see the value in the old way of doing things if there is a cheaper and more convenient option.
2/6/2009 UPDATE: CNN just ran a front page story on how folks are canceling cable TV due to the poor economic situation.
Image Credit: Lonely Machines
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