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?
 |
|
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?
