We had a full cable package, all the channels, including movies channels. It was probably close to $200 per month.

And we also had all the streaming options; Netflix, Prime, Disney+, EPSN+, Hulu, Paramount, Peacock and Max.

One day I realized the only thing I really used cable for was when I was flipping channels, wasting time. And whenever I truly wanted to watch something I went to the streaming services. So I cut the cord and cancelled cable completely. That was over 6 months ago.

I have realized I do miss cable for a few things. With Peacock, I can see all NBC stuff. With Paramount, I can see most CBS stuff. But ABC and Fox are kind of left out in the cold. I would like to see some sports (baseball and football) on those channels.

I have realized the ESPN+ is basically a waste. None of the good stuff shown on ESPN is available on ESPN+. Most notably for me, F1 practice, qualifying and sprint races. I can normally catch the main race, but the last one wasn't shown.

So, I would like the local channels, plus ESPN. I am sure there are a few more channels I could make use of.

Spectrum cable is $59.99. AT&T is $74.99. YouTube TV is $72.99.

I would love to get this stuff for $40-$50 per month. I suppose I'll pay $60, which has me leaning towards Spectrum. Once I cross that threshold, I am out and I'll continue to live without a cord.

What are you using and what is my best option?

I use Fubo but it’s over your price range. I’d suggest checking Hulu plus tv (it’s called something like that). It’s Hulu but adds live tv. Maybe that combination would be cost effective since you already have Hulu.

I initially tried to cut the cable for years, when streaming was hitting its stride. The (now ex) wife refused for several years, so we continued to pay $200+ per month for cable TV that was used for little more than background noise and the occasional football game.

Finally, she relented. And found that she didn't miss cable at all. Wish she had let me do it sooner, as we could have saved literally thousands of dollars.

Nowadays, I still don't have any TV service at all. Only streaming. I subscribe to a couple services year-round, and mix in a month or two of different services at a time, when there's something specific that I want to watch on that service.


The only value I see in having TV nowadays is if you are a die-hard sports fan, and your sports/teams of choice aren't 100% available on a streaming service. (And even then, there are internet TV options out there that are cheaper than traditional cable/satellite.)

Otherwise, why pay more just to watch what someone else decided you should watch at that time, with interspersed commercials? You can pay less, and watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it, with no commercials, via streaming.

We canceled Comcast over a year ago and went with YouTubeTV and really like it. It's got a ton of channels including all the local ones. Lots of sports channels including ESPN. Also works flawlessly right on our iPhones.

IMO it's worth the price. We pay $77 for that and $40 for 500 Mbps fiber and that's way better than Comcast.

You will need something like a Roku streaming stick or TV to be able to use YTTV, we have a Roku TV now.

We have Hulu + with the local channels and a Roku receiver. There's no cable TV provider in my area either, so it's dish only. I live in a very mountainous area so I can't get the local channels on an Over The Air (OTA) antenna. If I could I'd go with regular Hulu and an OTA antenna. There's a big price difference between regular Hulu and Hulu +. Hulu+ is alright, but certain things piss me off. Not sure if it's the Hulu or the Roku. I usually watch all the Broncos games. Back when we had dish I used to be able to pause the game right when it started, go and do shit for an hour, then come pack, un-pause and fast forward through the commercials. I can't remember which it is (Hulu or the Roku), but it's not really possible with the Hulu+ and Roku.

Also, many times I can't back up the game to watch a play over again. The Roku interface sucks, but we just deal with it. If it wasn't for my wife I'd ditch the entire setup and have nothing.

quote:

With Paramount, I can see most CBS stuff. But ABC and Fox are kind of left out in the cold

You can always hook up an OTA antenna to solve that problem.

One of the benefits of a cable lineup is that everything is in one place, easier to get to also handy if you DVR.

However, YouTubeTV or Hula would be my Internet choice.

All the other you can buy ala carte and get what you want, Prime and Netflix covers a lot of ground.

Don't think there is much savings anymore to cutting the cord unless you are judicious about only subscribing to what you really watch.

$74,217.65.

That's $100 a month saved on cable television over the past 20 years of my life (giving up cable when I was 21), compounded monthly at 9.75 percent (average rate of return over the past 20 years in the market).

Further extrapolate that out until retirement age, that number jumps to $591,079.

Over the remainder of my lifetime and assuming I die at 85 years, I will have accumulated nearly 7 MILLION DOLLARS because I stopped paying for cable television.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
The Roku interface sucks, but we just deal with it. If it wasn't for my wife I'd ditch the entire setup and have nothing.

Wow really?

I love the Roku setup. Everything is a tile on my Roku TV, all the streaming apps, the DVD player, the Nintendo Switch. There’s no having to press an input button on the remote, just navigate to a tile and press enter. I wish everything could be that intuitive and simple. My Dad has a Vizio “smart” TV and the thing is a horror.

I finally got rid of my cable TV and all those monthly rentals for the cable boxes. I still have two phone lines and 1 Gig internet. Everything I had was costing me $350 per month. Now I pay $109.00 per month.

To get Faux News and many other channels I have had to add sling TV ($40.00) Plus Paramount and Peacock totaling ($15.00). So by cutting the TV Cable I am saving approximately $200.00 monthly.

Any regrets , hell no, it has been far better. If you are going to cut TV cable out of your life be ready for multiple trips to the Cable Store. Be prepared for multiple phone calls to billing and about three months of watching your bill to ensure that they are doing what you expected and to ensure that they don't continue to bill you for returned equipment and cable TV service that was cancelled.