If you took the leap and cut cable/satellite, how do you watch TV? What devices and services do you use? Hulu plus? Netflix? How do you get local channels or watch things like news or sports?
With two littles in daycare full time we're seriously needing to look at some way to cut our monthly expenses for the next year.
nectarine / 2641 posts
We use a Roku, pay for SlingTV during football season (which gets us most games we watch), subscribe to HBOGo, and use Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming. Saves us a ton from when we had cable (especially when it's not football season...)
blogger / apricot / 389 posts
I haven't had cable in over four years... and while there are times where it would be nice, for the most part I have never felt like something was missing.
We don't even have a TV set up in our house. We watch Netflix on our computers and I keep up with shows on the network websites (you just have to watch within a week).
pear / 1961 posts
We cut cable for awhile and used a combination of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a digital satellite (I think it was like $30 on Amazon) so that we got the standard networks -- abc, cbs, nbc. I think now I'd do Hulu+ in addition to, or instead of, Netflix. And maybe HBONow.
The most annoying thing for us was trying to watch live sports. We had access to a friend's ESPN360 account (they had cable), but for some reason there were a couple "important" gaps where the game should've either been on ESPN360 or on a local network, but we couldn't get either. Clearly not exactly life-altering 
grapefruit / 4278 posts
@Jess1483: I haven't heard of Sling, I'll have to check it out.
@Mrs. Marshmallow: There are very few things that are must watch for me, but DH might die without being able to watch "Deadliest Catch"
@KayKay: Yea, I was thinking we could maybe cover local channels with just a digital antenna of some sort. That would at least allow us to watch our home team. We really only watch football, so that makes it easier.
grapefruit / 4988 posts
We cut a couple years ago and it's been great. We have:
- A digital antenna for watching football games, political debates, etc.
- Apple TV (was a gift) with various subscriptions
- Amazon Fire stick ($19 on black friday) and Amazon prime streaming
In terms of subscriptions, I stay on top of cancelling them when we are not using them and just re-start them whenever a new series comes out that we want to see. Usually we keep Hulu, and we occasionally use Netflix and HBO when there is something new we want to see.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
So, I had already weaned myself off of TV for the most part before we gave up cable...so I never felt I was missing anything.
We have a netflix subscription and occasionally I will watch a show via Amazon Prime. If I absoultely need to watch the local news, I can watch via the computer streamed to the TV.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
I'm curious to see how much people are actually saving..
We looked into it, but with Verizon, I wouldn't save anything to subscribe to all these other services and just do phone/internet, or even just internet!
kiwi / 617 posts
We cut the cord 5 years ago! At first we just had Netflix, which we streamed on our Blue Ray player or Xbox, and we got a digital antenna for the regular stations (like old school rabbit ears, but different shaped). I now also have Amazon Prime. The only thing we missed was live sports (football mostly), and being current with whatever show was starting that season.
We moved recently, and our apartment now comes with cable...and we never watch it! I cannot stand the commercials, or being able to start a show whenever I want. We do watch live sports, but as others have said, there are subscriptions you can get now.
I got an iPad for Christmas last year, and since then have gotten the apps for ABC and CBS. Some parts are free and some have a fee, but that is how I watch most of the current shows. For example, Madam Secretary is on Sunday nights. I pay $6/month for the CBS app, and can watch Madam Secretary on the Monday after it airs, with limited commercials. If you don't pay the fee, you can see that episode the following week (ie you will be one week behind).
Those apps also let you watch the news and several other shows live. So figure out what you watch, what you can live without, and what is compatible with your technology and see what you come up with.
I'll never go back to cable!
kiwi / 617 posts
Also, I think I pay about $20 bucks a month total for the subscprtions.
Netflix is $10, amazon prime is $70 for the year (but totally worth it for shipping other stuff, so I count that as free) CBS is $6/month, and then I may try other apps for one reason or another.
Our internet is also part of our rent, but previously we were paying around $50/month for internet. So that totals to about $70 a month. but don't forget you use the internet for more than just watching tv!
honeydew / 7968 posts
@snowjewelz: we actually save like $65 a month. We were paying 150 for everything. We kept internet which is $65. We do basic Hulu and Netflix. We have Amazon prime too.
Did u guys know u can share cable? My bro gave me access to cable, created a user name for me and I gave him access to my Netflix. He actually told me it was a fair trade lol cuz his sons use Netflix a lot.
grapefruit / 4278 posts
@snowjewelz: I think it has the potential to save us. We just got billed $180 for cable/internet (apparently our promotion is up), If we could pay $80 for internet service (totally guessing, the promotional price is $50/mo) and only an additional $10-20 for TV services, then that's not an insignificant savings to me.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
@kiddosc: I just checked and the bundle prices actually goes UP when I took out TV! DH is pretty adamant on keeping a landline for emergencies so I don't think we are looking at just internet for now. Ugh, so ridiculous.
grapefruit / 4278 posts
@snowjewelz: Yea, we haven't had a landline in years and our cell service is through another provider. Is Verizon your only provider option?
grapefruit / 4278 posts
@looch: I really don't watch a ton of TV now either. Anything that I do watch is recorded or on demand, so cutting cable actually seems like such an obvious thing to have done a while ago.
nectarine / 2148 posts
We have an antenna for basic cable channels and then Netflix and hulu. I miss dvr feature, but we watch so little of TV since LO was born it doesn't matter to us.
@snowjewelz: before cutting cable we were paying $160 for cable, plus Netflix and hulu. Now we just pay $50 for the Internet, and still have Netflix and Hulu. If we watched as much tv as we didiscussed before LO I wouldn't have given it up. Just seemed insane to pay it since we rarely watch it
pomelo / 5509 posts
We use an antenna for the local broadcast stations and stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Go on our Roku. The Netflix and HBO Go accounts are shared so it cuts costs even more! It works out well for us.
pomelo / 5509 posts
@snowjewelz: That's interesting about Verizon because we just moved and Verizon is our only provider option...the Internet/landline bundle is about $30/month cheaper than the least expensive bundle that includes cable. We don't have Fios though, just regular high speed internet, so not sure that makes a difference.
pear / 1737 posts
Netflix, streaming on network websites (if they have full episodes of the show) and download some tv shows. We pay to rent movies from iTunes if we want to watch something, but usually Netflix has enough for us.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
@kiddosc: No, but it's a more reliable one haha. We only have $135 for triple play tho, so maybe that's why I'm not seeing a TON of savings
@Eko: So true. I cut like 90% of the shows I used to watch after kids!
@IRunForFun: I do have FIOS... I wonder if the prices are different if I call. I was just looking online and the price packages don't even make sense!
persimmon / 1147 posts
We have an Amazon Fire box and pay for Sling TV, Netflix and Anazon prime. Soooooo happy to be saving literally $100 a month and we have tons of things to watch.
blogger / grapefruit / 4836 posts
We have an old desktop computer connected to our TV and use our TV like a big monitor. We pay for netflix and Hulu and watch everything that way through the web. We have a wireless keyboard that we use as a remote. Haven't had cable since we got married 6 years ago.
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
We just cut ours 2 weeks ago! We have Netflix and PlayStation Vue. And a ChromeCast in our room.
pear / 1739 posts
I just do Netflix. $10 a month. I can watch tv shows and so can the kids. There are movies on there along with DVDs that we have. I have an app on my phone for the news and we don't really watch sports so we don't have to worry about them.
pomegranate / 3244 posts
I think we will be switching in the next week or so to internet only. We've lived in this house for 9 months and have watched tv less than 5 times. My only hesitation is the early termination fee that I will likely incur for canceling service (internet only would be a different provider).
apricot / 477 posts
We cut cable last month. Right now we are only paying for Netflix. It saves me $70 per month without cable, since we were already paying for Netflix anyway.
We have a chrome cast and are slowly checking out the apps to watch tv on so we don't use much other than Netflix at the moment
nectarine / 2667 posts
We are coming up to our 1 year mark of no cable and I'm so glad we did. Honestly, I do miss some shows that we can't get easily (things on Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, CBS, etc) but it's been worth the savings overall. Also, with 2 kids we don't really have that much time for television anyway! I don't know if we'd be watching those shows anyway.
We have a SmartTV so we watch using apps and have tried all the streaming sites (Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Netflix). We use mostly Hulu, especially during fall because it puts many current shows up the next day. Each service has pros and cons so I'd say try them all out (at once or on a rotating basis) to see which one(s) fit. Also, if you have an actual television with an antennae (not too expensive at electronic stores) you will get all the basic channels in real time. Our son loves PBS cooking shows now! 
nectarine / 2115 posts
We have an Apple TV and a Netflix subscription. We also use a relative's Hulu subscription, occasionally, and sometime network apps that do some free streaming (i.e. PBS, pbs kids, CNN, hgtv, YouTube). We've been cable-free most of our marriage (going on 7 years)!
grapefruit / 4649 posts
We have Chromecast, fire tv, Apple TV and one other and we use the fire thing the vast majority of the time. It's super easy and user friendly. We subscribe to Netflix and Hulu and have Amazon prime. I believe we mooch off of my in-laws for NFL Sunday ticket (I can't swear that's what it's called but it's some streaming option that comes with their package and they don't use.) We also use their login for HBO go. My husband gets baseball through MLB at bat but we are out of the blackout area since we no longer live in the city he roots for.
I believe we pay $40 or $50 for just internet through Xfinity. I know my husband haggled to get it that low but it's definitely possible.
clementine / 955 posts
We cut our satellite 3 years ago! And we are major tv watchers, as in the tv is on like 14 hours a day, even if we're not watching, it's as background noise. My internet bill is 85$ I have hulu 11$ a month and Netflix 10$ a month. We bought a mouleaf antennae for local channels, which gets me about 30(channels) which I use to watch the news and sports. My satellite bill was 190$ a month. So it's still a significant saving, considering I would have internet either way. Forgot to add we use a Roku
grapefruit / 4079 posts
We pay $50 a month for local channels and internet. Then we pay $11 for Hulu Plus. Right now are getting Sling ($20) to watch baseball. We use my parents direct tv login to sign into everything on Apple TV or roku. We also have a fire stick in our bedroom.
cherry / 103 posts
We have Roku and PlayStation Vue. Vue has some live local channels, but otherwise we have an antenna for local television. If you decide to do internet only through a cable company, I would suggest buying your own modem and router. The cable rental fees are crazy. We've not missed any live sports and haven't had to pay extra to watch.
persimmon / 1445 posts
DH and I have been together for eight years and have never had cable. We use HuluPlus (but very sparingly and could probably get rid of it) and Netflix with a DVD addition- we can stream on my laptop or DH's XBox. We also recently invested in a set of rabbit ears so we could get local channels. DH manages a restaurant, so he can watch any sports we don't get through local channels at work (or maybe we don't get any games.... I'm totally not a sports person hahaha). I definitely feel that my family is not deprived of screen time without cable lol.
cherry / 129 posts
We haven't had cable in years. We have Hulu which is $8 a month and we have a digital antenna (Mohu) it cost us about $20 and we get local channels. During football season we use sling which is $20 per month + $5 for the sports package so $25 total. We cancel sling when football season is over (so about 5 months total). Sling is going a promotion now that if you pay for 3 months in advance you get a free Roku. That could be a good option if you don't have a smart tv or other streaming device. Honestly, we could probably go without Hulu too, we just don't watch TV but love the voice
cantaloupe / 6131 posts
We have AppleTV and subscribe to Hulu. We have Netflix but go back and forth on it (I don't use it when I'm not on maternity leave, for instance). We get Amazon Prime video with our subscription. The only thing extra we pay is NHL TV for hockey season, which is like $150 a year. We read online news. The only annoying thing is like Olympics coverage or something like that but that's so rare that it outweighs the enormous money savings. If we really want cable for something we can easily subscribe and turn it off again later.
nectarine / 2466 posts
We've never had cable since Dh and I started living together 8 years ago. We got netflix a few years ago and that's it. We pay for a better internet package so that we can stream things well too
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@kiddosc: It would have been very difficult for me to cut the cord if I hadn't moved abroad and didn't have access to a lot of American programming. By the time I came back, I was so far behind that I didn't bother "catching up."
grapefruit / 4278 posts
@JoyfulKiwi: I think that's probably the one hangup. DH loves his Discovery channel shows.
@emilye519: We only really watch football sports wise too. That sounds like a pretty good option to pick up more games.
I think we're definitely going to take the leap and cut the cord. We just don't watch enough TV to make the huge bill worth it. We already have Amazon Prime, so we'll probably just add on another streaming service or two to that.
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