Cable Companies: Cutting the feed and Saving Money |
Have you really stopped to look at your cable bill lately?
It’s hard enough when money is tight, but have the cable companies constantly raising their rates faster than inflation is just something that isn’t right.
It’s been reported in study after study after study; NO ONE watches 900 channels of anything. They watch a max of around 25 different channels and with just about every person and their brother offering VOD [video on demand] I’ve yet to understand why if I want to watch a show from the discovery channel I’ve to buy a package with 15 more channel of crap I don’t want.
Honestly, who wants to watch Spanish underwater basket weaving in French as an info-mercial? Not me.
So here’s a few things I found.
The cable companies are starting to see a small trend in customers leaving their service. It’s not a big deal right now, but when money gets tight people make changes; and those changes have to matter.
Now, the average cable bill is around $150 a month. So you want to save $1800 this year?
Here’s some options:
Antenna [rabbit ears]
This is really the most traditional and should be the most common idea. Drop cable and grab some ears. There’s more programming out there locally for HD. Yeah, your going to get the 3 major networks, but it’s something to watch… and the price is good [free].
Netflix [DVD rental]
I can get two DVD’s from Netflix for $15 a month. I get two; watch’m and send’m back. I figure I could watch 15-20 movies a month that I actually want to watch; without all the intros to HBO, SHOWTIME and STARZ on how great they’re- it’s all BS. They’ve been running the same commercials since the mid-80’s.
Netflix has the VOD with their service line as well, but because the ISP’s are starting to gauge customers on their bandwidth caps this really isn’t a great solution unless you’ve unlimited bandwidth.
If you’ve a spare PC or a small PC with a HDMI output, life will offer you some more options to escape boredom. If you got bandwidth caps, this might be an issue for you.
Joost/Hulu
This is an online video service that you can use to watch all kinds of videos. Both of these services are browser based now. Your able to search, find shows and watch them right then. The picture quality isn’t great, but it’s free and it’s watchable. Rumor has it that Hulu is going to be a premium service soon…
Set-top boxes [STB] are another option. I think this beats the extra PC option. These guys appeal to me in a better way because I won’t have to bother with PC configuration, updates, drivers and all the issues that come with your standard PC.
Roku
I video on demand, they tout over 40k in online releases and zero day releases. The service just recently came out of beta. The Ruku has an inerface to Netflix, plus Amazon’s movie library, but the Roku Netflix Player is $99, and Netflix service ranges from $7.99 to $16.99, which includes the DVDs by mail service. Rumor has it, they will be working on supporting other distributors too.
Microsoft XBox 360
Microsoft is turning their gaming system in to a media system. Microsoft has also worked out a deal with Netflix to stream their videOperating System. And the content delivered to the XBox is in HD. Watch your bandwidth. So not only can jam with some games, now you’ve the option for movies too. Microsoft will most likely continue their conquest to make the XBox the premier entertainment device.
As a youngster I remember only having 3 channels, and I was my parents remote control for the TV and I was thankful to have those few channels.
When you stop to realize how much the cable companies are whittling away from you on a yearly basis you can get upset. Money has a strange way of making you sober to reality. At $150 a month, you may not care, but being presented with the fact that you could save almost $2000- you might think twice.
This is why the cable companies can’t sleep lately.
These are some options to think about; I know I am. Hope this helps.
Thanks for reading!
Enjoy.
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