How to save $1000 annually

[Soul Reputation]

If you're spending too much on pay television, consider firing your monopoly cable or satellite provider and joining the 1% of Americans who watch all of their TV on Internet connections.

So what do you do after you get rid of cable or satellite? Here are some alternatives:

YouTube has launched feature-length programming, plus there's always Joost and Hulu. An estimated 20% of cable programming is now available through the computer.

Firing your cable or satellite provider can save you more than $1,000 annually.

Two friends of mine DITCHED cable television and they'll never go back.

Don't go cold turkey, but see if you can ease your way into it. Also, the lowest level membership in Netflix allows you to get the Roku box and have a huge library of content on-demand.



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[Shadowknight]

Or, they can join the 10-15% of Americans who use OTA for the last several decades and use the new Echostar DVR that's coming out at the end of the month to record TV shows.

 

[s44]

Spam thread. Not to mention, how the hell are you supposed to have broadband? Steal from a neighbor?

 

[Rubycon]

What happens when the cable companies who also provide internet services realize this and set low(er) monthly bandwidth allowances?

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
What happens when the cable companies who also provide internet services realize this and set low(er) monthly bandwidth allowances?

get fios?

 

[evident]

unfortunately, i live with people who dont know much about technology and this isn't an option

 

[Kaido]

Yeah but I want access to 300 channels with a remtoe and no fuss when I sit down. Meh.

 

[BassBomb]

Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

 

[Modelworks]

I pay $40 a month with directv and that includes HD +DVR, goes up to $60 in a year.
Still its worth it to me, that is $2 a day for entertainment.

 

[Soul Reputation]

Man I messed up in the thread starter.

I forgot to mention the ultimate money saving device: Free to Air.

Anyone have any experience with FTA?

Supposedly you get every channel cable and statellite offers for FREE. I read where 10-15% of the population is hooked up to Free to Air, though I don't know how true that stat is.

If you can get everything that cable and satellite offers what's not to love about Free to Air? As soon as I get squared away I'm going to implement FTA into my household.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

A lot of people. My cable tv is like 70 a month. And no, that is not even HD.

 

[gorcorps]

The biggest deal to me is HD football. You can't get that for free so it's not an option for me.

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

Umm, millions of people?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
The biggest deal to me is HD football. You can't get that for free so it's not an option for me.

You don't get local broadcast OTA?

 

[Falloutboy]

I can deal without cable most of the year, but during football season I can't go without espn, I just miss to many games without it.

 

[erwos]

Alas, the stuff I like to watch (Discovery channels, SciFi, AMC, etc.) is not really on any of the free services. I tried going sans cable. It just doesn't work that well.

As for FTA, from what I understand, it's not exactly what you'd think. Ku band dishes are huge, and all that "free cable TV" you're getting is just the stuff downloading to the local providers from the national networks - eg, it is entirely unpredictable what is being sent when. Obviously, if it was an amazing free solution, everyone would be doing it.

 

[kalrith]

My DirecTV bill is $57/month and will go up to $90/month ($1080/year) in a few weeks. I'm going to build a Linux MythTV DVR box with dual-ATSC tuners and stick with the locals in HD. About 70% of what we watch is on the local channels, so it's a waste IMO to pay $90/month for that other 30%. The cheapest DirecTV HD package worth getting (Choice Package) is $53/month + $6 DVR service + $10 HD service = $69/month ($828), so it's not like we have some extravagant package.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy
I can deal without cable most of the year, but during football season I can't go without espn, I just miss to many games without it.

That's what friends are for .

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

A lot of people. My cable tv is like 70 a month. And no, that is not even HD.

70 x 12 = 840

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

A lot of people. My cable tv is like 70 a month. And no, that is not even HD.

70 x 12 = 840

Don't you know that 840 rounded up is 1000?

 

[tk149]

I dumped cable, and switched to OTA and Netflix. When I had cable, I found myself watching less than 10 hours per month, and mostly watching movies. Plus I hate how most cable movie broadcasts are in Pan and Scan.

I did miss Battlestar Galactica though.
But now I can afford to buy the whole series on DVD.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

Charter in Riverside is over $100 a month if you're not in a special contract and want HBO or Showtime. Charter + SHO + HBO = $130 after taxes and shit.

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

The same people who pay hundreds of dollars for their cell phone bills.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Who the hell pays $1000 a year for TV?

A lot of people. My cable tv is like 70 a month. And no, that is not even HD.

70 x 12 = 840

I am saying mine is not even hd and it is 70 a month, people with all you can eat hd would pay more than 85 a month.

Besides, my 70 is pretax. 70*1.13=79.1 *12moth = 949.2

 

[abaez]

Haven't had a TV in years. Combination of hulu, joost, youtube, slingbox and various other streaming programs are more than enough. It was probably better than most as I watched alot of the olympics live instead of the pre-recorded poo NBC played.