Every month, staring at me, were two television realities.
One was a bill from Cox Cable for $155. The other was the simple fact that no one in our house, except me, watched television regularly. My older kids hardly watch TV at all. They watch tons of video on YouTube but almost nothing, without our prompting, on the bigger screen in our living room. Jackson, our 3 year old, watches tons of kids programming. But he uses the iPad to navigate to what he wants on Netflix, connecting to our TV with Apple TV. And Kristen? She’s never been into TV.
When you take out our internet charges television equaled $91 per month.
It was $91 per month for me to watch college sports, the occasional binge session of MTV’s Ridiculousness, and white noise like House Hunters International or CNN. (Since I’m confessing stuff, I have a man crush on Anderson Cooper.)
Ninety-one bucks to watch college football and basketball. Mind you, I go to every home game of San Diego State football and basketball. So we’re talking about $91 per month to watch games I’m not vested in and away games for my favorite team.
That’s $1092 per year.
I had that number in my head for months. $1092. I knew I had to make a change… I put it off… but December 2st I finally made the call and cut our cable.
Was able to cancel my cable in just 7 minutes. Fastest thing @CoxComm has ever done for me.
— Adam McLane (@mclanea) December 2, 2014
How It Works
Let’s get practical. It’s not like I’ve stopped watching live television. While cutting the cord (dropping cable) hasn’t been 100% smooth, it’s really just a different way of thinking about consuming entertainment.
HD Antenna
First, get yourself an HD Antenna. We got the Mohu Leaf Paper-Thin for $40. If you’re over 30 you hear the word “antenna” and you think about a tower next to your house or something you mount on the roof or even bunny ears sticking out of the top of your TV. Nah, it’s not like that anymore. Our HD Antenna picks up the basics in broadcast TV (NBC, Fox, PBS, etc) and it sticks to the back of the TV. It’s basically invisible and “just works.”
Apple TV (or Roku or Amazon Fire TV)
Next, get an Apple TV and plug it into an HDMI connection on your TV. If you have an iPad or a Macbook, you’ll want an Apple TV. Here’s why. It not only streams a ton of services like WatchESPN, Hulu, and Netflix, you can also use your iPad to watch tons of other video, like from Amazon Prime Instant Video, using the AirPlay feature. I find that we use AirPlay a lot because some networks stream things for free on their websites but don’t have an app, like CBS Sports. So I just set up the stream on my Macbook, go to my AirPlay settings, and boom… the audio and video are on my TV. Jackson (our 3 year old) does this all day via the Netflix and/or Amazon Video app on his iPad.
Don’t use Apple stuff? My next choice would be the Amazon Fire TV, then the Roku 3. I’ve used both and they are great. I just like the Amazon device a little better.
Subscribe to Streaming Services
A quick note. If you’re just looking to score as much free entertainment as possible, I think you should stop here. An HD antenna and streaming device like Apple TV is probably going to be as good as it gets.
But for me, while I don’t want the $91 per month I was paying for cable channels I didn’t want, there is still some stuff out there worth paying for. I have no problem paying for content I actually want.
- Amazon Prime Instant Video – I’ve been a Prime subscriber for years, we do it mostly for the free 2-day shipping. But the streaming content on the video side is fantastic. Tons of backlist movies, plus lots of TV shows, kids programming, and lots of backlog HBO content. It’s $99 per year… but I don’t even pay this out of our entertainment budget since we get the free shipping.
- Netflix – Two things I really like about Netflix. First, I like the new shows they are developing. While their movie selection has been shrinking as Amazon buys up their catalog, the new stuff they are developing on their own is great. (Both Amazon and Netflix were the big winners of last week’s Golden Globes.) Second, I love that there is tons of kids content and a special place for Jackson to go on their app to navigate to what he wants. Maybe that makes us bad parents, but JT will spend an hour (or three) per day completely on his own watching his favorite shows on Netflix. We pay $7.99 per month for a digital subscription, worth every penny.
- The rest – I’m not into other services like HBO Go, Showtime’s streaming service, Hulu Plus, and the rest. But there are LOTS of options out there and new ones going out quite often.
What About Sports?
Let’s address the elephant in this blog post. What about live sports? It’s totally true that the selection of live sports for cord cutters is limited. Like I’ve already mentioned, we get access to most of the big games with our HD antenna. And, thankfully, ESPN also offers alternate views of their top programming. I watched the National Championship game last week on the WatchESPN app using a camera angle they called “the data center.” As a sports nut I actually liked this view BETTER than their broadcast version as it offered tons of stats in 3/4 of the screen and the game on the other 1/4. I’ve also watched a few basketball and football games with their spider camera angles and I have to tell you, it’s much more like being at the game than their broadcast versions.
What about games I can’t stream for free or get on the HD antenna? Well, I refuse to use bootleg websites but they are out there if you go looking. (At least while I’m in the United States…) My solution for games I can’t find online is very non-digital. I just go to a bar. I can watch a basketball game (2 hours) for the cost of a beer. And, for the 2-3 times per month this happens, that’s $6 per game cheaper… and money in my local economy… than paying $91 per month to some media company that doesn’t give a lick about my community! Plus… going to a local bar is social. It’s awful fun to watch the game with other people who want to watch the game. So analog.
The Tipping Point
Millions of people have dropped cable. 14% of adults with broadband do not have a cable TV package in their home.
Though my call to Cox cable only took seven minutes it’s very clear that Cox intentionally makes it difficult to do so. I can log onto their website and order new services, they appeared instantly on my digital box. But try dropping a service. You can’t do that online, you have to call. And while they drop shipped a new box to my front door in a day, you have to go to a “Cox Store” to return you cable box during their business hours.
When we dropped our box off there were 25 people in line. 2 people were picking up a new box or adding services, 23 people waited in line in front of me to hand their box back.
So what is the tipping point for cutting the cord? Without a doubt it’s live sports. ESPN is the 900 pound gorilla keeping cable TV in business. Even though ESPN offers an amazing array of streaming services to cable customers they have, to date, stayed out of offering their services directly to consumers without having a cable package. At the end of the day I was paying $91 per month to access ESPN… and most of that viewing? On the WatchESPN app. (I’d have games on in the background while I was working at my desk.)
Here’s the tipping point. The point of no return for cable companies: Sling TV
Sling TV will cost $20 monthly for about a dozen live TV channels, including ABC Family, Cartoon Network, CNN, Disney Channel, ESPN and ESPN 2, the Food Network, HGTV, TBS, TNT, The Travel Channel and Adult Swim.
Here’s my prediction: If Dish can get Sling TV to market, and that’s still a big IF… the cable TV business will quickly either pivot to offer ala carte services or they’ll begin a long, slow decline, meeting the same fate as telephone companies.
Have you cut cable? What tips do you have for those thinking about it?
Photo credit: God’s gonna cut you down by Raul Lieberwirth via Flick (Creative Commons)
Tech Tuesday
Have a tech question for Adam? Each Tuesday I write a tech post. Submit your questions using the form on my site’s right sidebar. It can be about anything tech related, from social media to networking to life at home with wireless devices.
Leave a Reply