The only shows I wanted to watch live, I could watch over the air for free.
When we realized 90% of what we watched was days old fromthe DVR, we asked ourselves, “Why are we paying $110 a month just for TV?” Cable channel shows are freely available on services like Hulu, Amazon, or iTunes. The other 10% of our TV watching was shows like American Idol and local news; both available for FREE over the air with an antenna. Even if we bought a few of the ones we couldn’t find on the other services, it was still significantly cheaper than paying $110 every month to DVR a few shows.
To my surprise watching sports is easy as a cord cutter.
If you’re a sports fan you can cut the cord and still see your favorite games. Since Sling TV brought all the ESPN channels to cord cutters for only $25 a month, with no contract, sports are much easier to find. Many major sports like MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL offer subscription streaming services to see some, or all, of their games. Make sure to read the fine print, but it is one more way to see the most popular sports programs out there.
Lastly, for the one or two games a year you can’t legally stream, head over to your local sports bar and watch it there. As a rare event it can be a lot of fun to watch the game with a drink, some good food, and other sports fans.
You can find all the shows you want to watch online.
One of the big concerns we hear from many people who are considering cutting the cord is the fear of missing their favorite shows. What we did was make a list of shows we felt we had to have. After that we hunted around on Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and others services to see where the shows were available and what it would cost us to access them. We quickly learned that everything we wanted was available online, and the cost was a significantly less than a cable subscription.
We watch more shows, but spend less time watching TV.
I never really thought about how much time commercials take up, until I stopped having to watch them! Even with DVR fast forwarding, commercials add up over time. With many 30 minute shows having only 20 minutes of content and 10 minutes of ads, once you cut out the commercials you can watch 3 shows in one hour on Netflix. Skipping commercials saves you 30 minutes to spend with your family, work around the house, or go work on a project.
Over just one month that could easily add up to saving 15 hours, compared to the time taken up watching the same content on cable. Over the course of a year you will have saved 182 hours, or over 7 days of watching TV, simply by cutting out 30 minutes of commercials every day. So, the question is, “What would you do with 7 extra days in your year?” This becomes even more compelling when you consider that 30 minutes saved every day, over the course of 30 years, saves you 210 days of your life!
Watching live news is easy for a cord cutter.
The second major concern people have about cutting the cord is the fear of missing the latest breaking news or major news event. With a great antenna you can watch local and national morning and evening news as well as most major news events, like presidential debates and elections coverage, free over the air.
Most of the major news services also stream breaking news free online. Check out this great list of ways to watch breaking news for free on streaming devices like your Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, and Apple TV.
Conclusion
In short, being a cord cutter is easy, cheap, and could save you wasted days of commercial watching every year. So, if you are still considering cutting the cord but have been hesitating, I would encourage you to try it out. Worst case scenario is you get one of the great promotional new customer rates if you go back to cable. My guess is once you cut the cord, you won’t be going back.
Luke Bouma is the owner of CordCutterNews.com and is a dedicated cord cutter. Cord Cutter News gives you some of the best reviews and news about cutting the cord. You can find them on Twitter @CordCuttersNews or on their Facebook Page.
Not so fast now! I cut the cable despite the fact that I can’t get air reception. Pleasanton, CA sits between two mountain ranges and is blocked from most broadcast signals.
But I still can find plenty of content online, and I live in the belief that one day there will be a technological solution to my air channel problem — one that doesn’t include pricey cable bundles. In any event, how much can you miss amplified ads, cruddy reality shows, and concussion sports?