Cord-cutting is a growing trend as cable bills continue to rise. Many consumers don’t know if they are good candidates for cord-cutting and Mohu is here to help sort that out.
1. Can you get good over-the-air (OTA) reception at your home?
Use our TV for Free tool to determine what stations you can get with a Mohu antenna. Keep in mind that metal can block signals so make sure you aren’t surrounded by skyscrapers, aluminum siding, or even the metal mesh that holds stucco together.
2. Does your TV have a digital tuner?
Most TVs made after 2009 have one. If you aren’t sure, check the manual. If you have an older TV, you can buy a digital converter at Best Buy or another electronics store. It will cost about $60-$80 but will convert your OTA digital signal to an analog signal so the TV can get reception.
3. Do you feel like you are paying too much for cable?
It’s sort of an obvious question because we all feel like cable costs too much, it’s just that we’ve gotten used to paying for it and thinking of it as a “necessity.” Well, time for a shift in thinking because cable is not a necessity. Consider how many channels you REALLY watch and whether you can get them OTA or their content via a streaming service such as Netflix or Hulu+. The average American only watches 8 channels and over 90% of the top rated TV shows are OTA. So the chances of you getting what you want to watch via a combination of OTA and a streaming service is pretty good.
4. Can’t give up your DVR?
It’s easier than you think. Most event TV, such as the Oscars or the Super Bowl, you’ll watch live or find out the results via social media. Hulu+ has many recent episodes of programs so if you miss something on Thursday, you can probably find it on Hulu+ on Friday (although there are commercials).
When Channels launches in June, you will also be able to use the web browser built into the device to navigate directly to the network’s websites to watch the latest OTA content directly on your TV if you miss the air date. For example, CBS has The Big Bang Theory and NCIS. NBC has Law and Order: SVU and The Voice.
5. But what about The Walking Dead?
Starting this fall, AMC will air old episodes over the air on My TV, which is a Fox affiliate. And viewers can also stream entire seasons from Netflix.
The steps are pretty simple. Figure out if you are a good candidate for a Mohu Leaf, Metro, or Mohu Curve. Determine what you watch OTA and what you watch on cable and see where else you can get that content–either by streaming directly from the provider or using a streaming service. If you are a die hard sports fan, you can purchase season passes to baseball, football and basketball from their respective leagues. You do have to pay to stream those games, but it’s still cheaper than a cable subscription.
For more information about cutting the cord, try an experiment like the one listed here.
