The dream for many cable subscribers is to ditch cable and be able to choose what to pay for. I remember back when I paid for cable just so I could watch more college football on ESPNU. The only way to get ESPNU at that time was to pay for a very high cable package that was almost $140 just for the TV part of the bill.
Thankfully, 2015 has brought choices to the consumer with new services like HBO Now, CBS All Access, Showtime Anytime, and many other rumored services coming later this year. Now you can subscribe to the content you want without paying for 100 channels you never watch. In the past you have been able to buy your shows from services like Amazon and iTunes but now you can subscribe to some of the most popular cable channels without cable.
These services, combined with an antenna for free over-the-air content, make cable look even more overpriced.
CBS All Access
CBS is the #1 network with consumers, having the most top-20 rated shows. CBS’s new All Access service brings cord cutters without access to CBS over the air CBS content for $6 a month. CBS advertises that subscribers receive access to over 6,500 on-demand episodes of both current and past seasons of CBS hit shows.
If you live in the following areas you also receive a live stream of your local CBS station included with your subscription:
- Atlanta, GA (WGCL)
- Augusta, GA / Aiken, SC (WRDW)
- Baltimore, MD (WJZ)
- Boston, MA / Manchester, NH (WBZ)
- Charlottesville, VA (WCAV)
- Chicago, IL (WBBM)
- Clarksburg / Weston, WV (WDTV)
- Colorado Springs / Pueblo, CO (KKTV)
- Columbus, OH (WBNS)
- Dallas / Ft. Worth, TX (KTVT)
- Denver, CO (KCNC)
- Detroit, MI (WWJ)
- Dothan, AL (WTVY)
- Fort Myers / Naples, FL (WINK)
- Freeport, IL (WIFR)
- Harrisonburg, VA (WSVF-CD)
- Hartford / New Haven, CT (WFSB)
- Kansas City, MO (KCTV)
- Knoxville, TN (WVLT)
- Las Vegas, NV (KLAS)
- Lexington / Hazard, KY (WKYT)
- Lincoln & Hastings-Krny, NE (Grand Island) KOLN
- Los Angeles, CA (KCBS)
- Madison / Wausau / Rhinelander, WI (WSAW)
- Miami / Ft. Lauderdale, FL (WFOR)
- Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN (WCCO)
- Monroe, LA / El Dorado, AR (KNOE)
- New York, NY (WCBS)
- North Platte, NE (KNPL)
- Orlando / Daytona Beach / Melbourne, FL (WKMG)
- Panama City, FL (WECP-LD)
- Parkersburg, WV (WIYE-LD)
- Philadelphia, PA (KYW)
- Pittsburgh, PA (KDKA)
- Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto, CA (KOVR)
- San Diego, CA (KFMB)
- San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose, CA (KPIX)
- Sherman, TX / Ada, OK (KXII)
- Tallahassee, FL / Thomasville, GA (WCTV)
- Waco / Temple / Bryan, TX (KBTX)
- Wichita / Hutchinson Plus, KS (KWCH)
So, if you are looking for CBS content but do not receive it over the air, and you don’t want to pay high cable bills, CBS All Access is a great way to get a ton of content.
HBO Now
HBO has long been one of the main reasons people pay for cable. They offer popular original content and a huge library of movies to their subscribers. Yet if you wanted HBO you also had to pay for many channels you did not want.
HBO has broken off from the cable tether to offer their content directly to cord cutters through HBO Now. For $14.99 a month, you have access to a large library of HBO shows and a live stream of the HBO channel. And, now, you can watch Silicon Valley and Game of Thrones live without the need for cable.
Unlike CBS All Access, which waits until the next day to post shows, HBO Now posts shows at about the same time they air live.
Currently, HBO Now is only available on Apple Devices, but it should be available on Android/Chromecast and other set-top boxes soon.
Showtime
Showtime is the second-largest premium network in America. Home to shows like Dexter and Masters of Sex plus older shows, such as Dead Like Me. As with HBO, you now no longer need cable to get many of the best shows on TV.
Showtime’s standalone streaming service will come out in July and will be available on Apple TV, Roku, and some Sony devices. If you subscribe through Hulu, Showtime will be $8.99 per month with a free 30-day trial on top of Hulu’s $7.99/month subscription. So, for a few dollars more than HBO Now you get all of Showtime’s and all of Hulu’s content.
If you subscribe to Showtime Anytime service through the Showtime app, the service costs $10.99. No matter how you subscribe, there is a free 30-day trial and content will be available when it is aired live.
So what are you waiting for? Shouldn’t you be calling your cable company to cancel?
The future is now, and you can get the shows and content you want without paying for hundreds of channels you never watch—especially now that HBO, CBS, and Showtime make their content available inexpensively without the need for cable.
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.
