I had cable TV for decades. It was the only game in town for most of my life. Then, about 7 years ago I switched to satellite. They had more channels (a couple of which I wanted) but for less money. Now, I have the Internet. The game has changed.
Recently, Derek and I sat down and listed the TV channels we watch regularly. We have 250 to choose from, but we discovered we routinely watch only about fifteen: ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, one local independent station, Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, National Geographic, Food Network, HGTV, History Channel, Logo and Bravo. Yes! I pay $90/mo to watch 15 TV channels. That’s crazy!
Now, thanks to the Internet – I can watch almost all of the shows I like online. Local networks like NBC can be watched through on-air broadcasts – even in HD!. Most of the rest I can watch through services like Hulu Plus, Netflix, or a live Internet stream. We occasionally listen to satellite radio through our satellite service, but there are online options to replace that too – namely Pandora.
When I combine Internet service, Netflix and satellite TV, I’m currently paying about $150 per month. I suspect I can get that cost down to about $50-80 per month. That would save so much money I can probably even justify ending my satellite TV contract a few months early. The penalty cost could be paid for with a few months worth of savings. I could save $800+ per year. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
I may need to buy an outdoor antenna and perhaps my own DVR (TiVo perhaps?) so I can continue to watch shows on my schedule, not the network’s. I certainly will need to buy a couple digital converter boxes for my two old analog flat screens. That’s about $400 in upfront costs. The TiVo subscription is currently $20/month.
I believe the future for growth in the TV industry is in the online realm – not through satellite or cable. In fact, I think it’s likely my options for viewing will expand in the future. I would even go so far as to predict that DVD and Blu Ray will be dead within 10 years. Therefore, I think I will jump ahead of the wave and kill my satellite service sometime in the next few months. Why not? Just over a year ago I got rid of my land line phone service and went strictly with cellular. I think we can handle change for TV viewing as well.
