Saving Money on Cable

I recently cut the cord on cable and am sitting here this morning watching NBC Live HDTV, the picture is actually a little better than when I had cable, the price is a LOT better.  Here is an  update on life without cable and what worked best, and what wasn’t so effective in my new setup.

Our transition from Cable to Cable Free went this way:

• Cancelled Box, monthly bill reduced from $129 to $55
• Subscribed to Hulu Plus for $7.99 per month
• Bought Playon Lifetime Subscription for $39.99
• Bought Terk Multidirectional Antenna from Bestbuy.com for $69.99

My current set up is a 50inch TV linked to a PC, a Terk Antenna and a Wii (that last was played in 2010). The benefit of the PC – TV structure is that things like Hulu can play directly, as can PlayonTV

(which is designed to play through the Wii or other consoles) if I use some software with it, and I do prefer to Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) and this setup is a nice, switch once from PC to TV (now there is antenna hooked up).

Terk – Omnidirectional Amplified UHF/VHF Indoor Antenna – Gloss Black SKU: 9415215

Or as I like to call them Bunny Ears on Steroids.  These are definitely the best piece of the puzzle thus far, however I think it will depend on where you are and how much signal you can pick up.. I am on the 10th floor in Brooklyn and am in a great spot to pick up over the air HDTV.  I was blown away when I autotuned the TV last night having attached this unit and got 82 yes EIGHTY TWO channels in HD.  It is quite the eclectic mix to be frank, but I do get ABC, NBC, FOX, Pix11, NY1 Thirteen (and a few other interesting looking ones) plus some fruity foreign language stuff.  I would recommend this system as a key part to your cable free life, but be cautious if you feel that you might be living in a remote area, on the lower floors of a built up area, or in a hobbit hole..  If you think you might be in a good spot for using an Antenna check out what signals are in your neighborhood here http://www.antennaweb.org/  

I also like this Terk as it looks pretty, much better than a pair of wire clothes hangers, though they do work to an extent to!

Where to buy them – I wanted to buy from Bestbuy as I had recently bought myself a giftcard from there… they had a campaign running where if you bought a $50 card they would give you a $10 for free, so I went through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal for 4x points, and picked up 200 Ultimate Reward (UR) points for the purchase.  I went back through the same portal to buy the Antenna using both cards (and a little more for the balance plus tax) and earned again – sadly the bonus was now only 2x but I got another 140 UR – this double dipping is a great way to increase your points balance.

Terk is the winner, Playon is the loser (so far)

I was quite excited about the PlayonTV product, it claims to offer a fantastic range of channels, which I have listed below, however I find navigating through to find a show to be a bit of a pain, and some of the quality isn’t great.  This is all PC style programming and it feels a little low def on many shows.  However it is early days and they do offer a lot of great options so they might yet turn me on this.  For now though, I would recommend holding off buying PlayonTV and go for a combination of Hulu Plus and the Antenna (if you are in a good location) if your location isn’t so good but you get a decent internet connection Playon might be a better choice for you.

Premium
Pandora	+	+
My Media1	+	+
YouTube	+	+
HBO GO2,3,4	+	+
Hulu		+
Hulu Plus3		+
Netflix3		+
ABC		+
Adult Swim		+
A&E		+
Animal Planet		+
Amazon VOD3		+
BET		+
Bio		+
Cartoon Network		+
CBS		+
CNN		+
Comedy Central		+
Cooking Channel		+
Discovery		+
Disney		+
DIY		+
ESPN4		+
ESPN34		+
Fit & Health		+
Food Network		+
FOX		+
FOX News		+
FoxSoccer.tv3		+
GAC		+
HGTV		+
History		+
Investigation Discovery		+
Lifetime		+
Live News: Al Jazeera (English)		+
Live News: BBC		+
Live News: Bloomberg		+
Live News: C-Span		+
Live News: NHK (English)		+
Live News: RT (English)		+
Military Channel3		+
MLB.tv3		+
MTV		+
National Geographic		+
NBC		+
NFL Rewind3		+
NHL.com3		+
Nick		+
OWN		+
PBS		+
PBS Kids		+
Science		+
SpikeTV		+
Syfy Rewind		+
TBS		+
TLC		+
Travel Channel		+
TV.com		+
Velocity		+
VH1		+
VEVO		+

Overall, so far so good.  We are saving $74 per month now on our bill, so in 2 months we will be in a profit after buying the Antenna, PlayonTV and Hulu subscription.  Also – don’t forget the power of renegotiation,  Cable companies hate losing customers and will drop their rates massively to keep you – they almost had me at an offer of $79.99 for Cable+Internet for not leaving them, just saying you want to leave will likely get you a massive monthly saving, though not as big as cutting the cord!