Some readers may remember the post from about two years ago, 57 Channels (And nothing on). Several months ago I totally cut the cord on cable TV. I turned in the receivers, recorders and only have Internet service. We bought 2 Chromecast adapters, and a Roku adapter. Neither the Chromecast nor Roku have a mandatory subscription fee. We have not even mentioned the Amazon Fire Stick adapter (which we have not tried yet).
Roku 
Chromecast
To subscribe, or not to subscribe.
We subscribe to some services, and still save money. Turning off the cable TV side, saved an instant $90 for us. For subscriptions, we spend about $10 for Netflix, and $9 for Hulu. We already had Amazon Prime for shopping and shipping, so we get the Amazon Prime channels. There are many free streaming services that contain small commercial breaks. YouTube, is a treasure trove of documentaries, movies, and special interest subjects.
So long, to most commercials.
With subscriptions, you usually get no commercials, something that I had come to hate on cable TV. On some free streaming services you may get one or two short commercials every 20 minutes or so. They last from 15-30 seconds each. Many times, the commercial starts, and after 5 seconds you get the option to “skip” the commercial. No more 8+ minute blocks of commercials in a 30-minute show. It’s hard to beat having the freedom to actually choose if you want to view a commercial. Around 2018, the average TV commercials consumed 32% of the program being shown.
(1952 – 13 percent of the time was spent watching commercials (only 4 minutes out of every half hour!))
How easy is it?
We can control, or select what we want to watch, from our smart devices, tablet, phone, computer or laptop. Much easier than using a remote to scroll through all the choices, or type in a search for a movie one letter at the time from the remote. We can use voice, or type on the device.
Comments or questions always welcome,
A friend of mine just got Roku. She already had Prime so she is in heaven.
So much to watch, and I don’t have to flip past all the shopping channels, and other items that don’t interest me. I’m glad she is enjoying it. Thanks for the comment.
I have often thought about doing much the same. The main thing I watch is the news, which I can get elsewhere. I can watch movies on my PC .. so why do I need a TV? Unfortunately, there is more than just me to consider! 🙂
I understand having others to consider. We kept our cable service on for a while and ran the devices on the TVs until we were sure we would like them. Thanks for the input and comment, Colin. Say hello to Ray, for me.
🙂
I have never had cable. We get around 120 stations (too many) for free, with a service called Freeview. I use a PVR to record what I want to watch, and then ‘skip’ the ads by fast-fowarding’. Then I have a £8 a month subscription to a streaming box service from NOW TV (Roku) which allows me to watch drama serials, some films, and all normal TV, as well as being able to ‘catch up’ on anything we missed.
Then I have Amazon Prime, but only watch the TV element on my Tablet. I have Netflix for free, as my stepson added us as by giving us his password, but I rarely watch anything on Netflix.
Having any TV-capable service here still requires a licence, at a fee of £157 a year to the government. It is illegal to watch anything without one.
So, with all that in mind, it is 11 pm on Saturday night, and I have ‘nothing to watch’! 🙂 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. I found your comment in the Spam filter, no earthly reason why. I think Elizabeth had some comments going there last week, and then it stopped filtering her comments, and went back to normal.
I had heard about the license fee over there, but didn’t know it was that stringent. However, 120 channels free is amazing for that yearly price. That would cost about 69 dollars a month here, and then most of them are shopping, religious, or Spanish broadcast channels. I couldn’t get westerns, Sci-Fi, history or many others I enjoyed without upgrading to a higher monthly package.
When I can’t find anything to watch now, I just switch to one of the devices (one day I may get me a smart TV, but the devices work fine) and search YouTube for a documentary, or old movie that can’t be found on the regular providers. Or just watch people make idiots of themselves on the funny YouTube.
Just play the song Pete, “57 channels and nothing on”. That can make you smile.
Just left a long comment. It might be in spam as it hasn’t appeared.
Pete.
Found it Pete, thanks so much for emailing me about it.
I cut the cord last year and wish I had done it sooner! I have a Roku, Amazon Prime and 3 other services which cost me half the price of cable. I can watch what I want, when I want. I have become a fan of binge-watching 😀
I have become a binge watcher as well. I enjoy the freedom of watching what I want, when I want.
The thing is, though, there are many great hour-long dramas we love that aren’t on Netflix or other. Example, “Homeland.” We get it on a Canadian offshoot of The Movie Network, here called Crave. Also we like some that are on regular channels such as CBC or AMC. Or HBO – which has fantastic shows. Netflix doesn’t carry those. So I think we’re stuck. Also, our TV (although flat-screen) is quite old, and you can’t plug anything into it, know what I mean? It has no USB-type entry points. (I know I don’t have the right lingo!)
I know what you mean, Ellie. Our older TV went out finally about a year ago. It had no usb ports, or hdmi ports either, I didn’t want a smart TV, with all the built-in options, so I purchased a non-smart TV that had USB and Hi-Def (HDMI) ports, so I could add my own items.
I get AMC and BBC but I can’t remember which service it is through. I think Roku, but I’d have to double check. Maybe in the future you’ll find your shows on the streaming services. Thanks for the comment.
Maybe so (streaming)! Thanks for info! ?
Here the problem is that we have yet to figure out how to ditch the cable portion and save any appreciable money. Comcast has really made it difficult. I will look into it again inspired by your post.
Sometimes, you have to call back several times. One operator will try to get the most out of you, another operator may be honest and tell you what your options truly are. I have run into that with other cable companies. Good Luck.