Question Have you "cut the cord" or are you considering doing it?

[SHaines]

With the last few months of folks living in relative isolation, content has definitely been a major pasrt of our lives. As you rethink the way you interact with media, how many of you have decided to "cut the cord" by dropping cable television?

If you're still watching cable TV, have you considered dropping it? If you've already cut the cord, was there a specific moment or reason why?

I cut the cord around 20 years ago, before we really had a name for it. I was just very frustrated by the quality and quantity of ads you're forced to stomach to watch basic cable. I spent so much time switching channels to avoid commercials that I ended up just getting rid of cable completely.

We'd love to hear from you!

 

[sandyskw666]

Our family cut the cable tv cord almost 2 years ago. The price kept creeping up,about $100 a month,and still you were lucky to find something to watch or unable to still watch the channels you wanted,as they weren't included. We switched to IPTV,and pay $7 per month,and have so many channels we can't count them. Sometimes multiple things on st the same time to watch. We will never go back to cable.

 

[Shawn85206]

My family cut the cord...at least 15 years ago. I was sick of paying way too much for too many channels I didn't watch. Today we have a good enough OTA antenna to get everything local, a 150mbs connection, subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and PBS Passport. Because we have an open spot in our accounts, we delegate one to each of our adult children and pick up Disney in return. It sort of pisses me off that networks like CBS are moving content to they pay channels, as much as I'd love to watch "Picard" on CBS, I'm not paying $10/mo to do it; it'll be on one of my other services someday. I feel like the networks are trying to nickel and dime us to death.

I never grew up in a home where sports were the focus of life, so aside from the occasional holiday bowl, Army/Navy, or USC/UCLA games found OTA, I rarely ever watch football. I will watch some baseball and hockey, but these were always things we enjoyed in person, for me watching basketball is like watching paint dry. If you exclude Nascar, I love just about any other sort of racing (car/boat/plane/motorcycle/bicycle, skiing, etc) and can catch some online or on digital channels built into my TV. I don't care that I don't have ESPN and find their too many channels irritating when I'm at a hotel.

I really can't imagine how I could ever be convinced to return to cable unless they were basically giving it away.

 

[RedHeadsRule]

We attempted to "cut the cord" the first time several years ago (maybe 10-15?), but since we also get our internet through our cable company, they offered us a better deal on our internet if we kept the cable service for free. So we could pay a higher bill each month to get rid of cable, or a smaller bill each month to just keep it whether we used it or not. After a couple of years we officially cut it and only get our internet service from our cable company.

At first I was adamant about not wanting to get rid of cable, but we hit a difficult financial patch and it came down to getting rid of cable or losing our house, so we kicked cable out and never looked back.

My only regret is that I didn't cut the cord way sooner. Our family ONLY watches streaming services that offers a commercial free option because I never realized how much I hated commercials until I got to live without them.

From a financial perspective streaming channels ARE much less expensive than cable UNLESS you are someone who has to have several different services. The prices can add up quickly. We have Amazon Prime already, so naturally we use the Prime Channel since it's free to us. Other than that we have Netflix, Hulu and HBO. I love them all! NO REGRETS!!!

 

[jlariviere]

...
how many of you have decided to "cut the cord" by dropping cable television?
...

I've never had the cord. For many years, I used over-the-air rabbit ears for content that I couldn't get on DVD. Now that I have somewhat dependable internet, if I can't get things on DVD, then I look at streaming on Netflix or buying the movie on Google Play Movies.

 

[CopaGuy]

Yep fired DirecTV and signed up with YouTube TV. DIrecTV $121 a month YouTube TV $50

 

[alphacoyle]

I think cable peaked in the 90s; fortunately the streaming services are growing.

 

[jason wynngard]

Four years ago, I experienced being lewdly insulted by my service provider. That after being treated the same by a previous provider who we had ten years. We opted to quit cable for TV completely. So we got an OTA (Channel Master) with an RCA rotor. We get more channels than we watch, and can depending on how we point it, pull in channels well over 100 miles away. I'm not sure if that's courtesy of sunspots, atmospheric condition, or magic. Doesn't matter, we're just happy with the "normal" 33 local channels though we only watch ten of those.

We do subscribe to Internet service and are grandfather for the 35 Mbps service which is more than adequate for our rural location and how we use it. We are constantly bombarded with both DISH and DirecTV with offers to return and ignore them. Our dream is when the supposed state sponsored FIOS reaches our area, but honestly, we don't really need it. One thing, for whatever reason, our OTA doesn't share the pixilated screen of the TV during storms we had with cable. A jiggle might happen 2-3 times but the picture remains crystal clear. Finally, if you install an OTA, if the installer claims you don't need a grounding wire, ignore that. Have them install the best quality grounding wire they have or get your own from Amazon. Mama Nature doesn't care about people think they know about her.

 

[Kevin Goss]

I am not a tv watcher as much as I am into less frivolous bill paying consumer.

 

[Wolfshadw]

I'm too much of a channel surfer to actually quit cable/satellite. For me, it's not so much watching TV as it is having some occasionally interesting background noise for when I'm on the computer or just scrolling through channels until I find something interesting when I'm not on the computer. I don't want to have to look for something to watch. I just want it there, fed to me and when a commercial comes one, I search for something else that half piques my interest (or head back to the computer).

-Wolf sends

 

[PattyD123]

If you consider dropping Dish as cutting the cord, then, I cut the cord last August when I was laid off my job. I made changes to phone service, tv, internet... Dish alone was $85/month for not much. I now pay $100 for all 3 per month. Aside from the learning curve of how to find things - cable makes you very lazy - I've never looked back.

 

[James LaBarre]

Dropped cable-TV some 4 or 5 years ago. I was out of work, and dropping my bill by $80/month was quite useful. Especially since I was already subscribing to Netflix, and also watching Crunchyroll and Funimation (with commercials)

It was a good excuse to drop it at that point (the family couldn't readily complain in that situation), but I had already realized we weren't specifically watching any particular shows, but rather were just turning on the TV and flipping through to see if there was anything worth watching at that moment. I have such a backlog of DVD/blurays to watch, plus Netflix/Crunchyroll/Hulu queues I'll never make it all the way through, I don't NEED Cable anymore.

 

[Padraigo]

Gave up television about 20 years ago.

I absolutely cannot stand Ad's. They make me angry whenever I hear someone trying to sell me something, and they sound like they are lying through their teeth to do it, talking to me like I am an idiot. Televsion in general just makes my IQ drop.

 

[OneifbyChar]

I cut the cord a few years ago...can't remember exactly when. Never regretted it for a minute. I have Amazon Prime, Netflix and CBS All Access (for the Star Trek.) Now when I'm away from home and occasionally watch someone else's cable or satellite, I can't stand the commercials. I am so used to watching ad free TV, I don''t think I can ever go back. There is plenty to choose from and I'm paying 1/3 of the price.

 

[Dashbuzzrock]

Just did last week after being lied to by AT&T again. Tried to cancel DirecTV last year and was offered a rate of $132 per Mo for life for everything DTV has plus U-verse. Last two bills were $284.
Went with YTTV and like it but just got notice it’s going up $15 to $65.

 

[kurtaj]

The only cable I have is for Internet. I have a home Linux media server running Plex with a TV tuner and a Gray-Hoverman antenna to get content from the major networks, plus Netflix, Amazon Prime, and the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN bundle. Each TV has an Amazon Firestick.

I've had variations on this setup for 4 years and can't imagine going back to cable. My kids actually watch more YouTube than anything else. That may change as they get older; it may not. Once Stranger Things is over, I may ditch Netflix.

 

[crazysaguaro]

I cut the cord about 5 years ago. I hate Cox Communications here in Phoenix and couldn't stand giving them so much money for something I use so little. I have a great OTA antenna (and Phoenix was one of the first ATSC 3.0 cities). I can watch the local networks plus a few other stations that show Law & Order reruns, etc for when I just want some background noise while I'm working. I also buy the DirecTV Sunday Ticket for NFL in the fall - I watch on my PC (attached to my living room 75" TV). I can also stream on my tablet and laptop. Also NFL on NBC broadcasts the Sunday night games free and Amazon had Thursday Night Football free last year.

If I watched more TV, I'd go with Philo. I bought it as a gift for my mom and so got to try it for a few days. I really like it and the price was also nice.
-Gina

 

[phantom1969]

Yes, I've cut the cord. I have Roku now.

 

[mkj307]

I have wanted to for a long time but my husband didn't think he could get the Nascar races and all of his car shows. Does anyone know if he can stream the Nascar races and record them on a personal DVR? I'm not sure how all of that works. They raised our cable/phone/internet bill again it's $175 now. I need to fire these guys!

 

[Flytoeagle]

No, I wish I could cut the cord. I still have about 1 1/2 years to go with DISH Network. When that's up I'll consider a good antenna. I live about 70 miles northwest of Phoenix. I may go with a streaming service that carries the news channels, discovery channels, History Channel and Smithsonian Channel. I have Amazon Prime video so I'm all set on movies.