Cable TV Unplugged (3 weeks later)

It has been about 3 weeks now that our cable TV has been unplugged.  We have found that we still don't watch a whole lot of TV and now there are no commercials.  There are also no new shows on, but we really don't watch them anyway so they would just be sitting on our DVR.

If we do want to get into a new show we have two options, wait for it to come out on Netflix or buy the season on Amazon or Google Play.  Amazon is a little cheaper on some things.

Something new coming down the pike is HBO Now.  HBO is going to start offering an online streaming service that you do not need a cable subscription for, they are calling it HBO Now, which is different from HBO Go.  HBO Now is supposed to open up before the next season of Game of Thrones and it is going be about $14.99 a month.  The bummer part is they have partnered with Apple, so the App will only be available on the Apple TV for 3 months and then they will open it up to Roku.  I am really hoping that Roku steps up its game a little and gets it sooner

I just found another app tonight on the Roku called Sling TV.  Sling TV (https://www.sling.com/) gives you access to live TV from your devices.  It works with the Roku, iOS, PC, Android and Amazon Fire (I don't see Apple TV in there though).  The basic subscription is $20 a month and they give you the following channels.  ESPN, ESPN2, AMC, TBS, TNT, FOOD Network, HGTV, IFC, Disney, Cartoon Network, Travel, El Ray Networks, and Maker.

You can add extra packages into the base price for $5 more per package.

So now we are starting to add this price tag back up so here is what we got:

1. Netflix (7.99)
2. Hulu (7.99)
3. Amazon (8.33)
4. Plex (Free)
5. Sling TV ($20)
6. HBO Now ($15)

Total about $60

That is still a lot less than the $140 I was paying, still less than half.

Not sure if we will keep Sling, but I know some people that might drop cable if they had ESPN.  I like having TBS again so I can watch Big Bang Theory, and we could watch Walking Dead on AMC, but I don't have a way to DVR it and it comes on right when the kid is going to bed.  (How can I DVR it?)  Well that is another post once I figure that one out.

Cable TV Unplugged

Today, March 3, 2015 we turned off our Cable TV.  So many people have done it already I really don't know why I am arriving so late in the game.

We have determined that we have been paying over $130 a month to watch "The Walking Dead".  That isn't really worth it, so we figured we can use that money some place else each month.

What are we going to do, what are we going to watch?  Well here is the channel line up we have.

• Over the Air channels - Did you know if you plug an antenna into the back of your TV you can pick up HD TV over the open air?  Amazing, it still works.  However, other than the news, which we never watch, we probably won't use it because we don't watch TV. ($FREE)
• Netflix - This was the best invention in the world.  They have so many movies on there, I am not sure if I will ever run out of stuff to watch.  ($7.99 month)
• Hulu Plus - Once again I am not a huge fan of TV shows, but this service makes it great to watch the Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and tons of cartoons for our kiddo.  Oh can't forget the Daily Show.  ($7.99 month)
• Amazon Prime - Picked this service up a couple years ago and it comes with free two day shipping on anything that is "prime" which is over 80% of the store and a video streaming service like Netflix.    The service also lets you read Kindle books, but we don't use that.  ($100 yr, $8.30 month)
• PLEX - PLEX is a home streaming server that is free, but you do have to have some hardware to put it on.  You can build your own or stick it on your Windows 7 (8) computer you have running in your computer room.  PLEX allows you to stream MP4 videos over your Local Network.  It works great and looks just like Netflix.  ($FREE)

So our new TV bill will be $24.28 each month.  Plus the costs of Redbox rentals and AMC Movies.  But, we were going to see movies anyway and renting moves from the Redbox so I can't really include that in the savings.

Other services we use are Pandora, Google Music and Amazon's Book club ($9.99 month) where you can read any books on Amazon, as many as you want a month for under 10 bucks!

***We are going to hang onto our land line for now.  We want to keep 911 services.  I think you can purchase 911 services with Magic Jack so that will be another Blog entry.

Remember to keep moving forward --->