Adventures In Cord Cutting

Since announcing last fall that we had cut the cord, I have been repeatedly asked how things are going, what I use, etc.  So here we go!

 

 

 

 

 

Is cutting the cord right for me?

That is a personal decision, but I hope to lay out enough in this post for you to make a decision.  In my opinion, the largest barrier right now to cord cutting is live sports.  If you are a person that has to watch every sports game when it is on and watch ESPN 24/7, cord cutting is not for you and probably won’t be for quite sometime.  In our case, after a detailed Cord Cutting Analysis, we came up with at least $667 a year in savings, but there is a caveat to that total.  At the time I did the analysis I had already shaved everything down to the bare minimum we needed for cable (your savings may be much more).  It is also important for married people to remember if you can’t get the buy in from your spousal unit / significant other DO NOT even attempt cord cutting.  In my case, buy in was a 5 year march starting with purchasing the first generation AppleTV in 2008.

How Do You Cord Cut?

Cord cutting is a generic term that basically means that you have disconnected your TV service from your cable or satellite provider.  If you still intend to watch current shows, there are several different services you can use.  For the purpose of this post, everything is going to be set around using a regular HDTV to watch your shows.  If you are willing to hook a laptop up to a TV or airplay from a Mac to an AppleTV, you have many more options to consider and probably will get larger savings than we were able to achieve.

In order to determine if cord cutting will work for you, you’ll need to make a list of what you watch and where it can be located from another source.  Once the financial picture is in place then you can decide if it makes sense for you to move forward.

Services Used

For our purposes we use Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, MLB.tv, sidereel.

• Amazon Instant Video: For shows that I want to watch once and probably won’t again, I purchase from Amazon Instant Video in SD.  On a 32″ HDTV their SD files look really amazing.  I also like the way you purchase seasons from Amazon.  You get a discounted rate for purchasing the entire season of shows (similar to iTunes) but you are only billed when the episodes drop.  iTunes will bill you all at one time when you make the purchase.
• Amazon Prime Video: This service is free because of my Amazon Prime subscription. It is used similar to the way we use Netflix.  It’s just kind of there because we have it, but it does come in useful from time to time.
• Hulu: We use Hulu as a DVR for the shows that are available for through that service.  I think this is the key service for cord cutters.  If we had to purchase the shows we watch on Hulu, the savings would be much less. But then again I’m buying shows for two people.  Jess & I don’t always watch the same shows, so if you are single this would probably be less of an issue.
• iTunes Store: iTunes is where we purchase everything that we want to keep and will watch over again (Doctor Who, Castle, Last Man Standing, etc.).
• Netflix is basically for giggles and to find new shows we missed the first time around.  This is how we found How I Met Your Mother & Revenge and caught up on the past episodes.
• MLB.tv: MLB.tv in association with the unlocator service to get around black outs so Jess can watch her baseball.  The unlocator service is also nice because it allows you to get to the BBC iPlayer without using your VPN.  Paying $125 a year for MLB.tv put a severe cramp in my projected savings.  Fortunately, Jess only keeps up with one sport.  It is also important to note that without using unlocator or a VPN to get around blackouts, the MLB.tv service is pretty much worthless unless you want to watch a game 90 minutes after its over.
• Sidereel:  We use sidereel to keep up with our shows to make sure we don’t miss any episodes, the tracking service is free.

Equipment Used

We use an AppleTV, Roku, OTA (Over The Air) HD antenna, High Speed Internet Connection, and of course an HDTV.

• AppleTV: We use the AppleTV to watch items from our home server (click here for my AppleTV setup), items we purchase from iTunes (downloading is not required anymore), Hulu, Netflix, & MLB.tv.  Please note that all of these services except for iTunes Store can be found on the Roku, but the interface and performance is just so much better on the AppleTV.
• Roku: This is pretty much just used to access our Amazon content.
• OTA:  The OTA HD Antenna is used to watch live TV and for local emergencies.  We use an indoor model and get about 20 beautiful channels using the indoor Mohu Leaf amplified antenna.  If you have never viewed HD uncompressed over the air, it will really blow you away!  This antenna is very small and can be mounted on the wall behind the TV so you never see it.  If you own your home, you can put a full size HD antenna in your attic and really do some neat stuff, you can google to find out more about that.
• High Speed Internet: There is a lot of different information out there on how much of a connection you need.  We currently have the fastest DSL available to us at 28 down & 4 up.  With that amount of bandwidth, we can easily watch 2 HD streams at the same time, surf, and do anything we want with no effect on the picture quality.  It also helps if your home router has QOS (Quality of Service) settings. This will prioritize video over all other network traffic to make sure everything works nicely.  With that being said I have watched plenty of HD on a 1.5 down and 768k up DSL line as well, but I am sure it would not hold up to doing multiple streams.  Generally speaking, if you have a reasonable package from your ISP of at lease 3 to 5 megs down you, should have no problems.
• HDTV: Currently, we have three 720p 32″ HDTVs (it’s our size of choice).  So please keep that in mind when I speak about picture quality. The 32″ size is the sweet spot for us but when one dies I will probably get a 40″ or bigger for the main viewing area in the home.

So How’s It Going?

We are about 7 months into cord cutting and I can say its great!  I feel better about not paying all that money for cable to only use just a few channels.  If you ask Jess, she will tell you she has really had no issues and is happy with our setup, but remember it took me five years to get her that point so be patient.

Do You Miss Anything?

Yes, I do miss just being able to turn HGTV or the DIY network and just veg out to a home improvement show like I used to do.  I really enjoy seeing how the work is done and getting some ideas.  After living in an apartment for 2 1/2 years, I am itching for a project.  Some of those shows are available for purchase while cord cutting, but I just don’t value them enough to do so.  This is the same with random documentaries I may have found while going through the channel guide on the cable box.  That being said if I don’t value these shows enough to purchase them now, then they were just filling time, and more and more of them are coming to Netflix & Amazon Prime for viewing anyway.

Do You Have Anymore Advice?

Why yes I do!  Once you have done all your homework and you think you’re ready to cord cut try it out for a month or two to make sure everything works as you think it will before you cancel anything.  Paying reconnection fees on your TV service will often cost you more than running a couple of months with both systems in place.

Also if you get your internet through your cable provider be sure to ask them what the price of the ISP service will be if you do not have a TV service bundle.  The same goes if you are going to get DSL from your local phone company without phone service.  The prices will be higher and need to be factored into your analysis.

I hope you have found this post useful if you are considering cutting the cord.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and I will be happy to respond.

 

Update 10-19-14:

I have changed my mind and now plan to make this an always updated guide, so here is my first update.

Recently Amazon has moved away from the pay as you go model for purchasing seasons and is now squarely in line with iTunes for their charging policies.  With this change I have now moved all my TV purchases over to iTunes.  The shows that mostly comprise this are CBS & cable shows I cannot get through Hulu.  The other benefit to this is that iTunes will put many new seasons on sale at a heavily discounted price, when the fall season starts and Amazon never did that.

Over the AIR (OTA) DVR’s like the channel master are becoming more prevalent.  But in my mind if you do the math on the upfront costs, I can by a lot of tv at $1.99 an episode before it makes sense, plus you give up a few things using this process.

I mentioned in my review that I miss my DIY & HGTV shows that I used to veg on when I needed to chill out.  Good news on this front as well!  Netflix has added several of the home improvement shows I like to watch to their subscription package!  Also if you want to pay for the shows there are much more options now than a year ago.

Recently CBS announced an all access subscription package that gives you all their current shows, back catalog, plus live local streaming in some markets.  This is a nice step forward for the cord cutter but at launch it only works on tablets, phones, & the web.  When or if they come out with an AppleTV app I will purchase this service.  If you access the CBS app on a tablet device and a phone today, airplay is disabled to an AppleTV but it will work form a Mac using a web browser.  With that being said I try to avoid air playing from my Mac when possible, it works really well but I promised the Spousal Unit to keep the complexity of devices and services for cord cutting limited.  This move by CBS is to me, much bigger news then HBO announcing a similar service to launch next year.

If you would like a second opinion on cord cutting Robert Heron is keeping an always updated guide as well.

 

Update 11-08-14:

Cord Cutting Year one is in the can!

We spent $684 on TV ($200 of that was MLB.tv for the spousal unit, so it must be love).  In my next fiscal TV year I can trim another $75 off by purchasing MLB.tv a year at a time.

 

Update 05-09-15:

What a few months it has been for cord cutters!

Several new services have been announced and also changes to existing services.

Sling TV

Sling was announced in January and is probably the closest thing to a cable package you can get today!  The major draw back of the service is that it lacks DVR functionality and that’s just a non-starter for me.  The other drawback is that all the channels do not act the same depending on the agreements in place, for example you can pause live tv on some channels and not on others, you have on demand on some channels and not others, etc. Sling continues to add packages and channels all the time, in fact you could easily work yourself backup to a full cable bill if you like.  The major item that Sling has going for it is access to ESPN without a cable subscription if that’s your cup of tea, this is the only solution for you.

I did take Sling for a week long test drive and it works pretty well, even on my old under powered Roku boxes.

HBO Now

HBO launched HBO now in Spring 2015 allowing for the first time a way to stream HBO without a full cable subscription.  That’s all I’m going to say about this service the link is above if you would like to check it out.

My personal feeling is that HBO is a sewer adding to the downfall of civilization.

CBS All Access

I’ve already covered CBS All Access earlier in this post, but in May 2015 they announced a Roku channel for the service, this makes All Access a much more attractive proposition.  The launch of a Roku channel prompted me to revisit my famous cord cutting spreadsheet.  He’s the basic math, if you are purchased two CBS shows a year to watch and then forgot about on iTunes or Amazon then All Access will save you money.  I’m hoping that an AppleTV channel is forth coming, either way I will probably subscribe when fall comes around.

TiVo OTA DVR

TiVo has begun offering a version of their Roamio DVR that accepts and over the air antenna instead of CableCard.  The nice thing about this product is that if you pay $300 one time the hardware and lifetime guide subscription service are included. I ran the math on this solution as well and it looks like a good deal but it will take you a few years to recoup the upfront investment.  As much as we are moving around at this point my career I’m a hesitant to purchase something like this then move somewhere OTA reception sucks.

Change In Our Viewing Habits

Jess & I have noticed something as we are rolling up on two years of cord cutting.  If the TV show was something we began watching prior to cord cutting, for some reason we feel the need to keep up with it pretty soon after it airs.  If the TV show is something we picked up after Cord Cutting began we get to it whenever.  My feeling is that if we did not have access to HULU this behavior would even be more pronounced.  We also find ourselves taking on less shows and being more selective in our view habits as well.

Update 11-14-15:

Two years of cord cutting are in the can you read my post here.

Changes Made for the Fall 2015 TV Season

This fall instead of purchasing all of the CBS shows we watch from iTunes I decided to give CBS All Access a try.  The basic math on this is, if you watch more than 3 CBS shows than All Access is cheaper. The service is getting better but they are going to have to beef it up before the new Star Trek series hits.  Jess & I have encountered several problems watching the service especially in the audio arena and on Sunday nights. My thought is that so many people are watching the NFL through CBS All Access that the service just can’t handle the load right now.  CBS All Access does not yet offer a commercial free option and I wouldn’t hold my breath for that day to come either.

Speaking of no commercials we opted to try out Hulu’s new commercial free option for an additional $4 a month, all I can say is its well worth it.  That’s pretty much it, we implemented no other changes and are staying the course.  Jess & I are well into the groove of cord cutting and I don’t see use turning back any time soon, in fact its kinda weird when we go places that have “traditional” TV service.

Update 02-12-17:

Year 3 of cord cutting ended on 10-31-16 and how did we do?  Pretty well!

We spent $354.61 or $29.55 a month on TV entertainment and we made no real changes in how we watch stuff.

You can read the full year three update here.