Cut the Cable Cord and Grow a Life
My family has recently been going through a bit of an awakening. Old school has become the new-New School. No I’m not talking about wearing Bell Bottom pants. No, We’re not all getting afro-wigs. No. We are going back to regular, Cableless TV. Well Sort of…
What does that mean, regular TV. It means we’ve decided to cut the cable cord and grow a life.
In growing a life that means doing things as a family, spending time outdoors. reading, researching and thinking family and biz first before the Boob Tube. The Idiot Box, the Telly (for my friends in the UK). Cable and the cable bill are no longer invited.
Years ago my wife determined that cable was an unnecessary evil. My 10 year old just needs to get her Funniest Video fix and she’s pretty much set. But Dad… Can you replace ESPN with America’s Funniest Home Video’s? Naaahhh.
You see the dilemma.
But through research and counseling, I’ve found hope. Hope in the that great invention of Al Gore called… The Internet! Yep. With services like Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, Sling TV, CBS All Access, Netflix, and HBO Now, to name a few, I have options.
The more I talked to my friends, it became evident that I was part of a larger movement of people who are tired of paying $150 to $250 per month on… CABLE! So, armed with 2 other heads of households who wanted to get their bills under $100 per month, we set out to see if we could find a solution that would make each of our homes happy and we could still watch… ESPN!
After a few days of serious research, I found a couple of websites that could get me to the promised land pretty quickly. I found a couple of quick guides that let you compare many of the primary channels most cable adicts watch, to determine where they could be viewed without the cable bundle pack cable companies force you to buy.
The first was an article on:
The Verge
The second was:
Slate
The third find was a website gem called:
Pluto.tv
Pluto gives you 100 channels that give you the same content you usually receive, except through alternative channels. Music channels, Sports, Arts & Entertainment, News, Comedy, Lifestyle, Education and Kids channels in one place streamed live.
So my journey to cable free sobriety looked like this:
Step 1. CUT THE CABLE OFF
Step 2. Get Internet only service ($65 month)
Step 3. Buy (2) Amazon Fire TV sticks (2 x $39ea = $78) 1x charge
Step 4. Sign in with Pluto.tv via Fire TV stick (Free 100 Channels)
Step 5. Amazon Prime membership ($99 per year)
Step 6. Netflix $8 per month
Step 6. SLING TV sign up for $20 per month( ESPN included and accessed via Fire TV stick)
DONE DEAL. $177 up front for equipment costs and then $93 per month. Down from $198 per month.
Monthly savings of $105 per month.
Annual savings of $1260.
Not bad considering Netflix will get the ax for the new year (Prime has more benefits) and we receive basically the same programming and via SLING….ESPN!
We’ve now been cable-clean now for 1 month and we’ve never felt cleaner. My other buddies each made similar decisions more or less opting for more Fire Sticks or Hulu Plus instead of Amazon Prime.
It’s all the same… NO MORE CABLE. The train has left the station. The death of cable is coming.
You wouldn’t want to have been the last saddle salesman when the first Model T rolled out of the Ford Factory in September of 1908 . You wouldn’t want to have been a Blockbuster Video owner the day Redbox started popping up on every corner.
You wouldn’t want to have been Border’s Books, or Tower Records the day Amazon or Ebay got a head of steam headed your way.
Are you selling 8 track tapes? Are you a Dial-Up Modem in terms of your current work skill level?
I can hear the horn blow… Oh. That’s just an Uber car.
Adrian Cox
YES SUCCESS