Tag: Satellite TV

‘Cord Cutting’ Becomes More Common; Here’s Our Story

Over the years, Rita and I have bounced around from cable TV to DirecTV to Dish Network because of the astounding increases in monthly fees. Add some premium channels and the cost can approach $200/month, which is $2,400 per year, just for TV!  Perhaps your story is similar.

A year ago, when Rita and I moved into a 55+ rental that only offers Comcast TV and doesn’t allow satellite dishes, we finally did what so many have done before us: we abandoned both cable and satellite TV, or “cut the cord,” as it’s called.

So now we only stream, and our primary TV provider now is YouTube TV, not to be confused with YouTube. And I recommend it as an affordable solution. We get all the channels we were getting before, both local and cable.

We have Comcast/Xfinity for our home internet, which is a business expense for me, and their basic internet speed is fast enough for streaming YouTube TV (which is $64.99/mo.) and Netflix.

I love two things about YouTube TV. First, it has unlimited cloud DVR storage. (No equipment for us; just connect to our WiFi signal.)  Second, like Netflix, I can watch it on my laptop, phone or iPad, such as at the office or when I’m traveling anywhere in the U.S. (I watched some Denver programs while I was in Hawaii recently.) Rita can watch one program while I’m watching another.

We don’t watch any programs live anymore, because we want to fast forward through commercials. We preferred Dish and DirecTV over Comcast because they have a 30-second fast forward button. Comcast has no such button. YouTube TV has a 15-second button, which is good enough. Here’s a screenshot of from logging in to YouTube TV just now:

Each of those programs (and countless others) are recorded online and we never have to worry about running out of DVR space.

Streaming Has Made Cable and Satellite TV Obsolete

I’m old enough to remember the days before “pay TV.”  Gradually, cable TV made its inroads and more and more people started paying for it because of better reception and the increasing number of non-broadcast channel offerings.

Eventually, satellite TV came along, dominated now by Dish Network and DirecTV. Rita and I went back and forth between the two as their introductory offers expired and we found ourselves with TV service costing well over $100 per month. The rates for cable were just as high.

But then the coaxial cable used by cable TV companies like Comcast and the fiber optic cable used by phone companies like CenturyLink created the opening for a wide range of video streaming services which can make subscribing to cable or satellite TV unnecessary.

So, here we are at a crossroads (actually past it) where the cable companies will only be providing internet service and not TV service, because customers will use that cable internet service to stream their favorite TV channels (and Netflix) from other providers, in addition to having internet service for their home computers and internet-connected devices such as doorbells and cameras and other smartphone-connected appliances.

Rita and I quickly abandoned Comcast for TV service when we moved into our Avenida apartment. What we ended up doing was using Comcast only for high-speed internet, and we now stream everything. We pay $65 for internet service (which I need anyway for business), and we pay $64.99 per month for YouTube TV.  They’re currently offering a $10 discount for the first three months. You’ll want to own a “smart TV” to simplify streaming.

Here’s what makes streaming a super-smart alternative — it’s portable. I can duplicate my home service at a second home, while camping, at work or anywhere else within the U.S. without having separate TV service at that location.