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How to Save Money by Cutting the Cable

by Suzanne Kantra on May 22, 2012

family watching video The number of U.S. homes paying cable, satellite or fiber optic TV service last year actually declined by 1.5 million, or about 1.5 percent, according to Nielsen’s latest Cross-Platform Report. That’s an annual savings for the average home of $840 - $1,200. So is it time for you to pull the plug on your pay TV provider?

What's available online

If you’re willing to cobble together a few sources, there’s a lot of great streamed content out there. You may already be using Netflix ($7.99 per month), Amazon, iTunes or Hulu Plus ($7.99 per month) to stream or download your favorite shows. To round these services out, try the following.

Network and basic cable

The three major networks—ABC, CBS and NBC—plus most other network and basic cable channels stream full shows the day after they air. Other sites, like Fox, let you view episodes the day after only if you’re a pay TV subscriber, opening the content up to non-pay-TV viewers after eight days.

Don't forget that you can get most local broadcasts over the air. When combined with a DVR like TiVo (around $200), you can record programs for playback later.

News

You can find streamed news clips on most major news sites, and on MSNBC.com and Fox News you can even watch a full program. (CNN only streams full programs for pay TV subscribers.) For single programs or niche news stations, try Ustream.tv, which carries live, streamed news programming, including the PBS News Hour, Nikkei Japan News, TMZ Live, AP Live and the Wall Street Journal.

Premium Channels

HBO and Showtime fans have to wait for the season to end and purchase it from Amazon or iTunes, or wait for it to become available on Netflix.

But if you’re a pay TV subscriber, you can watch episodes on Showtime Anywhere or HBO Go immediately online on your computer, smartphone tablet, smart TV or game system.

Sports

All of the major sports leagues have streaming services. There’s NFL Game Rewind, NBA League Pass, NHL GameCenter LIVE and MLB.tv. You’ll pay about $20-$25 per month to watch on your computer, tablet, smartphone, smart TV or game system. And with MLB.tv Premium, you can even choose the home or away team feed.

For pay TV subscribers, there’s Watch ESPN for iOS, Android, computers and Xbox 360, which provides live streaming feeds and replays from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU.

And if you want to watch boxing, North American Soccer League, or the Olympic News Channel, you can tune in to Ustream.tv.

Kids

There’s plenty of quality kids’ programming that’s available for free on sites like DisneyChannel.com, DisneyXD.com, Nickelodeon and PBSKids.org, among others.

The hurdles

Even will with all of these streaming resources, there are still a number of hurdles if you choose to only stream or download your favorite shows.

Most live events aren’t streamed—the Super Bowl being an exception. (Though, you can always purchase an antenna and pull in an over-the-air signal for most major events.)
You’ll have to wait at least a day to watch network TV.
Your video viewing will be fragmented, so you’ll have to remember where you watch each show—the network’s website, an online streaming service like Hulu or on iTunes.
You’ll have to wait months to watch content from premium channels like HBO and Showtime.
You’ll have to pay to watch sports.

Saving money without cutting the cord

You don’t have to cancel your service to save money by streaming TV. If you're paying for service on one TV, video providers like HBO, Showtime Cartoon Network and ESPN, will let you access their content for free through the web. So you can ditch your second or third cable box and stream via your computer or a Roku HD box ($59.99). You will also save on video rentals while on the road by streaming movies instead.

Topics

Music and Video, TVs & Video Players, Music & Video Services, Tips & How-Tos, Money Savers

Discussion

From Trish on May 22, 2012 :: 12:03 pm

Thanks for your piece! We canceled our cable a few months ago- and are loving it. We have been getting by with watching a few of our fav shows on the network’s website, and it’s been easy peasey. These additional options are super useful, especially for the hubby who’s been wondering what he’s going to do when football season starts. Thanks for the tips!

From Andrea on May 22, 2012 :: 12:20 pm

I have cut the cable cord years ago and do not miss the outrageous monthly bill especially in lieu of the current economic climate. If there is something I have to catch I go over to my sister and brother-in-law. But in general I love not having to be compelled to a set schedule.

From Linda on May 22, 2012 :: 1:34 pm

I will save almost $600 this year after cutting the satellite, that’s after a year of netflix and hulu plus subscription, buying a Roku, buying an antenna and a lifetime subscription to PlayOn and PlayLater. The savings will just increase each year since now it will just be the netflix and hulu subscriptions.
And the signal is great on my HDTV.

From William on May 22, 2012 :: 2:08 pm

Nice Article,

But it doesn’t compare the options of usage via the large cable companies, and there billing schemes that tie you up and force you to take a specific package simply because they have a lock on the services available for multi language subscribers. By this I mean show me a way to save on spanish language channels like telemundo, who offers an alternative at a much reduced cost, please tell me. I can’t cut the bill because my mother-in law and wife have to have these services and I still have to pay $165.00 roughly per month… Strangled on Long Island by Cablevision…

From Josh Kirschner on May 22, 2012 :: 2:47 pm

Hi William,

Telemundo offers streaming of some shows directly on its website (go to the “videos” drop down menu on http://msnlatino.telemundo.com). Hulu.com also offers a Latno channel of Spanish language programming. Hopefully, there’s enough to make your wife and mother-in-law happy. And we know how important that is!

From William on May 22, 2012 :: 3:01 pm

Josh,

If that being the case then you may have helped me out tremendously, I’ll look into it as soon as I can..

Thank You…

Bill

From Patricia Knight on May 22, 2012 :: 2:51 pm

I pulled the plug back in September on DirecTV. One of the best things I did. We utilize Roku, our Playstation 3 and our Boxee to stream exactly what we want to our big screen. Love it. Don’t miss live TV at all. We really enjoy watching what we want, when we want to, not when the networks decide to air stuff.

From Jez on May 22, 2012 :: 3:10 pm

I have never had cable. Does anyone remember how it was first marketed—that since you were paying for it cable channels would be commercial free. hahahaha. You get the worst of both worlds, you pay AND you get commercials every 5 mins.

My TV reception is horrible even with the antennae booster. I refuse to get cable.

I use netflix and go to websites to stream my favorite shows. Some stations don’t give access to all of their shows. I keep emailing them and asking them to stream all of their shows. Maybe someday they will listen. But in the meantime, there are plenty of things to stream.

Crackle.com offers movies and shows and some unique content. PBS.com also lets you stream videos so I can watch masterpiece theatre, NOVA and other favorites as well.

The other upside to streaming is that I can watch what I want when I want, pause it and do something else then go back to it. I have two monitors for my desktop, one to watch TV and one to do work on.

From Don Greene on May 22, 2012 :: 3:36 pm

I currently get 3 local PBS stations via Direct TV. I enjoy Downton Abbey, Masterpiece Theatre, etc. Can I get PBS stations if I dump satellite and/or cable?

From Kym J on May 22, 2012 :: 3:59 pm

I had been locked into the life of continuous cable, however, the cost has gotten too pricey for me, that I was in the house more, because my money was going into the cable box!!! So, last month, I cut the cable off, and except for the complaints of my daughter, we have been watching all of the movies, we had bought, and saw once! Yeah, she complians, but, she isn’t paying the fees… So how about doing an actual piece on how to cout the cable bill and use other resourses; and a review of the different types as effective or worthless; where the best bargains are in movies, shows, and the unknown blessings of little known websites. I have three HDTVs, and I wish to provide access on all three. My friends are still locked in, so there is no one around with the “new technology know-how,” I am always ahead of everyone… I would like to know about antennaes; new DVR boxes; gaming usage (my daughter uses the game station for movie viewing, so we are nearer in ideas… This type of information would be great to enhance my viewing pleasure, and my pocketbook’s economic measure… Thanks!

From Judy on May 26, 2012 :: 8:16 pm

I love the idea of dumping Directv for my two HDTVs, but how do you stream to them? I’ve watched shows on my computer, but that’s impractical for the whole family. The internet we have available (country living) is Verizon’s mifi, so we cannot connect that to the tvs. So what and how do I utilize these other sources of shows and movies?

From Dan on May 27, 2012 :: 6:41 pm

Great article, Suzanne! It’s great to see some alternatives to cable/satellite but at least for now, I’m staying with Dish Network. I can’t get my favorite channels via streaming like Nat Geo, History, H2, Discovery, my local sports affiliate and several others and the HD picture from Dish is fabulous. Plus, they have several packages so it’s not an all or nothing proposition.

If those channels become available to watch via streaming on my TV and not just on my computer or portable device, AND the picture quality is as good as what I’m getting now then I’ll consider cutting my satellite subscription. Till then, no way.

From William on May 27, 2012 :: 8:51 pm

Josh,

Thank You from your previous comments. One last question though, can I get access away from cable to the NY Mets, Knicks, Jets? On Long Island of course? I would buy HULU PLUS but cablevision packages their packages in such a way that it locks you into local channels but also all local sports and this makes it very hard almost impossible to find an alternate way of getting access to these other forms of entertainment..
Please help

From Frank on May 30, 2012 :: 2:16 pm

I don’t know why but stories like this always skip a simpler solution than using AppleTV, Roku boxes, SmartTVs etc. Just plug a cord from your computer’s HDMI output port to one of your TVs HDMI input ports, and watch whatever is on your computer screen on your big flat screen HDTV. This is what I do. If your computer does not have HDMI u can buy a card, which I’ve seen for as cheap as $25 to plug into the inards of your PC. You might have to configure your PC to treat your ‘second display’ (i.e. your TV) so that it shows the same image as your primary display (your monitor). Want to save more money? Dump cable and spend $50 or less on a TV internal tuner card (just got a good one for $20 on ebay), and $10 on an antenna and get HDTV over the air on your PC. Use windows media center to watch tv live on your HDTV, or schedule your favorites to be recorded (free - no TIVO needed!). Works great for me. I recommend Artec cheapo small blue rectangular antenna i bought at Meritline cuz it works better than expensive ones that i experimented with. I use Windows Media Center to record shows on my PC for later vieweing on my TV and I have a second antenna attached to the TV so i can watch one show live and record another on my PC. Honestly, once the antennas are set up for good reception, this is cheap and effective ... great picture (better than cable), and you get all the over the air networks (free), and optionally pay for and use internet streaming via netflix/hulu for other shows, which I watch on my big flat screen. Yes, i have to buy internet for the non over the air stuff, but i want internet anyway and yes internet alone is cheaper than internet plus cable TV (at least it is for me).

From Mitchell Mechanical on June 06, 2012 :: 2:02 pm

We have been cutting costs by doing those sorts of things for a while now. It’s become so easy for people to watch shows for free online- although it may be the day after the show airs since most people (as you mentioned) don’t stream the shows as they air. But if you are ok with watching the show the next day then it is a major money saver.

From COMPUTIAC on June 08, 2012 :: 1:37 pm

I’m in the process of dumping Cablevision. Since they thought it was fitting to give my account a raise of $52.in May,now up to a hefty $153.mo.having the triple play. My progress so far:

Ooma Telo to replace phone,$40.now,will be $4.26.

Terk HDTVa amplified antenna,mounted on a Vivitar tripod,to replace paid TV with OTA $90.now,will be free.

Roku XD/s for streaming along with a subscription to Play-On $89.LifeTime.

HP nc6220 laptop to dedicated home theater.
Will be used as server for Play-On.

Still open to all suggestions to add to or tweak this set-up.

From Frank ODette on June 08, 2012 :: 2:31 pm

Good job! My only suggestion would be to set yourself up with a way to record live TV. Not sure if laptops support tuner cards but i imagine they do. If you have a PC with windows 7 and media center, adding a tuner card is cheap, Attach your antenna (or a 2nd antenna) to the tuner card. You can setup windows media center to record TV shows and you can run the HDMI output from the PC/laptop to your TV to watch at your convenience. You could also stream from your laptop/PC direct to the TV via this same HDMI port, and bypass the Roku.

From Dennis Pratt on January 26, 2013 :: 1:19 pm

Okay, I want to dump Directv. Tired of paying too much for too little.

I want to be able to watch local channels in hi-def, and record baseball games off of MLB.TV.

My computer is in my office, about twenty yards from my t.v. located in the living room.

What gear do I need to buy to accomplish all this? Looking for help from those of you who are technically gifted in this area. Thanks.

From Frank on January 26, 2013 :: 2:15 pm

Just his past week I set my friend up. First you need to see if you can get your local stations over the air. I can in Boston, using a small flat paper thin antenna that I got from meritline ($7 on sale) though there are somewhat better ones like the Leaf for $40. Or you could install an antenna on your roof if it came to that.

Can’t get a good signal via antenna. Consider basic cable. I know with comcast in some areas if you bypass their box and plug the cable direct to the TV you get the local channels in hi-def. Ask your local cable provider what the situation is in your area.

You would have to subscribe to MLB TV over the internet, which I imagine you can do? If so, you can hook your computer display to your TV display.

How? I just did this for my friend. You need a video card with an HDMI output (some computers come with this preinstalled). I found one on amazon that arrived this week for $30 that works fine. Install the driver, the card, and go to the control center and tell it to show everything on my computer also on my tv screen. Now u can watch your MLB on your tv via your internet subscription.

Want to record your local channels without paying for a TIVO and subscription? You need a 2nd card, a TV card (I bought one for $25 from ebay tho it ships from china so takes like 3-4 weeks). Hook an antenna input to your TV card, or a splitter so your cable goes to both your TV and your PC. Use windows media center (free on most versions of windows 7) to record TV shows. If you are using the cable option and can’t get listing reply and I can help resolve that problem.

Any questions, feel free to post and I will get back to you. Good luck!

From Frank on January 26, 2013 :: 2:20 pm

Warning: The above advice is for a Windows 7 PC, with available empty card slots to install the card(s). Check before u order the cards to see if u have the slots available!

From Dennis Pratt on January 26, 2013 :: 3:47 pm

Frank, thanks for the response. I guess my main concern with the set up you describe here is the fact that my computer is located far from my t.v., so I would have to go wireless and hope the WiFi would be good enough to get a steady download, and not something that’s being interrupted constantly. Or ...I could buy another computer and set it up beside the t.v. using a t.v. card and video card with HDMI output. Basic cable is not something I would want, as I am trying to avoid paying too much for too little, which is the cornerstone of Cable and Satellite t.v. services.

So, let’s say I get another computer and an indoor antennae to use with my t.v. and hard wire everything to my second computer, would I be able to actually record games from MLB.TV and other television programming onto the computer’s hard drive? If so, what do you think I would need as far as hard drive size, RAM, Graphics card, etc.?

Thanks for the help.

From Frank on January 26, 2013 :: 5:15 pm

Sorry for not reading your note in more detail. I was thinking 20 feet and u said 20 yards!

Well, first u have to see if an antenna will do it for you. This site can give u an idea: http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx (or do a google search and find another one for a 2nd opinion). If you cant pull in a good signal for the channels u watch, u will need cable or stick with satellite.

Rather than a 2nd computer there are boxes you can buy that stream video over wiFi and I think that would be a cheaper solution.

Now, as for recording MLB games, I don’t know if that is an option because it is not over the air. The MLB service should be able to tell you if they allow that.

From Frank on January 26, 2013 :: 5:19 pm

As for the PC, most modern PCs can handle it. Hard drive is a function of how many hours of stuff u need to save. Small hard drive if u record for 2 and then watch and delete those 2 hours before recording again. Big one if you store hour after hour of stuff before deleting. I bought a 1 TB USB drive and I can store a lot of stuff there . Can be had for as cheap as $60 i think.

From F. Garcia on January 29, 2014 :: 4:39 pm

You can also try WD Live Hub. Under live tv you can watch and record live local hd channels If you buy and install the hauppauge (NTSC) wintv-hvr-950q. It’s a usb digital tv tuner that comes with an antenna.

This can also be used in windows 7 with Windows Media Center to watch and record live and programmed shows in HD.

From MAUREEN MAXWELL on April 22, 2015 :: 7:07 am

OK so I no longer have ANY Cabel BUT have the Cabel companies Internet access as I have no other otiopn and I can nto watch anything without fragmented freeze time…lsast m=night it took me 78 minutes to watch Jon Steward…i am paitent BUT,,,andy news on the horizen on what they are doing to downgrade the speeds and how can they get away with not allowing us to ulitize hulu netflix and amazon effectively???? Thanks for any infor you can offer <3

From Josh Kirschner on April 22, 2015 :: 8:32 am

Did you find that your streaming slowed down after you cancelled the video portion or did you not try to stream previously?

There can be a number of reasons why you may be having trouble streaming:
1) The streaming service (Hulu, Netflix) is slow
2) Your Internet is slow (check with http://www.speedtest.net to see what your speed is) either because you have a low subscription or your cable is overloaded in your area due to high usage.
3) You have a poor connection via WiFi in the location you are streaming from, causing slow speeds. Is it faster closer to your cable router?
4) Your cable company is throttling streaming services. Does everything else above seem to be okay? Who is your cable company?

There are also some tricks you can do to improve streaming, even with a slow connection:
https://www.techlicious.com/tip/stream-watchable-video-with-a-slow-internet-connection/

From MAUREEN MAXWELL on April 23, 2015 :: 5:51 pm

I have Comcast my only option where I live

Sling works as does utube and pandora on my firestick BUT hulu constantly freezes and netflix just stops .
If I try to watch anything straight gfrom my PC like Oprah channel or PBS it acts just like HULU freezes and restarts

I ran the test at 11 am and it was download speed of 25.11 so I downloaded the suggested software to speed up my pc and it now at 630 pm runs at 12.05

My cable router is in another room…I think I will move it closer to the TV so I can connect directly this will also bring it closer to my PC

If there is any other comments until I move the Comcast Router Ide appreciate it <3

From COMPUTIAC on April 23, 2015 :: 5:58 pm

Please remove the program you downloaded to speed up your PC.
These things never work and sometimes will ask you to pay them to fix your PC so it works good again.

If you know how to use a restore point, use one dated before you downloaded the program.

This will put your PC back to where it was.

From Josh Kirschner on April 24, 2015 :: 8:23 am

PC speed-up programs rarely provide any benefit and can really screw things up with your registry or other components.

Who suggested you download this? The Comcast representative? If so, can you provide the name of the program he suggested?

From Maureen Maxwell on April 27, 2015 :: 12:34 am

No one suggested I purhase the software it was on the speedtest.net site I went o…..soo not so easy to reset as a simple restore point would NOT work so I had to do advanced and then when reloading everything I picked up a sweet pack…FINALLY am back up and running BUT still nto back to all my original settings <3

I have been testing vis speedtest and there IS a difference in download speed in the day and the prime time evening…....

I liked the advice for speeding up the download and buffering time but cant do that when using the fire stick so still having issues with that but downloads from PBS and Oprah today streamed just fine…sometimes the voice and screen were nOT in sync but not bad enough to send me back to Comcast….BTW I did download prior to stopping my cable as I was testing the fire-stick and did NOT have the same problems <3

Thanks for all your help just wish I had options.but Comcast owns this town .....when does the new law that diallows the cable companies to have levels of speed take effect??????

From COMPUTIAC on April 22, 2015 :: 7:27 am

I don’t think the cable co. can deliberately slow your speed down.
You pay for a certain speed to be delivered and it is what you should get or close to it.

First, what is your internet speed ?
If you don’t know what it is you can do a free test here: http://www.speedtest.net/

From COMPUTIAC on April 22, 2015 :: 8:42 am

I really think it is either a slow ‘net speed or if she is using WiFi she should connect to the router using a Ethernet cable to get maximum speed.

From Frankofbos on April 24, 2015 :: 10:26 am

I cut and paste this from somewhere recently (I don’t remember where), because the advice might come in handy…

How to Stream Watchable Video with a Slow Internet Connection (Can cause a lot of issues with video playback, including the dreaded unwanted pause or stutter. It’s damn hard to watch a video in two-second bursts shown twelve-seconds apart!)
-> If you’re using the YouTube app, you can change a video’s quality by tapping the three circle icon in the top right hand corner of the playback screen, and then tapping the Quality cogwheel icon that appears. For those on the desktop version of the site, the cogwheel is just below the playing video on the right. Reducing a video’s quality to 480p will reduce crispness somewhat, but it often eliminates any other streaming problem you’re having. If that doesn’t work, you can try lowering the quality further, all the way down to a data-sipping 144p.If you’re using Hulu, you’ll also select the gear icon to change the video resolution settings. If you’re using Netflix, you’ll need to log into your account and then select Playback settings in the Your Profile section. It can take up to 8 hours for these changes to take affect.Amazon Instant Video doesn’t give you the option to reduce your video quality, but when purchasing or renting a video, you can select the SD version for slower connections.Many other video playback apps offer resolution reduction tools, so it pays to keep an eye out for the setting.
-> You can improve your video performance by pressing pause immediately after hitting play and waiting a few moments for the buffer to build.
The longer you wait, the bigger the buffer will get – it’s possible to preload the entire video if you’re patient enough. That said, I find that video often plays back without issue after waiting just a few seconds.

From Frankofbos on April 24, 2015 :: 10:29 am

Ah, i see Josh links to the video streaming tips above

https://www.techlicious.com/tip/stream-watchable-video-with-a-slow-internet-connection/

From Maureen Maxwell on April 27, 2015 :: 12:26 am

I can not do this using my firestick BUT id it for a PBS show as instructed and did not get interruptions or a LONG “buffering” alert…seems that the sound and picture were better synced too…have been looking at my speed and there is a difference in Comcast between day and prime time hours…hummm and those that say they are NOT influencing the stream <3