There comes a time in every adult’s life when he/she must embark on a very important and life-altering journey: getting married, raising a family choosing a TV content provider.
If you are anything like me, this question brims with cost/benefit analysis, usage predictions, and the anger over having only 2 cable companies to choose from in the area. How much will I ACTUALLY watch TV? Do I need 150 or 417 channels? I have Netflix – do I even need cable at all?
Fact: I pay roughly $20 a month for all of my TV content, versus the $110 I would pay a cable company for access to the same kind of content. I ride atop my high horse of freedom and lack of contractual obligations – my suit of armor made of $50 bills glistening in the sunlight – as the cable companies wage bloody, coax-cabled war beneath me in their fight for regional conquest. You, too, can climb aboard your very own steed and listen as the coupons and “Exclusive TV Offers” crunch beneath gold-plated hooves, without missing your favorite shows. Here are the things I required from Traditional TV before this age of enlightenment, and how I access them now:
News: Easy. My phone auto updates Google news and the CNN app. For REALLY local news I use dnainfo.com. TV news is pretty biased and ratings-motivated anyway; better to get it from broader sources.
Weather: I look outside the window. For advanced meteorological predictions I call NOAA check Google.
Favorite TV Shows:
hbogo.com – This takes care of my big ones: Game of Thrones, Veep, Silicon Valley, and Bill Maher. (www.showtimeanytime.com works similarly)
Netflix — This is the heavy hitter with House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, TONS of documentaries, and a lot of shows and movies that are on traditional providers. This one alone could easily replace cable/satellite for most people.
abcgo.com & cbs.com– Scandal, and other various primetime events and late night shows.
aetv.com – Gotta get my Bates Motel fix.
Sports: well, I’m no help here. I rarely watch sports on TV. I’d rather play them or see them in person.
All of your needs could very well be taken care of for a fraction of what you would pay a cable/satellite provider, and since almost all new TV’s are “Smart,” you don’t have to deal with an ugly box either! Maybe you already have cable/satellite, or maybe you are weighing your options. In either case, taking a good look outside the (cable) box could show you a world you never knew existed. Let me tell ya, the view is nice up here…