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09 Jun 2011

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Jessica Bosari is the Site Manager and Editor for Billeater, a blog with Money-saving tips to lower your bills. When she’s not gathering money-saving tips, Jessica is feeding her geeky side with sci-fi movies, tech gadgets, useful apps and productivity tricks, just to keep things interesting.

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Cancel Your Cable: Why It’s Time to Switch to Internet TV
21 Comments
Cancel Your Cable Switch Internet TV

The average cable subscriber in the United States is paying $70 a month for hundreds of stations, while they only watch two or three channels most of the time. Why pay all that money for only a handful of stations you really use? You can streamline your television experience with internet TV and cut out those monthly payments simply by getting rid of that old-fashioned television service.

With the large number of television shows and movies available for little or no cost online, there is no reason to keep paying your cable company month after month! Here’s how to dump that expense.

Switching to Internet TV Doesn’t Mean Losing Your Favorites

Online television services are growing rapidly, and they offer many of the shows you normally watch. Hulu.com and Netflix are the two biggest streaming services. Between them, you will find almost every network television program the day after it airs on regular TV. These services also offer lots of streaming movies — Netflix now reportedly has around 12,000!. Boxee is an online service that offers television programs, movies, and access to your personal video and music files, though the company now encourages you to buy the Boxee Box to operate it. Apple’s iTunes service allows you to watch some movies and TV shows free or purchase them individually. Each of these services, subject to a small subscription fee, has free content, or you can pay a small fee to view even more content. The bottom line is there’s a ton out there, and if there’s something you’re afraid to miss, you’re likely going to be able to find it on the Internet.

Watching on Network Websites has Never Been a Better Experience

Television networks have quickly adapted to this new medium for delivering their shows. Most of the networks you find on a typical cable television lineup have extensive websites where you can watch full or partial programs free. Services like SetJam and Clicker compile television listings from across the Internet so you can search for a particular program and find it easily. If you like sports, most of the professional leagues offer special Internet packages for viewing games live or on a delay. Even then, you can certainly keep track of a game without watching it for free online now — MLB.com‘s Gameday technology is about as close to the real thing as you could imagine. The logical next step is simply more web-streamed live content.

Connecting Your TV Directly to the Internet is Easy

It can be depressing to think of watching your favorite shows on a tiny computer screen after you’ve gotten used to your big high definition flat screen TV. You don’t have to give up the television when you get rid of cable. Many of the newest televisions are equipped with Wi-Fi connections so that you can browse the Internet TV sites with your remote control. If your TV doesn’t connect directly, you can hook it up to your laptop or desktop and use it as a monitor after a pretty straight forward cable purchase. A wireless mouse and keyboard make it easy to surf the Web from your couch. It’s so easy that my 10-year-old can do it.

Switching Means Saving Not Just Money, but Time

Once you get used to watching television on demand, you will find that you have more free time as well as more spending money. Most of the streaming services have cut out commercials, so an hour-long program will run for about 45 minutes. Since you can watch the shows whenever you have the time, you don’t have to schedule your life around a specific date and time. Watching television when it fits your schedule will leave you more flexibility to keep up with the shows you want to see and still do all of the things you want during your evenings. Say good-bye to wasting time on the boob tube with junk TV and hello to extra cash in your pocket.

What are your favorite ways to watch Internet TV? Do you have any tricks or hacks that have worked well for you? Please share!

Photo: Josiah Lau Photography

21 Comments
  • Craig

    I’m in the process of talking the family into dropping cable altogether. Whether your t.v. is an older version, or a flat screen, you can use it as a monitor for your laptop. Most t.v.’s have HDMI ports, so all you need is one cable. If you don’t have an HDMI port on your laptop, your tv may have a vga port…I bought a male-male vga cord for about $7 and I just leave it hooked to the t.v. that way I just have to plug it into my laptop when we want to watch a show.

    For those who fear technology and don’t want to have to hook something up more than once, Roku is a great alternative for streaming Netflix to your tv if your tv isn’t internet ready and/or you don’t have some other device for streaming directly to your tv. We have one and it is very convenient. Only about $50, too. Your first month without cable will more than pay for the Roku box.

  • http://Twitter.com/KylePs80 Kyle Psaty

    Thanks for stopping by Craig. There are so many solutions out there now competing to be the next big one, it was really hard to try rounding them all up in this post. Your addition of Roku is much appreciated! 

    Cheers and have a great Friday, 
    -Kyle

    Kyle Psaty
    PerkStreet Financial

  • http://twitter.com/madesigns Michael Austin

    I cut the cable over a year ago and saved $1,680. I will never go back to cable, Hulu and Netflix are all I need. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/studio35design Ruben Nunez

    I’ve done this for about 10 months now and really like it. My advice would be to get a blue ray player that is netflix ready. They are about $100 and allow you to view DVDs, bluerays and stream all the netflix content that you like.

    I also use hulu to watch newer programing (the day after it airs) but on my huge 27″ imac, so the experience is really nice.

    Lastly, the very few programs that I like (such as american idol) that aren’t streamed on the internet, I can subscribe to on itunes for $20 or so for the entire season. This way, I still get it, and its on my own time. You can either hook up your computer to your tv or get an apple tv device for your living room.

  • jtbeaker

    Love the article.  Have you heard much on Google TV?  I was thinking about that, but had the concern of my kids and how to access their shows.  Again, thank you for your article.  Very seriously looking into this…

  • Krumbles53

    What about sports? I really enjoy watching football and baseball. How can you watch sports without cable or satelite?

  • Deb6205

    I live in a very rural area where I cannot get cable.  I use Direct TV for my television viewing and Hughes Net for my internet.  I signed a 2 year contract with them.  Hughes Net is the worse internet you can imagine.  I can’t even watch a you tube without it loading and reloading.  It is the slowest download that anyone can imagine.  Though they tell me I can pay more to increase the speed, I think it would probably double my cost to get it right.  I am hoping by the time my contract is up someone will put a wireless tower up that I can subscribe to.  I am retired and my husband and I are on a very limited budget.  Do you think that Netflix would work in my situation?

    Deb in Tennessee

  • DrTim

    Is anyone aware of a way to watch the news live (Fox, CNN, etc)? I use to use channel surfing and sometimes Fox reply works but we have NOT found a quality way to watch the news live unless it is a special report

  • http://twitter.com/robinmaxfield Robin Maxfield

    I’m committed to doing this!  I need a new TV and went into to Best Buy just to see about a ‘giant monitor’ instead.  Saw the smart TVS and got lost in tech talk.  What is the simple solution/answer/product for having a large flat screen that has a wireless mouse and keyboard on the coffee table?  PS I’m a MAC person.

  • http://Twitter.com/KylePs80 Kyle Psaty

    Robin, 
    How funny to see you on the blog! I believe we’ve met in real life at Steve Garfield’s video blogger meetups here in Boston. To answer your question, I’ve had some success with Boxee in the past, and you can use a mouse with that. I also spoke to someone buying a the largest mac monitor available at the Apple Store, who was confident using a real mac mounted on his wall was going to work out. If you want a full Mac experience, I’d try researching that as an option. Otherwise, if you just want core video streaming functionality, I’d go with Boxee or one of their competitors. The user interfaces on these bits of hardware are generally Mac simple and designed for TV. Thanks for stopping by. Perhaps I’ll see you again soon. 

    -Kyle 

    Kyle Psaty
    PerkStreet Financial

  • http://www.itel.com Private Ethernet Moose Jaw

    This is a very good discussion and I agree with you. We have recently launched a Hosted IP Telephony solution that will allow SMB customers to begin to integrate business processes and communication technology. What we are finding in our market is that SMB are still thinking of their communications systems in traditional ways. But we are finding their is a definite interest in hosted communications solutions and an increasing awareness of UC solutions.

  • http://enterprisesiptrunking.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/hosted-pbx-canada-usa/ SIP trunking Kanata

    I have been searching for a website like this in the field I am interested in. I am a big fan. I was thinking about creating my own blog about similar ideas for like-minded people. Some good ideas here. Thanks, I can only hope mine turns out as good as this one.

  • Debandtom

    No.  I have the same situation and Hughes Net can not stream to a netflix ready device.  It sends spurts and Netflix needs a steady stream.  It took me 7 days and 9 technicians to finally figure out why this doesn’t work.  I am looking into hulu tv or something else if possible.  Don’t want to pay Direct TV anymore. 

    Deb in Michigan

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000042465178 Shannen Kelley

    how does it work comparing to On Demand? I’m addicted to On Demand…and my shows like American Idol…also my series on HBO. Thoughts??

  • Adam Haskett

    Hey Krumbles53, one thing I have found for sports is using my XBox 360 to stream ESPN to my TV.  I can watch ESPN1, 2, and 3 live and pre-recorded events.  This does require an XBox with an XBox live subscription, but it is still much cheaper than cable.  An XBox live subscription will run you about $65/year and an XBox will set you back about $200, but depending on how much you are paying for cable it will cover itself in a few months.

    You may need to check out the full details on XBox Live for any particular details as it may depend on which internet service provider you have, but I use ATT U-Verse and receive ESPN1, 2, and 3.

  • Tyeguy37

    I’ve been going 6 months strong since cutting the cable and relying strictly on Hulu, Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, and ESPN3.  What a relief to my pocket and to my time!  I’ve been able to focus on finishing school and spending more time with my family.  The secondary challenge I hadn’t considered was that I would be tempted to spend more time on my computer rather than with my family now that I wasn’t watching TV anymore, but I’ve overcome that as well and life has not only been good – it has gotten better!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jeffsasse Jeff Sasse

    I use Netflix for most of my TV.  Currently still have Comcast, but exploring adding an Hulu subscription so I can cancel it.  The only channel I can’t seem to find on these is Nickelodeon…  Seems they don’t want to buy in to the online viewing consortium. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/jeffsasse Jeff Sasse

    You can head over to MLB.com and NFL.com, and they will have an online Live viewing pass for the whole season available, MLB is $65/year and it says ”
    Watch LIVE games in HD on your computer. Pause, rewind LIVE game action with DVR controls. Also your choice of PiP, Split Screen and Mosaic View.”  NFL’s isn’t out yet this year, so don’t know the cost, but preseason is $19.99 this year. It’s a bit pricey compared to the rest of our TV, but you get more features, including being able to watch multiple games at once.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/jasonwhurley Jason Hurley

    I agree!  We cut the cord a year ago and LOVE it.  I miss ESPN, but have definitely had more free time as a result.  I blogged about it too:
    http://jasonwhurley.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/bye-bye-cable-hello-money/
    http://jasonwhurley.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/more-info-on-cutting-the-cable-cord/

  • Cdwilliamss896

    I cut comcast out of my life a year ago, bought a roku player for two rooms in my house, and the kids use their xbox and wii to watch their own shows. I subscribe to hulu and netflix, also trying out playontv.com. I won’t go back to cable, I pay nothing but netflix and hulu. And there are so many new companies streaming, won’t be long before those cable companies are out!! fI can’t wait

  • http://www.facebook.com/antiqueguy Steven Jordan

    I cut cable over a year ago and thought I might have withdrawal symptoms, well let me tell you I have NOT MISSED it one bit. There is not one thing I have not been able to find a way to watch on the internet.  I predict that cable T.V. will go the way of the 8-track tape player in the next 10-12 years.
     

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