When I found this article from US News, I about jumped for joy! Not too long ago, I wrote Money Saving Tip: Cancel Your Cable TV -- my latest "get rid of cable TV and save yourself a bundle" post. And now I find this one -- five alternatives to high cable bills. It's a great complement to the last post -- now people have some options for how to save while still seeing several of the programs they love.
Here are the five tips:
1. Antenna.
2. TV on a PC.
3. Movies on a PC.
4. MovieBeam.
5. USDTV and telco.
My strategy has been #1. We're using a $15 antenna that we got at Walmart (or some place similar) that gets us the four networks, the WB (gotta love "Smallville"!!!), PBS and a couple regional/local channels. That's more than enough for 95% of what we want to see. No, we don't have access to the two types of channels I'd like to have -- ESPN and any 24-hour news station -- but I can get the majority of this information online. And to save $600 a year -- it's well worth it!
Wow! I really think the USDTV service would be great. Now if they would just start offering the service in my market. Dish Network used to offer a 40-channel package for $19.99. What was great about it was that you were able to select which 40 channels you wanted. USDTV offers the channels I want (some that I don't want, but my wife wants). Perhaps this will get Dish Network to reconsider the old package.
Posted by: Dus10 | June 13, 2006 at 08:55 AM
What is movie beam? I too only have an antenna or basic rabbit ears and I will be moving so I need thisn info.
Posted by: Judi Cain | June 13, 2006 at 12:58 PM
I cancelled my Cable today. No TV at all in my house now except for movies I netflix or buy, and I only buy something I plan on watching over 5 times. I wanted back the $$$ and the time. News can come from the internet.
Phone is through vonage, cheap and unlimited calling.
Now I need a good broadband recommendation. Cable Modem is too expensive, but the good yahoo/att deals only work if you use them for phone, and they're much more expensive then vonage.
Posted by: Laine | June 13, 2006 at 01:04 PM
Judi -- Click through to the US News article I link to and read all about it.
Posted by: FMF | June 13, 2006 at 01:32 PM
Every year or so, I call to "cancel" my cable or internet. At this point, I usually am able to secure a 12-month deal for $19.99 or so for extended cable. I do the same for cable internet. This probably amounts to $500/year savings. It would be cheaper to cancel cable altogether, but my wife would kill me.
Posted by: Mateo | June 14, 2006 at 01:08 AM
Cox cable has gotten so overly costly Im fixing to shut it all off , Cox forces customers to buy $10 basic cable before allowing you to order cable internet .
Posted by: FG | December 10, 2007 at 05:22 PM