My current monthly cable bill is about $137. That includes high-speed internet, expanded
basic TV, and the HD tier for my HD television (no premium stations or
services). If I drop TV service and
retain only the high-speed internet, my monthly bill will be about $55,
including taxes, etc.. This is for
theoretically unlimited internet (subject to the cable company’s reasonable use
policy.) Right there I stand to save
about $82 per month, or $984 per year.
But that’s without adding any TV content back into the equation.
Inventory, Step One – Hardware and content subscriptions:
What hardware do I currently own? In my case, I own a second-generation Apple
TV, a TiVo Premiere box, and a cable modem and wireless router. And, of course, an HD TV. I also have a MacBook Pro and an iPad Air.
What services do I currently subscribe to? I currently subscribe to Netflix – the $7.99
streaming-only plan. I don’t subscribe
to any other video streaming service. I won't include my Netflix subscription in my savings analysis since I already subscribe to it in addition to cable TV.
Inventory, Step Two – What do I watch?
Taking stock of my television viewing was easy for me. I simply looked at the Season Passes I
created on my TiVo Premiere DVR. I have 25
Season Passes – 25 shows that I enjoy watching.
The Season Pass Manager in TiVo even listed-out the network for each of
my programs. Write this information
down for each of the programs you’d like to watch sans-cable. I created an Excel table with this
information.
Of these 25 programs, 13 run on over-the-air networks like
ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and FOX. The
remaining 12 programs come from basic cable channels like Discovery, the
History Channel, USA and TNT.
With my inventory complete, and my television programs and
networks listed out neatly in a table, I’m now ready to assemble my television
program content without cable.
Current savings with no TV programming - $82/mo.
Next Article: You’ve Cut the Cord, Now How to Get your Shows Back?
