Cable TV is not worth it anymore.

 I decided to go with COX lowest price.  I can get most of that through HD antennae. If I were bilingual I guess I could what an English movie in Spanish but some voice overs don't work for Die Hard, or any Eastwood or John Wayne western.
 
 Netflix and Prime together still cost less than bottom dollar cable.  I hope the cable becomes ala cart. I hear it's that way in Canada.
 
 

craigb
If we weren't blocked by trees, I'd get Direct TV.  I had it at my friend's place and there was no comparison in terms of content and price.
 
Of course, right now I don't have any TV (since June) and I haven't missed it.  My friend has a bunch of shows loaded up on a Plex server for me to watch and I haven't even felt like watching those!

 
 I've hardly watch either.  I have a lot of shows on DVD. Plus I have a MacProVideo and groove3 account.  Hey DAW TV what a concept.  It's not hard to spend hours on youtube,  MLB and NHL also have where you can watch online that cost less than some cable payments.  Most of what is on the major networks doesn't seem very interesting either.

I'm also about to give up on cable TV (although the internet/cable TV package has the best price). I've decided to go with the Amazon Fire TV stick.....$39.99 and it's a done deal. No monthly cable bills....
 
If you have Amazon Prime, it gives you a lot more content.
 
 https://www.amazon.com/All-New-Fire-TV-Stick-With-Alexa-Voice-Remote-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B00ZV9RDKK

Hi,
 
Having worked for a cable company for 12 plus years, I am not fully qualified to talk, but I will stand behind the cable company, before I will stand behind the folks that are causing the issues, and they are the likes of ES__, Di____ and many other "conglomerates" that force you to take two or three other channels of theirs in order for them to satisfy their "commercial" contracts.
 
In other words, you can not get just ES__, the main channel ... you have to get the others with it, otherwise ES__ their firms will not be able to justify the expense and the commercial backlash, for not showing the commercials on 4 channels, instead of one, and the advertisement said you get the second set and third set of commercials for free! You got sucker punched!
 
The other issue I have is how some of these conglomerates are using some of the religious shows as a PSA, and that should be stopped, and not considered a PSA ... that is a preference and has nothing to do with a "public service".
 
The advent of pay as you go, and a la carte is interesting for some folks ... who get what we want, so to speak, but in the end, we don't find out anything else is going on ... as if we needed to these days, with the internet! 
 
A LA CARTE will come alive, when all of these companies start selling their streaming on their own, and at that point, a cable company could be in trouble ... because you won't pay twice for the same thing. However, you still need the feed, unless ... here comes the major part of it all ... the FCC allows wireless to be served in way out there USA ... where 30% of American homes can not get cable due to the wiring requirements (over 75-100K per block!), and most Dishes are not pheasable as there is no one to set them up and fix them. On that day, TV will finally change, but I bet this will still be 25 to 30 years down the line and by that time, COM____ will probably have been busted up like that one phone company was!
 
Streaming is the next "cable" ... TV itself will die off since TV and Internet will become the same thing, and that is a problem for cable companies, some of which are still using different technologies for both aspects, and they are not putting these together, which is one of the issues with streaming for many cable providers ... they simply don't have the bandwidth to carry it, and too much of it, will slow the network down without the bandwidth.
 
Something like that ... this model is not accurate and includes some opinions.
 

As soon as GOT is over, I will cut the cord.
 
My wife will not let me before that.
 
JR

bitman
If I could overcome my "need" to watch the NFL, NCAA & MLB (with occasional NHL) I would cut off cable and entertain myself with youtube and other things.
 
Tough talk from someone on the hook huh. 
 

I think you can watch all your sports with the Fire Stick + Kodi (free app).
 
I also watch a lot of NFL, NBA, and Cricket......so will be looking into that.

Well we're going basic cable in the living room (for the Broncos really) and sling there and everywhere else which will give us everything but root sports.
At least the Rockies can't break my heart this summer.
 
This should drop the bill quite substantially.

Amazon Fire TV stick is what my sister suggests I get when I get to Shreveport. I don't like Charter and they are so overpriced due to monopoly in this area. 

Resonant Serpent
I've been at the transition point over the last month. After a merger, my bill went up 60.00 a month. I'm still doing the cable internet, but Google Fiber should be finished in a couple of months, and I'll use them for internet in the future.
 ...
 

FIBER, is generally used for business accounts only and its cost is at least twice to three times the regular home use price. 
 
You must remember that when CABLE does a city block it could be as much as 100K depending on the number of ports and what not, however, when FIBER does a coty block, these costs can be as much as 200K and more. One imagines that Fiber will become less expensive in the future, but I doubt it. It hasn't for 10 years, and things like Google are promising cardboard stars and imaginary services, that you will pay for in droves, specially by the time they join up with the likes of AT&T and/or Verizon and such, which basically is a way to use the advertising cash cow from Google and Yahoo, to help pay for the wiring. Not that most phone companies are not cash cowing all along, but the expanse changes the bottom line some, and they could easily say that the first couple of years the acquisition was the problem and the cost, and misrepresent the facts so you and I do not know what is really happening.
 
There is no way, probably for the foreseen 5 to 10 years, that any company will offer FIBER to residential service, as they have the same issue as the Cable Companies ... not enough bandwidth!
 
Some companies have tried to bring "FIBER" (made in plastic and cardboard) to some areas, but basically these will remain in the really big cities (even Portland is very limited in FIBER), so the costs are covered.
 
Be careful with what you are signing up for and see that you traceroute and check the connections ... and find them going through the exact same places as everything else ... so its FIBER for 5 miles and the phone company for the rest! 

I guess the value of anything is really up to the individual. I can why some people opt to go off of cable. I pay about 180 a month for my phone, internet and HD cable. If we were to omit our phone and use our cell phones as home phones we could save some money. Trimming everything down to bare minimum my internet would be in the neighborhood of 60-70 dollars. If I wanted to cut it out altogether I could piggyback my computers to my cell phone to access internet from home but would likely be much slower.
 
I'm on comcast and they bought Netflix, so they have it integrated well into their lineup of movies. Makes it easy to look at both. The new voice remote lets me talk into the remote and it automatically looks up shows. Other pluses are the ability to DVR shows and keep them in the cloud. I guess I'm hooked on the new sleek interface. Another big plus is xfinity hot spots. Anyone on xfinity can use their passwords anywhere in the area to get wireless on the run.
 
I would need to invest in a decent antennae and run hookups to 4 TVs if I decided to move away from cable. Loosing the current internet system isn't really a consideration because I have so much tied into or through it. I have Alexa connected to my lights and thermostat. My security system and cameras are also using my internet connection. Heck I have two wireless routers because I already had one when they put in the upgraded hardware and router. So I have two wireless connections both with 2g and 5g. 4 total.That doesn't begin to cover my wireless and wired tablets and computers.
 
I guess I'm too wired :)