Why it’s time for cable services to go…
Oh wow! It is time to pay the bill for your cable services again. Before I cut my cable services, this is the time of month that I would become so angry that I was nauseated. That’s better than $100 every month I was paying, and STILL I couldn’t find anything good to watch when I finally get a moment to slow down and enjoy some quiet time.
So, here is a question. Are YOU feeling good about paying your cable bill? Are you really getting the quality you expect from your cable services? If so, that’s great! You can stop reading right here.
If not, why do you continue to pay so much for cable services that disappoints you day after day? For many people, simply feel that there are no real alternatives, but times change quickly – and it is up to YOU to keep up.
Let us talk for a moment about why people are paying so much for cable services in an age where they simply don’t have to. Let us try to understand why YOU hang onto your cable services as if it were a nasty drug habit. This is not just idle chatter. If you can begin even to question the reason that you still pay for cable services, you might find the courage to cut the cord – and save $5,000 over the next five years.
If you can’t seem to get away for vacation, to get little Millie’s college funding up to schedule, to buy that new car, or to get together a small down payment for a modest home somewhere, just THINK of all that money you are throwing away – by the THOUSANDS – and how far it would go to address these concerns.
With that – let us take up some of the reasons why people hang onto their cable services, and see if we can nail what keeps you tied to the cable cord.
Fear of Change: is probably the number one reason. People believe that without their cable services and DVR services (which most companies charge for separately) they won’t be able to watch their favorite shows. Usually, they have a nice library of shows all stored away on their DVR and they don’t want to give them up.
That concern is understandable, but it is only fear talking. As impressive as you library might be – it is NOTHING when put against the streaming libraries available on the stream, such as HULU, Netflix, Amazon Prime and many more. As a cable cord cutter myself, I can tell you that anything recorded to your DVR will be out there on the stream somewhere – along with more content than you can digest in a lifetime. You won’t need a DVR anymore. Just log on and start watching. What’s NOT to like?
Commercials: are the reasons many people stay with their cable services. They do not want to deal with commercials. Hah! That’s a rich one. Long ago, this was the only reason to buy pay TV – back when the prices were sane. Network TV (with commercials) was over here – and pay TV was over there – and never the two shall meet.
However, they DID meet – and with disastrous results for the consumer. Moving network TV to the cable seemed like a good idea – just to get everything in one place – but just look what’s happened. The whole process has morphed around us. Cable services now offers network TV (which was free) at a steep price (complete with commercials) and “Premium TV” is charged ala carte on top of that.
Meanwhile, your entire (paid) cable TV experience is just riddled with commercials. If you are not confronted with a commercial break, almost EVERY (network) program that you watch is written over with commercial messages. I find myself peering through huge chunks of screen real estate trying to get a peek at what lies behind these seriously intrusive messages. You gonna pay over $100 per month for that?
By contrast, TV without cable (streaming television) is mostly commercial free. Where commercials do exist, they are very short so you should hardly notice them. Often they let you watch them all up front (your choice) and then there are no commercials once the program begins - and NO ad writing on the screen – thank you. If one is going to suffer commercials – this is the way to do it.
Confusion: is one of the biggies. Most people have no technical training, and they just do not believe that they can manage without their nice, neat cable package. It is self-contained. If it breaks down the cable person will come out and fix it. These things are true – but they are hardly advantages.
Two years ago, cutting your cable services was unthinkable. There were some streaming platforms, but these were in their infancy – as was streaming TV itself. As a technical expert myself, I would be the first to admit that you had to have some serious tech expertise if you wanted to cut the cable back then.
However, things have changed – most drastically so. A streaming platform is certainly as streamlined to use as any cable system. I would actually venture to say – much more streamlined. There is no guide to worry about – because everything is on demand.
The catalogs for the major platforms now tie together, so that if you search for “Gotham” that program lists across platforms – for every platform on which it is available – paid or free.
You don’t have to worry about setting up recordings, managing DVR lists and folders, trying to understand why the game did not record last night. Whereas the average DVR remote control has some forty or fifty buttons – the hottest streaming platform ROKU 3 has only maybe eight buttons that you will actually use to watch TV and four of these are directional (up, down, left, right). You can even navigate by voice – even fewer buttons for you to manage.
If you can figure out and manage your DVR – then streaming will be a piece of cake for you. As for things breaking down, there is little to go wrong. So long as your network is operating properly, you should have no trouble. If you do – you can always go running back to your cable services at the (cheaper) NEW subscriber rate. How can you lose?
In Part, two of this article, I will puncture a few more myths that keep you paying the bill for your cable services. We hope that before long, when the bills arrive – you can keep that $100 in your pocket and begin to live a little. TV is not worth what you are paying – trust me. I cut my cord – and am floating on air. It is a feeling that you have to experience to understand. It’s like finding $100 on the street – every month – like clockwork. Here’s to your next vacation – courtesy of the stream.
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