Cutting the Cord

Recently on yahoo, I read an article titled "Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says."

Greg and I will be part of the figures for 2010, so adjust it to 800,001 households.

We still use Cox Cable for Internet and the absolute basic of basic channels. We cut the cord and cut the bill by 100 dollars! Instead of paying 169 a month, we dropped it down to 64 a month (with the bulk of the remaining bill being Internet fees).

Greg made a comment one day that we're more likely to be found in our office area than in the front room watching TV.

When we did watch TV, we were using the DVR. Yes, we turned in the DVR to Cox Cable when we cut the cord, then we dusted off the good old TIVO and resumed our season passes to the shows that we like. Cost of TIVO? Zero. Greg bought it when it first came out - one charge, that's it. We also have Apple TV if we want to see a specific movie and there's always Hulu.com in the Internet (free).

Add in the iPad and what do we need Cox Cable for? I'm happy with cutting the cord/cost of cable. It's totally ridiculous for the cable bill to match our energy bill! (We're working on the energy bill; so far we have all new energy efficient windows... and it's still a future plan to get a new ac/heater unit.)

How many of you are willing to cut the cord?

Comments

A New Yorker said…
I'm trying to figure out what I can do to lower those utilities as well. Hmmm
Unknown said…
The cord here has been cut for years. The only TV I watch is football, so it is pretty easy to get that via the internet. And like you, I watch it mostly here in my office on the displays here, so internet it is.

Given we have fiber optics to the door from our local ISP, we can get the cable equivalent via IP if we want, but I just haven't felt motivated to do so.

It also allows me to run all three phone lines here via the fiber at a third of the cost as the telco wires.
Mari said…
Good for you. I've been contemplating this, but I don't think my hubby is ready to give up the history channel yet. I'm going to have to check our tv watching and see what he thinks.
Good for you! We watch so little television as well...so many other interesting things to do, and so little time! Great post! I hope more people follow your fabulous example! ~Janine XO
Carma Sez said…
great minds think alike :-) I also bookmarked this article to discuss cutting our cable which we did when the transition occurred last June. Our reception with the converter box leaves something to be desired (i.e. good reception) - on the bright side, it has cut down our tv viewing plus we are no longer able to record shows. That has also been a time saver!
Marisa Birns said…
When I moved into a new apartment, I never bothered getting cable. I did buy that converter box (with the $40 rebate card from the government) so I could watch local stuff--mainly news.

I look at Hulu and the shows on the internet. I really don't miss cable, though I worried I might.

So good for you for cutting the cord!

As an aside: Out of all the people who visit, I am always so touched when I see that you've come by to read my stories and leave such nice comments. Really appreciate it.
Joanna Jenkins said…
I would have a hard time cutting the cord even though we don't watch much tv-- but we do watch the news every night.

Good for you-- it's a big savings!

Happy weekend,
jj
GregO said…
Hey Guys this is Greg... Aleta's husband... even on our most basic of basic we still get all of the shows we want... including the history channel. I figured out that over all of the pay-for extras such as "movie tiers", music channels, spanish channels, public access channels, Govt Channels, infomercial channels, shopping channels... ALL... are total horse dropping that I have ZERO point ZERO desire to watch... yet am paying a premium price for them. Thats lunacy. Here it is 3 weeks after... and I dont miss them AT ALL! Try... you will like it.
Anonymous said…
Wow. This is amazing. I am so glad it's working for you. I don't actually pay for my cable (it's included in my rent) but when I do I might have to consider this.

Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest!
Anonymous said…
There are just so many options out there. I'm glad you found a way to save money. I often think we should do something like this too.
Chris said…
We limit ourselves to the basic channels and supplement with Netflix. We hope to ditch Cox altogether soon.
Lisa said…
You are so timely... I have been after my husband to cut the cord for a few weeks now. I think I'm getting close to convincing him. We have exactly TWO shows we are even interested in watching on a regular basis.
Kim said…
I don't know how you did it! I thought about getting rid of cable last year and just couldn't get myself to do it. I couldn't. I tried I really did. It was just soooo hard to even think about. And I don't even really watch my shows when they're on. I more so watch them through DVR but I just can't bear the idea of parting with our dvr! Even Preston loves the dvr! Good for you guys though, I wish that I could get to that point! Especially when it's time to pay the cable bill!