We recently decided to try life without cable in the house. There was a lot that cable offered, especially with on-demand movies and being able to watch entire seasons of shows at will. The cost has just become too much for our budget with our current place in life, and that seemed like one of the easiest choices to cut back on. Our screen is not completely dark, though. We still have Internet, and can stream content through the gaming console.
We have Netflix, and they seem to have a pretty impressive selection of shows and movies to choose from. The new releases are pretty weak with the streaming-only option, though, and there aren’t any current running episodes on there.
I did the seven day trial for Hulu+, thinking this is where I’d be able to watch new episodes of my favorite shows. Wrong. A few new things, like Daily Show and Colbert, but those seem to be rare exceptions. I just didn’t see enough on there to make it worth the eight bucks a month, and the interface, both on the console and my tablet was pretty weak.
For new movies, the Redbox seems like our most economic bet. I can reserve copies online, and then just stop and pick them up on my way home from work. A dollar a pop is not a bad price, especially after having paid four and up from cable’s on-demand service.
What has been most surprising is how many others I’ve encountered who have done the same thing. I don’t know if cable companies need to be worried, but it seems a lot of people are exploring alternate entertainment choices for TV and movies. It’s sort of like my cell phone bill. It was one of those things that just kind of grew, and the prices for additional services just kept piling up, until we finally recognize how crazy it’s become.
Our favorite show so far has been catching up on the first two seasons of Walking Dead. Now, we’re stuck seeing info about season 3 floating around, and no way to watch it without paying two bucks and episode through iTunes or Google Play.
We’re just getting started with this, so we’ll be exploring our options.