Can you truly cut the cable? Getting away from the cocks at Cox.

[Knightshade Dragon]

After yet another price increase with literally nothing new to show for it, I'm seriously considering cutting the cord to my cable provider.  Has anyone else out there had much luck with this?  I don't watch a ton of TV, but the stuff I do watch I like having at my fingertips.  I don't need the phone beyond my alarm system, and I watch far more movies than I do anything on cable...but there are some shows.  Help?

[Azhag]

I know a few people who have done it and claim they're good with hulu plus, netflix, etc.

Can you quit and sign up or switch providers and get a locked rate/new customer deal?

[Laner]

http://playon.tv - while it doesn't have *everything*, between that and Netflix we have successfully cut the cord (or Dish, as it were).

[CeeKay]

I've thought about doing this myself, but I watch a bunch of shows on FX, AMC and SyFy, none of which seem to have a reliable (and legal) way of seeing the shows online without buying them on iTunes or Amazon.  I'm figuring that path would probably be equal to or more expensive than just sticking with cable.

[Ironrod]

My wife gets very quiet and glares at me whenever I broach this possibility. I only watch a few shows and only after recording them, but she really gets our money's worth out of "live" cable. Particularly the murder channel, which makes me that much more reluctant to take her on. 

If we ever buy an internet-capable tv I might revisit the subject, but for now inertia plus overall satisfaction with our cable company is on her side.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

Seriously, that's the thing that kills it.  My wife watches American Idol, we like Arrow, she likes Vampire Diaries.  Getting even these handful of shows reliably and legally is what keeps me doing this stupidly expensive dance...I wonder if I did the math if it'd be cheaper to buy them from some source (or if they are all available) than paying for TV?  I dunno....

[EngineNo9]

I've been without cable for 2 (or 3?) years now and don't really miss it at all.  I have several shows I watch on Hulu (the free version) or CBS.com, and I use Netflix streaming quite a bit.  You can subscribe to shows on Hulu and watch them whenever, so it's almost like a ghetto DVR.  I use PlayOn to access those things on my PS3 or 360 on one of my TVs, but that program is kind of getting long in the tooth and I'd like to try something newer/better.

There are a few special shows (like Breaking Bad) that I just pay out for a season pass to so I can see them new, in HD, as soon as they come out.  Paying $20 for the ones I really care about easily beats paying Comcast $80+ every single month for a ton of shit I never wanted.

Anyway, it can definitely be done and once you get used to it

[rshetts2]

I did it for a few years.  Got a roof top antenna and hulu plus and did fine.  It helps to live in a major metro area where you can get all the networks in HD over the air.  I went back because theres a lot of excellent "cable" only shows now.  Things like Justified and The Walking Dead made me look for a decent package deal and I ended up with DirecTV.  Part of the reason I switched back was due to a shift change at work.  I now work 2nd shift so anything I want to watch in primetime, needs to be recorded.  The HD-DVR with DirecTV allows me to catch every show I want, easily. 

[Gratch]

Depends on whether or not you watch sports.  If there were a reliable alternative for me to watch college football in the fall, I'd cancel cable without a second thought.  As it is though, there really isn't another option.

[corruptrelic]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

Seriously, that's the thing that kills it.  My wife watches American Idol, we like Arrow, she likes Vampire Diaries.  Getting even these handful of shows reliably and legally is what keeps me doing this stupidly expensive dance...I wonder if I did the math if it'd be cheaper to buy them from some source (or if they are all available) than paying for TV?  I dunno....

Pretty sure Hulu Plus has all of those. At least Arrow and Vampire Diaries as I watch both through Hulu. The newer episodes don't show up until the next morning though.. so if you're okay with waiting a couple hours compared to the broadcast, it's an $8 well spent per month.

I cut my $100+ DirecTV bill about 2 years ago for a combination of Hulu Plus and Jetflicks. Pretty much has everything I need. I had NetFlix for a while too but all their TV shows were outdated (unlike Hulu that has the current episodes) and there weren't many newer movies being released on it.
If there's a new release I have to see, I'll just pick it up at Redbox for a dollar and change.

[Isgrimnur]

CWTV.com has the last five episodes of Vampire Diaries and Arrow.  Idol might be a bit more difficult, but anything broadcast on a local affiliate should be watchable live OTA with an HD antenna. 

[TK-421]

We cut the Cox cable years ago and never regretted it.   Between streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc and using an OTA HD antenna we don't miss much and what we do (Game of Thrones, Archer) eventually gets released on DVD/Blu-Ray/Streaming anyway so with a little patience we don't miss anything.

[ATB]

Haven't had cable in 20+ years.  HD over the air FTW. Netflix and amazon prime for everything else.

[Ironrod]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

I don't know what the channel is called. The logo in the corner is "ID" (Investigative Drama? something like that.) Whatever it stands for, it's all true crime sagas all the time. I'm told that women love that kind of programming. I'm also sure that my wife is now an expert on all the nuances of killing a spouse.

Please remember this post if I unexpectedly stop posting.

[Isgrimnur]

Investigation Discovery

[Lee]

Soccer is why I can't. I could watch it online for a small fee, but it's just not the same. It's cheaper to buy shows I do watch otherwise than pay for cable.

[hitbyambulance]

OTA TV works for me. 70's Dr. Who reruns on Tacoma public television Saturday nights!

[Harpua3]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

I don't know what the channel is called. The logo in the corner is "ID" (Investigative Drama? something like that.) Whatever it stands for, it's all true crime sagas all the time. I'm told that women love that kind of programming. I'm also sure that my wife is now an expert on all the nuances of killing a spouse.

Please remember this post if I unexpectedly stop posting.

We might be married to the same woman...

[Ironrod]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

I don't know what the channel is called. The logo in the corner is "ID" (Investigative Drama? something like that.) Whatever it stands for, it's all true crime sagas all the time. I'm told that women love that kind of programming. I'm also sure that my wife is now an expert on all the nuances of killing a spouse.

Please remember this post if I unexpectedly stop posting.

We might be married to the same woman...

If so then we are both doomed. See Izzy's link.

[MonkeyFinger]

Particularly the murder channel,

Fox News?

I don't know what the channel is called. The logo in the corner is "ID" (Investigative Drama? something like that.) Whatever it stands for, it's all true crime sagas all the time. I'm told that women love that kind of programming. I'm also sure that my wife is now an expert on all the nuances of killing a spouse.

Please remember this post if I unexpectedly stop posting.

We might be married to the same woman...

Mine loves that stuff, too! Every time there's "nothing on" she's watching something on that dang channel. That or Animal Planet.

[Xmann]

OK, i'm almost ready to cut the cord from Time Warner.  There are some shows i'll have to pay for i guess....ie: Walking Dead and others on AMC or A&E.  I do watch alot of Food Network, Crime Network, FX.  But i could do without them.

What i'm considering doing is Roku and Leaf HD Antenna.  I like the looks of the Roku 3.

I have subscriptions through Amazon Prime, NHL Network, and MLB.TV.  The only thing i'm concerned about is NFL and College Football in the Fall.  I can get most of that from the HD Antenna.  I can hit up my favorite sports pub down the street for ESPN specific games.   

Now if i can find another way to do internet cheaper, i'd be thrilled.  Living on Maui though leaves my options limited.  Anyone doing the setup of Roku and OTA Antenna and can give it the thumbs up?  I'd like the $140 Time Warner bill to disappear or atleast shrink to just internet service.

[Canuck]

With video games, books and the internet along with anything else I happen to want to participate in I don't really have time to watch TV even if I wasn't restricted to shit Japanese TV. I don't know how you guys do it.

[corruptrelic]

OK, i'm almost ready to cut the cord from Time Warner.  There are some shows i'll have to pay for i guess....ie: Walking Dead and others on AMC or A&E.  I do watch alot of Food Network, Crime Network, FX.  But i could do without them.

What i'm considering doing is Roku and Leaf HD Antenna.  I like the looks of the Roku 3.

I have subscriptions through Amazon Prime, NHL Network, and MLB.TV.  The only thing i'm concerned about is NFL and College Football in the Fall.  I can get most of that from the HD Antenna.  I can hit up my favorite sports pub down the street for ESPN specific games.   

Now if i can find another way to do internet cheaper, i'd be thrilled.  Living on Maui though leaves my options limited.  Anyone doing the setup of Roku and OTA Antenna and can give it the thumbs up?  I'd like the $140 Time Warner bill to disappear or atleast shrink to just internet service.

Jetflicks has Walking Dead, and probably just about any other show you watch that isn't carried by Hulu.

Also just checked Hulu Plus - it does not carry American Idol. They have the latest 'clips' but now the full episodes.

They are up to date on Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Cult, Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Revolution, Once Upon a time, WWE Monday Night Raw, Friday Night Smackdown, The Tonight Show, and most of the other 'non cable' shows.

Archived shows include every episode of all seasons of Xena, Firefly, Young Hercules, Lost, Star Trek Enterprise, Star Trek Voyager, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy, Angel, and a host of others.

There's actually quite a few shows that are no longer in production that I'm looking forward to catching up with on Hulu. Shows you've probably never even heard of!

[CeeKay]

Living on Maui though leaves my options limited. 

my heart bleeds for you 

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I think Cox or ESPN has caught on that people with just cable internet and no cable TV have been able to watch ESPN3 for free. When I tried watching a game last week, they made me sign into my cable provider and then told me access was denied. 

[kratz]

We cut the cable a couple years ago and do netflix, hulu + and NHL Gamecenter Live.  There are some annoyances - I can't watch any Colorado Avalanche games, and and any nationally televised game is blacked out.  The major annoyance is that the playoffs are not available through GCL.  However, we've saved an absolutely *insane* amount of money by not paying the ridiculous cable fees every month.  Overall, it's a plus.  I might try adding an HDTV antennae, which would get me some playoff hockey, I guess, and we would have the option of watching some stuff when it aired.  Dunno though, might keep things as is... we certainly have enough going on that we don't spend much time watching anyway.

[Destructor]

With video games, books and the internet along with anything else I happen to want to participate in I don't really have time to watch TV even if I wasn't restricted to shit Japanese TV. I don't know how you guys do it.

Exactly. I just absolutely do not watch TV. Ever.

Hell - the only time the TV gets fired up is on the way to me playing the 360 or something.

[Knightshade Dragon]

We don't watch sports of any kind.   What type of OTA antenna do you recommend?   The more I deal with this, the more frustrated I become.  We time shift everything, so when they are broadcast isn't really all that important anyway. 

[Xmann]

I ordered a Leaf HD Antenna today. The Leaf website says I should be able to get 14 channels.

If this works out, a Roku is next.

Sent from me cool phone

[Canuck]

We cut the cable a couple years ago and do netflix, hulu + and NHL Gamecenter Live.  There are some annoyances - I can't watch any Colorado Avalanche games, and and any nationally televised game is blacked out.  The major annoyance is that the playoffs are not available through GCL.  However, we've saved an absolutely *insane* amount of money by not paying the ridiculous cable fees every month.  Overall, it's a plus.  I might try adding an HDTV antennae, which would get me some playoff hockey, I guess, and we would have the option of watching some stuff when it aired.  Dunno though, might keep things as is... we certainly have enough going on that we don't spend much time watching anyway.

Wait, what? The playoffs aren't available through GCL? They were when I had the service a couple of years ago! So does that mean that I've paid $50 for this year's GCL but I can't watch any playoff games with it? That's the whole reason I got it-I don't give a damn about the regular season.

[gellar]

We cut the cable a couple years ago and do netflix, hulu + and NHL Gamecenter Live.  There are some annoyances - I can't watch any Colorado Avalanche games, and and any nationally televised game is blacked out.  The major annoyance is that the playoffs are not available through GCL.  However, we've saved an absolutely *insane* amount of money by not paying the ridiculous cable fees every month.  Overall, it's a plus.  I might try adding an HDTV antennae, which would get me some playoff hockey, I guess, and we would have the option of watching some stuff when it aired.  Dunno though, might keep things as is... we certainly have enough going on that we don't spend much time watching anyway.

Wait, what? The playoffs aren't available through GCL? They were when I had the service a couple of years ago! So does that mean that I've paid $50 for this year's GCL but I can't watch any playoff games with it? That's the whole reason I got it-I don't give a damn about the regular season.

It might be different overseas, but certainly in the US any game that is 'nationally televised' (whether through a major network or any of the NHL's cable options: NHL Network or NBCSN) is blacked out nationally on GCL.  Sometimes the first round of the playoffs are local broadcasts (can't remember what the situation was last year), but anything after that is absolutely, positively not on GCL.

[pr0ner]

We cut the cable a couple years ago and do netflix, hulu + and NHL Gamecenter Live.  There are some annoyances - I can't watch any Colorado Avalanche games, and and any nationally televised game is blacked out.  The major annoyance is that the playoffs are not available through GCL.  However, we've saved an absolutely *insane* amount of money by not paying the ridiculous cable fees every month.  Overall, it's a plus.  I might try adding an HDTV antennae, which would get me some playoff hockey, I guess, and we would have the option of watching some stuff when it aired.  Dunno though, might keep things as is... we certainly have enough going on that we don't spend much time watching anyway.

Wait, what? The playoffs aren't available through GCL? They were when I had the service a couple of years ago! So does that mean that I've paid $50 for this year's GCL but I can't watch any playoff games with it? That's the whole reason I got it-I don't give a damn about the regular season.

It might be different overseas, but certainly in the US any game that is 'nationally televised' (whether through a major network or any of the NHL's cable options: NHL Network or NBCSN) is blacked out nationally on GCL.  Sometimes the first round of the playoffs are local broadcasts (can't remember what the situation was last year), but anything after that is absolutely, positively not on GCL.

All NHL playoff games are on a "national" channel now (and were last year, I believe), so no playoff games on GCL anymore.  This could just be a US/Canada thing, though.

[Canuck]

Well I live in Japan so hopefully I'll be able to watch playoff games. I know that I could watch them a couple of years ago. That's one of the nice things about not living in the US or Canada. I can watch any game I want, no restrictions.

[stessier]

I ordered a Leaf HD Antenna today. The Leaf website says I should be able to get 14 channels.

If this works out, a Roku is next.

Sent from me cool phone

Depending on what you watch, this should work.  I tried the setup a year ago and would have stuck with it except we couldn't pull in an OTA CBS channel.  We time shift everything a lot (usually at least 6 months), so only have CBS.com to watch things on (the last 3-5 episodes) wasn't going to work.  Other than that, it worked great.  The powered Leaf (Leaf Plus I believe) pulled in stuff over 60 miles away and Roku with Amazon Prime and Netflix streaming provides a ton of content for about $18/month. 

Once my kids get out of the Nick Jr phase, I'm going to try it again now that we've moved to a bigger city where OTA is plentiful and close by.

[Xmann]

My Roku and Leaf will be here this week.
I already have a Amazon Prime, MLB, and NHL membership. Honestly nothing on Hulu Plus excites me, so I might just sub to Netflix.

Plus there is quite a few stations on Roku I'm looking forward to.

I'll just have to wait until the last episode of The Walking Dead is done before I cut cable.

Sent from me cool phone

[corruptrelic]

My Roku and Leaf will be here this week.
I already have a Amazon Prime, MLB, and NHL membership. Honestly nothing on Hulu Plus excites me, so I might just sub to Netflix.

Plus there is quite a few stations on Roku I'm looking forward to.

I'll just have to wait until the last episode of The Walking Dead is done before I cut cable.

Sent from me cool phone

It all depends on what you watch. Netflix is good and has a lot of movies, but it doesn't have any of the current TV shows like Hulu does.
Hulu Plus seems to be geared more towards those of us who want TV shows (current and old - there are countless series to choose from) while Netflix seems to be more focused on movies and picking up a TV show, if at all, a season or two later.

I just recently dropped my Netflix subscription for Hulu Plus and really think it's the better of the two if on a tight budget.

[Xmann]

After having the Roku3 for 4 days and the Leaf for 2, here are my early impressions.

The Leaf works as advertised. Took less than 5 minutes to install. It  did however, take more to find the optimal placement. Once I found the best reception area, I had 12 OTA digital  channels.

The Roku3 I'm having buyers remorse. Easy setup as well. However, for me and the wife the programming isn't for us. Tons and tons of channels, but most don't appeal to us.  Tonight for example, we literally flipped through stations for over an hour and still eventually ended up on Amazon Prime.

I'm leaning toward sending the Leaf and Roku back for refund and keeping nothing but internet. Between Amazon Prime, MLB.TV, NHL Gamecenter, and a new subscription to Hulu Plus, we wouldn't miss much from cable..... except the $130 monthly bill down to just $35 for broadband.

However, come fall I'll have to figure out how to watch football.

Sent from me cool phone

[Eco-Logic]

We haven't had cable tv for 2 years now and I rarely miss it.  I do miss it for soccer, but thankfully have no problems finding hd streams for Arsenal matches.

We use Netflix, Amazon Prime and download anything we can't get on those two...

[TK-421]

Maybe you should try these guys.

[Harpua3]

Maybe you should try these guys.

That made my day. Especially when he says... Well, you'll all see. Nearly pissed myself.