More than 90 percent of U.S. households subscribe to cable or satellite television services, but that number may have peaked. CNN recently reported on a new survey in which one in eight pay-TV subscribers said they plan to eliminate or scale back on their packages. No, TV viewers aren’t suddenly switching to books; they’re switching to the Internet. More than one billion free TV programs or movies were watched on Hulu.com this past March – up from 250 million in March of last year. As it becomes easier to watch Internet programming on television sets, more people are expected to cut the cord on their cable or satellite television subscriptions.
Have you been watching more television shows or movies through the Internet? If you are watching Internet programming on a television set, what hardware are you using to make that happen and how satisfied are you with the solution?
We also cut cable at the beginning of the year but for slightly different reasons.
Saving money was one thing, but as we agreed that the time we were spending watching TV was inefficient, cutting cable opened more opportunities. We had more time to spend with others, people that mattered, and things we were called to attend to. Idling in front of the set is relaxing every so often, but more people should get off their bums!
Great comments, everyone. Like Michelle, we have a digital converter, so we can pick up what the main TV stations send out for free. But we watch very little TV, and I can’t say we miss it.
We discontinued our cable service over a year ago. The only thing we miss is my wife’s favorite NFL team. Weather is checked frequently on the local TV station website and weather.com. Neighbors recycle their newspaper to us then we recycle them to the recycle center.
We are saving $49.99 + taxes each month without the basic TV cable. We still subscribe to the cable internet but that is all now. We have more time with each other, she likes that! We are playing the best golf we have ever played. Wonder why?
We cut the cable about 10 years ago (we had basic cable) and haven’t missed it. We get videos from the library, read day-old newspapers from a co-worker and check the weather online. Saves us money and is a lot less depressing than being bombarded with news on TV.
we cut the cable… got an antenna and watch a couple of PBS channels on that with a descrambler or whatever that box is called that we had to buy (without a government coupon). Its enough. We spend more time talking, writing, riding the Harley. Life is better. And we do not pay $80 a month for cable!