Watching Internet based TV – Cutting the Cord

I’m now watching more and more internet based TV. It seems that television from internet providers is far superior to network broadcast TV.  I find myself watching a lot of Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video.  What is interesting is the original content from these providers is so compelling and well-written that I laugh when I watch what is being broadcast on traditional television.

The interesting thing is that

if you add up the costs of the three providers, I still save a lot of money compared to cable or Directv on an annual basis. If you compare the cost of the three providers (including an add-on in Hulu for Showtime) to DirecTV, I would save more than $700 a year in TV costs.

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A few of my favorite original productions include Amazon’s The Man In The High Castle about a post-world-war II alternate world where the Axis Powers won the war.  Another Amazon winner is the series Bosch based on the best-selling detective series by Michael Connelly. Season 2 is about to be released and I am so excited.

With Hulu, I find myself watching all my favorite ABC, Fox and NBC shows on-demand. This works out well as my wife has taken over the DVR. So I can watch shows the same night they premiere on TV on-demand from any device. Surprisingly enough I watch a lot of shows on my Nexus 6 phone. Despite a small screen, it has great resolution and with my headset, it has an amazing sound! So now I can watch all of the Chicago shows (Fire, Med, and Police) from NBC when I have time. I also caught the recent reboot of the X-files on Hulu.

On Netflix, there have been some unbelievable original shows such as Marco Polo, Daredevil, and House of Cards (admittedly, I haven’t progressed beyond episode 1 yet). I also enjoy classic television such as Dragnet, Emergency, and Adam 12.

Shifting to Internet based TV

I have just about replaced all of what I would normally watch on TV, except for CBS. That is the one network that doesn’t play along with the internet-based providers. To truly do without cable, or in my case Directv, I need to subscribe to their CBS app at $5.99 per month. Although I have the app, I haven’t yet parted with Directv. There are other networks too that you probably need their app, including TNT, AMC, and a few others.  Speaking of DirecTV, they are seeing the writing on the wall and will soon be offering an internet TV service themselves.

The good news with the apps is that most of them work with Google’s Chromecast.  This allows you to steam the video from your app onto your television set. There are alternatives such as the Amazon Fire Stick, which I have not yet tried, but I do admit it looks interesting in its capabilities.  I especially like the voice control.

The option that would work for most people to finally cut the cable would be to get an HD TV antenna that allows you to pick up most broadcast TV over the air.  Unfortunately, I live in an area blocked by a mountain.  Although the antenna is inexpensive, removing the mountain is beyond my budget.  If you want to see if you can get broadcast HD TV, check out the FCC’s site where you can simply put in your address or even your zip code to see a map and quality of the signal for each station in your area.  So a broadcast antenna combined with internet based TV provides a complete solution for a relatively low cost when you compare to satellite or cable television.

Let me know if you have taken the leap and already cut your cable or satellite service!