Cable is a common expense that many pay hundreds of dollars for each month and believe that it’s almost a necessity. Personally I too enjoy television, especially live sports, but the cost of this luxury was just too high for Gina and I to bear each month. Thus began our exploration for cable alternatives. In our personal situation we were paying $150.00 a month or $1,800 a year for tv services. We decided that we could live without live tv, but we still needed WiFi. After speaking with our service provider we were able to change our plan to just WiFi for $50.00 a month and no contract. This is the first step in cutting your cable bill, below I will discuss 7 tv alternatives that are much cheaper options.
Netflix
I’d honestly be surprised if you’ve never heard of Netflix, but it must be mentioned as it’s a great alternative. For $9.99/ month you will have access to hundreds of movies, and tv shows. Some notable shows included on netflix are Strangers Things, House of Cards, The Office and many more. For $8.99/ month you receive an immense amount of value and not to mention there are no commercials.
HBO NOW
This option is slightly more expensive at $15.99/ month but offers certain shows that are exclusive to HBO such as Game of Thrones and True Detective. HBO NOW also tends to have more new movies than Netflix. If you are a Game of Thrones fan like myself then just subscribe to HBO during the time of the new season and cancel right after.
CBS All Access
As I mentioned earlier, I am a huge sports fan and love watching football every sunday. Cutting cable definitely made this difficult however I’ve found that on any given sunday, you will be able to find games on CBS. CBS All Access cost $4.99/ month and gives you access to stream the CBS channel live, as well as access to all of their hit shows, and a small selection of movies.
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime has two payment options, $119/ year or $12.99/ month. With Amazon prime you get access to a vast amount movies, shows and thursday night football. You also receive other benefits for being a prime member such as free two day shipping. For this price you receive a great amount of value.
Sling TV
Sling TV has a number of packages with the cheapest being the Sling Orange package. This package includes 20 live tv channels for the price of $25.00/month. This option is the most expensive on this list so far, but is a great option for someone who wants to cut cable costs but still have access to a number of live tv shows.
Antenna TV
When you hear antenna tv you may be thinking of the old school “bunny ears” that you would have to adjust to get the right signal. Although the design of antenna tv is different, the idea is the same. A TV antenna cost $20.00 to buy and all you have to do is connect it to your tv and attach it to a window if possible. Antenna TV gives you access to stream channels such as NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and PBS for no charge at all. Once you own the antenna there is no other cost. As long as your antenna has a strong signal then this may be one of the best cable alternatives out there.
Final Thoughts
With so many cable alternatives out there it really doesn’t make sense to be spending so much each month on cable. Gina and I have been able to cut our cable costs from $150/month to around $72/month ($50 for wifi, $9.99 for Netflix, $12/month for Amazon Prime). This saves us $936 a year which can be put towards investments that will in turn make us money.
If you have any other cable hacks, be sure to let us know in the comments!
