Sat, June 06, 2009
Cut Your Cable TV Bill 100%
Running out of budget-cutting ideas? Here’s one: cut your cable bill to zero.
I’m not suggesting that you give up your favorite television programming to save money. But given the fact that cable bills can run into the neighborhood of $100/month, it’s worthwhile to consider an alternative means of consuming the same entertainment.
The amount of current programming available online is tremendous, and many sites also offer streaming of classic vintage TV shows. The network sites, Hulu.com, Fancast.com, Joost.com, and many others allow you to watch the programming there on demand. Unless you like watching a tiny screen, you’ll need to connect your computer to your TV. There are tons of “how-to” pages on the web like this one that show how to feed the input from your computer into a television; here’s a substantial list of web sites that provide free TV programming online.
You’ll need to be sure that you’ve met the terms of your cable agreement before you cancel so that you don’t incur any penalty fees for terminating your service.
The main risk with this strategy is the possibility that some of these sites may change their business model (free programming with commercials) to paid subscription formats. The chief business officer at News Corp, which co-owns Hulu, recently expressed the opinion that some of the programming on Hulu might be made available on a paid basis in the future. Still, there’s a good chance that much current programming will remain free. Depending on the shows you want to watch, the future cost of subscribing could still be significantly less than your cable bill.