How can you tell if you should cut the cord or hang on to TV?
Consider What You Watch
Are you a Game of Thrones junkie? Do you absolutely need to watch live sports on TSN? Do you feel empty without tuning into the news on CNN? Cutting the cord is all well and good, but you need to consider where you’ll be getting your video entertainment from after the fact — because dropping cable could actually end up costing you more money than keeping it.
Say you have a cable package that costs you around $45/month, and you opt to cut the cord, thinking it’ll save you money in the long run. However, you quickly realize that you’re missing out on a ton of shows everyone else at the office is always buzzing about. You also don’t really want to give up on watching sports, either.
Plus, the kids need something to watch when they’re bored at home. Before long, you’ve signed up for a bunch of streaming services including HBO Go, Netflix Platinum, Hulu Plus, and NHL GameCenter. Here’s a breakdown of how much all that will cost you:
HBO Go: $15
Netflix Platinum: $12
Hulu Plus: $15
NHL GameCenter: $16
TOTAL COST: $53/month
That’s right. You could actually end up paying more by cutting the cable.
“One of the biggest problems with traditional cable subscriptions is bundling,” writes CNet’s Sharon Profis. “[But] the reality is that cutting cable does not eliminate bundling. Whether you switch to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sling TV, or any other option, you’ll still pay for shows that go unwatched…and don’t be surprised if one of your favorite shows has different seasons distributed on different streaming channels.”
Are you ready to #cutthecord? Consider these helpful hints before taking the plunge.
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Look at How You Use Your TV
As mentioned above, live sports present a problem. Most streaming services offer nothing in the way of viewing live games, and those few that do are severely limited in scope — SlingTV ($20/month) might allow you to access ESPN, but that network only offers nationally broadcast games. If you want anything else, you need to spend even more money subscribing to each sports league whose games you want to watch.
Even then, you still won’t have access to local or regional games.
“Games involving your local team, and games broadcast nationally, will be blacked out,” reads an article on Make Use Of. “If you follow an out-of-market team this could work for you, but major games – including the entire playoffs, in most cases – will be blocked for you (there are workarounds to geoblocking, but they’re legally questionable)… What no current online service gives you access to, however, is the regional sports networks on which most local games are broadcast.”
So basically, if you still want to watch local and regional sports matches, cutting the cord is probably not the right choice for you.
Ask Yourself if You Have the Necessary Technology
How fast is your Internet? Streaming video is a pretty bandwidth-heavy activity. Some people have found themselves hit with heavy data cap penalties because they kept opting to watch “just one more show” on Netflix.
Worse still, if you don’t have the bandwidth or connection speed necessary to support streaming video, that’s more money out of your wallet in order to get everything set up.
“Make sure your ISP supports super-high-speed bandwidth necessary for streaming high-def (and super high-def) video,” advises Profis. “In some cases, you may need to upgrade your subscription (pay more) to get more bandwidth. And finally, your ISP should be unmetered; without cable, you’ll be using more data than ever before.”
There are other expenses to consider. You need to make sure you have a Smart TV or a gaming console/peripheral. What about HDMI and network cables, or a better router?
These are all costs you need to consider if you want to successfully cut the cord.
Remember: Keeping the Cord Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing
Cable subscriptions are steadily declining. At the same time, there are still plenty of consumers for whom a cable subscription is the best option for entertainment. If you’re one of them, that’s okay. You don’t need to cut the cable if you don’t want to. Or, you may live an apartment that includes cable. Hint: It’s one of the questions to ask when you rent an apartment.
That’s the great thing about the modern world — you have more choice than ever before. Of course, regardless of your cable cutting decision, there will still be wires to deal with. Check out this article on how to manage all those messy wires.
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