I am a cord cutter. I cut the cord a few months ago. Well, actually I cut the cord once before a couple years ago when Direct TV Now came out with a new streaming service at 35$ a month. I was one of the few beta testers. Not sure they are that low now and they changed their name to ATT TV Now. I got a great deal to come back to Spectrum so I took it and like the frog in slowly boiling water....my Spectrum Bill was way up again!!!! So I started to do research. Let me tell you it was a full 10 minutes and I came upon Philo and they said they had THREE, count em, THREE Hallmark Channels. I literally took a few seconds to sign up, Called Spectrum. The guy at Spectrum was a hoot. I showed him how to show his mother how to watch soap operas on YouTube and to set up a hysterically funny voicemail to ward off robo calls.
So I still had the OTA (Over the Air) antennae from before. I hooked that up to my tv. I have since ordered a few more for my other 2 TVS. I have 4 in all in my home. I did have 2 DVRS and in this day of on demand. They were not really needed any more. Returned those to Spectrum.
Here is the reason why it was actually so easy for me to cut the cord. For several years now I have been collecting old TV series DVDs that I love to watch over and over. Party of 5, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Lost, Charmed, Ghost Whisperer are just a few. I have since also gotten some super OLD shows like Wiseguy, Vegas and McMillan and Wife. I have Many many more so if I ever did not have internet. I would be fine. Oh, yes, I have stock piled a few DVD players as well in case they go by way of extinction the way VCRs did years ago.
Also, over a year a go I found Full Episodes of my favorite Soap operas. I used to watch Soaps allllllllllllllllllllll the time. All my life! But lately the few left have gotten too ridiculous. So I do not bother. When I found old All My Children full episodes on YouTube for FREE I was hooked. Its been just over a year I started with All My Children 1980, I am currently on All My Children 2006! I believe it ended in 2011. I will then move on to General Hospital but this time I will start in the 70s if I can. Most years have between 150-200 episodes. There were a few lean years where there were only 20. But at this rate I have several years of entertainment! I will then move on to Y&R and many more. Once I found those shows, I also found full episodes of shows I used to love back in the 70s and 80's like Sonny and Cher show, Carol Burnette show etc etc. I have those on my list as well. As long as there is free youtube, I will be just fine.
Also, my favorite channel (besides Hallmark) is CreateTV. I found it when I lived in Florida and was beside myself when PBS here in Buffalo finally picked it up. I could watch that channel 24/7 as well. That is free with the antennae (on a clear day unfortunately). But with Philo I also have 3 other cooking channels too. Tastemade is a new fav. That came with Philo and I just love now. I just made the chocolate biscotti recipe last week from that channel.
So you know me, I am a research freak, I have been on many Cordcutters groups on FB in order to glean information and the latest news. Sometimes the questions on there literally just piss me off. Everyone basically wants EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAVE ON CABLE. Let me tell you. Since I do no rely on my cable channels I have changed my mindset on the whole TV watching experience. I did mention I had TWO DVRS. Like what did I think I was going to miss? I actually feel FREE and not limited any more. I have found so many new and free apps. New shows and networks or channels. I was a little sad when my CreateTV would not come in during bad weather. I mean really sad. But I looked for different cooking channels and found Tastemade and many others. I have broadened my horizons for sure!!!
Oh, I do donate 6$ a month to PBS so I can have unlimited access to PBS shows on the Passport app as well. I literally do not have time to watch everything I want to any more. I went from 213$ to just internet they told me 70$ a month incl modem and taxes etc. but my bill was for 74$. Philo is 20$, you had me at 3 Hallmark channels and NO SPORTS. and 6$ a month for PBS Passport. 100$ not bad. Not bad at all. I am a Roku person and have had many Rokus over the years. I now have 2 and 1 Roku TV. Between all the apps and on demand TV is a whole different experience. I like my books non fiction and I like my TV that way too. More documentary, cooking, how to.
Since I have cut the cord I also don't feel like I am missing anything If I miss a show. I can take or leave tv. I used to have it on all the time. But sometimes on the weekends I just like the sound of silence while I read books. I have to have internet because I work from home. I may try an experiment when I retire. To do with out it. I mean I have my iPhone and a hot spot. I won't stream and who knows what 5G we will have in 3 years so......We shall see...........
