Every time I get the cable bill I wonder why am I paying for dozens of channels that I never watch and shouldn’t there be a way that I can get a cheaper bill.
I think most people feel the same way. We want to have some entertainment but we end up paying for so much garbage that we never wanted.
Well there are a few ways that you can lower your costs. Unfortunately you can’t eliminate them completely but you can probably cut your bill in half or less.
First you will need some type of high speed internet service. You can get this through a private provider, your telephone company or from your cable tv provider. Some providers like your cable tv company may want to force you to get their basic television plan in order to get internet access but if you are willing to go through the hassle of calling and calling support and working your way up to regional managers then executives you will find out that you actually can get internet only but it will probably cost you a fee of about $10 on top of the internet plan you get.
Once you have a quality internet access plan there are a lot of services where you can get free entertainment.
The first thing you want to do is find all the local network and newspaper sites because unless you live in an area where you can get digital over the air you won’t be able to get local news.
Many local news channels now offer their 6 oclock news on a feed.. most don’t replay it but some do loop it for the rest of the night.
Second you can use www.iHeart.com which will give you access to hundreds of different radio stations around the country. You might find that you like some broadcasts that aren’t local or you can tune in to listen to the news.
Ok so you got your news and radio set… now what about your favorite TV Shows. Well the best solution is www.hulu.com which is still free at this time but they are talking about making access pay. They also have an extended version of hulu that can stream to your tv with a box. Thats nice but if you want to watch on your large screen tv all you need is a HDMI Out from the back of your computer. You can even dedicate an older computer just for feeding your TV.
There are a lot of help sites out there about how to setup media center tvs.
So, now you have most of your favorite shows and your local news and radio what else can you get for free.
Well if you have your computer hooked to your TV you should be able to rent movies but you also have access to free movies on Hulu, Youtube and other services.
If you want to go paid which is not what you want to do .. but if you do want to go paid then you can get online versions of live sports networks or sign up for Amazon or Netflix and extend your selection.
Honestly though if you can find a good solution for news you will find that most of your shows can be viewed the next night.. so SNL becomes SundayNightLive instead of Saturday .. but does it really matter that much when they rerun it so often anyway?
NOTE: I would stay away from sites that say they offer free tv or movie access if you don’t know them. Look for reviews of any site you use regularly to make sure they are legal. Some of the pirate sites require that you download and use their executable application to view their stuff.. . you should never do this.. You should be able to view programs within your browser without installing any special plugins or software.
If a reputable company like Amazon or Netflix wants you to install a plugin then you can probably trust that but be careful.
Another thing you can do is add a service like MagicJack to get a home phone number in addition to your Cellphone. Its a good option but don’t expect every feature or 24/7 availability especially for emergency services. If you cancel your hardwired phone then make sure that in addition to 911 that you have all the local numbers for your local fire, ambulance and police that way you wont get delays.