I have been working on this for two years.
Two weeks ago, we “cut the cord”!
This past month we finally had enough after receiving our cable bill that again crept up to nearly $200 per month from our local cable provider which was littered with equipment, taxes, and random unexplained charges and taxes on taxes.
For years the cable companies operated like the monopolies that earned them that moniker, yet every year we would call into the service line playing as good of an Oscar role as we could muster to bluff like we were calling in to cancel. We would say that we had someplace better to go while knowing there was someone on the other end laughing their ass off, mocking us while hitting the mute button thinking we were full of shit, as there was no other island we could travel to. Until now!
It went something like this:
Me: “Our cable bill is now $200.00 again, we are thinking of canceling. We don’t need 270 channels, you made us get a house phone, we never use it except to pick up political marketing calls, the robocalls try us on our mobile now… $200.00 a month equal a new Tri Bike for me.”
Cable guy: “Sorry sir, I see you have called in before, we gave away all the free channels we want, you will never watch local TV again, those sports teams you like you can’t watch them anymore, and too bad about the cost going up we are not lowering your cable bill”.
The gig was up, or so I thought…..I have researched so many different options as I continued paying nearly $200 per month for cable.
Of course, in the last 5 years, we have changed from AT&T to Spectrum and back to AT&T to save money and become frustrated about “what channel is _________ on?”
The BACK STORY
In our house, there are a few “gotta haves”
Local channels (Tina & Pete Delkus)
College football – but I really don’t care about the New Appalachian versus Random State college game.
Hockey – specifically Dallas Stars (Season starts October 3)
TCM or for you uninitiated Turner Classic Movies. Tina is walking dictionary of any black and white movie you may have seen and she can tell you who the actors are and what other movies they have been in.
98% of everything else we watch is something we are streaming on Netflix or Amazon.
How Did Change Occur?
I was doing my research for our portfolios and adding to our disruptor theme for stocks. It was then that I made the DISCOVERY.
In the past few years, we have looked at switching to Hulu, Sling Box or various direct apps to local programming that were more or less ala carte and was a lot of work to log in, but nothing worked all that easy without requiring a spreadsheet of sign-ins.
Discovery is YouTube TV!
FOR $49.99 PLUS TAX
What do you get?
LOCAL CHANNELS according to your zip code
Live TV from 70 Channels
Sports
TCM channel is included!
UNLIMITED DVR
Let’s review the cost
ATT Uverse $184.85
YouTube TV $53.99 (including Tax)
Monthly Savings = $130.86
ANNUAL Savings $1,570.32
How it works
This is the key. If you have an old TV or 2 (like pre-2018) you are going to drop by your favorite Walmart and purchase a Chromecast ($35.00) which plugs into your HDMI port.
I needed two to set up both TV’s (2 Chromecasts)
Sign up online (they include 5 days free trial)
Download the YouTube TV app to your phone and you are set.
Your phone becomes your controller so there is very little looking for the cable controller.
It has been a couple of weeks and it took a few days to learn how to use YouTube TV and the unlimited DVR.
With Disney+ and all the other streaming services just around the corner to take advantage of the next technology revolution called 5G, we are set and can only anticipate how it will get better.
Plus with $1,500 per year in savings going into our savings for the future, maybe I can replace that 2001 model Trek that I ride!.
Ready for what looks like the first weekend of fall.
Michael Tannery CPA CDFA® AIF® ● CEO
Registered Principal
michael@tannerycompany.com
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