Death, Taxes and Rising Cord Cut Prices
 

Hi All: I ran across an interesting article linked below. It offers good advice regarding cord cutting verses cable/satellite prices. Look before you leap as it stands now with increased cord cutting prices.

https://www.soundandvision.com/conte...ord-no-bargain

However, for me they will have to pry my OTA antennas from my cold, dead fingers before I give them up! One time initial cost and no monthly fees to boot!!

I question the moniker "cord cutting" when people use it to mean cutting your cable cord and using an internet connection instead for TV. In many cases, it's over the same piece of coax, no?

To me true "cord cutters" are using antennas only, which have ZERO monthly fees.

Part, if not all, of the problem with rising "subscription"
television pricing is that most people refuse to give up
their favorite program(s) or channels. I use the word
"subscription" to include satellite, cable and paid streaming.
Are there programs and channels I would like to have,
SURE, you bet! I refuse to pay for any television and
use antennas and free Roku. With the two, I have
hundreds, if not thousands of program options, 24 hours
a day. Pluto Tv, Tubi, Crackle are all good examples of
free streaming options. If they eventually move to
subscription, they will lose me as a viewer!

The cool thing about Pluto is that it is a programming grid of free streaming services. They have no programming rights expense.

First, I would say that all the alternatives have kept the price of cable/satellite in check. Second, I second the idea that switching from cable to OTT is not really cable cutting -- especially if your cable provider is also your ISP. Most important, broadcast television is 100% free and provides more content than ever before. Most cord cutters I know have replaced their internet service with a cell phone and their television service with an antenna. I am probably headed that way myself.

If you are going to have an ISP and subscribe to a premium service, consider Amazon's Recast. This DVR coupled with a Fire TV stick puts all of your OTA in a nice grid. Need to pay for an ISP, but Amazon charges nothing for their service. Add Pluto to your stick and the Pluto guide integrates nicely with the Recast guide adding a lot of movies and interesting programs. If you need more, Philo integrates as well providing three concurrent streams of cable minus sports, news, and premium channels for $20/month. Need it all? Vue also integrates.

The bottom line is that cord cutting, trimming, or shifting is alive and well for those who know what they are doing. Barb Gonzalez needs to work a little harder. No value in that post.