R.I.P. Cable and Satellite TV

Almost 2 years ago, we fired out Satellite company. Not because they were doing a bad job, quite the opposite, we were watching way too much TV and also spending too much on it.

In an effort to really trim down recurring expenses in our budget and free up some personal time, we decided to get rid of DirecTV. This was a big move for us at the time because we had been pretty glued to the tube.

Now some of you may be thinking: go cold turkey from TV? seriously? Well, not quite. We made a transition away from Satellite and onto a combination of a few other things (one drug to another I suppose).

A good friend (Adam Fischer), had mentioned they used a local HD antenna to pick up all of the local stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc.) and it all came in crystal clear and FREE! That’s what I’m talking about! I did a little research and ended up purchasing an HD antenna from Amazon.

It clipped right on to our now inactive DirectTV dish and plugged into the same cable that went into the house. I useĀ http://antennaweb.org to know which angle to direct it and the compass on my iPhone to find the right degree.

Went in side, clicked scan for channels on the TV and BAM! we had live, HD TV, for FREE!

The majority of what we use the live HD antenna for is sporting events, otherwise, we use a combination of Hulu, Netflix, and RedBox for other entertainment. We have an XBOX that we get Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Instant Videos and others on which is more than enough entertainment.

I took a $100/mo DirecTV bill and replaced it with a one-time cost of $35 for a local HD antenna plus a monthly bill of $7 from Netflix and $7 from Hulu for a total monthly TV bill of just $14. We took the extra $86/mo and put it toward some debt that we had outstanding (we’re now debt free, except for the house, more on that in another post).

After two years this way, I can’t see ever going back to the Cable/Satellite route. I’m happy to answer any questions if anyone else is considering this move. It’s a huge money saver!

Leave a Reply