This blog post is for those who would like to quit cable TV, but who are suffering from anxiety about making that big move.

I love watching TV. I have nothing against casual television viewing. I am not totally against cable TV. If I had a son who loves sports, I would gladly pay big bucks so my son will enjoy all games (FYI: I have no kids).

I watched cable TV since the 80s – during the entire existence of cable TV. After about 40 years, cable TV was part of my life. The thought of quitting cable TV was terrifying. I couldn’t imagine my life without cable TV. When I was poor and most of my food was from 99 Cents Only Stores, I still paid big bucks so I can watch cable TV on my 9 inch TV.

Let me be fair here. I was poor all my life. So, I can tell you that some poor people desperately need good TV to escape and find joy in life while living in poor living conditions. Some people say “In America, people in poverty have cable TV. How crazy is that?” But, I understand poor people need cable TV more than rich people do.

I wish there were free internet TV APPs when I was younger.

How I quit cable TV

• As time went by, my anger towards to the cable TV companies grew. They kept raising price. I hated all cable TV companies. I would rather pay more money on Hulu than giving my money to cable TV companies.
• So, I subscribed to Hulu with live TV. After that I quit cable TV. I had access to all the TV channels via Hulu. So, I was not suffering from going cold turkey. Switching from cable TV to internet TV was a big change. I felt different. I learned how to use FireStick and free apps.
• Youtube has live TV services as well. So, you can go with Youtube. But, live TV is expensive whatever you subscribe. The goal is to quit live TV.
• What’s important here is that you are now on a monthly contract. You can let the service expire. And you can easily re-connect. You just click online, and you will get connected instantly.
• After a few months of watching Hulu with Live TV, I switched my account to basic Hulu ($14/m). If I want, I can re-activate live TV anytime. So, there was no anxiety.
• With basic Hulu, I could still catch some of my shows such as The Conners, American Ninja warriors, and Bob’s Burgers. I get to watch them one day after they aired, which is fine with me.
• With basic Hulu, I am now missing out on all NBA, NASCAR, Super Bowl, Survivor, College basketball, etc… So, if you must watch those games, stay with live TV or cable TV and enjoy.
• I can always activate Live TV account and watch live TV. But, now I feel uneasy about paying $70 to activate live TV. I found out it is difficult to re-activate live TV, just like it was difficult to cut cable TV.
• I save about $700 on television yearly (compared to regular folks who watch cable TV). The satisfaction of saving money out-weighs watching live TV.

Additional information

• I don’t receive any TV via digital antennas. I live far away and over the mountains from any TV stations.
• On average, I pay about $15/m on TV services. Last 3 months, I spent an average of $5-$6 on TV.
• I pay $87.98 for internet & phone (landline).
• I have 2 Firestick 4k’s. One in my TV room, and the other one in my closet room. I don’t have a TV in both of my bedrooms.
• My favorite movie app is Tubi. This free app has all kinds of movies. They show commercials, but the amount of commercials is considerably less than that of regular TV. The commercial time on Tubi is tolerable.
• I watch Pluto TV for local news for free.
• I will watch the Super Bowl on Peacock TV ($4.99/m).
• Sometimes I subscribe to Netflix or Hulu, but I never subscribe to both at the same time. The last time I watched Hulu or Netflix was about 3 months ago.
• I watch Amazon Prime only when they give me one month free trial, which is once a year. I refuse to pay for Amazon Prime. I prefer to put $119 in my pocket, not in Amazon’s pocket. (soon to be $139)
• Discovery Plus ($6.99/m) is my regular TV APP that’s usually on.

January , 2022. I came a long way.

Finally – To save even more money, I let my TV subscription expire every month. I activate the service every month for just one month. I may renew the service on the day it expires. But, sometimes, when I realize that my subscription has expired, several days would have already passed. That means I didn’t pay for those several days. If I continue with that habit, I can save 1-2 months of subscription fee every year. If they want me to renew automatically, they better offer me a discount.

Screw cable TV companies. Screw all of them.