Cutting Out Cable Is Going Mainstream ~ Bauer-Power Media

Aug 17, 2012

Cutting Out Cable Is Going Mainstream

10:00 AM

Paul B

Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBase

One of the hardest things I ever did in my life did not happen while I was in the Navy serving in a hostile part of the world. It was not doing anything physically demanding either. It was trying to convince my wife that we could survive AND be perfectly happy without cable television. It was a hard concept for her. After all, like most Americans, we have spent our whole lives in front of the television.

We finally did cut the cord though a few short months after buying our Boxee, and my wife is actually happier now. Not only do we save over $100 per month by not having cable, but we can still watch what we want when we want. Plus, everything we watch is commercial free!

Before now only early adopters and the technically savvy were venturing out into the world of online streaming and alternative media, but now it seems that everyone is doing it. According to Yahoo Finance:

The shift away from pay TV services is actually accelerating, with both publicly traded and private cable, satellite and phone companies reporting a net loss of as many as 400,000 total video subscribers in the second quarter of 2012. That's up from 340,000 net defections in Q2 2011. Overall, the number of U.S. households subscribing to pay TV services declined by 1.5% or 1.5 million in 2011, according to Nielsen.

In that article they mention a number of online streaming services that people use to help them cut cable. If you follow Tech Chop at all, you know that we recently did a video talking about a method to cut cable that was not mentioned in the article. Using BitTorrent. Check it out:

Are you planning on cutting your cable? Have you cut it already? What devices and/or services to you use now for your entertainment at home? Let us know in the comments.

Aug 17, 2012