The Pros and Cons of Cable TV: Is it Time to Cut the Cord?

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Is it time to cut the cord and say goodbye to cable TV? Explore the benefits and drawbacks of cord-cutting and how it can affect your movie-watching habits.

Not Everyone Wants The Same Cable Services

I must admit that “cord-cutting” is not part of our new budget for 2014, but it may be in the future.

All that cord-cutting boils down to is whether you want to pay for cable TV.

I’m a massive fan of watching movies, but not as much as Mrs. CBB, who is a movie buff.

She also has a fair share of DVDs, VHS movies (boxes packed, and she still has the player), and the odd Blue Ray movies these days.

When she was younger, she had basic cable and loved watching movies to save money.

She would buy them at the local Blockbuster or Rogers store, as previously viewed, for cheaper than a ticket to the movie theatre.

It wasn’t worth it to her; besides, she got to keep the movie and watch it as many times as she wanted.

However, many consumers are doing away with the traditional TV packages.

The pricing has become so unrealistic that they don’t watch much TV, and streaming TV programs is more the way they want to roll.

Throw in some free streaming and watching DVDs and Blue Ray movies, and most people can sit happily in front of the Tube Monday to Sunday with a smile.

This morning, I learned about all the different “cord-cutting buzzwords,”

Like Netflix, Rogers is moving more towards offering streaming for their customers, and their buzz is everywhere.

For example, if you’re a “cord shaver,” it sounds like you are shaving a bit from your TV package to stream more from the internet.

Many people can honestly say they do.

Cable Cutting Vs. Negotiating A Deal

I remember being in the Rogers store around September, where you could sort out all your communications needs.

I was bringing back our internet modem box, which decided to stop working, and while waiting, I was listening.

The place was littered with students wanting to get their cell phones sorted out and their internet for the school year.

A few young ladies were talking to a rep close to me.

I was jealous of the deals she offered the students with their student plan for cable TV, internet, and home phone.

Yes, please, over here.

I’ll take that package, but no such luck.

I’m not a student anymore.

That means I have to continue to call Rogers every year as a preferred customer to ask for those promotional specials.

Sure, it’s worth it; they want your business.

They don’t want you to cut the cord; they want you to stay so they can haggle a decent deal with you.

Some People Will Never Cut The Cable Cord

What stuck out the most was when the girls spoke up and said that five people were living in the house they were renting for university.

None of them watched Cable TV.

They all streamed off the internet.

They wanted to ensure they had a stellar internet package because it wasn’t worth paying for cable, nor did they want a home phone.

These types of customers are called the “cord nevers,” people who have no interest in Cable TV and would instead stream from the internet.

I was a cord never in University, but I also didn’t have internet access.

Although I’m sure if technology was as explosive as today, that might have been different for me.

I could understand the home phone because I think eventually they will become a thing of the past.

Although, I think many people will do away with owning a home phone as it’s hardly used.

My best friend owns a home phone, which he only needs for a few minutes per night for work-related purposes.

Otherwise, he’s paying to own a home phone for nothing, as he uses his cell phone exclusively.

It’s a pity he can’t get away with it otherwise, but until he finds the new career he dreams of, the home phone stays.

Cable Streaming Netflix

I wasn’t shocked to read that Rogers Communications will get in on the streaming aspect like NETFLIX because they’d be silly not to.

The younger generation craves streaming, so why leave profits on the table when it’s what the masses want?

It’s no different from Pizza Hut in the USA, which uses the XBOX 360 to add an app for XBOX Live Gold Members to order pizza using the gaming system without even picking up the phone.

This brilliant move scored Pizza Hut 1 million dollars in sales in 4 months; no surprise.

If people don’t have to move, they won’t. It’s all part of keeping the focus of the customer and practically handing them what they want on a silver platter: convenience.

Life is getting much more convenient for everyone with new technology, provided you own such technology; otherwise, you are stuck with the tried and true traditional methods.

We have Rogers cable in our house, and we don’t stream movies, although we watch plenty of YouTube on our SmartTV.

Now that we upgraded our internet package a couple of months ago, we might as well use it rather than pay for something we’re not using.

I’m not sure if we will be doing any cord-cutting as part of our budget in the future, but for now, we will stick with cable and see where it takes us.

Discussion: Do you still have cable TV?

Please leave your comments and questions below.

Thanks for reading,

Mr. CBB

Recipe Of The Week

This week’s Top Recipe comes from a blog called “Five Little Homesteaders,” with a simple recipe for “Whole Wheat Pierogies” that you must check out.

Weekly CBB Posts

If you missed any CBB posts from the week, here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading!

Well, that’s a wrap for this Friday’s grab a brew #54, so happy budgeting, and I’ll see you here again next week when I do it all over again.

-Mr. CBB

Anthony @ Thrifty Dad January 10, 2014 At 12:24 pm

Thanks for the shout-out!! I’m not ready to cord cut either. I do call Rogers every year to ask for promotions as well. It’s so worth the time. Glad to hear they’re putting up a streaming service though, hopefully some better selection than what’s out there. Although I am a bit surprised, they opted to go there, seeing that if they do offer everything and are at the same competitive rate as Netflix, it’ll probably hurt their bottom line, when they could have just raised the overage charges on bandwidth, to discourage people from streaming. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Pat January 10, 2014 At 12:24 pm

My husband and I lowered our satellite package now stream all our movies and favorite shows. It saved us 50.00 a month even with the addition of Netflix. We are thinking about lowering our package again this year. I also just lowered our phone bill by calling Telus and switching plans. We will save another 50.00! We still have the service we need for TV and phone but will pay a 100.00 less a month and I even got them to throw in 150 minutes of long distance within Canada as we both have family that live in other provinces. I find January is the best month to review service plans. 🙂

Shannon @ The Heavy Purse January 10, 2014 At 1:59 pm

We’re not planning on cutting the cord either. We watch enough time that it’s worth keeping it for now. Some day … who knows! And like you said, it’s a bit of a pain but you can normally call your cable company and they will give you a good deal to keep your business. Have a great weekend!

John S @ Frugal Rules January 10, 2014 At 5:05 pm

We still have satellite and have always viewed it as a part of our entertainment budget. We like to watch a few shows on HBO and I like to have it for football games, but it does get expensive. We’ve been with DirecTV for 4-5 years and have the same DVR as when we first started with them and thankfully are no longer on a contract. We called in for something else this week and they offered us their new and better DVR, but said we’d have to sign a two year contract to get. That’s what I don’t like about these companies – they seem to spend a ton of money to get new customers, but don’t extend the same deals to loyal customers. That said, I think we may cut the cord in the future, I just need to find a good and legal option to get what we want to watch. Have a great weekend Mr. CBB!

Laurie @thefrugalfarmer January 10, 2014 At 5:13 pm

Thanks for the mention, my friend! We’ve been cable free for nearly 18 months now, and don’t miss it a bit. We did, however, get Netflix last month, and it is kind of nice to have an extra selection of movies and shows to watch, all at your fingertips. And the $8 monthly fee is a lot friendlier on our tight budget than the $60 a month cable fee was. 🙂

Christine Weadick January 10, 2014 At 8:21 pm

I’ll have to have a look over what Rogers is offering now as hubby won’t do it. If I call them I will need to have the older boy listening in with me as I have no idea what we have anymore for internet coverage. It goes right over my head….
Seriously I live for the day I can tell Rogers to go fly a kite! We looked at satellite years ago and at that time it wasn’t any different than cable but I really dislike Rogers. Where we are, if you want high speed internet, you have Rogers…..period. If it was just me all I would have is the phone and internet. I don’t watch TV much at all. I will at our daughter’s place if I’m babysitting the grandson but then I’m watching Teletoons!! Lol!!! She has Bell satellite and is quite happy with it. She talks to Bell regularly to get the best deals.
I think if we could get just the stations that hubby and the boys watch and nothing else with a lower Rogers bill I could live with that.If we could do that with another provider at a lower cost I’d be thrilled!!
That recipe looks good!!!!! It looks like I have some reading to look into this weekend!!! Those blogs look interesting!!! Have a good weekend!!!

Michelle January 10, 2014 At 8:57 pm

I’m getting super frustrated with TV. I can’t stand commercials and I find I’m watching TCM or Sportsnet all the time and I’m paying $98 (er, really halfsies with the parental units). Still I think I’m going to cut it off and just watch the massive movie collection I have, use Apple TV and take out movies from the library. Yes, our library has movies, on Blu Ray and new releases! How awesome is that? I think it’s time to cut the cord….waste of money.

Michelle January 10, 2014 At 9:10 pm

I haven’ had cable in so long I don’t remember when I actually had it. Maybe in college? I am already overwhelmed by all of the options that I have to watch on regular t.v (NBC/CBS/ABC etc.) Also, I’m trying to start a side business so as much as I enjoy watching t.v. I don’t want to pay for it and I can stream off of HULU, or check out movies from the library. Much easier.

Dear Debt January 10, 2014 At 9:48 pm

Thanks for the link love! I don’t have a TV and haven’t for years. It’s been good for me. We do have netflix, which we enjoy because we watch movies at our leisure.

Catherine January 10, 2014 At 10:27 pm

There is no way my husband would ever get rid of cable. I could easily do without it, him not to much (not that I don’t enjoy it!) I recently called our cable provider (to deal with a totally unrelated issue) and they gave us a wicked deal for cable for the next two years so we’ll have it at least until then! Have a great weekend Mr CBB 🙂

jane savers @ solving the money puzzle January 11, 2014 At 7:16 am

I love cable tv. I know that this is a waste of budget money but we all have our vices. My cable, internet and home phone are bundled and cost me $125 each month. I have to work 7 hours each month to pay for these 3 services.

I am a news junkie and a serious channel flipper and cable tv gives me everything I need.

Dee @ Color Me Frugal January 11, 2014 At 9:20 am

I hadn’t heard of the Pizza Hut and XBox thing- how crazy! And sort of sad in a way. We have not cut the cord because there are shows that we like to watch that you can’t get on Hulu or anywhere else, but I’m keeping an eye on this because it would be nice if that changes and we could do this in the future.

Michelle @fitisthenewpoor January 11, 2014 At 11:47 am

Thanks for the mention! We cut our cable out a year ago and haven’t looked back! I only miss it for sports on ESPN!