A Year Without Cable, Week 17: One Third Complete

My first Year Without Cable post was published on April 28. It was that day that I told Verizon I’d be returning my FiOS set top box and eliminating cable TV from my package. Why? Because I was staring down the barrel of rate increases that would tack nearly $35-$40 onto my bill. And that was a tough pill to swallow.

I was already watching a lot of Netflix and a lot of DVRed content back then. I only watched live TV if some major event was going on, or if I absolutely had to catch a something first run (like Game of Thrones). So the idea of paying more and not gaining anything didn’t sit well with me, and I knew I could save a whole lot of dough by cutting cable out of my life completely — even if it meant doing without some of the shows I loved for a while.

I’m a third of the way through my little experiment, and I have to say that I’ve not been challenged as much as I’d anticipated.

A lot of shows wrapped up in late spring, and the summer is typically a slow time for TV. There have been one or two months where I didn’t even use Netflix enough to warrant the $7.99.

Looking ahead, one of the shows I loved — How I Met Your Mother — is gone. Revenge will still be around, though I’ve grown less interested in it. To be honest, there’s really not a lot I’m looking forward to as far as the fall TV lineup is concerned.

Unless we’re talking about football, that is. And it’s this sport, one that I must watch in real time, that will probably give me the most fits in my cable-less situation.

I can’t find a TV antenna that will pick up any local channels besides the local ABC affiliate. So over the air is out. The NFL offers no streaming video service (for the U.S.), unlike most other major sports. So the Internet is no option. And some of the games take place on the NFL Network, so even if I’m able to find a place to watch the Sunday games, there’s no guarantee that this location will get that channel.

I’m absolutely looking forward to football season. But I’m not looking forward to figuring out how I’ll watch the games.

Still, I’ve made it a third of the way through and I don’t feel like I’ve missed much without cable.

We’ll see how I’m doing after two thirds.