A Year Without Cable, Week 20: Is Cord-Cutting Real?

I know it seems silly to ask. But USA Today took a look at the term “cord cutter” a few days ago and noted that it doesn’t show up in the Oxford English Dictionary, nor on OED.com.

On top of that, a recent eMarketer report said that cord-cutting — the act of dropping your cable subscription for some other form of TV — is “more myth than reality.” That same report said that, while screen shifting is a thing (and the Internet undoubtedly has a lot to do with that), the impact of it isn’t exactly clear.

Meaning, no one can tell if people are actually leaving cable for the options, or just supplementing cable with these options.

It begs the question —  is cord-cutting a legitimate revolution? Are there really significant amounts of people out there calling to cancel their cable TV in order to rely on free, over-the-air TV or a service like Netflix?

Or has this all been overblown? Just some combination of slick advertising from digital content providers mixed with the (very understandable) dislike many have for their cable company?

I struggle to answer this now. I sit at 20 weeks without any type of TV package, and I’m the closest I’ve been to calling this whole thing off.

I detailed in past posts how one could equal the prior cost of cable by getting many shows a la carte, owning copies of the individual episodes in the process. But really, how much stuff goes up on Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant Video anyway? And do I need that enormous digital library? I’m torn.

A few weeks back, over-the-air television was to be my savior. But pulling in the channels requires the perfect storm of circumstances — the right location, the right home construction, a lack of interfering objects nearby, enough broadcasting power from the stations, and so on. When I tried an amplified antenna, I could only pick up one single channel. Just one. That’s not gonna cut it.

And now football is here, and the fall shows are just around the corner. My wish to break free of my cable TV oppressors conflicts with my desire to watch what I can only access through their service. And, almost as though it’s taunting me, Verizon tells me I can add TV back to my package and pay the exact same price I’m paying now for Internet-only service.

Will I make it to Week 21? Will I run back into the open arms of Verizion FiOS? Or will I continue to fight a war I’m not sure exists? Tune in next week.