Well, we’ve finally done it. After talking about dropping our Comcast cable package for a few years, we decided to make the change in early July. Why now?
A Streaming Promo Appeared At The Right Time
I saw a DirecTV Now promo that provided a “free” Apple TV 4K to new customers who pre-paid for three months of service. I had been thinking about adding an Apple TV to the sunroom anyway, and that deal would net me one at a price lower than I could find anywhere online. I was also curious about streaming broadcast services, and since DirecTV Now offered access to most of the channels we already watched, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a trial run.
Our TV Watching Habits Changed
The promo really got the ball rolling, and it pushed me to once again evaluate how I was watching TV. No matter how I tossed it around, I kept arriving at the same conclusion—I don’t enjoy watching “live” TV very much, and I have no patience with commercials (thanks to the DVR, Netflix, etc.). What I did watch was often something to pass the time or to provide background noise—neither of which were good reasons to keep something that cost so much.
I was also disinclined to invest time in TV series. Too many that I’ve enjoyed in the past were cancelled or ran on with no apparent roadmap. It got to a point where I’d record the shows and wait for each season to end before watching them. That was the only way for me to know if the show had been renewed and might still be worth my time. (Of course, I see the irony in that. If I didn’t watch the show when it aired, I’m not contributing to the ratings that are used to determine if the show will return. That didn’t matter in the past—shows I liked were still cancelled—so I doubted it mattered now.) Waiting until the end of a season also offered the opportunity to watch a series in its entirety, providing better continuity and avoiding the multi-week mid-season breaks that only served to help me forget what I’d already watched.
Frankly, many series ended up on streaming services anyway, and nothing I watched required timely viewing.
Bottom line was that I’d been watching less and less “TV” and more and more Netflix and Prime Video.
Bill Increases Tipped The Cost/Benefit Ratio
At the same time the DirecTV Now promo arrived in my inbox, my cable bill went up. Each year, I had to call Comcast and talk to one of their “Customer Loyalty” reps to keep my price down. They would present me with the current promos and I could usually slide into one that would match the price and features from the previous year. It wasn’t a fun process, but it was worth it to save $20-30 per month. This year, for the first time, there wasn’t anything they could offer me.
The joke of it is that the “bundle” pricing they quote doesn’t include several additional charges. I can stream HD programming all day on YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video, but Comcast adds a $10 “HD Technology Fee.” There are $11 in broadcast, FCC, and regional sports fees. Franchise fees and taxes add another $12. For those doing the math, that’s $33 in fees, $22 of which are directly related to the cable subscription.
I also remembered that three weeks after that, my annual TiVo bill would be due. Why did we have a TiVo system? Two reasons. First, the X1 box we had from Comcast was buggy, unreliable and clunky to use. Second, I wanted service for our sunroom TV. I could have paid Comcast a fee for an additional box to use out there, but I opted to break even with a TiVo Bolt and TiVo mini instead. That combination worked much better than the Comcast solution, but it still carried a $12.49 monthly fee.
So, with the Comcast promo over and the TiVo up for renewal, this was a good opportunity to make the change.
TV Contracts Are “In” Again
A new wrinkle in the conversation with Comcast this year was a contractual requirement. Even if there had been a better promotional option, it would have had a 24-month contract. Given that we had been questioning whether cable was still important for a while, it didn’t make sense to commit to it long term.
In contrast, streaming services have no contracts, and can be activated or cancelled at any time. Someone else offer a better deal or better service? Switch to it. Want to drop it completely? No problem. Want to add a channel or package for a month? Go for it. We’re not to a point where we can build our own channel packages, but streaming does at least offer a level of flexibility and choice that is missing from cable.
Cable Quality Isn’t Great
Let’s be honest: Comcast has the worst picture quality of any provider. Most HD channels are delivered in highly compressed 720p resolution. Images are not crisp and color banding is obvious, especially in dark regions. I had Dish before moving here and the difference was startling.
This extends to pay stations, too. One promo I had included HBO. Of the six HBO channels, only one was in HD. However, if I streamed programs via the HBO GO app, all the content was in HD—full 1080p HD. Comcast has bumped their internet speeds significantly over the past two years, so their network can obviously provide the bandwidth needed to handle higher quality streams than what they are delivering. However, that’s clearly not a priority to them.
Streaming Is Device Agnostic
Comcast is notorious for wanting to control what devices can offer what programming. When I had HBO, I could stream that programming on my Apple TV and iOS devices, but not my PS3, PS4 or TiVo. The Sony consoles were eventually authorized, but the TiVo never could stream those programs through the dedicated app. This was extremely frustrating. HBO was included with my package. Why was Comcast deciding which devices I could watch it on in my own home? To my mind, if the HBO GO app is on a device, I should be able to use it. I can only imagine that there is some contractual aspect to all of this, one that requires Comcast get paid to allow that level of access, but it’s clearly consumer unfriendly.
Streaming services don’t have those limitations. If an app is available on your device, you can use it—there are no authorization games to play. The more we watched Netflix and Prime Video, the more we appreciated the lack of barriers those services presented.
Streaming Services Have Come A Long Way
When I first investigated broadcast streaming options, there were many limitations. Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu were the major players, but none offered live TV or DVR functionality. Over the last year or so, that has changed dramatically, in particular for one category: sports.
I love college football. Before the latest round of streaming services were introduced, there was almost no way to realistically watch those games without a TV subscription. That is no longer the case. Several ESPN channels are included as part of many base packages, and most offer upgrades that include channels such as the Big Ten Network. The beauty of streaming services is that I only need to upgrade to get those channels during the college football season. (We could also opt to not have any service at all until that time.)
Good packages and prices coupled with high quality streams have finally made services like DirecTV Now, Playstation Vue, and others realistic options.
(I’m a bit surprised Comcast hasn’t moved into the streaming market. When I first got my Xfinity system five years ago, they were working on an “X1 Cloud” service. It doesn’t appear that they have progressed too far, as the only streaming option they offer is for those with existing cable subscriptions. I would imagine they could competitively offer an internet/streaming bundle that might help keep customers.)
Early Thoughts
The live programming I’ve watched has been excellent. Recorded programs have been a little glitchy, but the DirecTV Now DVR is still in beta and, like I previously mentioned, I don’t record many programs anyway.
There is also something very cool about having access to all your entertainment in one place—I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed the simplification that now exists. Watching TV or movies is the same experience across all my devices, driven by the same conditioned interactions I utilize daily, and that makes it both familiar and easier. Using an app to watch TV feels like the way it should have been all along.
Speaking of simplification, I also like how I don’t have to worry about channel numbers. Comcast was very confusing in that regard. One network could have multiple channels—one that was in SD and two or three in HD. The programming was the same, so I have no idea why there was so much repetition. Now, I can just pick a network and that programming is shown. No more worrying about changing channel numbers or networks listed in triplicate.
Financially, I went from paying nearly $180 for my internet and cable subscription to paying $105. Saving money is great, but only if there aren’t too many sacrifices. I don’t feel like I’ve sacrificed. If anything, I actually feel a bit liberated, and that’s a good place to be.