TV subscribers have been dropping their cable subscription more frequently in the past few months, according to a recent USA Today story. Those canceling their contracts are not switching to other cable companies or satellite TV. They are simply going without.
The change is not solely because of technological advances like the ease of watching TV and movies online, but the economy.
“The price of cable TV has risen to the point where it’s simply not affordable to lots of lower-income homes, “said an analyst to USA Today. “And right now there are an awful lot of lower-income homes. The evidence suggests that what we’re seeing is a poverty problem rather than a technology phenomenon.”
I have never had cable TV and don’t understand why people devoutly spend money to watch TV. Aside from being a cheapskate and – um – broke, I don’t have the time to sit around to watch TV, and when I do have time I stick to the free stuff. Whatever your economic situation, here are four tips to stop spending money on cable TV.
1. Watch online – Hulu.com is one of my favorite websites that lets you watch TV shows and movies for free. Bargain Babe has also written about Clicker.com, a website similar to Hulu that includes live TV and web originals. Fancast.com is another option.
2. Hit your local library – Some libraries have DVD titles galore to check out for free, and it’s not just movies. Sometimes you can find entire seasons of your favorite shows. The downside is late fees. If you become delinquent with your rentals, you’ll end up paying for it.
3. Subscribe – I’m sure you’re asking yourself why I would even suggest subscribing to a company like Netflix or Redbox when you are trying to save money. Well, depending on which company you chose, you may be able to score a discounted rate or take advantage of their free trial. Much like your local library, you may be also face late fee charges if you don’t return the DVDs on time.
4. Swap – We’ve told you before, swapping is the new shopping and it’s not just for clothes. There are many websites, like swapadvd.com or abundatrade.com, which allow you to connect with others to swap DVDs of your favorite movies and TV sitcoms. You will be paying postage to ship the DVDs but it will cost you less than paying for cable.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
sorry no matter how broke i get i need cable ill suffer the 180 a month for internet and cable without it i would miss all my showes online they show somethings but not others and i dont want to go searching for clips and waiting till everyone has seen it and told me what im missing and i love all the channels hbo stars everything just wish it was cheeper
I am working on my husband to agree to get rid of the cable. There is nothing on TV that is worth paying such a high monthly price for. Plus I can’t stand watching TV because of all the commercials – especially all the drug company ads. We don’t have any problem affording it, I just don’t feel like we get much value for the amount we pay.
I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere else in the country or not but in order to get the “free”non cable channels in Ma you still need to have a digital cable box. Ever since they got rid of analog and went digital. So it’s like $10 a month for my grandparents
OMG netflix rocks our socks off! $10 a month gets us unlimited streaming to both tvs and computer and one DVD rental at a time ( we end up watching at least 3 DVDs a month). Its waaaaay cheaper than running out to Blockbuster or paying $50ish for cable tv. We don’t miss cable at all! If we have a yen for current news, tv still gets the basic 6 channels so we hit that for free. Only caveat with Netflix is that you need either a Roku player, Wii, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 to play it . And Xbox 360 requires a paid gold membership subscription to run Netflix. But still, Netflix is worth it!
My wife and I made the decision to cut our premium channels and keep basic cable with internet service. We are saving $100 a month and can’t believe we didn’t do it sooner! I watch sports on ESPN via my Xbox 360 and the kids can watch their favorite shows on PBS and Netflix. You can even leverage podcasts to create your own personal network of shows that you can stream to your TV!