Live TV? Sports? Cable News? Recent movies? Classic content?
Are you okay with giving up your favorite programming for a month or two or three at a time?
Would you "binge watch?" Binge watching is a great way to save money and not get "sucked in."
STREAMING:
Currently all the major streaming services are available on a month to month subscription. I identify a collection of content on one or two streaming services I want to watch and sign-up for a month and watch all the damn stuff I can. After a month (or two) I'll switch over to another service. You can pause, rewind, and FF streaming shows. No need to record them. Watch on demand.
The trade-off in jumping around is the wait.
LIVE TV
Currently YouTubeTV is my choice for live broadcasts. It includes local broadcasting and a large collection of cable stations and local PBS, plus an unlimited DVR service, for $64 a month. I watch it mostly for live sports and MSNBC. But just like other services, I "binge watch" throughout the year, pausing the live subscription, say, after football season and the Oscars. So by pausing five or six spring/summer months that $65 averages out to a more reasonable $38 a month. YouTubeTV also offers on-demand service of most content.
If you're close enough to receive television signals through the air you can invest in a digital antenna. I think that's a one-time cost of around $50. All the local broadcasts channels would be free of charge, though you'd miss out on the cable. You'd need to invest in a DVR if you wanted to record any content.
This is why I believe it is important to identify what is important to you. Choice is expensive. If you're willing to sacrifice that choice for a few months at a time you can save money.
YOU NEED DEVICES/APPS:
Roku, Amazon Stick, Apple TV, and/or whatever apps might already be on you "smart TV". This is covered upthread. Pretty sure any streaming service you subscribe to can also be viewed on a computer or mobile device.
BROADBAND
An unfortunate yet very required expense. I use Xfinity Cable. Despise AT&T.
PAID STREAMING:
Here's an idea of what we're watching and streaming right now, what we're planning for, and the cost:
Currently:
YouTubeTV (Live television and cable): $64
HBO Max: $12.00
Netflix: $14.00
PBS: $5.00
TOTAL: $95.00
By mid-February
HBO Max: $12.00
Netflix: $14.00
Disney+ 7.00
PBS: $5.00
TOTAL: $38.00
By mid-March
Netflix: $14.00
Hulu (no ads) 12.00
PBS: $5.00
TOTAL: $31.00
By mid-April
Hulu (no ads) 12.00
Amazon Prime: $10
PBS: $5.00
TOTAL: $27.00
Four month average (per month): about $48. By skipping around and binge-watching I'll be finding monthly savings. It's costing me some favorites like MSNBC and Live Sports but I can live with that for a few months.
Hopes this helps.
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