If you’ve cut the cord on traditional cable/satellite TV, you’ve probably noticed that your monthly costs have gone up. And if you’re new to cord cutting, you’re probably wondering, “Where are all the savings I’ve heard so much about?” Streaming costs are definitely rising. Price increases due to inflation, fragmentation of services, forced bundling, and crackdowns on password sharing are driving up costs. There’s good news, however. There are ways to bring back those savings you used to enjoy and make cord cutting cheap again. It just requires rethinking your cord cutting strategy and making a few tweaks to your usage.
Here are some ways to make cord cutting cheap again.
Rotate services
You don’t need to stay subscribed to every service for every month of the year. If you’re paying by the month (and not an annual subscription), you can drop and add most services at any time. Most services will even keep your history and watchlists for a while after you unsubscribe, waiting for you to return. Subscribe to one or two for a couple of months, binge all the stuff you want to see, and then dump that service in favor of another. You only have so much free time in a day, anyway. There’s likely no way you can get your money’s worth out of ten services each month. Binge and dump is the strategy that will save you the most money.
Share Services (Legally, Please)
Some services have cracked down on password sharing, making sharing with your kids at college or your sister up the street impossible. Some services, though, still welcome this kind of sharing. If you can share the costs with another person, you can save some money. (Sharing with family is one thing. Sharing with strangers and all of your friends is another. Just be careful to stay on the legal side of the line and know what your chosen service permits.)
Use free services
Not everything in streaming-land costs money. There are lots of free services. Most specialize in older content, but there’s plenty to be watched out there if you don’t have to see the latest stuff. Pluto TV is a great one and functions a lot like cable with a guide you can scroll mindlessly. Your library might offer a free subscription to Hoopla or Kanopy. PBS offers some of their content for free. There’s also standard YouTube. Look around and see what’s available and appealing to you.
Use an OTA Antenna
If you need local channels, get an antenna. Even if you live in an apartment or HOA and are restricted as to what you can/can’t put on your roof, there are lots of solid window-mount antennas on the market. If you live in a metro area and your home isn’t covered in trees or buried in a valley, you’ll probably be surprised at the number of channels you can pull in.
Look for deals
There are often deals on services, especially this time of year. Some require you to commit to a year, but they make make the monthly cost super cheap. Others offer a few months at a discount, enough time for you to watch the main offerings and move on. Target Circle members can usually get three free months of Apple TV. Keep your eyes peeled.
Use cash back on your credit card
Some credit cards offer high cash back on streaming subscriptions. Others offer larger sums back as a one-time credit for a yearly subscription, or an ongoing credit for a few months of service. See what your card offers and make sure to use it it your advantage.
Use ad supported tiers
Many pay services now offer an ad-supported plan for a lower cost. In exchange for your eyeballs on their ads, you get a lower price. Just be sure of two things: First, that the content you want is on the ad-supported tier. Some services paywall their premium content on the no-ads tier. Second, make sure that the extra exposure to ads won’t increase your spending. If you’re going to give into consumer temptation, get the no-ad tier.
Use your own server
This one requires a bit of techie knowhow, and possibly some outlay for equipment, but not too much. You can use a service like Plex or Jellyfin to set up your own media server. This allows you to organize any content you already own on DVD or digital files into your own custom streaming service. There are plenty of tutorials on the web to get you started. If you have a huge DVD library it can be a great way to simplify and consolidate your viewing.
Get over your sports addiction
Sports are the bane of the cord cutter. To get the most options, you’re basically required to subscribe to the “cable replacement” services like Sling, Hulu Live, or YouTubeTV. These are approaching cable prices these days. Either that or, thanks to blackouts and fragmentation, you have to cobble together a bunch of services to get access to everything you want to watch. The best advice is to get over a need for sports. If you can’t do that, see if you can get by with an antenna and coverage of just your local teams. Or keep your streaming cheap and go to a sports bar or a friend’s house for the must see events. There’s also the option to pick a must-have sport like football and pay for the primo streaming service just for that season.
Watch less
There’s always the option to simply watch less TV. Most of us watch too much, anyway, and could benefit from some more exercise, social time with friends, DIY time, or hobbies that more fully engage the brain. Cut your streaming down to the bare minimum (particularly in the months with nice weather) and find something else to do with your time.
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