Any Ideas for CHEAP Cable TV??

[ccb2004]

I have Mediacom digital cable tv now-$65 a month for expanded basic. UGHH! Any thoughts on a cheaper route to go?? No idea what alternatives there are so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

[CW&M Mom]

DTV box

Watch everything you can on HULU for free.

We have nothing currently...as free as you can get.

[HUDSON21]

Wow...that's pretty cheap (the free HuLu) however, if that's not an option, is Time Warner? We bundle our phone, internet and TV for $100.00, but I know you can get super BASIC cable through them with just ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and some local stations for $8 or $9/month. Definitely make some phone calls.

[new_mom]

I know what you mean about trying to find cheaper cable tv. I have time warner cable in my area. I get the basic of basics for $9 a month. The next plan up is $65, ridiculous! I get all the basic channels you would get if you had an antenna on top of your house, plus some other stations. I think I have like 5 more channels im not suppose to get like "HBO"!

If we ever have the funds to get upgraded tv, we will prolly try one of the dish companies, they are cheaper. Dish Network, Direct tv.

[YogaRunner]

I got sick of paying for cable a long time ago. I have a digital converter box and antenna.

I get local channels (4, 5, 7, 9) as well as the CW (50), Universal Sports, several international news channels and a few others for free over the air.

For everything else I use hulu.com or nbc.com, abc.com, etc. I also watch a lot of stuff (including whole seasons of TV shows) on Netflix "Watch Instantly". You can watch on your computer or hook up your computer to your TV.

[manders13]

Im sick of paying for cable too but... it's something that we need since we don't get out much..

we pay $115 a month for roadrunner, phone service, and 1 dvr box with cable (channels 2 through 300)

[bali1228]

We pay $69 per month for hi-speed verizon internet<waay too much imo, but what can ya do> We just switched to MajicJack, which we looove! So no universal connectivity charges and such. We watch tv on Hulu like previously mentioned< gotta get my Burn Notice fix> Over air<we get quite a few channels> or we pop in a DVD. I for one don't miss cable at all.

[uummm]

This may sound simple, but have you tried calling your cable provider and asked them if they have anything cheaper or specials?

When I went to cancel our phone they were willing to give me 3 or 6 months at half price (this was 4 years ago).

When we called Direct TV to complain about us paying too much they gave us a $20 a month discount.

When I called Charter (Local cable provider) to complain about our monthly cable internet going up $40 over the course of a year I suddenly got the current new customer promo for 6 months and was told to call back after 6 months to find out what special was going on.

Called At&t to complain about my $60 phone/internet bill (we NEVER used the home phone-but had to have it at the time to get the DSL) and I was suddenly told I could get stand alone internet for the cost of internet plus $5 which beats the cost of internet and the cheapest phone package of $20 when I originally signed up.

Also when I decided to get another line with my cell company and cancelled my land line they were willing to give me 1/2 price on the land line for 6 months to not cancel (plus 10 million reasons I NEEDED to keep my land line). Had they offered this to me BEFORE I got the other cell line I would have kept the land line because it was cheaper. We got the extra cell phone to have a phone at the house and it was only $12 a month which was cheaper than the $20 a month land line I was currently paying. Though having the portablilty of the cell phone that my son can take with him is nice too-we would have had to do it 1 year later but it would have been nice to save $96 over the course of that year.

[puakinikini]

DTV box

Watch everything you can on HULU for free.

We have nothing currently...as free as you can get.

This is us too. We got our DTV box free with the Government when they released them. We have never had cable.

[puakinikini]

Okay, I am finally setting a budget for things other then groceries, household and clothing - and I am having some trouble figuring out what is reasonable for ENTERTAINMENT.

To provide some context, we are a family of 6 - so going to the budget movie at 5.25 per person costs $31.50.

My husband loves theater, live music, live sports, and movies. Before we married 3.5 years ago my huband spent over $6000/year on entertainment for just him and his son. I have reigned him in significantly (obviously), but he has to have some budget for entertainment. We hardly ever eat out and spend very little on ourselves.

What do you think is reasonable for entertainment a month or a year for a family of 6?