I cut the cord years ago. This isn't about why. It's more an update on my strategy. The point is to get everything you want, nothing you don't, and the best prices. It's a great time to be us.
The background subscriptions that never seem to go away are Amazon Prime®, and Netflix®. Prime is 119 bucks a year. We won't nickel and dime this. Yes, there are other big reasons I'm a Prime member. We're just going to put the whole thing on TV and say...
Amazon Prime: $119/12 months is $9.91/month.
NetFlix®: $34.78/month. (Three discs, BluRay®, and streaming. That's a great deal.)
Baseline TV Cost: $44.70/month.
There's a rooftop antenna plugged into a Tivo®. The Great Shifter makes sure everything has been hoovered up.
You'll notice there's no sports package. I don't do that.
I'm just ending my HBO Now® subscription. Game of Thrones ended. Gentleman Jack will be over on Monday, then there's no reason to be here for a while. Westworld is a long time from now. HBO Now is the most-expensive service I have used, in terms of amount of entertainment per dollar. 15 bucks a month, fewest number of hours.
April 20 - June 20 HBO Now: $30
I'm marking in a calendar of what I subscribed to. So, next year, as the month comes up, I should give the service a look to see if they've got stuff worth subscribing to, or come back to it in a few more months.
I'm planning on a rotation throughout the year. How long to subscribe is the question. I suggest you don't only subscribe only for single months. We should look at what we want and decide what it's worth. But only ever paying for single months will cause a contraction in production. There will be fewer programs of the type you want to see. More will be made for the people who will pay. We're still going to save hundreds of dollars per year.
I am very much looking forward to Disney+®, which is going to be a very good buy $/entertainment hour. (I really should create a unit of measure that's a single word. I'll work on that.) You'll get most of the Disney back catalog, sans Song of the South. If you like Star Wars, there will be a bunch of new shows. I have purchased Disney produced Star Wars TV shows. A single season cost about what eight months of Disney+ is going to cost. This will be a no-brainer.
I'm not as thrilled as I should be about Apple TV+®. When I watched the up-fronts Apple did online, I only saw a couple shows I thought had potential. I will watch, but I won't subscribe as long as I imagine I will at Disney. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. You know... History.
Both Disney and Apples' offerings are months away. For now, I'm thinking season 2 of Star Trek Discovery.
I made my Star Trek payments last year. I subscribed for three months at 10 bucks a month, and streamed 15 shows. That was a fair deal. But then I bought the BluRay discs later in the year. In my humble opinion, this was the best Trek in decades.
Star Trek Picard Is going to be out for Christmas. So right now, there's Disco 2.0.
Trek will tack on another 10 bucks a month for three months if it's as good as last year, and fewer months if it isn't. Yes, I'll have it completely watched in a week or two, but I'm going to pay what I think it's worth. I'm thinking 30 bucks. I just paid that for eight episodes of Gentleman Jack (which was great!), and six very dimly lit episodes of Game of Thrones.
So...
Baseline TV Cost: $44.70/month.
Star Trek Discovery: $10/month.
Total: $54.70
I'm a capitalist. I'm voting with my money. You can, too.