Cut the Cable this Summer

To cut the cable is nothing new in paid TV, but maybe you haven’t taken a run at the box, scissors in hand. Perhaps the incentive hasn’t been perfect! Consider this: One reason to cut the cord is the significant amount of available free entertainment. Free entertainment leaves your wallet unscathed and your budget healthy. This blog discusses the free, no-subscriber-wall streaming services. While you might guess PopcornFlix and Peacock, we’ll also discuss sites like Kanopy.

Free Streaming Services

Desirable streaming-stick offerings like Roku, Google Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV Stick incentivize the cut the cable movement.

Indeed, switching to a streaming device and subscribing to pay services like Netflix, costs only a fraction of what you’re paying for cable service, and the entertainment options abound. Still, cut the cable and cut your budget more! For example, the Roku, Pluto, and Tubi apps are all free and offer significant programming! So, check out the no-cost streaming options as you contemplate cord-cutting!

News and Sports!

First, you can find news services like CBSN, Fox News, CNN, PBS, NBC, and ABC streaming services for news outlets with free programs. Discover YouTube, a great source for news and sports. While YouTube has a pay version, there are scores of free videos at YouTube, more than most can consume.

Second, sports events can be found too. While the critical category of league passes available on streaming sticks gives you access to live NBA games, free streaming sites are also generally available. Major league sports games are known for passes from Roku, VUDU, or STAN, but look to the channels offered at a service like Pluto for free sports events.

Streaming Services with a Grid

While some cut the cable skeptics doubt that anything less than a TV grid-like from Philo or Sling will suffice, you can find a similar grid for free at Pluto. Pluto has hundreds of channels you can choose from, organized by areas of interest. And if turn to the function buttons, Pluto’s easy to navigate. They also have on-Demand services available that offer plenty. In addition, check out the Freevee, Roku, or Crackle services when you cut the cord. They don’t charge.

If you didn’t have time to watch every film when it came out, here’s a chance to catch up. You can also watch great movies a second time around. Viewers can watch the Hunger Games trilogy, the eight Harry Potter movies, and the Divergent films a second time on free services just by keeping their ear to the ground! Also, there are high-grade television series. For example, did you miss Downton Abbey? It’s shown up on a service like Peacock for free, migrated behind the Netflix paywall for months, and has returned to Peacock for free.

A service like Freevee is embedded in the Amazon Prime app. In fact, you can get the Amazon Prime app for a month for free, and after that, if you don’t subscribe to Prime, you can still access Freevee’s free stuff through the service.

Prende TV is a Spanish language free streaming service.

Also with Cord-Cutting: Original TV Shows

New programs show up on free streaming channels regularly. VUDU, Crackle, and Peacock offer original TV shows. And it doesn’t have to be unique to be quality. Check the free offerings at Tubi. You’d be surprised how much caliber programming is available that costs you nothing. At Tubi, you can peruse a category like Rotten Tomatoes’ highly rated movies to guarantee you only watch critically acclaimed shows.

Free Antenna TV

Set aside for a moment the idea of streaming, and just think about input devices. If you dig the antenna out of the attic, you’ve discovered another free input device!

A big issue for cable subscribers is the perception that they’ll lose news and sports if they quit cable. The antenna offers sports all year round and three primary network news programming to boot.

Don’t be concerned if your only antenna is an old analog TV antenna. Analog antennas work fine with digital systems. Antennas don’t differentiate between digital and analog signals. You won’t have to invest in a new antenna if you don’t live in a skyscraper-dominated neighborhood or on a farm way out in the boonies. You can get almost everything your basic cable programming offered from the antenna for no charge: All accessible broadcast and sixty-percent networks, like the WB or UPN.

So, some people are fine watching ABC-NBC-CBS-PBS-Fox-WB/CW channels for news. In fact, antenna TV provides NCAA tournaments, NFL football, some MLB, and even some NBA. In truth, it might be enough news and sports to satisfy many viewers. Perhaps cable over-served you with it’s offerings? Combine your antenna with streaming services, and you may have what you consider an optimal package.

Cord-Cutting: The Cable Bill

Forget for a moment free streaming services. The average streaming household has up to seven or more pay services like Netflix or Amazon Prime, and the cost can range from $5 to $50. How does that compare to the cost of cable? Check out the offerings on Amazon Prime alone. You could quickly discover 30 TV series to watch.

After the one-time charge for the streaming stick (it’s an input device like your blue-ray player, so you don’t pay a monthly subscription). Just watch the free programming!

So, here’s what you’ll pay for a streaming stick: Roku is $27 – $119, a one-time charge. When you set up, they want a credit card number, but give them a gift card number or a prepaid debit card number if you can’t skip it. If you provide them with a credit card number, you won’t pay for anything you don’t sign up for. You can delete it later.

The Amazon fire or a Google Chromecast stick is easier to set up. Buy a state-of-the-art smart TV with a built-in streaming stick; you won’t have to spring for a streaming stick.

Okay, sure, with free programming, you’ll suffer advertising breaks (most people want them for popcorn runs, anyway.). Still, it’s substantially fewer ads than the ten minutes of advertising you suffer watching broadcast television.

In truth, the programming offered by the pay streaming services will meet most peoples’ entertainment needs, and subscribing to just one service, like Netflix or Hulu, costs less than $10. How does that stack up against your cable bill?

But there’s More!

Consider the public library if you really want to cut the cord. You could pay nothing for the recent releases! The public library system collects stuff, like books. In addition, collections of commercial movies and TV shows are available too. That could be true in your community. So, sign up for a library card.

You’ll discover cable network shows like Game of Thrones, Billionaire, Turn, or Homeland in the public library! They’re free!

Research the calendar years for the movies produced to find something to watch. For example, you may have missed many films released in 2018. Look for them at the public library.

Some public libraries put their content on the Internet, so you can stream it from apps like Overdrive and Kanopy.

So, here are your sources for free entertainment: 

1. Free streaming services
2. The rabbit ears channels
3. Public library and library apps

Do a little research, and you can quality free entertainment. So, cut the cable!

This blog was originally published in 2021 and has been slightly edited.

Cover Photo: Patrick Campanale/Unsplash

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