Happy Tuesday, friends!
My sweet in-laws are on island visiting us this week, so I better be off soon to enjoy my time with them, buuuuut I’ve been wanting to ask you this question all summer, and I finally decided today was the day.
I have a question about how you watch TV.
Yes.
That’s my big question.
(Yes, I know it’s silly, but for real, I need your input!)
We built our home in McKinney and moved in May 2014. Well, back then everyone had cable or satellite TV at home. I mean, how else does one watch Scandal circa 2014 if they don’t have ABC? Or Food Network? Or HGTV? Or Bravo? Or any sporting event? Or the news? You had to have “regular” TV along with cable or a dish. We have a dish.
Fast forward to 2023…and I feel like we’re the only ones left with cable/dish because everyone else only uses streaming services. THIS MAKES ME NERVOUS. I don’t know why. I haven’t sat down and watched my local news on TV or a show on ABC/NBC/CBS in YEARS, but it makes me nervous.
(And yes, I realize I am also the same woman who keeps a home phone because giving that up makes her nervous…I clearly have commitment issues, people!)
Here on Nantucket, Andrew said we were not going to have “normal” TV or cable/dish. We were just going to use streaming services. I mean, I’m on Nantucket, the LAST thing I want to do this summer is watch TV, so I didn’t care. But this leads me to today…now that we’ve been doing this for 6 weeks, he wants to go home and get rid of our “regular” TV and dish too. And this is where in our marriage, the third party enters the conversation (you being said third party) because I told him I would need to consult with my people on their thoughts.
You are my people…please consult with me.
How do you watch TV? I’m genuinely asking. I feel like my kids are able to watch most things here on different streaming platforms, but will we be able to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade live come Thanksgiving? Or what about local news? I can’t seem to find the Boston local news on the YouTube TV (or whatever it is we’re using here). Are we the last people relying on normal TV and a dish…are all of you watching YouTube TV (or whatever that thing is called)?
I legit want to hear your thoughts on how you’re watching TV in 2023.
That’s it.
I’m done.
Off to read your comments and hang with my in-laws now 😉 .
Thank you in advance! xx
And PS: I know, I know, I know I should get rid of my landline, but you guys, I keep thinking that one of these days, I’m going to be so happy we have it. Right? No? I don’t know?
Laura says
Ok great question!! We still have cable. We got rid of it once for a couple of months, but my husband couldn’t access his football team’s games on the ESPN app and I was also worried about live events coming up at the time (it was the Macy’s parade & royal weddings, for me!). So, someone please help! Are these available only on YouTube TV? Or would we have to get like 3 more streaming apps?
PS as a note – we don’t have a cable box, but we do have the “cable” streaming app if that makes any sense!
Lori Kelly says
We still have cable plus part of the streaming apps (some of which don’t cost us extra since we have cable like Max). And when we tried to eliminate our land line phone with the cable company it was going to cost us more sigh so we still have it.
Heather Murray says
I ditched cable in 2019. Haven’t missed it at all.
Laina Ramsey says
You can get it all on Roku!!
Alli Chryst says
We do streaming services and YouTube TV for all sports and parades 🙂
Whit says
We have Xfinity cable, Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. I can’t get rid of regular TV.
Kate says
We have your normal streaming services. Had to get YouTube tv to watch the Super Bowl live in January. We also have a small black box in our attic that is kind of like the old school rabbit ear antenna. It allows us to get local news station on two tvs in our house. If we messed with it more or got a better one I’m sure we could get more local stations.
Laura says
We ditched cable/dish service for streaming. It has taken a little time to adjust but seems to be working well for everyone. We have not watched live tv for a very long time, so streaming made more sense, plus I think we are saving money. You should keep your landline until your littles are old enough to have phones. They need a phone in case of emergency.
Jennifer Gould says
Yes! We have a land line for our security alarm, but we plugged in a phone for our kids to call us and vice versa as we are starting to let them stay at home for little chunks of time. It’s been so nice to reach them, and they love calling us and feeling so independent.
We do Sling TV, so we can get basic cable channels and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. My hubby could care less about certain sports, so we do a majority of streaming services… i.e. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Paramount Plus. Hulu is nice, bc you can still watch your current fav shows.
Patty Kalass says
YouTube TV. I was exactly like you with the phone and we had Direct TV. My only drawback is not being able to watch the Astros. This fall you will be able to watch all NFL games which I’m sure Andrew will like! We always paid a fortune to get that on Direct TV so it will be nice to NOT have that additional charge.
Kimber says
Get rid of the landline STAT! lol..I ditched mine 8 years ago and do not miss it at all!
We used to have directv then Verizon but we were so sick of $225 costs once the year was up so we checked out YouTube TV…it’s different than YouTube…it was the best thing we ever did. $64 a month. You just need a smart tv and we bought a google remote that came with a dongle you plug into the back of your tv. Set it up and log in on any tv in your house and you are done! No waiting for the cable guy or satellite company and paying high costs. We also have Netflix and paid like $50 for paramount for a year. And we did the NFL red zone which was an extra $10 a month but we didn’t need it year round so we cancelled it. So much cheaper than the $300 per year with directv! You can add on extras to your account if needed, but we did not. Also our daughter can log into it on her computer in her dorm and watch any of the shows she watches at home.
Susan says
Hi! We moved to the middle of nowhere a year and a half ago and we decided to go with YouTube TV and we can see local news as well, but never watch it😊
Peg says
Utube TV & Frendly TV
And we still have our landline
Christine says
My husband and I were having the same conversation this week! He wants to get rid of cable, but I feel like we need it for reasons exactly like you said… how am I watching the Macy’s parade or how am I falling asleep to Everybody Loves Raymond? You’re not alone Shay!
Katie says
Last year we finally switched to DirectTV stream. The cable company told us once we switched we could not go back because they only do regular cable in 55+ communities now 🤦🏼♀️ after a few weeks, we all adjusted and love it now.
Dustie Day says
We literally just switched from xfinity to you tube tv a few months ago and I was beyond nervous. It’s been the best switch though. We have Netflix, Disney + so there are still so many options.
Mary Arredondo says
This cracks me up!! We still have cable for that same thing!! We fall asleep to everyone loves Raymond every night!! 😂😂😂
Angela says
Raymond is in Peacock! We’re trying to eliminate YouTube tv. It’s so expensive but then comes down to watching our college football and Chiefs.
Stephanie says
Go Chiefs! YouTube TV is so expensive these days! Plus all the extra steaming services. I don’t miss cable though.
Michelle says
We put our YouTubeTV subscription on hold after March Madness and then restart it again in the fall for football. And, it saves your settings too so you don’t have to re-set the recordings. Aside from saving money, it also is nice in that it gets us off the couch and enjoying other family activities together in the spring and summer instead!
Morgan says
We have YouTube TV, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Becky Smith says
I have Roku. I have some free apps and some subscription apps. Total I pay 30 bucks a month to stream the content I want. With that said many apps you can bundle. Or you can do something like Hulu live. I did two pay apps and choose from free to keep my cost low. I will never go back to cable or dish. Get rid of the phone. It’s beyond time. It’s a dust collector.
Kari Bazan says
Agreed! Roku has been wonderful for us too! We still get the free local news channels too. ☺️
Stephanie Paul says
We also have a Roku and works great. We also get live tv via Roku as my husband likes to watch live sports and I like to things like Oscar’s live.
My parents have Apple TV which also gets them all the apps for streaming plus live tv options via those apps for sports, cable and award shows. Since almost every network has a streaming option you get they live content plus the saved streaming.
DK says
Love your blog!
We have an antenna in the attic so we still get local channels free (ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS) without cable. And then we have streaming services, which we use 99% of the time. My husband set up everything.
That being said, my parents live in another state and haven’t given up cable, so we use cable when we visit them. And I still prefer cable over streaming. I’m about your age so maybe the way it’s organized is more intuitive for my brain. Because my kids definitely prefer streaming.
Good luck!!
Toni :0) says
Your first paragraph is us as well! We have mainly streaming through me Prime, Netflix, Philo which I pay for. Hulu, Paramount, F1, Peacock through my son who lives in the home with us. Shay, get rid of that landline girl…waste of cash and not needed. It’s very rare to have cell phone towers not work and if they don’t, you’ll eventually be able to get online somehow to communicate with others. 🤷♀️
Lacey says
We do the same! We get a ton of local channels so that we can watch local news or watch for weather (we live in hurricane central!) We stream everything else. We have Sling and I can watch Food Network, HGTV, Hallmark, etc on it to get my “fix” of cable tv.
Dana says
We left regular cable/dish a long time ago. We have certain streaming sources that have what we normally watch. There are streaming options that do have live news/sports streams (we usually add a source during the fall for college football & will add if there is something particular we want to watch). Because we live in a tornado alley, we also got a digital antenna that catches our most trusted local news/weather. But as for sitting down to watch mainstream news sources regularly, we don’t & have in years. For us, it was a lot easier to choose what we wanted & be more mindful of the time we spend with TV.
Peyton Cline says
We stream Netflix, Paramount Plus, Disney Plus, Prime Video, Apple TV, Peacock, and Disney Plus
Alex says
We have everything – full cable and almost every streaming app. We still use cable all of the time: Fox and Friends, GMA, old re-runs of Friends, NFL/college sports etc. I don’t really care to figure out how to access all of that without cable. It’s easy to use and nothing has to “buffer” or load. I don’t see us getting rid of cable any time soon.
Kelsey Echols says
YouTube TV!
Mary says
I don’t watch TV, so no help there! Keep the landline for 911. My daughter was robbed, while home and bc she did not have a landline they couldn’t track her address immediately. She had to speak while hiding in a closet – the police told her to always have a landline bc you can call and put phone down and they’ll respond. If one person sees this and keeps the landline for this I’m happy.
Kit says
Thank you for this!!! I’ve been trying to get a landline for years and husband dragging his feet on it. I’m going to go annoy him about it again now, thank you for this! How terrifying for your daughter!!
Lisa G says
The previous comment is accurate. Also for example if you are having a medical emergency and can’t speak just dialing 911 and leaving the line open would allow for a much quicker response. I have been a prosecutor for over 20 years and have kept a landline. Another tip is teach all of the kids to state your address first when speaking with 911, much more important that they can find you then talk about type of problem.
Laura LaGroue says
You can text 911!
Charlene Cunningham says
That’s why I have one! Plus, you never know if youll lose electricity, can’t charge your phone, cell towers go down, etc, etc.
I only watch cable. Fox, Bravo, hallmark, HGTV, Turner Classic movies, nickelodeon and Disney for kids.
My husband watches a lot of streaming.
Melinda says
We have local cable. We also can stream Prime, Netflix, Disney etc. My husband watches a lot of sports and I don’t want to figure all that out for him each time. We have one Smart TV, so I would have to upgrade the other TVs. Since you have young children at home, I would keep your landline. It would be easier for them to call 911, if they needed to.
Lauren says
Even if you don’t have actual paid service, a phone plugged into a landline should still be able to call 911. Always good to have one just in case.
Jess says
Fubo lets you watch local channels and is much cheaper!
Cindy says
I thought this but not true in my town in MA. I tried it when I just moved. Makes me nervous not having a land line because I live alone and if I have a medical emergency and don’t remember where my cell phone is, I could waste precious time looking for it.
Natasha says
Absolutely keep your landline. I had to call 911 a month ago when our neighbours’ house burst into flames waking me up. 911 knew my address without me telling them.
Additionally, if you have kids at home who don’t have access to a cell phone, and they stay at home by themselves, they need a way to contact you, then your landline is very helpful. We even had babysitters who didn’t have cell phones so we needed the landline so they could get in touch with us.
Once all your kids have their own cell phones/don’t need babysitters, then you can think of getting rid of your landline. Maybe.
Kourtney says
We still have cable too 😅 my husband fears we will miss a sporting event if we don’t. I personally only watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix over and over, haha.
Elspeth says
We still keep our landline and still have “normal” tv/ cable. Although we do use streaming services, we still watch local news and networks and shows on cable.
I’m interested to see other people’s responses!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Jennifer T says
YouTube TV. We watch the news every evening either live or recorded. You can still set favorite shows to record. You get a ton of channels and can watch any network show you want to watch. You can add channels too, like Paramount+. We do still have Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, etc.
Heather says
I actually have an answer to this question and I am the least technical person in the world. We moved to Europe seven years ago and so we needed to figure out how to watch all my US shows from here with streaming because cable was not an option and I didn’t want to miss the Thanksgiving Day parade live either. So, we use a combination of streaming with Apple TV. We use YouTube TV to get stuff Live and then regular streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime and Disney Plus. I am able to watch all my shows…so far there isn’t anything I have not been able to watch that I have wanted to. Now as far as cost, I am not sure which is the better deal with streaming vs. cable. I find that in order to get all the shows I wanted that I had to use multiple streaming services to get everything. Hope that helps!
Robin says
This is exactly what we do! There is not a single thing we can’t watch.
Whitney Greenlee says
YouTube tv! We still get local news and channels, plus hgtv, ESPN, hallmark etc. always works for us and I don’t feel like we are missing anything.
Pam says
We do the same. We can watch everything. You just have to make sure you have “decent” internet connection.
Kat Hood says
This is what I do as well!
Paula McKaughan says
We haven’t had “real tv” in years, and we don’t miss a thing. We have Youtube TV (which has all the local channels and so much more. Of course we have our select few streaming channels, but not having cable/satellite is definitely a thing of the past.
Erin says
What she says!! You tube TV! It’s great. You can watch ALL your local stations. These people who don’t know if they can get local channels are crazy. You won’t notice any difference, other then it’s just better. 😉 Dish is definitely a thing of the past.
Kate says
So can you watch something the same night it airs. For example I often dvr a show but watch it later that night. Is there a comparable option with streaming? Or do you have to watch next day if not watching live? This is my hang up
Maria Moreno says
Yes, I have YouTube TV and do this often if only to skip the commercials.
Jenny G says
We’ve had YouTube tv for years, one of the first people to get it. I will only watch shows on my DVR so I can fast forward through commercials. I can absolutely watch all my shows the night of. I think there is a lower priced Hulu that you watch the next day, but not with YouTube tv.
Beth Knecht says
Shay I worry about the same thing! “What if we can’t watch the Macy’s Day Parade?” We still have cable and barely ever watch it, but the chance that we can’t watch it is too much to give it up!
Dianna says
I still have cable TV, as well as streaming services. You won’t ever find local news on any of those streaming services unless it becomes a viral clip or something. My husband and I agreed that once the cable box dies we will fully convert. In addition to cable we have Hulu, MAX, Peacock, Disney+, ESPN+. One day soon we will all probably see a huge “bundled streaming plan” and it will be cable 2.0 lol!
Sheri says
We have only streaming and get live local news via Hulu Live, so it can be done. Even with HL, Netflix, Paramount and Max – plus separate internet service – our bill is considerably less than it was with cable. We don’t miss cable at all, and we’ve been without for 5 years. Also no landline, which we don’t miss. We can access 911 thru our cell phones with location services.
Amy says
YouTube TV has live local news.
Laura Mc says
YouTube tv is exactly like cable but streaming. You have the option to “record” shows ( basically watch when you want). Also, you can watch live local tv. When you travel, it adjusts to where you are locally.
Cathy Williams says
This exactly. Youtube tv is what we have had for years!
Amy says
Same thing… I was nervous about it but we did YouTube TV about 6 years ago and never looked back! It has been great. I love that there are sub accounts off your account so your kids can have their own accounts like you have in Netflix. What has been great was when they went to college they had their own service, but it was off out account. Your shows are always with you no matter where you go. You can watch on your phone, tablet, a TV in a hotel room, etc… I was concerned I couldn’t use my phone while streaming but you can. It literally has all the things that we like to watch… including local news… so you can see Pete Delkus during storms giving updates all night long. It is literally like cable.
Kim says
From a 29 year old “kid” perspective – I appreciate my parents still having dish network I can log into and watch things my personal streaming services don’t cover (like some sporting events especially and other live events, etc.) without me needing to get another service haha 😆. But that’s probably not a good reason to keep it 😂
Jamie says
You can stream the Thanksgiving day parade on Peacock!
Becky says
This is a good question! 🙂 We use a fire tv stick. You can choose to pay for whichever channels you’d like. It’s explained here… https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-TV-Family/b?ie=UTF8&node=8521791011
Sara says
We have used streaming services since we moved into our current house in 2015. Cable and cable boxes were just getting to be too much, and we were constantly running around with kids so we weren’t actually watching the shows the night they aired on tv anywhere. We first got Hulu and used the parents’ Netflix account initially. We are able to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade when it airs live. Now we use Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, and I think we get a variety.
Becky says
We have cable and a bunch of streaming services. (Disney +, Netflix. Paramount, HBO max, Hulu) My husband and I have this discussion often. The only reason why we still have cable because we have the sports package and watch NFL network, the Red Zone, and MSG to watch hockey games.
Jill Matthews says
YouTube TV, we dropped cable years ago.
Jodie Kingsbury says
We have Dish Network at home because my hubby isn’t fond of having to learn all the new technology.
I would prefer to drop it because of the rising prices of television service.
Jen says
We are not big TV people but have YOUTUBE TV and we get local news and evening news. We also have a landline simply because we don’t have cell service where we live.
Danielle Gorney says
Hey Shay! We have a cable package that includes the news and a few premium channels, but we primarily rely on streaming services. We kept the small cable package because I wanted direct access to the morning news, local sporting events and yes, the Thanksgiving Parades / New Years Eve shows!
Kelsey says
A digital antenna! Certain streaming services offer live streams (Thanksgiving Day Parade streams on Peacock for example), but we installed a $30 antenna and get local NBC, ABC, CBS, and a few random Spanish channels
Stacey says
We did the same! Works perfectly!
Alisa Wisor Tannehill says
This is what we do as well!
Jenny says
Same here! As long as you live in an urban area, it works perfectly to stream local channels.
Josie says
We cut the cable cord probably 10 + years ago and haven’t looked back. I will say at first it was to save money but now we pay for so many streaming services we’re paying the same amount, so no savings there.
My husband was also really nervous about not being able to watch live sports but he watches them through YouTube tv and it’s fine. We don’t watch the news so that’s not an issue. Thanksgiving parade also on YouTube tv. My kids don’t know any different and barely know what a commercial is.
Do it! And cut the land line too! You do not need it!
Stephanie says
YouTube TV ALL THE WAY! You get love TC, large cable networks, Bravo, sports, etc.
Christine says
We still have a landline, too! I feel like it’s good for emergencies (although truthfully – I can’t articulate exactly what the emergency would be!) It just makes me nervous to think about quitting our landline, too. 🙂
Julie says
A few years ago we had an earthquake (totally unexpected) in northern Virginia outside of DC. The cell phone lines were jammed for hours around here, and I couldn’t get in touch with my husband at work or the rest of the extended family. I’m told the same thing happened on 9/11. Also, my kids don’t have cell phones, but occasionally they are here alone, so they need to be able to get in touch with me! For all these reasons, I keep my landline, as well as for 911 to find us easily, if needed. Though my husband is lobbying to get rid of it!😂
As far as TV goes, I had all the same concerns about live things, but YouTube TV lets us watch both live and local things, as well as record them.
Leslie says
LOL! This was me a year ago. At 40 years steaming TV sounded unheard of for me! 🤣. However, nervously, I cancelled my cable and decided it was time to get with the times and stream. Now I stream with YouTube TV. You get local channels and all sports channels. I will never go back to cable.
Sarah nienhuis says
We use Hulu plus (has live tv) and we’ve seen everything we want to see aside from certain games and my husband figured a work around for those. Don’t miss cable and haven’t looked back!
Rachel says
Same here….it took forever to convince my husband he would still be able to watch golf LIVE, but we have Hulu plus (probably for 5 years) and never looked back! We do have accounts with most platforms in addition to Hulu plus but it is still cheaper than we were paying for Directv! DO IT!!!
Deana Ziev says
Shay! I had the same struggle when my husband wanted to get rid of cable. We finally took the plunge and got Hulu Plus (so I could still have a DVR), and we love it. We pay for internet through Verizon, and then have a Hulu plus bill which comes with Disney Plus for free. I don’t remember the difference between Hulu and Hulu plus- besides there being more sports station, hallmark and a DVR. And I can definitely watch the Macys Day Parade- and the local news if I want to! Usually I don’t- but my husband has turned the news on occasionally 😉
Caitlan I says
We absolutely were able to watch live events (like the parade on Thanksgiving!) via streaming services (Sling). We absolutely love not having cable/dish for TV and have been using only streaming services and wouldn’t go back.
Erika Slaughter says
You’re not the last person with Uverse. That’s what we have! I think we’d have already switched BUT you can only watch the Rangers on a certain channel that you can’t stream (or something like that). However that shouldn’t be a problem for you so maybe you should do it. 😂😂
Shannon says
We use Apple TV and then we get all the apps to stream. We have paramount plus (which is CBS and you can get local news there), peacock (which is nbc, you can also get local news), we get Disney+ and Hulu for free through our Verizon account (that’s abc) and then we get prime video with our prime account. You could get Discovery + and that would cover things like Discovery, Animal Planet, HGtV, Food Network, etc. but if you don’t, you can still get all those apps, you just have to endure commercials, which at first is a pain, but you get used to it.
Julie C. says
About 6 months ago, I FINALLY talked my husband into getting rid of our dish. We watch most of our tv on YouTube TV. We get all of our local channels plus a ton of others like HGTV, Food Network, Hallmark, etc. The other streaming apps we have are: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime & Peacock. We all LOOOVE our decision to get rid of the dish 🙂
Sarah Dizard says
We are pretty similar. We use youtube tv and then other apps as needed. For example, if I’m into a show on hbomax, we have that app, but it’s easy to cancel if we aren’t using it and save the money. Then pay for it again if we need it. I was also nervous bc I didn’t want to spend a ton of time figuring out a new system and it’s been seemless.
Laina Ramsey says
I was hesitant to change to streaming and get rid of the landline. Guess what? We didn’t need either of them. We went with Roku and then our kids helped with whatever else we needed. I have found that I watch less tv with streaming. Maybe too many choices? I also like being able to watch my shows from the 90s! We don’t miss the landline phone! It was never used except for telemarketing to bother us. Once you get rid of the dish and landline, you won’t miss either of them.
Scarlett Spangler says
This topic makes me nervous too! We are in a rental before moving into our new home, and we have had a trial run by paying for Hulu live + our typical streaming services rather than cable or dish. It has been fine- I haven’t missed anything, because I don’t watch much live TV either. Hulu even let’s you record shows, which is nice when there is something I want to watch. The biggest problem we are having is figuring out the best way to get the live sports we want to watch (since we are on the East Coast now but our favorite teams are West Coast). I think we may stick with Hulu and add MLB Network + Sunday Ticket in the new house… BUT I feel like there may be a better option than Hulu. Ahg! See, I’m not sure or very helpful with this either. Can’t wait to read other comments!
Jen says
I had all the same fears/concerns as you! Believe me when I say, YouTube TV is the way! We may have been the last people on the planet with directv until last month. YouTube tv allows you to watch live tv, the exact same way as directv. Additionally, we just have a few apps, ie netflix, Disney plus, Apple TV.
Desiree Leone says
Good morning Shay! We gave up our home phone line years ago, because the spam calls were out of control and we don’t miss it at all. I think streaming is the way to go to, because it’s less expensive (I think). My son just moved into his new place and is using steaming services and enjoys it. We don’t watch local news either and if by chance I wanted to I can just check it out on the computer (which I never do). Ha ha! I would love to change all of our televisions into smart ones one day! Hope this helps! XOXO
Beth says
We have YouTube live streaming. It has all the channels we actually watch without fluff, all the sports we need, and locals at a fraction of what we were paying with Dish. We also have Netflix, Prime, Disney plus, Hulu
Anna says
I was the same way exact way and then finally 2 years ago I switched over to just streaming. I have Hulu plus so I can still get some LIVE tv stations and watch the local news. I don’t miss regular cable at all now.
amanda says
when we left texas to come back to georgia (military) we decided that it was worth a try to not have cable. that was 7 years ago and we still don’t have cable. now i will say having all the streaming services and/or purchasing the add on subscriptions for things like hallmark, epic, amc it’s ALMOST the same amount as cable was. we have to wait sometimes for shows to be available for us to watch but after 7 years there is no love loss with not having cable.
Morgan Fox says
We had spectrum for a long time and switched to YouTube TV a couple of years ago due to price. Honestly, after adding all of the streaming subscriptions we have – we aren’t saving money, but I don’t have complaints. We can watch the news, sports, Bravo, kids programming, etc. all on YouTube.
Jennifer says
I was the same way but we got YouTube TV and have never looked back! You can still watch all local stations live, record things, or watch on demand. We also have, Prime, Netflix, and Disney Plus. We like that you can set up different profiles and it keeps your current watched and preferences or set kid profiles. And you can watch from wherever you are in different devices. It can get overwhelming with all the choices but we love it!
Kristin says
We use an antenna to get (for free) the basic channels (ABC, etc.) in our area. This covers the local news and things like the Macys Thanksgiving parade. If there’s something we want to watch that is not covered by our regular streaming services or by the channels on the antenna, we just do a month’s subscription to a streaming service that will allow us to watch (ex:Olympics on Peacock or March Madness).
Kathleen says
I recently gave up our home phone…it hadn’t been working and it took me a while to notice. So I took that as a sign, it was okay to let it go.
Having said that, we still have cable (included in our HOA dues) and we pay extra for a DVR so I can record shows.
Amy Scott says
I was the same way, but I am happy to say that I absolutely love YouTube tv. You get all the local stations no problem and you get the DVR features. I have all the Bravo shows set to record. You will also have the app on your phone and you can watch anything you have set to record! It’s amazing! Most tvs are smart tvs now and the apps are already on there for you. Or, you get a Roku or Amazon Fire Stick. I agree with Andrew!
Ashley says
YouTube TV. We get everything local with it plus everything else. Just like having regular cable minus the price.
Jeanie says
We have YouTube TV and get all the network stuff on that. Then we have Netflix and BritBox and Disney+.
I used to feel the same way as you, that I would be missing out on something, but really we have adapted. We don’t have the NFL package (it’s pricey!) but if we had that my life would be complete. 😏
Maria says
We have a land line and dish as well! The land line is for my peace of mind and I feel like we should have one because not all of our kids have cell phones yet. If they are home alone I want them to be able to call if needed. My husband says we have dish so he can access the sports he wants to. I won’t be getting rid of my land line but I am interested to see what others say about the streaming things.
Joanna says
I completely felt the same way! I have been watching General Hospital (I know, but it’s so good!) every day for 25 years and I refused to give it up. We have a few apps like Netflix, HBO Max, etc., but Hulu live is the best! It allows us to watch Live TV but also have access to a library of past episodes of shows and movies. With Hulu Live you will still have local news, Bravo, Food Network, many live sports games and other things you may miss without cable. Hope this helps ease your mind!
Amber says
We only use streaming services and I feel like when you add them all up it costs the same as dish, without the satellite on your house 🙂 I’ve been able to watch everything I want (college football!)
Stacey says
We stream all the services BUT, we did get an antenna (you cannot see it, behind the TV) and then we actually have the three/four local channels with it. It works perfectly! I like having access to the local news and we need it to support the Buffalo Bills as well!
TERRY JOYES says
Go Bills! 🙂
Becky Weaver says
My husband and I live in Arlington, TX and have used several streaming services. The one that works best for us is YouTube TV. We get all the local channels, Bravo, HGTV, Food Network, etc. We also get all the Sports channels other than Bally Sports which plays the Ranger games and Longhorn Network (big UT fan here so I miss a couple of games a year). YouTube TV also has unlimited DVR so we can record as much as we want and also search for episodes or shows that we do not have recorded and go back and watch them. Sometimes they have ads that go along with them but you have the option to pay extra and not get the ads but we haven’t gotten to that point yet. The ads are few and far between and typically pretty short so it doesn’t bother us.
Andrea Hooper says
We have YouTube tv, Amazon, Netflix, Disney plus and use someone’s Peacock. I’m pretty positive we get wbz (Boston news) on YouTube tv, but I don’t actually watch the news so I am not positive.
Amber says
We finally made the switch last winter so I must have been the second to last person to do so. 😉 We went with YouTube TV to get sports, local news, and things like the Macy’s parade. Then we canceled that subscription when NBA playoffs wrapped up since we watch very little TV in the summer anyway. Netflix, Amazon prime and Apple TV have been more than enough. We’ll add YouTube TV back when football starts. It seems to have worked for us and we’re definitely saving money.
Rebecca J Vincent says
I was the biggest scaredy cat to get rid of my local stuff but the prices – WHEW>
& I’m OK without it. I have found our local news has apps to download that show the news live & then you can replay it – its kinda nice to play it when I want.
I basically live on Hulu or Peacock for the big networks next day airing – I dont feel left out.
Usually big events, you can find streaming somewhere…there’s little kinks here & there – like I had to sign up for a month so I could see Wimbledon…. but I just canceled right after.
Grace says
We got rid of cable years ago! We use an antenna (they’re much smaller and more aesthetic than they used to be) to watch local news, Wheel of Fortune and of course the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade! We use Sling TV to watch live sports and then we also have Discovery+, Disney+/ESPN+ and Netflix.
Kristen Thompson says
I was so hesitant to get rid of cable tv but we moved in 2021 and decided to try YouTube TV and we really like it! We can watch our local news, it has all of the standard channels that regular cable has! There are different packages too!
Francesca says
YouTube TV has been perfect for us! It has all the basic news channels plus everything I love (Bravo, Hallmark, Food Network, etc.). I highly recommend it!
Kara says
Rabbit ears! 😂 digital antenna at target for $30 and we get quite a few “regular” channels (macys parade!) we stream everything else and we never miss cable!
Laurie says
If you have internet, you can use any streaming service.
Cable is just to pricey, cut the cord!
I use Directtv stream, love it!!
Kim Harrigan says
We have you tube tv we can see our local channels.
Amdog says
I’m with Andrew on this! We’ve have antenna + streaming for at least 15 years and its just fine. Even though we liked some cable cooking and home shows, overall, it just felt like trash entertainment that we didn’t need to be watching or paying for. We had to cut streaming down to just Amazon Prime this year and we got used to that quickly as well. Amazon Firestick has Pluto and Freevee apps that play old movies and tv shows. The Roku stick has some apps that play older stuff too.
Will you let us know how the dish cancellation call goes if you do it? Those kinds of conversations with pushy customer service reps scare me so much, I’d love to hear how a confident person handles them, haha.
Erin Rivers says
I’m too tired to read through all these comments just yet (LOL) so this may have already been said but…….. We only do streaming services here. You can get an antenna for your tv that will give you your local channels….if there’s another way to do it, I don’t know about it although I wish I did. LOL I’m pretty sure I watched the parade live on Peacock last year. You have that option on several of the streaming services (some being more expensive than others). I don’t miss having regular tv at all because I’m still able to watch what I want to the next day….,it doesn’t bother me that I’m not watching it “live” with everyone else.
Kara says
I got rid of my land line years ago but I still have U-verse cable. Of course I have streaming too. But everything I look at getting rid of the cable and it’s huge bill, there is something that I find I watch that isn’t included.
Eliz says
We have a landline as well- just for emergencies (and our kids can call a select group of friends that also have landlines- no cell phones for them yet). We have used streaming for probably 5 years and it has worked well.
Kelly Frauenhofer says
I was terrified of this at first! I need Today Show in the morning, Wheel of Fortune at night and of course all the Hallmark Christmas movies! We switched to YouTube tv and it has ALL that! I don’t even know how, but it does. I can get all the streaming apps and still watch the local or live shows. Highly recommend! My husband did purchase some sports package too for all the fall football games.
Cynthia says
Hard to answer. We just moved so we went with U-Tube TV. Sometimes it has my favorite channel (TCM), sometimes no. Sad. We have Netflix , Hulu…. 2 other platforms. We went with Cable last week because of the constant infusion of “woke” commercials. We are canceling U-Tube TV. We watch a lot of History and NationalGeograpic Channel. American Military Channel too. Golf… Food Network. I believe it had local but we never watch News channels. I do choose to watch CBN News. ( Christian Broadcast News). I believe the choices are many to choose from. Respect the many platforms….. we choose what worked for us. Good luck!
Jen says
I may be the contrarian opinion – we cut the cable cord 5 years ago when it was much cheaper. At this point, it would be cheaper for us to go back to cable! Apple TV will bundle most of the services you want but it still averages out to what we were paying for cable before. Add in one non-apple service, and it is more expensive!
TERRY JOYES says
Indeed! What started out as “inexpensive” ala-carte streaming options has become a bundling nightmare and the costs keep going up! If you go back to cable in the 80s and 90s, the same thing happened…started out very inexpensive but license fees (such as $9.42 per household per month going to ESPN — or roughly $600 million per month given to ESPN by the consumers!!) have cause the monthly cable costs to keep going up and up and up! Streaming and FAST Channels are following this historic path as well!
Kathryn says
We got YouTube TV and get all the news stations plus Bravo, HGTV, Food Network, etc. It’s perfect! You would never know we don’t have cable.
Emily says
Hi Shay!
We have a Roku stick and use the FUBO app for tv. It’s like YouTube TV or Hulu Live but is very sports heavy. My MLB and college football loving husband is very happy to have all the extra sports channels, and I’m happy to have Bravo and Hallmark! You can also create separate profiles for people in your household, so sports doesn’t always pop up on my homepage and the kids can only focus on their channels.
We’ve loved it!
Tina says
We have You Tube TV and it’s great except for when…..the internet goes out/power outage/storms/wind etc. I feel like we are always rebooting it to watch TV…always seems like connection issues on one of the TV feeds….
Deena says
You may want to check into that because it’s not usual to have to reboot so often. I can’t remember the last time we had to do that. We have Roku and it seems pretty stable. We did have more problems when we had the Firestick 4k.
Jamie says
We’ve never had cable or a dish. We had Netflix and Hulu for a few years, but stopped that because a lot of the adds and content were questionable. We use the free versions of several streaming platforms through an Amazon fire stick and youtube a lot, but not youtube tv. We also have max for free as a perk of our phoneplan. WE also have a digital antenna (yes, like an updated version of rabbit ears) for our local channels/ “free tv”.
Jenna says
Fubo TV, Sling TV, or YouTube TV! We’ve jumped between them all based on what sports networks and other channels they happen to be offering. Check the lineups for each to see which one streams most of your preferred channels!
Gina Gryzlo says
I was nervous at first to get rid of cable, and now I’m mad we didn’t do it sooner. We recently switched to HULU and it is awesome! I get live TV (local stations, Bravo, HGTV, Hallmark, etc…) along with streaming. I am not missing out on anything! I also have Prime, disney+ and ESPN+, so everyone in my house is happy!
Dana Abney says
We switched to You Tube TV 2 years ago. I was extremely nervous like you. I mean….you get used to where your channels are, etc. So I understand the hesitation.
I will say the ONLY thing I miss is the LOCAL weather on The Weather Channel. Yes I can watch it on my local ABC, CBS, NBC because we get all of those but I like The Weather Channel. Just me on my soapbox–everything else with YouTube TV is fine.
Kari Anne Maddox says
I have Youtube TV and it allows me to watch Live TV and sports, record programs and pause/rewind
I also have Max, Peacock, Hulu, Netflix and Prime
Nikki says
Youtube TV! (You still get local news and sports!)
Jennifer says
We still have cable, but we got a “deal” about bundling with high speed internet. I love TCM and my husband loves ESPN. It is just easy to maintain and it’s one price. I don’t want to manage all of the streaming services I would need to watch the shows and movies that I love.
Sara says
We have YouTube TV and it took me a little while to get used to it. I have no complaints now! I can still watch the local channels on there.
Sara Gorrell says
We are soul sisters on this. We are still paying 9 million dollars a month for cable (Frontier) and then paying another 9 million for all the streaming services. I don’t even like TV that much! I get so mad about it every month, but I’m too nervous to cut the cord; mostly because I am afraid we won’t get all the live sports we love. HELP ME! (LOL!)
Jessamyn Peace says
We use a very basic cable package and streaming services on a Roku. A lot of times you have to key in your username and password for xfinity to get like the ABC app on Roku or for certain sports platforms. So it does become helpful at times. But I wouldn’t spend a lot on tons of channels anymore!
Sarah Shaneyfelt says
We got rid of our normal cable tv years ago! I told Dustin I didn’t care what we did as long as I had Bravo and Hallmark. I feel like we have a ton of streaming apps now but I guess so does everyone else. We use YoutubeTV and I watch The Today Show there (so you can always watch the Macy’s parade!). We also have Disney+ which gets us ESPN+ and Hulu. I stream the FrndlyTV app and I can watch Great American Family (which is like Hallmark but family-centric), Netlix and AppltTV. It’s a lot but oh well LOL
MeetTheShaneyfelts
Eryn McNearney says
We have YouTube TV, and use that subscription at our primary home south of Boston and at our place at the Cape. We get local channels, Boston news at the Cape, Providence at home and all the major things we are looking for. We have Max and Prime and don’t ever seem to be looking for anything else. It’s been about 2.5 years and we haven’t looked back.
Dana K says
We were on the fence for a while…price was too high for the quality of service we were receiving (cable, internet, landline combined). After visiting family in May who made the switch to streaming only, we made the switch in June. We use YouTube TV and get all the cable channels that we watched before…including live local news/shows/etc. We don’t get our local MLB team’s games, but that’s not who we follow anyway. We also have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Max (old HBO). We switched internet providers for better service and also dropped our landline (husband wanted to drop that long ago, but I held out until now). Our bill is now less than half what it was before, our service is better, and we’re not missing any shows we watched before.
TERRY JOYES says
As a television researcher working for a top ten cable network, I can confirm that over 73 million households are still “connected” via cable and/or satellite providers. I actually have cable but I don’t use it…I even removed the television from my living room. My brother, who lives with me, is the sole consumer of television in my household! Streaming is a mystery to me! 🙂 I do have Freevee and watch an occasional movie on my smartphone while cross-stitching. The industry sure has changed in the past ten years! Good luck with the television negotiations with Andrew!
Jeanne says
Hulu Plus!! We JUST “cut the cord” last month. We also have Netflix and Amazon Prime. We don’t miss cable at all.
Taylor says
We use YouTube tv and then peacock for all of my bravo shows!
Sara says
You just need an antenna! I watch all the local news, parade, award shows, etc. on regular network TV with an antenna, and then use whatever streaming services I subscribe to. Easy. You get a ton more channels with an antenna these days, too, by the way.
Angie R says
We tried a couple but landed on Fubo. It has ATT Sports, Hallmark, HGTV, and all the “regular” channels, plus lots more! We also have Disney + and The Cowboy Channel – we’re rodeo people. But that’s the only “extra” we pay for.
Kristin says
YouTube TV and we watch local news on it. Got rid of our landline, and I only miss it when I’m not home and really need my husband to pick up for some reason. He often leaves his cell on silent and/or doesn’t have it within earshot. Other than that, I don’t miss it.
April says
We have cable and a landline. I won’t be getting rid of either. Just heard on the news streaming services are having problems keeping subscribers. I love your blog.
Christy says
I can relate… we also are the last people I know that have an actual landline. In my defense, we live in a cellular “dead zone” (in the middle of a neighborhood) so my husband is on board with keeping it for now.
We literally just got rid of cable a couple weeks ago after I dragged my feet for months. It really wasn’t as big of a deal as I made it. We have Hulu live (which includes the local channels) because I wanted to bundle it with ESPN+ and Disney+. Honestly, the only drawback is that I cannot switch channels as easily as I could with cable (it’s literally only a couple more button presses to do so). YouTube TV is very similar in channels to Hulu – main difference is that bundling. Go for it! I was tired of paying ridiculous prices for our cable and it was so freeing getting rid of all the cable boxes after we cancelled! 😂
Amy Heinl says
I still have cable and haven’t switched for a couple of reasons. First
I am big sports fan and alot of that is live and on the major big 3 channels. I also live on the East Coast a few miles inland from the ocean and need local news when tropical storms and hurricane season is upon us. My cable package also includes my internet service so I have that all bundled. I did finally drop my home line and use my cell only. I would keep the home line for the Littles to use or incase they would ever need to call 911 for an emergency since they don’t have their own cells at this point in time. Tough decision for sure…let us know what you decide
Sheaffer says
Dish over here, and I’m not giving it up!!!!!
Ruby Rutledge Huling says
FYI re: landline…a couple of weeks ago, most of our city was without power for several days due to straight line winds! We had NO cell service or WiFi!! We had a generator so we could watch Directv!
Brittany H says
Shay, I totally relate to your dilemma. My husband tried for years to talk me out of cable and switch to a streaming service and I was extra hesitant for the same reasons you discussed. BUT he finally convinced me to switch to YouTube TV a couple years ago and I wish we had done it sooner! Not only can we watch all our favorite channels live, but it’s also SO EASY to record your favorites. I think it is the best of both worlds with Live TV and on demand streaming of your faves you may want to binge watch. We also have Netflix and Amazon Prime tv. We do not miss cable at all! Good luck!
Sarah M. says
You could see if your local cable company has a basic package so you get the networks, news channels, sports, and some extras (I like HGTV and Magnolia), but that could eliminate the need for a dish. We can also make changes to swap out a channel temporarily, so, for example, when a certain show’s season is airing, we could swap in FX for the duration of the season but go back to a regular channel. We stream Disney Plus, Netflix, Prime, and Apple TV. I don’t feel like I need to watch EVERYTHING that people are watching so I don’t bother with Hulu or Peacock.
Milenda says
lol, we still have a land line because we don’t have good cell service. We live in rural NC between 3 large cities. We use YouTube TV because you get local channels with sports as well. Plus we have Disney+ with ESPN+, Peacock, and Paramount as well. I was nervous about changing but i wouldn’t go back to cable/satellite. We also have a digital HD antennae. This is good when the internet goes out. We have helped my parents transition to streaming as well and they are 70+. They have a second home in the mountains. They now only pay for one streaming service instead of cable at both home and mountains. Good luck!
Heather Burkholder says
I AM YOU. LISTEN TO ME!!!!!
I swear my husband and I almost divorced over the thought of getting rid of my beloved DirectTV. I could not get on board with just using a streaming service, who would I become without my DTV?!?!?!
I *finally* agreed to Youtube TV (along with plex, netflix, hulu etc. we already had lol) and DTV left us after 10+ years. And, dare I say, I LOVE YOUTUBE TV.
I hate that my husband was right. My stubbornness really held onto “regular” tv for years. YTTV is really, really wonderful-and no, I am not sponsored 😉
Here are the positives: NO DVR LIMIT!!! If you like a show, it just records all the episodes available. It is very user friendly. It is so.much.cheaper.
Don’t fear the change, Shay. Try it out, Coming from one old school cable lover to another, it will be okay. xoxo
Carrie says
What a good topic! We have DISH Network but then also get Hulu, HBO, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Plus we have a fire stick (I think that’s what it’s called.) I am also unsure of what we should keep.
Marianne Dunaway says
Compare the Channels for You Tube and Hulu Plus. You Tube does not carry Lifetime, I think both carry Hallmark.
Hulu plus also includes Disney Plus and ESPN+ in a package price
Kelsey says
Hulu Live / YouTube TV are great. Haven’t had real cable in years but you would never know! And you can “take it with you” – Aka wouldn’t need another dish/box in Nantucket, just login and update your zip code when it prompts you 🙂
Kelly Bonner says
We are near Houston & when our cable has been out, I have watched our local news via their app on my fire stick. I also have the NBC app & am able to watch The Today Show via the live feature on their app. All FREE! We also watched the Olympics like this too last time we had summer Olympics (something happened to our cable box during this time too).
PS my husband wants to get rid of cable too! Like you, I still don’t know. I told him he can take the time to do the research & figure it out!
Therese says
We have YouTube TV and love it! Get all our local TV stations for news and ALL the sports channels. It also tracks your location wherever you’re logged in so you’ll get local news there. Zero complaints with YouTube TV!
Courtney says
Do it!!! I was very reluctant for the very same reasons. We moved though and my husband said let’s try it. We did and have never looked back. We have Hulu and many other streaming apps. Hulu is where you would get the parade or your local news. Honestly, it’s opened a ton more options so I say…take the leap.
Also, I finally let go of our land line last year and we are surviving. Haha.
Natalie A. says
We live in the Kansas City area and we are able to access all the local stations with YouTube TV. We also have an antenna on an upstairs tv just in case we ever need it. (Lost internet access, etc)
Blakeley Spann says
We do not watch TV unless we have a sporting event they want to watch. We have YouTube TV and can get any show, sports, etc we want.
We also can watch all of our local channels, abc, nbc, cbs, fox through YouTube TV.
All this to say no cable needed here.
Annie says
We love You Tube TV! We get local channels, and there’s nothing we want to watch that we do not get. Getting anything that didn’t have the golf channel was off the table for my husband. This has been great. Plus so easy to watch on the go (which you always are!)) I think you would love it!
Jewell Landreth says
We switched to YouTube TV a few years ago. I don’t watch much TV but dh does and he’s happy with it and the sports he can access. Currently the Tour d France is on a lot. We have disney for one of our kids. The other two don’t watch much. I did watch the Macy’s parade this year so I know you can. My one caveat is to keep an eye on others services you subscribe to as it can add up quickly. We go through ours at least every other month and drop things we are no longer watching.
Tiffany says
We ditched cable and switched to YouTube TV two years ago, we’ve been so happy w it! We also have a ton of other streaming services (Apple, Prime, Netflix, Hulu)
Deb says
Hi Shay
We gave up cable 2 years ago because of the costs and comcast didn’t carry the ACC network so we were missing UNC games! Not acceptable in our house 🤪. We ended up keeping them for Wi-Fi because we had no local options for that. YouTube tv had all the channels we watch including the ones you listed. You have to be careful of add ons like we added Netflix and Disney and now Apple. We’ve been very pleased and we’re older and had no trouble navigating.
Michelle says
We have YouTube TV. We can watch local news stations and sports and reality shows live, or save them to our library to watch later. We also watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade every year. We also have Netflix, Hulu and Disney+, and our family of 6 can always watch what we want to.
Hillary Saenz says
YouTube TV 100%. We tried other streaming services like directv stream and sling. We love YouTube tv! User friendly and all the channels!
Jennifer Vincent says
We ditched cable for YouTube TV and set my parents up with the same about 2 years ago. We haven’t missed anything! Local news, great (even better) sports coverage, unlimited storage of shows, etc. It’s a little cheaper but honestly, it’s also way easier! Love being able to log in my app to record a sports game that I forgot to select for my kids, and you can follow a team so that it records everything they’re in so you never miss a game – or worse, the overtime of the game! I think you’d get acclimated quickly!
Angela Phillips says
I tried to cut the cord a few years ago but it actually turned out to be more expensive to pay for all of the streaming services I needed to watch the shows I wanted to watch, so now I’m back on cable with DirecTV Stream. I will add AppleTV or Netflix for a month at a time here and there to binge shows only found on those platforms.
Ashley Massi says
I still have a land line too! My husband thinks it’s so dumb but I always say what if!! 🤣
So we stream our cable but through Direct TV! I don’t know the exact details but we no longer have a cable box, and it’s half the cost of our former cable “box” life, but we still pay Direct TV. But I can still watch the local news at night and get local TV. But everything is controlled through an Apple TV remote and through the Apple TV “box.” I was very hesitant but we’ve had it about a year and I barely even notice that I don’t have a regular remote anymore!
Joan Walton says
We also subscribed to YouTube and never looked back. One of the best things is that it you can watch tv in both your homes on one subscription. Your choices go with you from place to place…record in McKinney and go to your recorded library in ACK and watch, or vice versa.
Leslie maxey says
We ditched the Dish/Cable and got YouTube Tv. Still have the local channels/news etc. but all streamed.
Debbie says
We use Hulu live and can watch our local channels. We cut the cable cord a couple of years back and haven’t regretted it! (We also have a netflix subscription), but mostly watch Hulu.
Sandra Roberts says
Thank you for asking this!! I’ll be back later to read the comments too. I am so scared to get rid of cable!
Sandra Roberts says
I came back to read the comments, and oh my gosh!! This has got to be high on the list of most commented on blog posts! And I’m still so confused. Too many choices!
Sara says
We have YouTube tv and love it! But honestly I don’t know that it’s much different than cable, just cheaper for us. We also have Netflix and Hulu. I like still being able to get my local news for storms with YouTube tv.
Definitely keep the home phone, never know when there might be an emergency with a dead cell phone or a kiddo without one!
Marisa Garza says
Hulu Live and you can watch the news and all the live events you want. We were able to bundle Disney+, Hulu (movies etc) and ESPN + and Hulu Live all for $80/month. We also still have Netflix and Prime. It’s a no brainer.
Melissa Skindlov says
We have a roku & use Hulu live! You will not miss any local or live show! It’s the best and no contract!
Cz says
I don’t watch TV period, so I’m probably not much help. We don’t have cable or dish or steam anything. We rarely turn on the TV to watch stuff. We don’t watch on our devices either 🤷♀️ I guess we’re weird. We do have a landline because we have kids and I want it there for if they have a problem when we’re not around.
Nicole Beltram says
If you have YouTube tv I promise you can get the local Boston channels while you are in Nantucket. The catch is you cant watch local Texas channels and local Boston channels at the same time. You have to pick your location.
We switched to Youtube TV in 2020 and havent looked back. At the time we saved a ton of money and since then prices have creeped up a bit, but its still cheaper.
Danielle says
We only stream, but we have an HD antenna for things like what you mentioned on standard channels. Works like a charm!
Jo says
We still have a dish so we can watch local, etc. we sometimes have issues with streaming but can also get our satellite to work! Landline is great for an emergency phone!
Lisa B says
We dropped Cable earlier this year and went with YouTube TV. I was hesitant as well but we still get all the channels (including local channels) and I actually like it better!
We have friends with a second home that love You Tube TV bc they can login with their account and aren’t paying for a second TV service.
Michelle says
I was like you, but I am in the process of switching to YouTube TV. I live local to Boston and I will be getting my local Boston channels on YouTube TV so it might just be the fact that you’re in Nantucket. The only thing that was stopping me is because I couldn’t get NESN as part of my package, so I’m just going to have to stream that separately. I’m ready to cut the cord.
Ashley Rodriguez says
Hi Shay!
We all need a community to ask questions! This is a good one as we are always on the lookout for other possible options. I will say that cutting the cord was great for a while but in recent years, the prices are right back up to where there used to be considering all the add ons…. We were trying to save money so I could stay home longer. Anyways, we have used Sling and liked it, but now we use Hulu. We load it up for football season (August/September time through Super Bowl) really. In the summer we just watch Netflix and Prime. We also have an antenna should we need local news for weather, etc… Some of our tvs can connect online so we use those to watch church when needed. I think you just let your husband figure it out-ha! Tell him what your must-haves are and I am sure he will get you those at the minimum.
Thank you for having such a great blog!
Your friend,
Ashley
Sarah says
I’m so glad I’m not the last person to have this problem!! We still have cable and I’m afraid if I let it go, I’ll miss out on something. I’m not quite exactly sure what I’ll be missing, but I know the day after we let it go, I’ll want it back.
Lisa N says
I’m learning a lot! I’ve always had Dish and am having a hard time wrapping my mind around letting it go. My main concern (besides possibly losing some favorite shows) is that we live in a rural area and I’m nervous about relying on the internet for all tv watching. After Hurricane Rita we were able to watch anything on our DVR and after two hurricanes in Louisiana in 2020 we never lost Dish, even though our electricity was out for weeks, on generator power.
And we also watch most everything on DVR so I’ll be reading all these comments more in depth to see how that works on different platforms.
Gave up my landline, said I never would, after the two back to back hurricanes because it was months before telephone lines were repaired and I didn’t/don’t miss it at all.
Amy says
We recently switched from DirecTV to Hulu with local tv so we don’t miss anything and our bill was cut in half!
Amanda says
We still have cable and a landline because I cannot seem to give up either. That said, everything we watch is through a streaming service. Every single thing.
Melody says
YouTube TV has all the live TV stuff to my knowledge! And it’s one of those things that you pay for, but can use it anywhere- at both your homes/on any devices. I think it’s like $70/month. Not sure how that compares to what you already have, but that’s what we use and I would prefer that to the standard cable options. 😝
Kristin says
YouTube TV for sports, local news, and “normal” channels. Plus whatever streaming services we want. It’s been great for us for years!
Stacey Mieske says
Ok I understand the landline issue,I too had a landline when little ones were in the home..for 911 duh, the phone is always in the same place lol! But when said “little one” went off to college 8 hours away I let it go. A few years ago I changed to a streaming service…stressful…to save money. Cowabunga it worked! I now stream Youtube TV as my primary and get all the local news I also have Netflix, Paramount Plus and the free Sling. I have been pleasantly surprised and happy.
Nikki says
We use Direct TV STREAM online ( a streaming service that is almost exactly like cable tv) and it has ESPN and that sort of thing as well as most of the other sports channels). I also use Disney+ for kids shows and Netflix/Hulu for my girly shows like Bachelor, etc. However, the Netflix/Hulu/Disney+ are bundled in with my cell phone plan, making them super cheap/free.
Kathy says
I have cable TV and no streaming device because I don’t understand how to use one, plus I watch very little TV.
I absolutely won’t give up my landline!
Karah Stracener says
We got rid of cable probably 7 years ago and haven’t looked back. We use Hulu Live mostly. You are able to watch local news and the Macy’s parade. Our Hulu Live is a bundle and we get ESPN and Disney+ at no extra charge. You should still be able to catch your baseball games also. I personally love Hulu Live. We also have a landline and I will never get rid of it. Enjoy your time with your in laws.
Kim says
So I have Hulu + Live TV for this very reason. I wanted to cut cable years ago b/c the prices just kept going up and up, but I didn’t want to give up being able to watch live TV. And using an antenna didn’t give me enough of the channels. I debated between You Tube TV and Hulu, but I watch shows streaming on Hulu anyway, so that option made sense to me. It’s worked great. It will occasionally glitch, but that’s rare.
So, I have Hulu + Live TV, Netflix, HBO, and Apple TV+.
Randi Vogt says
We have a Roku box on two tv’s and we have two Roku tv’s! We stream through Roku and we have an antenna in the attic for our local channels. We mostly stream through the Roku as it has all the apps we need, Netflix, Hulu, Hallmark, etc!
WhittyWife (Lindsay) says
We’ve had Sling for years and love it! It’s a fraction of the cost we previously paid for DirectTv!
Darian says
We use a Roku stick to get Sling and we’re happy. We can access Sling easily from our devices. We don’t have fancy channels like ESPN or HBO, etc., but it works for us.
Candice says
We stream, but i’ve noticed a huge issue with Hallmark movies :(. When you are streaming it can buffer and freeze, so if it skips, or freezes, you miss most of the movie. I’m trying to figure out a way to get hallmark without the buffering and freezing.
Terry C says
I went cable-free many years ago and, at first, I exclusively used antennae on my TVs for local broadcast channels, along with Prime Video and Netflix. After I tired of pining for Food TV and HGTV and Bravo, etc., I got on board with Sling TV and have since migrated to YouTube TV. And I will never go back. Now, I almost always have active subscriptions to YTTV, Prime and Netflix, but also have Hulu, Paramount+, HBO, Apple TV, etc. subscriptions that I turn on and off based on what’s showing (ex, turned off HBO and turned on Apple when I had finished current seasons of HBO shows and the new season of Ted Lasso came out). I still have the digital antennae in case internet goes out. 😉
Erin Young says
Well, I’m happy to share all my knowledge since my house hold has children, a mama who loves all her reality TV, a husband who watches every sport imaginable, and us still wanting “TV” without the cable service. LOL I will start with, we do have majority of the streaming services. We have Netflix, Hulu (the triple package that includes Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+), Peacock, Paramount+ (hot tip, if you have Walmart+ it’s included with your subscription), AppleTV and now we have YouTubeTV. YouTube TV allows you to have the local Dallas (or wherever you’re located) channels for the news and regularly scheduled TV (like Scandal at 10pm circa the good ol’ days, LOL), Bravo, HGTV, Hallmark, etc. With YouTube TV, you can also add-on services like sports channels for MLB, NHL, NFL (the NFL ticket is now on YouTube TV, woohoo so DirecTV isn’t needed for that), NFL Network, etc. And if there’s other channels that you want that aren’t included in their “base” package, you can add those on too based on their “add-on packages”. It’s not crazy expensive, but it can add up the more packages you add. And once you get used to the new “look” of the streaming services on YouTube TV, it’s all the same really. I PROMISE! And everyone will have all the channels they want… and you will still be able to watch the news… should that be needed! LOL Hope this helped!
Kit says
But what is the cost difference between cable and all the add ons? By the time you add everyone’s favorite it might be cheaper to keep the cable? We have Hulu live plus others but I can’t watch all the Cardinals games which would be a lot extra to add the sports package. 😕
Natasha says
This is what I wonder. Why are you cutting cable? To save money? Because I don’t know if all the streaming services save money then…
Stacey Tullos says
We use Hulu Live and it has all the local channels, espn channels and lots more!! Get rid of cable! 😂🤩
Liz says
Such a cute carry Bradshaw like question 💕 steaming only for us and Hulu for all love sports, other live shows (like bravo). All the streaming does add up because you really do need the all to please everyone and there are a lot – we do: Hulu, Disney, hbo (now called max) which is totally worth it because they added all hgtv, discovery, food network shows, and Netflix of course – good luck with this – the nice thing is you can always cancel/pause to try something else
Erin Smith says
We have Hulu live BUT drop down to cheaper, regular Hulu whenever sports we like to watch are in the off season. It’s worked well for us!
Allison F says
We don’t have cable. It seems like whatever channel you would watch something live, just watch live on the sister streaming app. I think anything that’s on ABC you can get live on Peacock. That’s how we watched the Macy’s parade. Then the same goes with CBS, you can watch live football on the Paramount+ app.
MS says
I was hesitant too. But an encouraging friend switched one of my TVs to her YouTube TV account to show me how easy and functional it is. That sold me and I converted. You will save a lot of money (you can use your same service across both cities) and it works beautifully.
Jess Wade says
We have Hulu Live only for sports. I sign up before college basketball to get all the KU Jayhawk games, and then I cancel after the season is over. And then just use whichever streaming service has the shows we want to watch at the time. We also have the ol’ trusty rabbit ears that are connected to the TV and I can get all the local channels any time I want. It took me a long time to get rid of our satellite dish because I had all the same concerns you did moving to a streaming service. But, it’s been totally fine and so much cheaper. It’s only as good as your wifi is, so it can be slower than what satellite or cable would have been if your wifi isn’t great. But, if wifi is fine, it’ll be an easy transition.
Lisa N says
Well that said it all for me…. “It’s only as good as your Wi-Fi is.” When it’s good it’s really good but some days it’s in and out.
Carley Sisk says
We stream with Fubo. It is the only service besides Direct TV stream that has Bally Sports which is how we watch every Atlanta Braves game. That is a MUST for us! Non negotiable. We had been using Direct TV stream for a few years and then Fubo came along and it is just a tad cheaper. We can also watch our local news (even though we dont) or ESPN, NBC, TBS, etc. I would just shop around and see if there is one that let’s you watch every Red Sox or Yankees game and that one could be the one for you. We had Youtube TV before they got rid of Bally and we liked it. But we have to just follow where the Braves go. 🙂 Then on top of that we have Netflix and Disney Plus.
Mary says
We have FUBO TV, but friends say Youtube TV is better.
Amy says
Let me start by saying that I still have a landline. We have one cordless phone/answering machine in our kitchen. Since you have to give your phone number for everything these days, I just like having a different number to give other than my cell phone. I like to keep that number as private as possible. We just recently got rid of cable and switched to YouTubeTV. We purchased a second home and didn’t want to spend money on cable for two houses, so it just made more sense to switch. We have loved YouTube TV. I like that it has LIVE TV. One reason I held out so long with cable TV was that sometimes I just want to sit down and watch TV and not have to think about “what do I want to watch”. I could just sit down and “see what’s on” and pick something. So YouTube TV has been great with the LIVE TV option. I think it has been a little cheaper for us just paying for YouTube TV and all of our streaming channels. Our cable was so expensive, so we have saved some money as well. Good luck with your decision!
Paige B says
We use FUBO and LOVE it. Yes, we get local channels. Yes, you will be able to watch the Macy’s parade. I don’t miss anything, in fact I have MORE options. I have 1000 hours of recording space. I can record a show once it has started from the beginning, even if there is 2 minutes left. I can set it to record all Cowboy games, I’m talking to you Andrew! With FUBO, you can even set the channels in the order you want, so my OCD husband is HAPPY! local channels first, then Hallmark, food, home, sports, etc. LOVE IT SO MUCH! *** NOT a paid sponsor ***
Amy T says
We have Hulu Live (w/o ads) and Netflix. At this point it is not a savings over cable, it was initially. I do like having local news, but we don’t get as many of those as we did with cable (we got our immediate area within 45 miles but not the Mpls/St Paul metro channels)
kristen says
We only stream and have for about 6-7 years. I assume if you wanted to watch a local news you would get the app for the network (nbc or what have you) on your tv and watch it that way? My best friend’s husband is the weather man here in Houston and he said that no one is watching regular tv news anymore, kind of sad if you think about it.
Staci Patyrak says
Great Question!
We gave up cable years ago! We have an intense in the attic for basic channels when we are watching the news and basic channels, but you really don’t even need that.
We have a Roku TV.
We have Netflix, Apple+, Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu (not for live tv, but can watch shows next day commercial free), Amazon Prime. We are able to share Disney+ with all of our extended family since you can have so many profiles. Another family member shares HBO Max which I think is not just called Max.
I know that sounds like a lot and you’d definitely want to compare the prices of all of that to what you are paying for cable.
Once it is all setup though, opening those things on the tv is no different than opening and app on your iPhone or iPad. In fact, the same apps are all available on you phone or tablet as well for easy watching anywhere.
Lisa F says
We had You Tube TV a few years ago and loved it! They were rumored to be dropping ESPN over something so the boys in my family were freaking out haha. We went to Direct TV streaming. I prefer You Tube TV, personally, it was more user friendly, but either way you get local channels and all is well in TV land. There’s lots of free apps and inexpensive apps to add to that. I remember having three channels growing up, I’m 53, and never feeling deprived. Who knew we’d eventually have thousands to choose from??
Jacki says
We got rid of cable years ago and primarily use YouTube TV for most streaming of local channels but during baseball season, we cancel YouTubeTV and switch to Direct Stream so we can watch our “home” team. The beauty of streaming is the freedom to bounce between these services and take them with you as you travel. You could have the same service in TX as you have in Nantucket. We also have Disney+, Netflix, and then Prime Video so there is never a shortage for everyone’s interests. I am pretty sure you would not regret it and eventually be left wondering what took you so long 🙂
Nichole Fisher says
We have Hulu live and get all of our local DFW stations, plus a ton of stations that you would find on cable (History, Smithsonian, all the ESPNs, all the Disney channels and Nickelodeons, foodnetwork, magnolia, HGTV, etc.). We also have Disney+. Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Peacock. I hear that Disney+ and Hulu will combine at the end of the year, so that will lump all of them together. We also get a discount on Disney+ as a Hulu live subscriber. We signed up for the Disney+ bundle, but because we already have the Hulu portion of the bundle we get a credit.
Josie Marty says
Landline here! As a single mom it brings peace of mind. My kids can call their dad any time and I don’t need to hand my phone over to them. Their dad can call them and they see it on caller ID and it is not tied to my cell phone. Any sitter that comes over could use it too (though I always leave out an important notes page with our address). My kids can give anyone our landline- it is public info and they can call. Still have doctors and pharmacy etc tied to the landline and nice to have one central location.
I actually worry and ask parent how my kids can access a phone if they need to call me when I drop them off (my kids are still younger and don’t have their own cell phone). We all teach 911 and our phone number to kids but if I drop them off at your house, how will my kids put this to practice if needed?
Alexis Boyd says
We have YouTube TV and I find I can get everything I need! However, my husband is a Yankees fan and I believe that YouTube tv does not have the YES network. So something to look into…
angela says
YoutubeTV + Netflix + prime movies haven’t missed cable at ALL! We watch lots of sports too- esp college football!
Peggy says
I have a landline and use it as my primary phone. I have never had a problem with my cell, but want the assurance of a landline in case of an emergency. I don’t have a TV and watch the news on youtube.
Emily says
We have an antenna – currently rabbit ears but we’ve also had a digital one. We can watch football, news, parades, etc. We also have an MLB TV subscription and since we don’t live by our home team (live in OH but STL fans) we aren’t blacked out of games. Netflix, HBO, Disney+ round us out and we never miss out.
Lauren says
Ok so we are the last of our friends to still have cable and they complain all the time about not getting to watch certain things without it. A lot of streaming services come with our cable package too. Last year we rented a house for vacation and they didn’t have cable but we were able to record things at home and hook our phones or iPads up to the tv and watch via the app. So we were able to have the benefit our cable at least!
Danielle says
Good morning!
1st – I still have a house phone too. I don’t get cell service at my house. Well one bar but no one can hear us. So we still have a house phone and I love it!
2nd – I was extremely reluctant to get rid of cable / satellite…. now I am questioning why I didn’t do it sooner. We have been going on steaming services only for about 3 years and LOVE IT. will never go back. We do have Hulu live during ball season so I can still catch games and news / live TV during those months. But I don’t miss it when we go back to just streaming other months. Saves us money too. DO IT! you will NOT regret it. Promise
Lisa says
No cable/dish or home phone here and I don’t miss any of it. We have You Tube Tv and get all our local news plus all the channels we liked on cable.., hotbed, food etc. Plus we have Netflix, Hulu, paramount and a couple of others and it’s less than we were paying for just cable
Stacy says
Hi Shay!
Our local provider did away with their cable TV service 5 or more years ago. Since then, we have had an Amazon fire stick and use YouTubeTV Live for our Live TV – Food Network, HGTV, Hallmark, Sports, Local News stations and of course we have downloaded all of the special apps to our firestick for Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc.
Kacey says
Another vote for YouTube TV! I’ve had it for about 6 years now and it’s the best! It’s just like cable, but without the crazy cost. You can also record unlimited amounts, have separate profiles, etc. I live on the South Shore, next to Plymouth, and get the local Boston news and there’s a NH station which is great for when I’m up at my family’s lake house. The ONLY problem is YouTube TV got rid of NESN a year or two ago. The only option for that is cable or FUBO TV so I share fubo log-ins with family!
Arika says
We still have cable. I mostly justify keeping it because we need ESPN and all the sports in our house. But – I also just sometimes need to sit and decompress for a few minutes and scroll through the guide, hop upon Golden Girls reruns and other fun stuff. Yeah, I know I could stream them somewhere, but I like the convenience of still having “regular” TV. It relaxes me somehow.
Mary says
We have YouTube TV and I honestly can’t tell a difference from cable…local news and sports are there. We also have Netflix, Hulu, Pluto, Peacock and probably one of my kids has Disney+–they are 19 and 23 and live away….YouTube TV gives you like 4-5 logins so that is helpful….I still watch HGTV, Food Network and I’m sure the Macy’s parade is there as well lol
Lauren says
We have YouTube TV and love it!
Deb Weber says
I am so glad you asked this question. I have been agonizing over this for a few months. I have been taking steps to get rid of our cable service because of their prices. We only have one option so they really price gauge customers in my area. As of now, we have Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime. I negotiated a minimal cable package where I picked 15 channels to keep. My plan is to get Hulu Live plus their entertainment package next to see if it covers everything we want to watch. If so, I will eventually complete drop my cable service. I will definitely read everyone’s comments and input before I take the next step.
Thank you for bringing this up!!
Nicole says
We have YouTube TV which has all the main channels and local sports and news channels too. Last year there was a time where Disney was not going to negotiate with YouTube TV and the Disney channels would be gone (ESPN, ABC, etc) but they got their act together and it was fine. However, that would be bad if it happened again. Disney owns Hulu (therefore Hulu Plus) which I’ve seen also has all of the same channels. So as long as Disney stays with YouTube TV we won’t be changing.
JB says
We switched to YouTube tv and various streaming networks and have never looked back. Saved money, got all kinds of equipment out of the house, no service calls, etc. it has been a great move.
Susan S says
So we have HULU live. That is streaming but with all the live sports, local news, etc. like normal cable has. Plus we have Netflix, etc. as well. I was uncertain when we did it but I would never go back now. There were times when we had our direct tv that a storm would come through or just rain even and we couldn’t watch whatever game was on and it wasn’t fun. lol.
Lisa says
We have Hulu live TV, Disney+, and Prime. We also used to use my FIL’s Netflix account before Netflix got mean and are now deciding whether to get our own. 🙂 Hulu has basically every channel we ever want to watch live (and good local sports coverage, which was important to my husband). Our package is bundled with Disney+ or else we probably wouldn’t pay for that separately (my kids are older – if I had toddlers, I would 100% pay for it separately!). Prime comes with our Prime account anyway.
There hasn’t been a single thing I’ve wanted to watch that I haven’t been able to in the 4 years we’ve been doing this, and it saves us quite a bit of money over the cost of cable.
Julie says
We have Hulu live and have all our local channels & have never missed a sporting event or other live televised event. It’s literally no different from cable. Even the menu/guide looks the same.
Maquelle says
We still have cable and a land line. My husband wants to get rid of cable too. I am nervous but now I am learning from all of you guys I can still get all the local channels and live events. Great question!! thanks for asking!
Kathy says
We still have cable because it’s bundled with our internet, and is much cheaper than what XFinity charges for just the internet access. We also subscribe to a bunch of streaming services because some of our favorite shows have gone from Network channels to streaming platforms (so annoying), and we want to continue watching. I told my husband that I think we pay way too much money for watching TV! I think your post means we will have another conversation about this! 😊
Denise says
My husband and I have never had cable/satellite. We use a digital antenna to watch ‘regular’ tv so have access to all local news and shows, and even picks up additional channels. We also have Netflix and Prime. We did have Disney+, HBO max and Apple TV for awhile but ended those subscriptions as we didn’t utilize those enough to warrant paying for.
Stacey Claassen says
HULU Live has everything we need! And you can access it anywhere! It has all the sports plus lots of college channels and they have Hallmark! We also subscribe to Prime and Netflix. You can wrap up the Disney+ with HULU. It has been the best change. Now don’t get me wrong, the change to HULU was hard for a tiny bit. The biggest thing for us was the guide and how you navigate that. Good luck!
Renae says
We also have an antenna in the attic for local channels to go with streaming services. It works really well. We can always get the local channels, even during storms.
Angela Jernigan says
We do you tube TV! We have access to local stations and ESPN, SEC Network, Hallmark, etc… the only thing we miss down here in South GA is Bally Sports which is how we watch the Braves. We have to buy a separate subscription for that which stinks, but other than that we have zero complaints.
Cara Payan says
Same here!! Super nervous to leave our dish provider for all those reasons but we made the switch to YouTubeTV and I am so glad we made the leap! It has everything we need, including our local channels plus we can watch our tv from anywhere on anything. My husband travels a lot so it has been amazing. I love some of the features and I have like a whole catalogue of my favorite movies saved to watch whenever. Try it for a week or two with a free trial so you can try before you buy without dropping your previous service. That’s an easy way to see with zero commitment. Good luck!
Kindal says
We tried YouTube TV and didn’t like it, so we switched to Hulu with the Live TV option. We LOVE it. We can watch the news, sports, and have never really had an issue not being able to access something we wanted to watch. I would highly recommend it! We also have Netflix, Minno (a Christian streaming app for kids), Peacock, and HBO Max – definitely not necessary to have all of those, but we haven’t been willing to get rid of any of them after the free trial. 🙂
Jennifer says
YouTube TV is the way to go! Do not miss cable one bit!
Carol Johnson says
We cut the cable cord a few years ago and it’s been great. It’s like an a la cart menu. Hulu live or u tube TV give you local live channels. Then we pick and choose services when we want them. MLB during baseball, Brit Box maybe one month and Masterpiece Theater another. During football we’ll add whatever needed to get college and Pro. We had Paramount to watch Yellowstone then canceled. Prime Video Amazon is our main platform. It’s easy to over fill your subscriber cup…like a yogurt shop after all the add in’s haha Start slow and make regular checks on what’s being watched. Starting or deleting a platform is so easy. Having a landline was always a consideration in case of emergency and no cell tower coverage, not sure that’s still the case. We moved and no longer have it 🤷🏻♀️
Lauren B says
Girl. Get rid of your satellite dish and landline!! 🙂 We have an Apple TV console for each of the TV’s in our house. There are tons of streaming apps in Apple TV. We have YouTube TV as our main “cable” streaming service. It connects to your account based on your location (you put in your zipcode/location finder), so all of the ABC/NBC/CBS/Fox channels are connected to your local TV stations. Also from Apple TV we can access other streaming services that we have accounts with – Netflix, Max, Disney+, ESPN, etc. With most people’s Verizon accounts (if that’s your cell service provider) you get a year free of Disney+, Max, and a few other ones. A lot of people don’t know this or use these free options!
Meghan Stone says
We still have DIRECTV and watch it all the time. But have all the steaming things too. 🤦🏼♀️ We keep directtv mainly for the nfl network. And I’m with you with a landline, we still have ours. 😊
Jen says
We do not have cable or a dish and haven’t for several years… we subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime and occasionally HBO/Hulu/Apple/Paramount, but not all at once. If there’s something we want to watch like the Super Bowl or Olympics or something, we’ll temporarily pay for Peacock, etc.
We do keep our landline because our burglar alarm relies upon it! But we never use it ourselves.
Honestly, I was the protester in this decision but I really haven’t missed having cable at all!
Lynn says
We live up in the remote mountains of Colorado (no cell service except WiFi) and we use streaming (DirectTV). I can watch any channel I want (Macy’s Parade, Bravo, local Denver news). Then we have apps for HULU, Prime, NetFlix, etc. We also kept our landline (because 1, we don’t have a cell tower, 2. we don’t want everyone having our personal cell phones). We use Ooma (comes off the computer) for our landline service.
We then built a winter home in rural Texas. A metal barnodomium. We use DirectTV and all the apps but I still just get Denver local news because my acct is tied to Colorado. We had such a problem with the metal roof and WiFi calling (even though the cell tower is in sight of my house) that we got another landline line through Ooma. We probably just need to get new iPhones. But the Ooma is cool because the landline number also rings on my hubby’s cell so we never miss a call even when we are in CO. With Ooma, you can check all your messages and incoming/outgoing calls (because we sometimes forget to check the VM) online
When we first switched from satellite to streaming, there was a learning curve but we use the Amazon Firestick and you just tell Alexa what you want. I will never go back.
Gretchen says
Hello from Manhappiness, KS! So we ditched our dish a while back and have had a number of different things. So far the best has been YouTube TV with live TV. Not much cheaper than we were paying for dish. We started with the “not live” cheap option, but one string of severe weather with tornados in our area had us running back to find our local weathermen. Just my two cents. Also you will never miss your home phone, but it is hard to give up! Happy Tuesday!
Stacey says
Like many others have said, if watching live TV is very important to you, then YouTube TV is the way to go. It has the same type of TV guide as dish and you can still pause, record, etc like before. The ONLY thing that drives me nuts is I don’t have a ‘back’ button so I can toggle between shows, LOL! Or I just haven’t figured it out 🙂 We also have Disney +, Amazon Prime for tablets, and Paramount. Once you get your new smart TV, all of it is on one screen — you just choose which app you want to open. I was also hesitant to move to streaming only, but it’s been very seamless (we can keep that to ourselves). I do admit there are a FEW channels missing from when we had dish, but I clearly don’t miss than enough to seek the shows out elsewhere. On a few other TVs around the house that aren’t used as often (basement, backyard porch, camper) we use Roku to allow us to stream on older, non-smart TVs.
Lauren says
We have YouTube tv and then Netflix Disney etc. YouTube tv gives you local channels and others! I hated all the giant cable boxes so when we moved we started streaming. No regrets! We have 3 kids and there’s no issues getting whatever apps or channels we need.
Kristin Lyngaas says
We have a Roku, we bought Max to add on, and we have an antenna for local. 😁
SS says
Shay!!! We still have a landline. Years ago we cut cable and went to Hulu for a bit. But due to us cutting cable they came back with a package deal (we only have one cable choice in our area). It was cheaper to have the cable as part of our package than without just for phone and internet. My hubby had put an antenna in our attic when we built 20 yrs ago. We could get local chnls that way. We went back to cable but streaming instead of box. We dropped Hulu this yr. (Which I love murder in the apt with Steve Martin & Martin short). We purchase a few different streaming feeds last year when they were all having sales to save some money. I would say the one I could drop this year would be Disney+. It has been ok. We watch TV at night. It truly isn’t on during the day. We also have VUDU. We converted most of our DVD movies to digital. Hubby will find movies and buy them for not too much. Money wise we just buy a movie and figure it is cheaper than a night out at the movies. Lol. We have only been to one movie since covid and that was Maverick last year. We even have a movie theater that we love and doesn’t cost a whole lot, but just feel more comfortable here in jammies and our favorite snack. Lol. I would say I’m you Dvr stuff from cable you might miss that..our streaming cable usually has the shows from tht night before on demand (like Hallmark movies) for a few days or longer depending on the show.
One thing if you cut cable or whatever be expecting LOTS of calls trying to get you back. I mean I think they started like quickly. You should’ve cut them while on the island.. you may have gotten a good deal when you got home. Lol. There are so many ways to watch TV now. Plus… I wonder if peacock streams the parade live??? Oh we use a Roku device to manage all that. We have found even the Roku chnls has some cute movies. Lol
Bailey says
We have Hulu Live! All “regular tv” and local channels plus all of the Hulu movies/tv shows. Then in addition, we have Netflix.
Kallen says
I didn’t read through all of the comments so I’m sure somebody already said this, but all you need is an antenna to watch your local stations. That is how you’ll watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Just buy the antenna and those stations are “free”. Then just get your desired streaming services. Totally cut the cable!
Kristi says
I love reading your blog! We use Hulu live streaming, and we get to see all the shows live. We get local news and all of the sports. We have been streaming this way for a couple of years and don’t miss cable at all.
Erin H says
I recently cut the cable cord and do streaming and YouTube TV. Although, right now I’m not really watching much of YouTube so I’m putting it on hold for a couple of months to see if I miss it. It does have an unlimited DVR, which is nice. I’ll probably bring it back when the Hallmark Christmas movies start up again. I really only wanted it for Bravo and Hallmark and you can replay Bravo shows the next day on Peacock. #Priorities. HA!
Lori Ann says
We just went to fiber optics (?) – we live in the woods in CT so it is tricky sometimes. I use a Roku and we have accounts with Britbox, Acorn, Peacock and Fubo. I like the first two and my husband has the other two for his business news he needs for work and the Red Sox (Fobu!)
We also have a landline because we live in the sticks and cell service is not always reliable. And I have one old plug in phone to use when power goes out – because the other landline phones use electricity plus phone plug in.
So complicated isn’t it?! I’d like to go back to the old days with 3 channels – and yes, you had to get off your bum to change them! And dial phones – with no scam callers!
Elizabeth Whisler says
We have live tv through Hulu plus all the other streaming services. But Hulu is where we get it live.
Kate says
Oh my gosh! I feel your pain! This has been my husbands and I disagreement as well! I like you have concerns about live tv. I don’t watch it often but I want the option. Also with my reality tv shows I want to watch night they air (however I do record on eve and watch later at night) bc I don’t want spoilers! I know silly but it’s the little things right! I look forward to reading the comments
Brooke H says
We just recently cancelled our cable TV. I can’t tell you the last time I watched regular cable. We plan to get YouTube TV in the fall for football. We have every streaming service possible so honestly, we were just wasting money on cable.
Melissa says
We still have cable – we need RedZone during football season. With our cable provider we get Max premium streaming service free. We also have Paramount+, Netflix, Hulu/Disney+/ESPN+, Peacock, Prime. We talk about getting rid of something – but it always comes down to – football season, college basketball season, Winter, etc.
Beth says
We got rid of regular Direct TV and got Direct TV stream. We still have all of our same channels but no dish on our house and it was significantly cheaper to make the switch. We love it and are glad we made the change. I also like being able to access our Direct TV through a fire stick if we are traveling. We have a lake house and we use the same Direct TV stream account there.
Kelli says
We just canceled cable, our bill was over $300 a month! We use Fubo tv so my husband can watch his sports. You can watch live tv and you can record series and movies just like cable. I have a Roku tv that is so easy to use because I am not a tech person. I ordered a Roku stick on the Roku app for my husband’s tv because it is easier to use than the Amazon firestick
I have been using for 2 weeks and it has not been hard to use and will be a lot less than paying the cable bill! I would use the free trials on the extra streaming services to see which ones you really need, like Disney for the kids and I have HBO Max free with our phone
You may not need a lot of extras!
FYI we are booking our vacation with Clare and she is awesome!!!
Kathy says
YouTube TV! We love it. We are saving over $200 a month after cancelling our cable service. Also, we have had no land-line for years. We have never missed it.
Kristen says
We have cable and a landline😬
Deb says
I’ve tried about all of them and Youtubetv works best for us. We get all of our local channels. I think it goes by where you have your home location set because we are between two large cities and occasionally it tries to automatically switch us from one to the other and we have to go reset it to get the local channels we want. We get all of the sports channels we want included in our package, but I think there might be another add-on which includes more. So much cheaper a month than cable or dish!
Amy Simmons says
My husband tried to convince me forever to get rid of cable and I dragged my feet and was nervous, too, but 3 years later, I’m kicking myself for not doing it earlier! We have Roku, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu Live, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, etc.
Hulu Live is the closest thing to cable that I know of. You have the streaming portion of it, as well as the live TV portion. This is how we watch the parade, Cowboys games, etc.
Do it! You’ll be glad you did. 😊
Lisa says
We use Hulu to stream live tv so we get all the same local tv as cable or dish plus all the other Hulu programming. We put Roku sticks on all our tvs and it works great. I don’t miss “regular” cable at all.
Amy says
We still have cable and several streaming services! We also still have a landline, it just seems so weird not to have it – it doesn’t make much difference in our bill without it. We have kept cable b/c we get internet through the same company – and it doesn’t make that much difference in cost to get rid of it. Another reason we keep it, is because it is the only way we can watch our MLB team with the way our sports network is set up. I’m with you, it just seems weird not to have it! We do watch local news sometimes, and want to watch things like the parade. Ahhh just can’t get rid of cable or the landline! Another irrational fear – what if I have to take my kids’ electronics away, but they need to make an emergency call?
Casey says
A group of friends and I share a YouTube TV account, as they allow you to have a “family” in multiple houses. It works like regular cable intuit I have a guide, &can record upcoming episodes, etc. And the kicker is that my portion is only $11/month! I also have streaming services, which I share logins with a plethora of people. I share Hulu with a college roommate & my hairstylist, and I have their logins to other services…it’s like a bartering system. 🙂 I think YouTube + several streaming services are still less expensive than my previous cable bills.
Jayme says
We have an “antenna” it’s thin & flat like a 8×10 card stock that is plugged into the tv- that’s how we can watch local news & such. For Parades, Food Network & Hallmark I stream Direct Now 🙂 hope that helps!
Amy Ms. Azza says
You love the Hallmark channel.. don’t you need regular tv for that?? I have regular tv and alll the streaming services and I use everything.
Begina says
YouTube TV is the best!!! It has all the local channels to be able to watch the main networks and most everything else. Love it! We have the package with the upgraded sports channels. You can add shows to your library so it will automatically “record” them there and keeps them in one place when new episodes come out. You also have the option of “on demand” for shows. It’s the best and not expensive at all. We also have all the popular streaming apps like Netflix, Max, Disney Plus to go along with it! You would love YouTube TV!
Joslyn says
We have Fubo TV and can watch the local channels. Not all channels are available on Fubo vs You Tube tv though so just be aware of that.
K.K. says
Wow, I’m intrigued by the comments on this one too! About a year ago, I quit cable. I already had Amazon Prime for the multiple benefits. I only have that now. I still have my old DVDs. I watch everything else online (not live, live if it’s available somewhere for free, or in clips after the fact) if I want to see it. If I want to watch something fun like a live football game, I go to a friend’s house or to a restaurant to make it more of an event. It’s balanced me a lot, and so far, I’m actually loving it. Come time for Olympics, I may have other thoughts! 🙂 So much on TV just isn’t uplifting to me anymore, so I really don’t miss it. Just one more perspective!
Danielle says
We have Hulu Live and are are able to watch everything—the main channels and all sports–we have missed nothing–we also stream Netflix, Disney, HBO and Paramount—still save a ton of money off cable even with all these streaming services—we have done this fro almost 7 years—DO IT!!
Jayme says
We have DIRECTV Stream….
Basically DIRECTV except streaming instead of cable because I also like local channels plus SECNetwork, HGTV, Hallmark, etc. My husbands request is Golf Channel. We picked their middle option that included all of those channels and we both LOVE it and have had zero issues for over a year. Also, not a bad price point. Highly recommend!
Karen says
We use AppleTV to stream our apps. But we pay our local internet/tv provider to use their streaming app so we still get local channels plus all the normal Cable TV channels, including our regional sports channels that allows me to watch my favorite Tampa Bay Rays baseball team 😃
Tara says
We cut the cable cord many years ago. But I found it hard to find everything I wanted via streaming services alone. It seemed like I was constantly having to subscribe to some new service to get to what I wanted to watch. It became very frustrating to me. Now we have streaming through the cable company in our area. So no boxes and I can add multiple tvs with no extra charge. I have just a basic package and if I want premium channels, I do a separate streaming subscription with them so I can cancel them whenever I want. I find this gives me the price savings I like, no cable boxes and allows me to turn on the tv and watch Wimbledon or the local weather channel if I want.
Jen C says
YouTube TV will have your local channels. We also do Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu.
Lori Keller says
We cut the cable cord earlier this year and it is working. We have Hulu plus live tv which we like but you can only watch the live on a tv from one location. You can watch from other devices, just not a television. Also using Peacock which is free with our Xfinity internet and Apple for now. I think we will switch streaming services from time to time to catch up on favorites and get new content.
Kristy says
We have had youtube TV and frndly for years now. Absolutely NO issues. We can watch everything we want. Frndly has hallmark and other favorites. YTTV has everything else. We watch live parades, football etc. We have never missed a thing.
Kristin says
Thank you for asking this question! Would you please let us know what you end up doing? Cuz I don’t totally get how streaming services work either😬
Betsy says
Make the switch!!! We did last fall and is so freeing from all the fees! We stream most things, and can watch anything local with this easy antenna (and you can’t see it) https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/576-Eagle-Spring-Trl_Banner-Elk_NC_28604_M96982-07501?from=srp-list-card
Good luck!
Brittany Lavertu says
We only have streaming services. We use YouTube TV for things like the Super Bowl, news, or the Macy’s Day Parade.
Linda says
Streaming only for us! You can still get live programming with a streaming service like YoutubeTV (what we use), or a premium version of Hulu that has live TV options. We are able to access all live sports, news, regular programming though our Youtube TV subscription. 🙂
Betsy says
Oops..update comment with correct link…not a link to a mountain home LOL
Make the switch!!! We did last fall and is so freeing from all the fees! We stream most things, and can watch anything local with this easy antenna (and you can’t see it)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0964772XS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good luck!
Jennifer Moncrieff says
We cut cable a year ago. I have huuuuuuuge commitment issues too and my husband is a techy kinda guy. It took him a few years to convince me. We have YouTube Tv and I legit can’t tell the difference then when we had cable. He even has the stations in the bedroom where I normally watch tv set to where my favorite channels are all together at the top. HGTV, Magnolia, Hallmark, news stations I like, TLC, you name it. I can’t believe I waited so long!
Jamie D Rieger says
We have YouTube TV and love it! You can still record shows and play back later, we have all the major stations and local news. Its been the best thing we have ever done. It takes a few weeks to get adjusted but after that its easy as can be.
Kaylee Doherty says
We use YouTube tv! And I love it! Can watch all normal channels and such but can stream things as well 🙂
Patt says
We chose YouTubeTv because it had the channels we watch and will let you record/watch on demand any show you want. We put Roku on each tv in our house. We also pay for Paramount and Amazon Prime, so we can watch anything we want to. Our high speed internet company gives us a deal on the phone internet and landline combination, so we just keep it.
Patt Coldiron says
We chose YouTubeTv because it had the channels we watch and will let you record/watch on demand any show you want. We put Roku on each tv in our house. We also pay for Paramount and Amazon Prime, so we can watch anything we want to. Our high speed internet company gives us a deal on the phone internet and landline combination, so we just keep it.
Dawn Scheurich says
I feel your pain—my husband finally just made the switch and we use You Tube tv. It is live tv and we can record/pause, etc. just like with Dish. We also, of course, use Amazon Prime, Hulu, Peacock, but YouTube is most like Dish or Directv without rain fade (big plus)!
Brooke says
We have an antenna on the roof for local channels. We live in a rural area much farther from DFW than you and are able to pick up local DFW channels well.
Sara says
We still have cable. We recently looked into streaming but because of the bundle of cable and internet we currently have, it’s cheaper to keep cable than to have to pay for each streaming service we would need and internet separately.
Sheila says
We still have cable AND a landline as well!! I hate the cable bill, but have no idea how & what to get so that all of us will get to see what we want to watch, plus local news. Hubby wants certain stations & son wants sports channels, I just want local news, Hallmark and a few other stations that show older shows. I feel so old and behind the times!! 🤣 It’s all so confusing to me!!
Kelly says
We like Hulu live TV. We have Firesticks on every TV and use that + all our streaming services. It’s nice because you can activate or de-activate any time. (So you could downgrade while you are in ACK over the summer and then upgrade back to live when you get home.)
Katie Thompson says
I WISH we had a home phone! I’m looking into adding one. My toddler recently had a seizure (all is okay now) and in that moment we were frantic to call 911 searching and fumbling for our cell phones. I couldn’t even have my younger daughter call because she doesn’t know where I left my phone on the counter.
As for cable TV, we have a huge antenna in our attic that does the job for free! We receive all the local news stations in high quality (like ABC, PBS, and FOX).
Janell says
We have several streaming services and an antenna to watch live network tv. Much cheaper and more options than our old cable options.
Christine says
Hi!
I was terrified to cut the cord but we did about 6 years ago. We use SLING and Netflix. If we are getting a really bad storm sometimes SLING will stall or go out for a very short time. Not a big deal though because it happens less then 2x a year. Have a great time with your in-laws!
Mary Hall says
Just a comment about landlines – We were in Nantucket last week and really struggled with cell service. In the middle of the night our house alarm went off back home in Ohio. I couldn’t get through on my cell phone to reach either one of my kids. Very scary. Fortunately, there was a phone with a landline in our rental!! I was so thankful the “old” phone connected to the wall was available! Sometimes landlines are still needed.
Jaime says
We still have cable/satellite…DirectTV…for sports. I also found that by the time we paid for all the different streaming services and lost our “bundle discount” we wouldn’t be saving any money. So we still have satellite and internet. It’s all a wash now…they make you pay no matter what.
Debbie Hoover says
We got rid of Directv about 2 months ago. It hard. Really hard, but when the bill reached $200, I was done! We had to switch anyway, because Directv wasn’t any longer going to carry the NFL season pass, which is a must for us Saints fans who lives in Texas!!
So, after trying out YouTubetv for the free 2 weeks trial period, we made the switch. Best news is that we have all of the channels we had on Directv and the cost is $79 including tax. Everyone is happy.
Laura Nailor says
We use Hulu and can see our local news!
Debbie Hoover says
Forgot one thing…if you get YouTube tv for your McKinney home, you can use the same account on Nantucket! One fee for both homes!! It really is just like cable or dish tv.
Marci Varney says
We are going through the same thing!! I hate change & want access to live shows like news & special events. We are testing YouTube TV & honestly it has been fine. I’m still hesitant to change, but it is $60 cheaper & streams in 4K, which is important to my husband (not me). Haha.
Erica L says
Hulu Live! We love it. You can watch local channels (hello Today Show!), plus network live TV like HGTV, Bravo, 2 HALLMARK CHANNELS, ESPN, etc. We watch all the parades, sporting events, etc. live – plus it has DVR. I think YouTube TV is essentially the same. Then we stream other stuff on Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+, etc. I prefer using the Apple TV device on our main TV over other options in our house (a smart TV and a Firestick), but it’s nice that we can stream on multiple TV’s, our phones, iPads, etc. You won’t miss Cable!
Dana Siler says
We ditched cable and a home phone when we built our house in 2019. We have never looked back. We stream Yourube tv and get local channels and a lot more! We also have Netflix and paramount plus through Walmart plus( it was free)
We are saving so much money over cable! We have internet ( the streaming tv needs it)
Go for it you will love it!
Casey says
We still have dish! Also have discovery plus and Disney plus too. My neighbor does only the streaming but says it cost just as much as dish so 🤷🏼♀️. Also to get rid of our landline it was not going to save us any money so we kept it bc it’s bundled with internet.
Regi Gilchrist says
Used to have DirecTV, but it was so expensive for the little amount of tv we actually watch. My husband initially didn’t want to give it up due to sports, but we switched to YouTube TV and it has everything he wants! And everything I want as well. It’s sooooooo much cheaper! We also have a Firestick and Netflix.
Kathy Floyd says
I still have cable and a home phone. I’m just as nervous as you have letting go.
Erin says
We ditched cable years ago and never looked back!
Kelli says
We’ve had Hulu Live bundled together with Disney Plus and ESPN Plus for a few years. We are a very big sports watching family and have never missed a live event. Also get our local news. Have Netflix as well. No complaints.
Sue Campbell says
We still have cable but also have Prime and Apple TV. We share other streaming services with family. My husband watches so many sports channels I’m not sure he could view other than on cable. We seem to use it all but I frequently tell my husband that cable is just too expensive and we need to look into a change.
We also have a landline for 911 purposes. I use that phone number for contact purposes on all accounts we have. The thought of updating all those numbers to a cell number is overwhelming. It’s also fairly inexpensive.
Mary Arredondo says
We have everything! Cable, every streaming that you can have! I’m over paying for it all. Please share what you decide!!!
Robyn says
Get rid of the cable and land line. We have Hulu Live (same concept as Youtube TV) and never miss a sporting event that we want to watch. All of the local channels are included, too. Play around with it this summer and get a good feel for it.
The only reason for the landline would be for your younger kids. But even then, you can use an old iphone or ipad that is only connected to wifi for them to be able to communicate with you. They can text and Facetime on wifi. You don’t have to allow them any apps that you don’t want. My kids even call me with Alexa on our Echo. If the electricity goes out and you’re not home just have a plan. Do you have neighbors they can go to for help? Etc.
But, the decision is obviously yours. Weigh the pros and cons and decide what is best for your family!
Beverly says
Old school still have cable tv & a land line. In a power outage a land line still works.
Jenny says
We use a dish antenna that sits on our house’s roof. It was purchased online for well under $100. We get all local channels plus many more. We stream Hulu, amazon and Netflix. It’s nice to not have a cable bill for what I can get for free!
Gail says
I could have asked this question myself. I have sticker shock every month when the cable bill is due. It seems like a lot and they continue to remove channels at their discretion. I will likely always desire a landline. Right now, I’m leaning towards cutting the cable cord in 3 years when I retire or when I need a new TV – whichever comes first.
Jennifer says
We still have cable and also some streaming services. I’m like you in this respect. I can’t not have “real tv” 😂
Clare says
So we have an antenna in our attic to receive local channels and also have a FireStick and streaming services. Other than buying the antenna we don’t pay anything for the local channels so we get a mix of the best of both worlds. Still get to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade but also just stream with the apps that work for us. Good luck making this decision! I’m also trying to convince my husband that we need a landline, praying he comes around!
Brooke says
Hulu Live! We are a big time live sports family and it has all of the live sports options we need plus local news, NBC, ABC, etc etc. It also bundles with Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. We have never had an occasion where we couldn’t stream a show or event we were looking for. We cut the cable cord over 5 years ago and have never missed it!
Niki Tribble says
For our lake house we stream and for our main home we have both cable and streaming. But having Hulu at our lake house allows us to see most sports/news/thanksgiving day parade. I’m not sure why we have cAble at home because no one watches it but my husband. I’m guessing it’s something to do with our internet package??
Kristine W says
We have a landline also & always will. I think it is needed for extra security/back up. We use cable and numerous streaming services.
hammondzoo says
We tried to give up our phones. I called the cable company and they told me they could get rid of my phone ($17) OR they could knock off ($35) a month because we are such a “good” customer. I told him that all we get on the phone are spam calls. He said to hide the phone in the basement and ignore it. LOL, So that is where we are with the phone. For cable, I am ready to give it up. All of us, but my husband, watch everything through our laptops. He fears that he will lose all his sports if we cut the cable. We currently have Cable, Prime, Hulu, and Netflix, which I think is ridiculous.
Beth says
I live in McKinney as well. I use streaming services and use a digital antenna to get local stations. Works great!
Mimi says
We got rid of cable years ago and use a digital antenna to pick up the major networks ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS. We just steam everything else.
Kelly says
YouTube TV!!! You’ll still get all your local stations. Tremendous savings. Ditch the cable and dish!
Ashley says
Holy smokes! The comments. We got rid of cable and went to Apple TV and then to Roku and still haven’t looked back (we were the people who had TiVo and it took me forever to let that one go!). We also haven’t had a land line in over 14 years. We still watch the parade. I hardly watch news (I listen to NPR) and my husband has the ESPN package so he gets all the sports. Also if you have Walmart plus and Amex you get free access to some of the apps. We also toggle between apps- sometimes we subscribe to Hulu and sometimes we cut it off and go over to Netflix. Most apps don’t require a commitment so you have a lot more flexibility. Good luck!
Lindsay @ Lindsay's Sweet World says
We’ve had YouTube TV for years and we love it! We’ll never go back to cable. We can still watch all of our local stations including the local news and weather and all that, too. I couldn’t go without the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. ;o) You can also record anything and watch it later, record and stream it live, and/or record and catch up to live TV just like you would any other service. It’s perfect!
Melissa says
We were hesitant to get rid of cable too. But then the price basically doubled and the decision was made for us. And I can’t believe we didn’t do it sooner. We do share a YouTube tv account with my brother (allows 3 screens on at a time) that we use for live events (World Series, Super Bowl etc). You will watch quite a bit less of the new shows released every season but they haven’t been worth watching in years so who cares.
Lauren Hindes says
Get rid of the dish!!! We love YouTube TV and we had dish for literally 20 years. We also have Netflix, Hulu, Disney plus, etc. Also get rid of the landline lol. I too was one that hung on a long time and now that we don’t have it I don’t miss it!
Diana Woodlock says
YouTubeTV! Hands down.
Anna C says
We cut the cord about 5 years ago. Kept the landline for a few year then cut that too. It was scary at first but now that we have done it we will never go back. We love Hulu live as we can watch local channels. I would compare Hulu live and YouTube and see which channels you enjoy watching. We also have Netflix, Prime,Max and paramount +. Disney and ESPN cone with Hulu live. Hope this helps
Erin Cauthen says
We actually did away with our Dish last fall and haven’t looked back. It had gotten to the point where we felt like there was nothing on tv that we actually wanted to watch that couldn’t be found on a streaming service. We signed up for Hulu live (which includes ESPN & Disney Plus), but we also have Netflix, Prime, and Paramount+. The total that we pay for those is less than what we were paying for Dish and we always have something to watch.
Hope says
We have Roku and then stream YouTubeTV for all local and cable channels like HGTV, ESPN, etc We also have Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax and probably more. My twenty-something’s living at home subscribe to the streaming apps. Do it!
Beth says
I live in the boondocks and we ditched the dish 4 years ago. We have Hulu+ live (gives us local channels and sports – SEC 🙃). We also use Apple TV, Netflix, Frndly TV and Disney + accessed through our fire stick. We still have a landline because it is required to get our internet service.
Laura says
We got rid of cable a couple of years ago. We use an antenna and Roku. We still get most of the local channels and we get to watch all the parades and specials.
I’m not a huge tv watcher but my husband is. Not having all that access makes us less tv-centric. Which I find is a good thing. He still gets to watch sports and his favorite westerns but I find he’s not watching for hours and hours. He’s reading more than he ever has before.
Jessica says
I live in the Boston area and have YouTube TV and have no problem watching any of the local news channels! It’s definitely the way to go. Feels just like “regular” TV. With YouTube TV please all the other streaming apps though, I don’t think it’s as much of a savings as it once was!
Yvonne C says
We live out in the sticks, so we have the bare minimum cable (no DVR capabilities or pause) for the regular TV channels (NBC, ABC, etc). Then we have all the streaming apps, Sling TV, Netflix, Peacock, Disney, Amazon Prime, etc. I would say I mostly use Sling because it has Bravo, HGTV and about 100 other channels. We ditched Dish years ago and I am so happy we did!
Laur says
We only use streaming services (and most of watch on separate iPads – we’re down to one tv in the house) and haven’t had “regular” tv in almost eight years. I don’t like the news so I don’t miss the news. I’m in Oklahoma so if there’s a tornado threat and I want a local weather newscast I watch them on the local news apps. Also haven’t had a landline since the iPhone released in 2008!
Beth Vogt says
We are streamers- through Prime and YoutubeTV
We haven’t missed much of anything! If you follow anything local on social media you stay caught up with news. The weather apps cover that, we caught every UGA game-NFL, Masters, motor cross, etc…
Tara says
YouTube TV for the beach house and access to our streaming services that we use at home. We still have DirecTV at home and probably have too many services, but it works. You can get local news on Nantucket too with YouTube.
PS – we still have a landline 😉
Lizzie says
Still have cable and landline. We have several streaming services, too. I don’t bundle my landline/internet with my cable b/c if one goes out, they all go out. My daughter has YouTube TV and loves it. She does not have a landline. I wish she did so my grand kids would know how to call 911, and to call me :). We have radiant barrier in our attic and our cell phones do not hook up well in some areas of the house. So many valid points on both sides. Good luck on your decision.
Jaime says
Keep your landline! I wish we had one!
My parents are 60 and just switched to Hulu Live with other streaming services. My mom was able to watch the macys day parade and the dog show because Hulu Live plays those as well as all the big sports (we are big cowboys fans!)
We are in our early 30s and also love Hulu Live for that reason – but mostly watch Netflix, Disney, and Paramount. We had cable for one year in college and that’s it!
Denise M says
We still have cable even though we also have streaming. My husband could not survive if he didn’t have immediate access to his favorite sports teams (kind of like how he acts when he has a cold – it’s life or death). With that said, our internet is also through our cable provider and it would cost us more to subscribe to just the internet, so we haven’t cut the cable cord. We did cut the landline cord many years ago though!
I am loving your summer Nantucket blog!
Allison Ferrell says
We stream everything. Yes you’re the last person to have a dish. LOL! keep the landline because why not?!
Katrina says
Bunny ears! But for real, we have all of the streaming services PLUS an antenna so we can still get the local channels. I like to be able to turn on the news or other major events if I feel the need to ☺️ I’m sure living near a bigger city you should be able to get all of the major networks just fine. My husband also downloaded some app on our TV and devices that lets us stream the channels on other devices too. It’s called HD Homerun. Hold on to that home phone though… We kept ours in case of an emergency. We have young kids in the house who don’t yet have their own phones so we kept it for them.
Gail says
Our young grandchild stopped breathing in our care (Breath Holding Syndrome) and I yelled for my hubby to call 911 (I dont carry my phone around with me in the house). He was frazzled and couldn’t remember where he set his phone down… luckily we had our land line. And that is why we will keep it for the foreseeable future. Our tiny tot is fine, and kids usually outgrow it by age 6. This was not the first time however, so we are very aware of how quickly it can happen.
Lisa says
Love this question b/c I too feel like the dinosaur still using cable BUT… when I total the amounts for having WiFi/intranet and the different streaming services so we can get the football, hockey and golf in addition to Bravo, etc (Netflix and Prime) I’m not really saving much or would I??? I think we have this discussion every quarter at my house.
I mean, what’s the worst thing that happens if we get rid of it?? We just have to get it back…maybe with a better rate!??
Christina says
The switch was terrifying, but I’m convinced we’ll never go back to cable or satellite (we’ve had both)! We primarily use YouTube TV and it has everything we had before. I honestly can’t tell a difference. That said, we also have Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. If you’re gonna make the switch, I would definitely recommend YouTube TV as your primary!
Beth Hall says
I cancelled regular tv 2 years ago and it has been easier than i thought. It changes how you watch a little bit. And I’ve adjusted. I still am able to watch Macy’s TD parade (live) and lots of other shows that are current. I don’t even have you tube tv. I pay for a few (Peacock and Apple TV) and have a few free options.
I advise to switch and try it for 90 days. If you hate it, just go back!
Buckley F. says
I like my tv all in one place… we have Netflix etc too. But I prefer my “old school” one remote channel surfing. We have Directv & I will keep it until they take it away. I love my local news, parades, infomercials…
…but this is coming from someone who also refuses to get rid of her landline phone, paper planner, paper books & prefers to budget & file things on paper still too;)
I work all day on computers, so do all I can to avoid screens/electronics outside of work. For some reason I find “regular tv” less electronic;) Plus I get too tired to search and switch providers.
Lol I am under 50, but this post probably doesn’t sound that way🤣🤣
AliJ. says
We have Xfinity for our cable, internet and home phone. My 88 year old Mom lives with us and if there is an emergency, the home phone will be best for her to use. We also have Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime so I do feel like we can cut cable BUT I need my local stations and I need my HGTV.
So I’ll be interested to ready what everyone else does!
Linda says
We do still have cable, we watch the network channels but also streaming too. Yes, we have hundreds of channels but it’s all good.
Cathy says
We ditched DirectTV a few years ago and use Hulu Live in a bundle with Disney+ and ESPN. It’s saved us a ton of money and we still get local stations this way.
Nicole says
We cut cable about a year ago. I don’t know that I would do it again…the main reason we cut was to save money, but it is not any cheaper. We have Hulu live, prime, Netflix, discovery and Disney plus. For the most part, we can catch what we want. I can see the thanksgiving parade on Hulu. The issue comes with streaming. We have 3 kids on tv or devices and sometime we struggle to load even though we can’t get higher internet speed. I also get scared about not being able to catch things, sometimes college sports or whatnot are not on the package you have even though you thought you could catch it when you signed up for said package. Lastly, I feel like all the options are just overwhelming. By the time I pick out what I want to watch, the enjoyment of watching is lost.
Bailey Morris says
I have Hulu + live TV + ESPN package (maybe HBO too?). All the normal local channels, all the HGTV/Food/sports you could want, with a normal channel guide like cable. It’s like having cable again, just without the dish.
Constance Le says
We have a small antennae (it’s a very flat rectangular box that we hang right next to the tv. It’s pretty hidden so you don’t even notice it) to watch local tv. Then we have all the streaming services. It’s perfect!
BF says
We do not have cable (nor have we ever.) Years ago we used to just have an antenna, where we could get the basic channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc) and now we don’t even have that. We ONLY stream everything. If we really wanted more, we could get Hulu Live or YouTube TV. But, Netflix. Hulu, Discovery+, Prime and Disney+ are plenty of options for us to find something to watch! Good luck with your decision! 😀 And please update us on what you decide!!
AmandaG says
I mean, I wonder if there’s ever been more comments on a topic that didn’t have to do with well wishes/congratulations! We have both DirecTV and basically every streaming service. We don’t have YouTube TV or HULU+ (but do have the regular HULU without ads). My husband is really the only one who watches DirecTV. I will occasionally for some live events/sports— but that is super rare. Hubs is a fan of an out of state NFL team, so in order to watch we need Sunday Ticket which is moving to YouTube. Thankfully you do not need to have YouTube TV in order to get it (like DirecTV did.) It became easier to watch shows (like Bravo and ABC) when they began streaming online almost immediately after airing on their networks. My big must-watch-immediately shows are usually on HBO and we have Max, which streams them right away, so I’m happy with that. If we got rid of satellite I think we’d be fine.
Cwhit says
We switched to YouTube tv and it’s worked great. It’s totally different than our idea of YouTube website. So don’t avoid it b/c of that, as I had my mind made up they’d be similar and it’s totally different. It works just like a cable selection process. We had comcast before. We still use that for internet but we cut our bill way down!
Lauren Conley says
Hulu live!
Margaret says
We totally stream at our home and our lake house. Never going back to cable. We use You Tube TV and get the local channels. We also have Netflix, Apple TV, Max, (Hulu Disney+ ESPN+ free with our AMEX platinum so take advantage if you have they credit card). We also get paramount+ with our Wal mart subscription. Also now you can put a TV anywhere and not worry about a cable hookup!
Rebecca K says
We moved to an Amazon fire stick, its fine as long as I can watch local news, I can figure the rest out, but what I really want to know is where is your mother in laws dress from? please and thank you!
Pam says
We were long time satellite only because of NFL Ticket. Just switched to You Tube TV which will now carry the football. It’s been great so far. All my local channels and half the costs. Can’t go wrong. No landline but yes to high speed internet.
Nicole Karpinski says
Shay, we’ve strictly used streaming services since 2016. To get the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade I just sign up for the Peacock app and cancel after one month. It’s worth it to me for $7.99 and I usually watch a few things on there for that month. For local news, I check the station’s IG page or just go to their website.
TiredMomofTwo says
I am the same as you and feel like the cable is my security blanket! The cost is INSANE though especially here on the Cape where xfinity has complete control of the market. Talk about monopoly! Curious to read all these comments and see what others thinks… maybe they can get me to switch to streaming too!
Dana J says
We still have our cable tv plus streaming Apps and a landline! I keep bcuz well you never know! We kept for the same reasons as you said and I do watch stuff that I DVR…maybe that will change in the future but for now it works for us!
Ginger says
We tried YouTubeTV and Hulu, but neither carried the StL Cardinals. We now stream DirecTV through AT&T, and we get all the network programming that way, plus it carries the BallySports networks so we get both the Cardinals and Royals. It was super easy to set up if you have a Smart TV or with a FireStick. We also stream Netflix and Prime, and with your Walmart Plus, you get Paramount Plus. We do not miss the dish at all. We still have a landline, but I have it hooked up to my fax — which probably no one else uses much, but we use it for business. But I have gone from 3 lines to only the one.
Meredith Scheerle says
Don’t get rid of your landline. You have young kids and they should always know where the phone is to call 911 in case of emergency.
I have YouTube TV and I hardly watch anything. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of it and just doing streaming services. I do watch the news a lot and I like to have that available.
Dawn says
We do Hulu + Live TV. As a school superintendent here in Michigan, my husband needs to be able to get local weather in the winter to call those snow days.😄
Jayci Ehler says
We move a lot for my husbands job and we don’t want to have to disconnect and reconnect with cable every time we move so we use YouTube TV. It shows all local channels and the norms (cnn, Fox News, abc). There are 60 channels included and my husband watches all sports without problems. We still have Netflix and prime video which is what I mostly watch, but YouTube tv is great if you still want access to channels and normal cable
Jodi Guntle says
I will never get rid rid of the landline. To me it’s a safety issue. Kids, mine and others that come over, need to know exactly where to locate a phone for an emergency. Especially younger kids that don’t have phones. I’ll die on this hill…. keep the landline.
Madison Messina says
My husband and I got married 4 years ago and TV/cable was a huge topic we discussed when moved into our home together. We researched and decided to try Hulu Live… and we have loved it! The best part is if you’re going to be gone on a long trip or away from home, you can simply just pause the subscription and pick it back up when you get home. With Hulu Live, you can bundle with ESPN+ and Disney+ for basically the same price. We did decide to add on the optional HBO Max subscription too, and even then, it’s still so much cheaper than Dish/Direct TV. We love it!
Becky says
We have had youtubetv for over a year now. We get all our local channels with news, plus all channels we got on cable. Very satisfied. Of course, we watch a lot of Netflix, Hulu, AmazonPrime too. HBO Max under a separate app comes with YouTube tv subscription. I’m retired so tv is my entertainment when home. Ditch the cable, dishes….they are old school now. And besides, who wants that dish or satellite sitting in their yard or roof!!!
Becky Carl says
Also, on youtubetv, you can record your favorite shows to watch later and fast forward through commercials. YouTube is live TV for news, sports, etc.
Cris says
I hope you’ll keep us posted about what you decide and why! We gave up cable a few years ago, and I miss it. I can’t figure out how to get live sports for my husband, and I don’t watch anything now because I just lost the habit. I miss it, though, especially the sports in the background. We have a few streaming services that our kids share with us, but my husband mostly just rewatches DVDs. How’s that for us being old folks?!
Marcie W says
YouTube TV and streaming services only. Have NEVER regretted it!!!!
Lisa says
We have all the streaming services and are able to watch sports/live events thru Hulu live. We really like it but I’m not sure the Hulu live subscription combined with the Netflix/Prime etc etc really saves us any money. In theory, it was supposed to but not so much! 😂
Torrie says
We did away with satellite (direct tv) years ago. Mind you, my husband is a die hard Steelers fan so that was really the only way we could see the games. But we made the switch and haven’t looked back. Satellite always went out with bad weather and streaming does not. Also, youtube tv which is what we have, will start offering The NFL Sunday ticket for all the sports lovers. But just try it and you can always cancel.
Dani says
We ditched cable and I was so scared. But…YouTube TV and streaming platforms have been more than enough. We too have a landline and will NOT get rid of it. My husband (a fireman) insists it’s the safest way to ensure accurate 911 call routing.
Nina Cox says
We have a Roku but also subscribed to Hulu and we don’t miss a thing; parades, sports, Super Bowl HGTV,
Adriana says
You can easily adjust and switch to only “streaming” services and ditch regular cable. When I switched I tracked the channels I watched for a month (ABC, BRAVO, ESPN, etc) and cross-referenced what networks were covered with each available service. The two that cover the most are Hulu Live or Plus, whatever it is called now, and Youtube TV. I tried both as well as sling. My favorite and the one I have had for years now and helped others switch to is YouTubeTV. It is just like cable with a guide, recording, all your typical networks and access to all the special events (local news, super bowl, macys parade, etc). Bonus if you have multiple homes is one account used in both homes vs cable for each home. Plus you can watch/stream via your phone/ipad and project onto a screen, sheet for outdoor movie nights or travel. You will easily adapt and question why you didn’t make the switch sooner.
Whitney says
We have had YouTubeTv for four years now. We were dish people before. We don’t miss it at all. We can watch all the things we’ve always watched and then some! We also have other streaming services, too, like HBO, Netflix, and AppleTV.
Brenda says
Basically – exact same boat as you. We still have Dish and finally have had high-speed internet (really rural location) x1 year now. Back a year ago when they finally reached our area (SERIOUSLY, it was like a dream come true) we were all about “That’s it! We’re giving up our Dish!”…and here we are, still with it. I can’t explain why..it’s just really hard to break that connection!
Lauren says
We ditched satellite several years ago, because it got so expensive. I was also nervous, but have not looked back! We have Hulu plus, which includes networks/ live tv. We also have Prime and Netflix.
You can do this!!!
And lose the landline!! 😂💕💕💕
Haley says
We still have cable and won’t get rid of it. My parents got rid of it for a few months and missed the local stuff, so actually went back to having it. That was enough for me…we’ll keep it
Beth Keller says
Yes, still have landline and cable! Our landline is unplugged but voicemails go to my email so I still see them. We are keeping cable for sports and network tv. Our adult kids think we are a little nuts🤷♀️
Georgia Blas says
I, too, thought that we are the only ones that still have cable. My husband and I are avid sports fans so we know we can’t give up our cable subscription. I consider myself old-school, although we did not get a landline phone when we moved into our home over 16 years ago! 😄
Chrys says
My hubby and I had this exact convo this weekend. I am so torn, but I also really think we need to get rid of cable. Will YouTubeTV give me the Hallmark channel? Because that’s my biggest concern lol.
Julie Sizemore says
Yes, YouTube TV has the Hallmark Channel. Only way I agreed to switch over.
Taylor says
Hulu Live package. We get all the local live channels as well as Hulu streaming. We can watch all sporting events, parades, news if that was ever needed, etc.)
Emily says
Whatever you decide to do, please know there’s an app called FrndlyTV you can subscribe to so you can record/watch Hallmark Christmas movies. 😉 That was the one thing I wanted to make sure I could watch when we got rid of cable!
Pamela says
Oh Lord, here we go.
1. We have Cox cable with 2 DVR boxes for recording.
2. We also have Internet with Cox.
3. We also have a home phone. (Yes, I know, but what if some weirdo breaks in, I dial 911, the attacker grabs me, but the police still come because it’s a dropped call?!
4. Everything is bundled and once we start trying to do “a la cart,” the price mysteriously goes up?!
5. I want to go back to 1984.
Jan Ehrenkrook says
You Tube TV here. Gave up the land line 5 yrs ago. Don’t miss it and don’t need it!
Lisa Sipe says
Ok wait…,did you really read ALL these comments??? I had to s roll, and scroll, and scroll, AND keep scrolling just to find this section🤣 You are definitely well loved🥰So cute how you want input from your people, that’s just adorable! No Tv suggestions…cuz as long as you can get HALLMARK you are good!!!!🤣
Mix and Match Mama says
Amen and amen! I looked just last night (after someone commented) that you can (for a fee) “add on” Hallmark. I couldn’t survive the holidays without it!
Amber Grubbs says
We have Hulu live. I fought tooth and nail at first, because I hate change…lol. But we’ve had it for several years and I love it. We get all local channels and pretty much every other channel I can think of! So we can watch the news, the parade, etc. We also have a Netflix subscription.
Erin says
We dropped cable several years ago! We have an antenna so that we still get local stations for free, and then use several streaming services. I don’t think we’ll ever go back to cable. Good luck on your debate!😉
Alison says
We still have cable and streaming services. I too have struggled with making the “jump.” Sports…my husband is nervous about not being able to see the game.
And we have a home phone still too. I justify it so my little kids can call 911 if need be as they don’t have cell phones. Yes, I know I am overinsured. 😂
Marie says
Get rid of cable. We have YouTube Live. Same as cable. We used to have HULU live but it would freeze up a lot. YouTube live doesn’t have this problem and we can watch all TV live including local news channels (Master Chef Master Chef JR (your kids would love it) Bachelore/Bachelorette We subscribe to prarmiunt plus(Yellowstone) Apple TV (Ted Lasso HJack is amazing) MLB is on Apple and HULU (Wrexham, show about ryan reynold buying soccer club in Wales. You will love it if you loved Ted Lasso) I grew up in England and hated soccer. Never watched one game (my family big into rugby. Moms cousin coached the England team) Now I love soccer thanks to Ted lol. We don’t miss cable. Hope this helps!
Allyson Petta says
RIGHT HERE!
We just ditched our cable a few weeks ago. I like you was nervous even though I rarely watch TV in favor of listening to a show on Peacock, Hulu, Prime, etc. We got YouTube TV, and I AM LOVING IT! I get all my crime shows and sitcom reruns, my husband gets Fox Business and all the sports and we can also DVR everything! It’s AWESOME.
Also, keep the landline! Like you, my husband is self-employed and works from home, and having cell and landlines both give him more freedom for who he wants to contact him and which line. Blessings!
Tammy M. says
I ditched cable many years ago . I have Roku tvs and have access to all local channels without cable. If you only use cable for local tv just buy an antenna and you will get all local channels plus more!!! Just place antenna close to a window and you will be amazed at how many channels you get for free! Hope that helps 🙂
Julie Sizemore says
We had Dish Network until last year as price increased each year and it was just too much. We changed to Youtube TV for our 3 TVs. We like it but we are sports people so we don’t get all the sports channels like we did. I also purchased Friendly but only have it on 1 TV which is mine to watch GAC and Hallmark movies. GAC is not on Youtube TV.
We also still have our landline which we won’t give up. Too many people know that number. 🙂
Lynn says
When we built that winter home in Texas last year out in country, they don’t even put in telephone lines in the new houses anymore unless you specifically ask/beg/demand it. The telephone/internet company comes out and installs your WiFi in your attic and a receiver in line with the tower. That’s why we got Ooma for a landline. So if the electric goes out, you have do depend on just regular cell service.
Sara says
We dropped cable in 2016. We’ve been exclusively streaming since then. We use FuboTV as our streaming platform and use a Roku as our box to watch it on our TVs. We still get all our local abc, nbc, cbs, fox networks on Fubo. We also get sports (ESPN, nesn, nbc sports). And most importantly to me it also has the Hallmark channel 👍🏼
Meg Lyman says
We got ride of cable and only have steaming services now, but we also have an antennae that allows us to get the regular station; Macys Day Parade, etc 😉 It has worked great and we have never felt we needed cable back. Also…. We got rid of our landline (I pushed against that for years!) and regret it everyday! There have been several times we actually really could have used it and I felt helpless! Keep the landline!! 💗
Lacey says
We do the same! We get a ton of local channels so that we can watch local news or watch for weather (we live in hurricane central!) We stream everything else. We have Sling and I can watch Food Network, HGTV, Hallmark, etc on it to get my “fix” of cable tv.
Rene Watten says
At and t directvtv ( no dish) is our favorite. We’ve tried them all. We get the regular tv stations and streaming stations and can watch it on our phones or computers away from the house. We pay for espn separately but that’s it. You will not regret it.
Lisa says
Fubo! We haven’t missed a Cowboys game yet (or an Astros game)
Amie says
Wow, tons of input on this one!! We ditched Directv and have not looked back!! YouTubeTV is our number one to watch all the normal channels we like then we have Netflix, Prime, Disney etc. We love it!! So much cheaper even with all of those. Go for it!!
Jenna P says
We stream everything (mainly Hulu +Live) but I will say that when I have to run the microwave for longer than 1 minute our tv cuts out and that just was never a problem with cable 🙂 HAHA!
Michelle says
We have had YouTube TV for the past three years. Like you, local stations are important to me. We have all four… NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. We are able to watch things like the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade and our local news. To me, it’s no different than cable.
Janet says
We still have cable. Our internet service is not good enough to give it up yet. I do subscribe to streaming services. I have two rooms that do not have cable. I use a digital antennae and a Firestick there.
Carrie says
We cut cable in 2008 and only use streaming services and whatever channels pop up using a digital antenna (it’s surprisingly a lot including local news stations, PBSkids stations, etc). We stream through Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Fubo, Disney+, ESPN, YouTube but end up watching mostly whatever the antenna is picking up. My three kids (14, 12, and 9) really enjoy watching shows like Dick Van Dyke, Green Acres, etc on the Decades or MeTV type channels. There’s a Rewind channel that feature shows from the 80s/90s that I love (Growing Pains, Alf, etc).
Kacy M says
My family has always had “normal” tv and I was the one kid/family who didn’t have cable (ESPN, E!, etc) growing up. But a few years ago when we switched to a smart tv that could have apps and worked via wifi, we got into a few streaming services (fubo, peacock, Netflix). We won’t get rid of normal tv bc we still watch the local news.
Deena says
We’re retired and have been streaming for years. We originally had Sony but they stopped their service so tried Hulu Live. We really didn’t like it plus it was glitchy so switched to YouTube TV and have stuck with it. It’s great once you get over using the TV Guide the way you did with cable. We love not having a box and being able to record whatever we want without worrying if there’s room. It’s easy once you set it up with the shows you like. If you want more than one username, you’ll need a different gmail for each one. We have one for my husband/sports, one for my shows, and one for both of us.
We gave up our landline about 15 years ago and haven’t missed it at all.
Emily says
Fubo + Netflix + YouTube TV = WIN! The thing I don’t love is that if Wifi is out, you’re out. We only have Fubo for baseball season! 🙂 I was sooo hesitant. We remodeled and stayed in a couple of AirBnb’s during the worst of it – that’s when I realized we really could do this!! Go, Shay, Go!
Danielle Hewitt says
We stream with DirecTV and are able to get all of the channels you would normally get with a dish or cable. Then we stream Netflix, Disney +, and AppleTV. Streaming with DirecTV is nice because we can catch games and such on road trips, at tournaments, etc. my high school son loves being able to stream games on those long bus rides to away games and when he is with us at his sister’s soccer tournaments.
Nancy Peterson Steed says
We do streaming for everything. I can watch my local news on my Peacock and Paramount app depending on what channel I want. We mostly watch our local NBC which is easily found on Peacock. The only thing we have trouble with is sports. For football season we use You Tube TV and we can get all the games and more that we need. The good thing about You Tube TV is that we found out about this year is you can suspend your subscription for a time frame if need to. We turned ours off in February and will turn it back on in August for the start of the season. Direct TV was getting too expensive. We have only had issues if it is storming and the internet goes out but my Mom always taught us to turn the tv off in a storm anyway.
Hope this helps.
Crystal says
We have Fubo for local TV (abc, nbs, cbs). This is where we watch the news, bad weather, but I can watch Grey’s Anatomy and Bachelor, etc. Hallmark! It gives us the channels/shows we like to watch and my husband can watch baseball! We also have Hulu and Netflix. Between those three, we get everything. We just had my parents switch over to Fubo and get off cable.
Amber says
We cut cable/satellite 6 years ago and we don’t really notice a difference. We have Slingtv and it has a dvr feature, so we use that. Some areas you can stream your local channels through Slingtv as well. With us living in a smaller area in Coatals Nc we watch our local channels over the air with an antenna. Antennas have gotten so small. When my husband said he wanted to get an antenna I had the 1980’s ginormous metal on my roof in my mind. I obviously wasn’t going for that, so we went to Lowe’s and picked up a much smaller antenna that sits on a bookshelf.
SS says
We dropped cable and I HATE it. I want to scroll channels and see what is on. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but find it so hard to find a show I want to watch with all the 5000 streaming services. On Cable I record all the shows I want to watch – never live and then just go to the list of recorded shows on cable and watch it. How in the heck do I do that on streaming? doesn’t seem to be an option. It just keeps suggesting shows I don’t want to watch. Why can’t I have all the series I watch just listed there and ready for the next episode? I wanted to watch Wimbledon and couldn’t figure it out. Supposedly YouTube TV had the French open but it glitched horribly so it wasn’t watchable. I have not been impressed with YouTube TV. So, I want to go back to cable. The only upside is I basically don’t watch TV at all now b/c it’s so unpleasant. You can scroll YouTubeTV after you find it via the 50 apps and select it. But then say you pause it in the middle of what you are watching, and then you can’t get back to it without searching for it again. Not like cable, where you then just press play. I mean what the heck? So unfriendly. We have all these parental controls so I have to enter like 50 passwords to watch anything – first my Amazon one, then the next app one. Very anti FireStick or FireTV’s for smart tv’s. That is probably part of my problem – since you have to log into amazon to be able to get to any streaming service and it always makes us do our parental controls to see anything. Need to switch to a Roku TV and then maybe it will be more bearable.
Jill says
YouTube TV. Problems solved.
Brittany Porter says
I recently cut the cord and am so glad I did! I have YouTube Tv. The only complaint I have is that it does t have A&E. Hulu live does offer that option though. Also, if you have unlimited plans with data or texting you can get MAX include with that!
Nicole Davis says
We got rid of cable about 4 years ago and our TVs are all smart TVs. The older two we have rokus on because the interface is better. We have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Peacock (needed more bravo ☺️). At first we used sling but it did not have all the main live network or all the sports. As the price went up we switched to YouTube TV which has all the live TV and main networks with local news and the sports channels. It also has recording and you can build a library of your favorite shows to not miss them. With streaming there are no channel numbers so the search and guide you get used to. It does recognize your preferences and suggest what to watch which helps. We technically pay for a landline because it’s less to have phone + internet than just internet but we do not have a phone connected. If the landline gives you peace of mind, keep it.
Jinjer says
I’m sure by now you have all the answers you need, but I’ll throw in my 2 cents anyway.
Last year I got rid of cable, satellite, and Land line.
I have a Roku stick that plugs into the back of the TV via the HDMI port. The streamers I have are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Showtime, Apple TV+, and AMC +
I think you have Walmart + like I do so you already get…is it Paramount +? I always get that one mixed up with Peacock.
Anyway, if you have YouTube or Hulu or one of those and want to see local news and Macys Parade and stuff, I think you add on the “Live TV” package. You can get Live TV through various streamers. I was going to add Live TV but decided I get all the news I need via TikTok and Twitter anyway. Ha ha.
Cindy Davis says
We use Directv and we still have our landline ! I refuse to give up my landline because if the electricity goes out and you have a phone that plugs in a jack, you can still use your phone !!!! I refuse to give up either !!!! 😊
Sarah says
We have dish for tv and also use some streaming services. Our streaming services do buffer a good amount because we don’t have the best wifi where we live out in the country. So, we do use our dish a good amount to watch tv. We also have a landline because it is bundled with our tv and internet. Hope this helps!
Kristin S says
I’m not sure you guys need any more input but…
3 years ago I moved my mom across the country to be near me. To avoid her having to learn another cable/DVR set up, I decided to cut the cord right along with her. No regrets at all. It can for sure add up if you us all the streaming services but you don’t NEED them at all. So much is free these days but you just have to know.
We split YouTubeTV (it is legitimate to split with a family member) – unlimited DVR, all the networks and all the sports and all the things. We have Prime and some other apps. I have 2 TVs – one is a smart TV and has everything built in to just add apps and the other one is hanging on at 14 years old so I use a Roku with that. Roku has been so great because I just unplug it when I travel and can watch all my recorded things from my YouTubeTV even when not at home. They also have a great app so watching on a laptop or phone is easy too but I rarely do that.