Introduction
For several years my wife and I have slowly watched as our bill for satellite TV went up and up. As I talk to friends, family, and clients I find this is a growing trend both locally and nationwide. Cable and satellite providers keep inching their bills higher and higher. And by and large we as consumers grouse and grumble but send the check each month. But recently my wife and I drew a line in the sand. We decided to pursue another path ... the 'cord cutter' path. So I've decided to chronicle my journey to freedom in my blog.
This is the first of what I hope will be many posts on our decision to join the rapidly growing group of people coming to be affectionately known as Cord Cutters. It's worth noting that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) at their meeting last year (2013) convened an entire session dedicated to Cord Cutters and how they are changing the face of media consumption ... and thereby changing the advertising paradigm in the process. More on that in a later post.
Historical Perspective
We live in metro Phoenix so our viewing options here are far better than most. We have 4 paid services available; Cox, CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), DirecTV, or Dish. Cox is the local cable TV provider. CenturyLink is the local phone company. And of course DirecTV and Dish are the national satellite providers.
Several years ago when we decided to jump into the subscription TV game we evaluated all our options and decided Dish would be the best value. We were already getting our phone & DSL Internet from Qwest. Years later Qwest came calling and offered to bundle DirecTV with our existing phone and Internet services and give us a "better deal". So we again evaluated all our options and determined it would, in fact, be a better value. So today as I write this we are CenturyLink & DirecTV bundled customers. Although in truth we dropped our traditional land line a couple years back in favor of a netTALK box (so we could keep our home phone number). That too was a journey.
Reasons Why
So before we begin this journey to freedom together you and I, I think it important that you understand how and why we got here. The continually rising cost of our bill is certainly one very large factor. But it also occurred to us one day we were spending much of our time watching shows we had previously recorded so we could skip the commercials or because we were unavailable when it was broadcast 'live'. We watched as Netflix, Hulu, and other online content providers slowly increased their offerings. And often times they were giving us access to the exact same content ... already recorded and packaged without commercials.
I also watched over the last year as additional products and services came online to address and service that growing group of Cord Cutters. I watched as more and more cable TV stations began including their own in-house shows and content on their web sites. I watched as computer programs started to emerge that would replace and enhance the role of Microsoft Windows Media Center. And I watched as TV tuner cards necessary to pick-up over-the-air (OTA) signals moved from add-in cards installed in each HTPC to shared devices that could be accessed across my in-home network.
Summary
In short, I've watched this movement or industry or consumer shift, what have you, grow from it's infancy to what I believe is now it's adolescence. And just like any adolescent it's got some acne and it's a little rough around the edges. But at the same time I see the greatness within. So take this journey with me as I walk down this path to video content freedom.
Welcome to the future ... the journey begins now ...
