Comments on: Save Money on Television

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:45:21 +0000

Ditch television and get your entertainment online. :P $15 a month gets you unlimited access to World of Warcraft!

Seriously, though, if I needed to pinch pennies, I’d sell my TV and get rid of cable altogether. Entertainment? Books are free from the library. :)

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:17:27 +0000

I think so. I probably won’t be able to watch nearly enough games with my new job.

By: David

David — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:56:02 +0000

Might have to sign up for the MLB package this year for the Sox too; you signing up again?

By: tom

tom — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:33:13 +0000

Don’t watch tv, the internet is wonderful.

By: Chad @ Sentient Money

Chad @ Sentient Money — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:24:58 +0000

I’m more in line with Craig. If you have internet access you can watch almost every major show on Hulu or that network’s website. Plus, you might watch less TV and get more done.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:36:18 +0000

Not bad thoughts. I do like the point about paying more on television if it allows you avoid expenses elsewhere. It’s always worthwhile to consider your alternatives when pondering how to spend your money.

I’ll have to look into Sling Box, though; I can’t say that I’ve ever heard about this before.

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:19:35 +0000

You could also cut TV all together and just utilize hulu.com and the internet to stream shows, also could use Netflix for older series.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:21:02 +0000

I definitely second the DVR/TiVo that the first commenter mentioned. I’m in the TiVo business, and I constantly hear from customers who are able to actually reduce their cable or satellite package because they basically harvest so much more programming by using their DVR.

By: kosmo @ The Casual Observer

kosmo @ The Casual Observer — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:14:23 +0000

One alternative to TV would be audio/radio. I’m a huge baseball fan and I’d love to see all of my Rockies games on TV (I live in Iowa, so only see them when they play the Cubs), but it’s hard to bite the bullet and pay $150 for the MLB package on TV or even the $80 to watch on my computer. The Rockies play a lot of west coast games (because that is where their division rivals are), and since it’s hard for me to stay up past midnight when I have to wake up at 5:15, it’s hard to get full value out of those products.

But for $15, I can listen to audiocasts of my Rockies games. I’m a farm kid who grew up listening to sports on the radio (wasn’t inside very much during daylight hours), so I can get nearly as much enjoyment (75%?) listening to the game as I do watching it. The NFL has something similar, but I think they charge something like $40? for 1/10 the number of games. I forget the exact amount, but it seemed like a ripoff.

I multi-task like crazy, so this works great for me. I pop on my wireless headphones and pay bills, wash dishes, read – or even watch a TV show (listen to the game with one ear and the show with the other).

By: Enrique S

Enrique S — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:17:11 +0000

Definitely get a DVR. You can cut at least 15 minutes of commercials from your TV-watching time. The extra cost of $10/month is worth the time saved if you watch a lot of shows.