Several years ago I wrote an article with some tips for how to cut your cable. It’s amazing how quickly things change! Cutting your cable was a little revolutionary back then, but it’s become much more mainstream these days.
I just wanted to share the service we’ve settled on for replacing our cable — Hulu Live. We made the switch on a trial basis last June (there’s no contract, so you can cancel any time), and we’ve never even considered cancelling.
As a little back story, after my how to post, we actually went back to the cheapest cable service we could find for about a year. Finding quality sports coverage was challenging at the time, and piecing together different services quickly added up. So my husband was worried about being able to watch all of the college football games and baseball games he wanted to see.
After switching, we were so happy to discover that our Hulu Live login also gives access to the individual channel apps. So the few times a game wasn’t being broadcast on Hulu Live, we’ve been able to login through the ESPN or Fox Sports apps and still watch. AND since you can also stream on your smartphone, this also means that we were able to catch games that were being broadcast during our kids’ soccer games.
In fact, the ONLY time we couldn’t figure out how to watch a show we wanted to see was during Shark Week. But Hulu recently added the Discovery Channel to their lineup, so that won’t be a problem in the future!
Other reasons why we love Hulu Live:
- Individual profiles with limits and customizations
- The option to pay slightly more for a no ads experience
- Ability to stream from a wide variety of devices
If you recall, back when we had a traditional cable package, we were paying $50 a month just for the cable boxes to hook up our TVs. RIDICULOUS!!! We’re paying LESS than that with Hulu Live, and we’re getting SO much more for our money. Their live TV rates start at just $39.99 right now! If you’ve still been on the fence about cutting your cable, I highly encourage you to check it out.
P.S. You can also try a 30-day FREE trial of Hulu Streaming right now! It’s a good way to check out some of their exclusive programming and see if you like the service.
Rebecca
what about the price of the WiFi? Can you share what company you are using for that and/or what package you have?
Deal Seeking Mom
Hi Rebecca! Our internet provider is Spectrum, and our bill is $65.99 per month. We switched when we cut our cable, because Uverse instituted a cap on data usage when their service isn’t paired with a cable package. Sneaky, huh? So it went up about $10 a month, but we have double the speed and no data caps. I know Spectrum has some cheaper packages, which I think should still support streaming TV. We needed to go with a higher one because there are 7 of us online in the evenings between homework, TV, blogging, and video games.
Dana
Thank you for the update. We are wondering how to cut our cable costs too but the sports is always the issue. I love to watch sports as much as my DH, so losing the Pac 12 network channels is probably not going to work. I also need the MLB Channel. Do you get those? I didn’t see them on the list in my area
How much do you pay for internet, since you ditched cable? We have cable, internet and phone (VOIP) service bundled and pay about $209 w/ taxes per month. If I could get the channels I want and cut that number in half, and get internet, I would do it. I could drop the phone service, since we hardly use it anyway.
Deal Seeking Mom
Hi Dana! Yes, this is what my husband was worried about, too. I’m not sure on the Pac 12 network — we needed the Big Ten network, and it’s one of the Hulu Live channels. But we’ve always been able to find the games we want to watch through the ESPN network, even if they’re not televised in our area. The login gives you access to all of the ESPN channels, not just the main one.
As for the MLB channel, yeah, it’s not on the list. But you can purchase a separate subscription to MLB TV that covers just one team or all teams here: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/subscribe And I’m pretty sure you’d still come in under what you’re paying for cable, especially if you drop the VOIP. We haven’t had a land line for years! My husband is a HUGE Cubs fan and has been talking about subscribing this year. The one catch is that some in-market games are blacked out, but they’re available to stream 90 minutes after the game concludes. The Cubs aren’t in-market for us, so that’s not a problem, but if they’re playing Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or Cleveland, they could potentially be blacked out.
You can read about our internet situation situation in my response to Rebecca below. Basically, you need to look for a provider that doesn’t apply data caps when your internet isn’t paired with a cable package.
sharlene
Thank you for your interesting update. I too cut cable, however, my cable portion was only about $25 more than what Hulu Live is asking. So as much as I hate cable, I hate that Hulu is getting me back in that money range…
Deal Seeking Mom
That makes sense, Sharlene! If you already have a pretty basic cable package, it’s not going to be as much of a money saver. It still has its perks, though. The limited ads and the ability to watch on the go are pretty nice features. We probably use the watch on the go more than the average household, though, since we’re traveling a lot for soccer.