Just like every other cool trend, back in the ‘90s, getting cable TV used to be fun and inexpensive. Now it is time to let the cable fad die. Just in case you are saying to yourself, “But what will I watch on TV?” out of sheer habit, here are some excellent reasons to kick cable out of your house.
1. Students are broke, and Hulu is cheap.
The price of cable television has been rising as companies like Comcast, Time Warner and Charter Communications desperately try to seek in a profit. According to the Federal Communications Commission, the average price for basic cable has risen by 176 percent since 1996. Basic cable costs about $60, but most families will pay around $123 this year, according to the NPD Group, a leading market research company.
A Hulu Plus subscription, on the other hand, costs $7.99 per year.
2. Cable companies have illegal monopolies.
When you move to a new apartment, you have to research which cable and Internet companies service your address. This is because cable companies have monopolies within their respective territories. Forget about competitive pricing and the supposedly fair market. You have only one option – whichever company owns your block – and therefore no choice.
In a statement last month, President Obama said, “For almost a century, our law has recognized that companies who connect you to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access in and out of your home or business.”
Netflix and Amazon stream everywhere.
3. Signing up for cable sometimes means you will have to sign a contract for either 12 or 24 months.
Should you change your mind at some point, most cable companies charge a fee and a prorated amount of money for the remainder of your contract. For example, Directv charges $15 on top of $20 a month for the amount of months left in the contract, according to its website.
4. Buying a Playstation and getting a subscription to HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or any other online television or movie source is cheaper overall.
You can play movies from the Internet on a television through a Playstation. On Ebay, a brand new jet black Playstation 3 costs $169.99. Once you add on a couple of subscriptions at an additional $20 per month, and spread that cost over the course of 12 months, you are looking at a theoretical monthly bill of approximately $34 per month. That is half the cost of cable TV. Besides, you are probably already paying for at least a couple of these subscriptions already.
5. Pretty soon, the Internet will be available to everyone like water running out of a kitchen faucet – only it will be free.
So far, Los Angeles is one of 57 cities in the U.S. to have free Wi-Fi, according to the Business Insider. Companies like Facebook and Cisco provide free hotspots so long as their respective home pages are the first thing consumers see when they log on.
According to President Obama, “Ensuring a free and open Internet is the only way we can preserve the Internet’s power to connect our world.”