cord cutting, cash saving and technology

It sounds like a 3-guys-walk-into-a bar-intro; seemingly disparate things that shouldn’t work but somehow do.

After years of being in a ridiculous and dysfunctional relationship with Rogers I finally got fed up and cut the cable last fall.  It’s been a steep acceptance curve.  I will admit I would look at what movie I might get to watch on a Saturday night for quite some time, although if I’m really honest, the choice wasn’t that amazing.  I haven’t gone completely cold turkey but I’m planning to switch ISP’s and because my phone is with another larger telecom that is named after a bell, I may conceivably be Rogers free.

Fortunately ‘cord cutting’ is a pretty geeky endeavour and there’s nothing the geek community likes better than to explain how they did what they did, and since the internet is their mother-ship, well finding info wasn’t all that hard.  Granted long winded technical discussions of UHF, megahertz and how to assemble your own antenna were largely lost on me.  But the basics were simple; you need an antenna, a sweet spot, some height, patience and presto, free TV.  What it boils down to is realizing that this isn’t the be-all-end-all of entertainment but it’ll get you the goods. Mostly.  

Toronto is geographically ideal for over the air antennas due to its concave bowl shape and because of the proximity to the US chances are you’ll get a Buffalo station or two, but not necessarily all the time and probably not during a storm, mostly.  Height is to your advantage, so if you live in a tower, you’ll do better, but my ground floor apartment, due to the lack of nearby tall buildings does OK too.  And lastly remember the old ‘Fox viewing positions’ (yes I watched Married with Children), my experience is that these so-called flat omni-directional antenna’s have a very different definition of ‘omni’ than I understand it to be.  Needless to say moving your antenna is necessary.  Fortunately it’s the size of piece of printer paper so as long as it’s not mounted this is pretty easy.

What did this all get me?  Well for $45 and a lot of time - don’t get me started on many trips to Future Shop due to their policy to always sell the customer the most expensive thing they have to offer – I save about $65 a month in cable fees of which I paid for about 300 channels I never watched.  In my opinion, if you’re not watching sports, paid cable isn’t for you.  And yes if you really want to watch what you want to watch you need some sort of streaming set up.  But I need baby steps.  Plus I have a really prohibitive Internet allowance for the moment so we make do with what is on and binge watching titles borrowed from the library.

I started this post because I really hate Rogers and I’m so close to ending our relationship, ideally forever, that I wanted to brag it up.  But let me be clear, I like watching TV and cord cutting isn’t for everyone.  There’s not a lot of selection, there’s no PVR (well you can purchase an OTA PVR but I haven’t) and you’re back to watching things when they are on, or not at all, or later, via streaming.  In the midst of waiting for my new computer to arrive so I can connect everything up to the TV, CRTC announces that they’re about to make some changes to cable TV in Canada, so we’ll see what they’ve come up with, soon.

Bottom line, cable companies are scrambling.  Millennial’s, and younger Gen Y aren’t even starting with cable.  In fact a recent article (I can’t remember where I saw it) stated that TV’s aren’t really a mainstay of dorm rooms anymore.  These generations stream on their computers or use Netflix.  I don’t know the stats on Gen X and the Boomers, but I’d guess they skew slightly higher on cable usage with some cord cutting as time goes on, or their kids set them up as the case may be.

If you’re paying attention, cable’s trying hard to keep you tuned in.  More American shows, more ‘features’ that were never available in cable, attempts at exclusive programming to keep people lured in, but is it a losing battle?  I assume so.  I also believe there’s opportunity to change the business model.  On demand models like Crave and Shome, if it was not required to also have a $40 a month cable package could be enticing.  But they’re not offered.

So what was my point?  Well first off, get stuffed Rogers.  The cord cutting revolution is fully underway, as in; I’m way late to the game.  Internet is on its way to being considered a utility and it is changing our ways.  Smart is the new sexy, although we do have to watch out for those eavesdropping TV’s.  

The news came this afternoon and it was rather anti-climactic.  A so-called ‘skinny’ option that will offer less and cost less; and a pick-and-pay plan which will end up costing you more, available for you in just 18 short months.