Cut The Cord: 3 Services That Can Help You Cancel Cable Forever

Sunday, June 12th, 2011 at 2:36 am

Many of us enjoy watching television but not nearly enough to justify the monthly fee of cable. More and more people are looking to the Internet to watch the shows they like without having to sort through mountains of things they don’t. Some have taken to “cutting the cord” or canceling their cable TV and exclusively using the Internet to watch all of their shows. Here are 3 services you can use to help you cut the cord.

Netflix
Netflix started as a DVD rental service that did away with the then rampant late fess charged by video stores by mailing movies back and forth at your leisure. More recently Netflix launched a new program they call “watch instantly” which gives you access to an enormous library of movies, documentaries and old television shows. Because the library is so vast and is constantly updated, there is virtually always something new to watch. Netflix also has the added benefit of being available on almost any device with an Internet connection. Devices that support Netflix streaming are the Iphone, Android phones, the Xbox 360, all set top boxes and the PS3 just to name a few.

Hulu Plus
Like Netflix, Hulu Plus features a huge library of old television shows and movies you can stream at any time. In addition to that library of content Hulu also offers the most recent episodes of new shows on almost every network as soon as the next day. If there are some currently running programs on any NBC, ABC or FOX network your following than Hulu Plus is the perfect way to stay caught up without paying for cable. Hulu Plus is also available on a large number of devices such as mobile devices, gaming consoles and set top boxes but not everything in the library is available on the application based Hulu Plus yet. More content is added each day and everything is expected to be available by the end of the year.

Amazon.com
The rare show that isn’t available for streaming on either Netflix or Hulu can likely be found on Amazon.com. Amazon allows you to either buy an individual episode of a series for $1.99 an episode or you can buy a pass and get the entire season for a discounted rate. Once the television shows are purchased that files can be downloaded and are yours to do whatever you like with. That means you can transfer them between devices or computers as much as you like without any issues.

About the Author
Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she’s written on recruiting jobs along with online geophysics programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, playing piano, and working with origami.