Quit Cable
Alan Graham, ZDNet journalist and online marketeer, blogs about his realization that he can save $300 a year by canceling his cable television and relying on iTunes and Netflix for his television and movie needs.
Last week I came to the realization that with Netflix and iTunes, I would be able to cut out the $50 portion of my cable TV bill and ditch the 80 or so channels I never watch, including 3 shopping channels, 3 sports channels, 6 family channels, numerous foreign language channels, and one Lifetime Channel for Women that my fiance tortures me with. Farewell Melissa Gilbert, Rachael Ray, and Paula Deen! You are thus banished from my home!
I’m currently interested in about 6 shows, all of which it turns out I can get on iTunes. Plus, Netflix handles all of my movie needs. If I’m generous with my iTunes figures, it adds up to about $300 in purchases each year, versus the $600 I pay for all of the “variety” that Comcast provides me. The old model of just piping junk into my home simply doesn’t make sense to me anymore.
There is already so much choice online that it is simple to ditch broadcast television. It’s also accelerating rapidly with most major television networks working out ways to get their content online. This is also excluding all the illegal ways to grab television and movies.
Even more interesting is Graham’s statement, “All of us have uttered at one point or another, ‘why can’t I just pay for what I want?’” Online video is causing this disruption, the ability to access only the stuff you care about.
The next year or two are going to be really exciting as far as online video goes. It not only makes me excited because of what Scouta can offer, but also because I’m an avid consumer of video.