I have toyed with the idea of cutting the cable TV for over three years now . . .
 
Now, I am finally going to do it. Why?

• I hate the monopolistic pricing
• So much money spent for such little service
• We watch very limited material
• Replacement technology has improved
• The initial one-time investment has come down 
• The on-going cost is minimal when compared to cable TV

How am I going to do it?

First, I will be getting a long range HDTV broadcast TV antenna and roof mounting it on a 10 foot secured pole. The one I have in mind can rotate and is advertised at a 150 mile range-- by air I am less than 40 miles from my major market stations. I will be roof mounting because my research said that attic mounting loses up to 50% reception. I will be adding an antenna amplifier and HD convertor boxes to any of my non-HDTVs and a line splitter with RG6 coaxial cable to link the TVs to the antenna. Equipment is about $250 one time for free HD broadcasts.

Second, I will purchase Roku boxes for each TV. These boxes rely on a high speed internet connection to provide programming internet available programs. Equipment is a one-time investment of $50-100 each box (I expect to spend $220 here).

Next, I will get basic memberships to HuluPlus and NetFlix for more programming choices. This will require an ongoing cost of about $8 monthly each.

Finally, as much as it will pain me, I will have to keep the high speed internet cable through the monopolistic cable company. I will be upgrading the connection speed and will probably have to pay non-promotional $50 monthly (I think have the $20 per speed right now), until I can find an alternative . . . satellite anyone?
 
I have DVD players on all the TVs and we have a nice movie collection from the $5 bins.

The monthly cost will go from $187 to about $66 and we will lose very, very little. ESPN and its Monday Night Football programming would probably be the greatest loss (However, a $350 NFL Season Ticket could resolve that). Bottomline savings . . . about $1,452 annually the cable company loses and I save!

Now, on to an alternative to the electric bill . . .