I’m paying $145 every month for cable TV and I rarely watch TV.  Don’t get me wrong I still love to watch shows, movies, and sports, but there are many other means to get these services for free.  Well, it’s not actually for free, you do need a high speed internet connection, which is usually in the range of $30-$50 depending on your location and internet service provider (ISP). I’m going to discuss the 3 big forms of entertainment and the alternatives to watching them with cable. One being feature length movies, second TV Shows, and third being sports content.

Hulu

One great alternative to cable television is Hulu.  It’s a website that offers free shows and movies from many of the big studios such as NBC, Fox, ABC, and many other networks.  Hulu usually shows the 5 latest episodes of a given show.  However, Hulu does have commercials, but are very short usually about 3o second commercial breaks. This means a 30 minute sitcom on TV, becomes roughly 23 minutes on Hulu. The great part about these online services is they allow you to watch on your time and schedule. The downside to Hulu is you’re limited to a maximum resolution of 480p. And the internet connectivity, no internet, no TV. The size of your monitor is also important, because most people’s TVs are much bigger than their computer monitors, that will need time getting used to.

Pros: Service is free with a large collection of shows and movies with limited commercial breaks.
Cons: Only the most recent shows are available for streaming and limit the time they can be seen.

NetFlix

How about all the movie fans out there, I know what you’re thinking.  Hulu doesn’t have a huge collection of the latest movies. The answer NetFlix. I know its not free, but at $8.99, you can stream a massive collection of big Hollywood and independent films included in your subscription. These can be streamed on your desktop. laptop, Xbox 360, or PS3. You also get 2 DVDs mailed to you as well. The streaming quality is usually HD, which is great, but needs a higher bandwidth connection or you’ll be stuck waiting for the buffer to clear.

Pros: Massive collection of streaming movies and shows with many at HD quality at no additional cost.
Cons: Latest movies aren’t immediately available for rent or streaming.

ESPN3

To all you sports fans, there is EPSN3.com. Free live streaming sports events ranging from 2 - 15 events on a given day. This isn’t a large collection of sports programming, but most sports is nationally broadcast, which means that you don’t need a cable subscription to watch it.  Actually you probably do need the very basic cable service, because the FCC demanded all TVs to be digitally broadcast, so you will need the basic service. Time Warner cable, my provider in New York, charges $35 for this.

Pros: It’s Free!
Cons: Limited amount of content, noticeable lag with live TV and streaming.

Other streaming services

fancast.com - Similar content to hulu
justin.tv - Content broadcast by random people
blip.tv - Independent shows/films
joost.com - More music/entertainment based content.
vimeo.com - User promoted content similar to youtube.
metacafe.com - Similar to vimeo.
youtube.com - A wide variety user submitted content.

The BottomLine

Depending on your needs whether your a sports fan, movie buff, or just a big fan of a particular show,  there isn’t just one source for that entertainment.  I think most people just want to watch on their own time and schedule, for those I recommend the Hulu/Netflix route.  The sports fan might still have to keep the cable service, but still save money on all those premium channels.  The minimum payment will be for the internet ~$40 plus basic cable services ~$40. Around $80 total, for me that’s much better than paying $145/month, that’s a savings of $65/month or $780/year.

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