I continue to struggle with what to do about cable TV. I know the hip thing to do is "cut the cord" and use streaming services and I'm close to that, but I'm still not sure it's as big a money saver everyone thinks it is. To reasonably mimic cable TV you would have to sign up for a broad-based non-premium channels service like Sling. Then add $10-ish a month each for a handful of premiums. Even then you lose your DVR.
The topic of DVR replacement is interesting. I don't know how much I'd use it if most everything is streaming. I usually use it for series recordings to catch new episodes of shows I like, mostly on non-premium channels. From what I gather, if you subscribe to a premium channel like HBO Max, everything is there all the time, it doesn't disappear. That leaves shows on FX and AMC that I usually DVR. Not sure how to address that yet.
So what would my viewing life look like if I cut the cord? Spectrum internet (really the only quality choice in my area). I'd need a non-premium provider. Intriguingly, YouTube is starting a non-premuim service, YouTubeTV, and as much as I am loathe to give yet more of my money to the tech giants (YouTube is Google is Alphabet), it looks pretty solid, even providing a cloud DVR. Then for premiums I would have Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBOMax (I may have to ditch my Roku for that), Disney+.
Here's the rub: I'm not sure how much this saves me. Meanwhile, it puts me in the position of being at the pricing and policy mercy of that many more masters. There exists the option for a potential half-step; to cut down to basic cable, then pick up premiums as I need them. It's all so confusing AND I'M JUST A POOR, OLD MAN WHO WANTS TO WATCH HIS STORIES!
One of the oh so delightful things I can do now is calculate lifetime savings. I mean let's say I have 20 years of TV watching left. If I can save $25 per month, that amounts to a lifetime savings of $6000 dollars. I could own my home three month sooner. I could buy one-tenth of a new car when I'm 80 with my savings and drive it 30mph on the highway. When you start thinking like that it kind of puts things in perspective. Still, I plan to obsess about this for a while. You are warned.
