Cable Subscription: How Much Can Be Saved?

In the past decades, television has been the centerpiece of entertainment in our homes with a cable subscription. Family members normally stay in the living area for hours to watch their favorite shows or movies. But in recent years, even with a cable subscription, attention has pivoted from television to hand-held devices as a primary source of entertainment.

I gradually saw this change in our own home. More than a year ago,  I noticed that we only watch television when its time for a newscast. Gone were the days when we watched movies or features on cable for a few hours. More time is spent on our gadgets since movies are already very much available online. 

Photo by  Pixabay from Pexels

Is cable subscription still relevant?

I felt that cable subscription had become redundant and it is now a waste of our hard-earned money, a financial leak that needs to be addressed. The timing was just right. I was looking for opportunities to save.

The best decision – cutting cable subscription

As always, it is hard to part with things that had already become part of life. This is also true with a cable subscription. In 2017, we terminated the contract. But before cutting the cord, I looked for alternatives. We still wanted to watch the news on TV. Finally, I bought a popular TV box and to my surprise, it has much better clarity when watching the shows from free channels than thru cable. What a surprise!

How much savings will you get?

How much did we save since that time?

Amount due per month – Php 800.00
Monthly savings – Php 800.00
Yearly savings – Php 9,600.00

Awesome! Just like when you save on washing your own car, that’s a good amount of money to spend on more important items or for additional savings. The amount could be higher or lower depending on the type of subscription plan that a household has.

The above amount does not include the cost of repair if a technical problem arises and their team needed to fix it. It’s not a small amount and almost 75% of the monthly amount due. Even though it’s not the subscriber’s fault, he/she will still shoulder that cost. This is based on my experience. No matter what you say – the company’s customer service will insist that you have to shoulder the cost of repair. I have exhausted all means such as email and call but to no avail.

cable TV
Photo by Jonathan Borba from Pexels

Final Thoughts on cutting your cable subscription

We have saved a lot by cutting our subscription from a popular cable company. Instead of the money leaking out as entertainment expenses, we have put it on other important things such as on emergency funds. If you don’t have this fund yet, you may check this post: What is an Emergency Fund and Why is it a Priority?

We cut the subscription because we think that it is not anymore that useful and there are already alternatives out there.

If you think that cable TV is still the centerpiece of entertainment in your home and alternatives are not yet available, then it’s wise to retain it.

How about you? Do you still have a cable subscription? If so, is it still the centerpiece of entertainment in your home? 

2020 Update:

A few years after Android TV was introduced, it has now become very much cheaper and available to everyone. The price now is just slightly higher than that of ordinary TV. It has features that will make TV retain its usefulness as an entertainment appliance in our homes with or without cable subscription.

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1 Response

  1. July 10, 2020

    […] like cutting your cable subscription, washing your own car is one of the ways to save money. You can save more than 5,000.00 annually if […]

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