Cord Cutting 301 : I Want My DVR

As with cable TV, over the air TV has a lot of junk programming but also has quite a bit of What You Want To Watch.  Sometimes it is aired when you're not home or when you'd really rather watch something else. Hence the need for an Over The Air Digital Video Recorder.

There are multiple options from well known vendors such as Tivo and Channelmaster. These devices are highly integrated and include the tuner(s), disk storage and output to the TV (IE: decoders). A new class of devices have entered the market that might be better characterized as "gateways" since they do not decode the data sending video out an HDMI port but instead transcode the received video for recording and delivery across the network to phones, tablets, Roku boxes and other devices. One such device also supports remote viewing of live and recorded content.

We will look at that device -- the Tablo.

As purchased a Western Digital 2TB hard drive is providing video storage. It is worthwhile to note that Tablo reformats the drive and if you choose to re-purpose an existing drive you will lose all previously stored data. The drive shown is on the manufacturer's list of supported USB hard drives and it can be had for approximately $90. This is significantly more storage than provided by a Cable MSO in their DVR set tops.

The Tablo comes with the device itself, a power supply and an ethernet cable though it supports WiFi.    It also includes a quick start guide more than adequate to ensure successful setup. One other thing that is "missing" is a remote control. This is because Tablo relies on applications loaded on tablets, phones or Roku devices to not only play back video but to provide an advanced, device-appropriate User Interface to browse for programs, schedule recordings, manage recorded programs and change Tablo device settings.

Notice that the back panel includes the RF/Coax F-connector, 2 USB ports, ethernet RJ-45 and power in but no HDMI ports. Since antenna video is delivered over your network this device does not need to be co-located with your TV and will support all the devices, TV or handheld, capable of playing back Tablo network video. This includes Android devices, Apple iPhone and iPad, Roku, web browsers and leverages the ability of Android devices to "cast" to Chromecast and airPlay when using iOS devices.

Setup is straightforward and should not be beyond the capabilities of someone who can tackle a Chromecast device. Like your TV, but unlike many other devices, the Tablo does a channel scan to find channels expected in your region. Location can be set automagically but entering a five digit ZIP code is significantly faster. Installing an app on a phone/tablet or using a computer web browser is recommended and for firmware updates is mandatory as the Roku app does not support firmware upgrade. Apps for these devices can be found in the usual place and are free of charge. Downloading the guide data and the cover art images will take a noticeable amount of time as will "sync-ing" your playback device application. Often simply connecting to the device is not as snappy as you might like  but once initial startup is over the system is responsive.

We are operating at the keyboard bandwidth barrier yet time does not permit an exhaustive screen by screen review of Tablo's awesomeness. But a few can be slipped in. First is the "Grid Guide" as archaic as it is inevitable.

The three small bar icon at the top left provides navigation to other Tablo screens/features. The magnifying glass implies a search capability that is indeed there. The grid guide shows current programming and progress within current broadcasts and offers twenty four hours of programming accessible by scrolling to the right. Viewing a channel is as simple as clicking on the channel identifier to the far left. While you are watching a program Tablo will temporarily record that channel in order to support pause, rewind and fast forward. It will continue to record into that buffer (tuner availability permitting) when you change channels allowing you to switch between 2 (or 4, depending on model) channels quickly and without missing any of the programs.

When you select the icon at the top left you are presented with the navigation panel.

From here you can move from the grid guide (Live TV) to a panel showing only Prime Time content in a cover art display, get to genre selections (TV Shows, Movies, Sports), see currently scheduled recording events and previously recorded content. You can (on the shown device's screen) manage the device settings and disconnect your device from Tablo.  A sample Prime Time is shown below

Selecting one of these program's "cover art" initiates a record workflow and since recording programs for later viewing kicked all this off let's at least dive into that.

You are presented with more program or series information and the option (for series) to record new episodes or all (includes any re-runs). Since a lot of what gets aired on secondary OTA channels is syndicated programming, Rec All is a pretty good option. But wait. There's more. If you'll scroll down you will see...

First thing to note is that Tablo is smart enough not to re-record the same episode more than once. You are also being offered the option to change the time a particular episode is recorded (to manage recording conflicts) or to delete scheduled recordings of episodes you do not want.

Recording is all well and good, but it isn't really worth much unless you can watch the recording.

It is difficult (impossible?) to assess video quality from a screen capture (and we're not uploading any videos) but on all devices tried to date video quality rivals what you get from most cable providers for most channels (on the cable network). What you should notice is not just the progress ball/bar and the playback control (this was taken during a live playback) but the fast forward 30 secs, rewind 20 secs options that are commonly used to skip commercials. Also note the icon on the lower right, used to "cast" the playback to a Chromecast device. Apple iPhones and iPads have a similar icon to use AirPlay with an AppleTV device.

Then there is remote access/playback. This feature relies on port forwarding and while Tablo will attempt to set this up when the router is configured for and capable of UPnP manual settings are often required. With the latest firmware, Tablo will indicate status of port forwarding and provide the details necessary to manually configure your router.  Tablo has changed the external port assignments forcing a reconfiguration that is a PITA. Currently Tablo requires that remote devices be paired before use requiring at least one Tablo connection/sync on the local LAN. Remote access also requires a subscription to Tablo Guide Data Subscription (30 day free trial). More on this later.

Remote access has been evaluated by TOD Friends and Family on a variety of devices: iPad, iPad with AppleTV, various Android devices, and Android with Chromecast. Phones were tested on remote LANs and over 4G LTE. In all cases the only device with any objectionable operation was Chromecast and this is attributed to the relatively high data rates supported by Tablo for on-LAN video combined with Chromecast's 1x1 802.11n technology. Even then the video quality, even with sports (remote viewing of the Preakness), was deemed to be indistinguishable from live. To the trained eye it really wasn't but for most folks, especially those accustomed to cable and YouTube video quality, it was far beyond "watchable" and well in to the range of "very good."

Subscription Guide Data is optional but supports an enriched User Interface and more advanced record scheduling as well as remote access. Without these data any recordings must be done old school - manually by date and time. Guide Data can be purchased by the month ($4.99), year ($49.99) or as a lifetime subscription ($149.99) in which case you are betting that you and Tablo will both be around in three years. Good bet for the latter. Not sure about the former.

The device itself comes in three flavours: a dual tuner, a quad tuner and a "Metro" edition incorporating fractal antennas eliminating the need for an external OTA antenna. The Metro is for urbanites living fairly close to broadcast antenna farms (less than 30 miles) who do not want to or are not allowed to install any kind of external antenna. The MaxLinear tuners are some of the best available, better than those in most TVs. ViXS provides the brains of the box and incorporates some of the best transcoding technology on the market today.

Tablo is not without faults, but most of these are the results of product immaturity and with each firmware upgrade problems are being eliminated and features enhanced. That said, firmware upgrade has been one of the issues with the latest update requiring a manual power-down reboot for the upgrade to take hold.  Tablo has benefitted from user familiarity by leveraging existing customer devices of choice (IE: Android vs iPad) avoiding foisting yet another UI design language on their customers.  This model has not been adopted by pay-TV service providers despite the dramatic improvements over a cheesy UI powered by the cheapest remote that China, Inc. can scrape out of the parts bin. It may be a bit quirky now but as Tablo irons out the kinks it promises to push the OTA TV experience beyond any cable offer available today.

CC204 : Antenna TV

Olde School though it be, getting your television programming from an antenna can be more costly and potentially more work than getting Over The Top streaming. All is not lost. There are some simple and not so very expensive options and they all share one thing in common--you need an antenna and you need to point it the right direction.

And this is where living in Dunwoody makes most of us winners as all the important TV antennas are clustered in an area round about Stone Mountain just to the southeast and without much in the way of major obstructions. It's not like we're living in a concrete canyon in the middle of a city. A big city that is. There is a bit of ridge running thru the northern Wolds but that affects a relatively small number of us and even that is not crippling. The reason this is important is that most TV broadcasts at the higher frequencies (and almost all HD broadcast are) really likes line-of-sight and being digital when the signal gets weak you don't get a blurry, snowy picture it breaks up or just disappears. So does satellite but that doesn't make it any better.

If you're lucky enough to live in a two-story home with at least one south-southeast exposure you can get started with the digital broadcast version of rabbit ears. With a flat antenna and a recent vintage TV set you are in business.

Antenna To Right Of TV

One way to expand this system is to add an antenna to each set. This is cheap and simple but will not work (or work well) with sets that do not have good exposure. The basement media room is probably a non-starter.

Supporting TVs in these hard to reach locations will require a higher gain antenna, one or more amps, wiring and a few other bits of kit. For the in home wiring you may be able to leverage the cabling already in your home but there may be issues with that wiring. First would be plan impact: this may force an abrupt switch-over from cable to OTA rather than a smooth adjustment over time. Second is the cable itself. If your home has cable wiring more than 15-20 years old it is probably RG-59 whilst newer cabling will be RG-6 with the relevant difference being signal loss which is off less concern for cable than for antenna.

Picking an antenna can be confusing and sometimes vendors use that confusion to get your money. First, there is no such thing as an "HD TV Antenna". It is just an antenna that is tuned to the frequencies used by TV, including HD TV.  That said, there are two TV frequency bands, VHF and UHF, with most HD broadcasts in the UHF or high VHF portions of the spectrum. Most antennas tuned to UHF will provide adequate gain to also receive the high VHF signals, at least those in our general vicinity. There are times where beam width may be as much a consideration as gain. Not only does a wider beam width tolerate sloppy aiming and some weather effects it also handle situation  where transmitters may be twenty degrees apart.

The rig shown above includes a high-gain, wide beam width antenna suitable for attic or outdoor installation, a low noise amp, cable and a J-mount mast. A similar system has been deployed successfully at a suboptimally situated location in Dunwoody. An upcoming attic installation in a nearby city east of the antenna farm will be the subject of a capstone project.

So how do you know where to point the antenna and what can you expect to receive? Again, the web comes to the rescue. Cruise on over to TV Fool, enter your and get a map.

Based on distance and transmitter strength the table indicates which channels you are likely to receive  with an indoor antenna, an attic antenna or a roof mount from top to bottom. You will also see channel adjacency issues that will impair reception. The circle plot show where the antenna has to point to get the channels you want. A good low-noise pre-amp, located on the antenna mast, ensures that the highest quality signal is driven across the longer cable run. Support for multiple TV sets will require something to split the signal. One gazin and multiple gazout. The least expensive way to achieve this is with a passive splitter and if you are re-using existing cable wiring there is probably one already installed. You should keep in mind that each split cuts the signal strength in half--one to two cuts the signal in half, one to four cuts the signal by four. If you need to support more than four sets you will certainly need a distribution amp incorporating a low noise amp and a passive splitter. This may also be necessary to re-use RG-59 when the cable runs are long.

TV Fools will show you what stations you receive (sort of) but what can you really watch. Again, web to the rescue. Rabbit Ears provides detailed information on HD tv by market and by station.

Rabbit Ears lets you drill down showing the main programming (Channel 5.1 above) and secondary channels available (and coming soon) from the same "station." In Atlanta Channel 2 provides MyTV (old programs like Perry Mason and Rockford Files) on a secondary channel and Channel 5 delivers Movies! with classic movies. There are some lesser known (IE: not printed in the paper) delivery QVC, additional movies, news (France24), weather and much, much more.

What's that you say? "Where's my DVR?" Ahhh...glad you asked. To be clear if you have a DVR with your current pay TV provider you are going to lose any programs you've recorded when you fire them. But there are OTA alternatives.

One is the aptly named Simple TV as it is quite simple, though to be fair it doesn't directly connect to your TV. With the addition of your own disk drive you have a OTA PVR that allows you to record up to two channels at one time. To watch this you need a phone, tablet or a Roku box. And, you have your own version of a Sling box as you can access live and recorded programming while away from home.

Another interesting option is very similar to Simple TV is Tablo which comes with an option for a one-time life-time fee for access to the metadata rather than a monthly subscription fee (which is also available). Remote access is largely based on your phone/tablet's web browser (Simple TV has dedicated apps) in-home support has better device coverage. Of course Roku is supported. And if you really love recording, there is a Tablo model capable of recording up to four channels simultaneously. For those in a more urban area (than most of Dunwoody) Tablo has announced the "Metro" which incorporates the antenna and is intended for use within 25 miles of the towers.

Since you bring your own hard drive (check for compatibility before buying) you get to choose just how much programming you can store. There are other options, some with built-in hard drives and some with direct (HDMI) connections to your TV but for a the Cord Cutter these two lead the pack.

PS: delays in the scheduling of the capstone project means we'll take a brief break from Cord Cutting but will return after the install.

CC203 : Going Over The Top

Since Over The Top (OTT) can and should be done in parallel with broadcast options, either cable or OTA let's look at that without regard to these other options. We've already mentioned some of the key services for subscription and Video On Demand content delivered OTT and will not belabour that here but will re-examine some of the options when we examine trends. Here we'll examine some of the hardware options with the only service-related concern being that the hardware you choose supports the services you want.

In support of a phased approach and keeping in mind the money motivations underlying Cord Cutting let's look at low-cost options first. You are sitting in front of a computer now and probably not at the library. That is your first option for OTT which is recommended to get your feet wet but does not provide the multi-viewer 10 ft experience of the TV in the den. For this you will need a TV attached device.

Like laptops there is an immediate fork in the road. Are you an Apple/Mac household? If so you might want to get an Apple TV box. It is well designed, easy to install and use and as part of the Apple ecosystem it supports iTunes and AirPlay. It supports most of the OTT services but being Apple those services provided by vendors Apple considers a competitor may not be available.

If you don't mind having some non-Apple devices in your home (even if you are a Mac aficionado) there are quite a few options. Lowest cost is the Blu-ray player with built-in apps--a highly rated Sony Blu-ray with WiFi and wired network connections can be had for under $80. You'll get all the major apps and if you're in the market for a DVD/BD player anyway you might have difficulty finding a player without apps.

If you're looking for a dedicated streaming player there is a wide selection. Amazon and Google both have boxes that support Voice search usually across multiple services with results showing all your options. This is a nice feature that helps sort free or subscription options from pay per view when you subscribe to multiple services. They have been accused of skewing results to favour their services rather than your observed behaviour. The price point for these devices seems to be around $100 without any options (like game controllers).

Google also have a stick, Chromecast, that is inexpensive (somewhere around $35) works reasonably well even though it is WiFi only. It requires the use of a smartphone or PC/Mac to provide the user interface for searching and selecting programs to watch and the applications (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) must support Chromecast. Most do. If you prefer using a smartphone over a remote control this could be your answer. Since the service subscription is tied to the handheld device there is no registration of the Chromecast with the service and anyone (even visitors) with a service registered to a smartphone can use that device.

Roku is unique in that they build a box but do not provide other services or content and consequently are service agnostic. About the only service that isn't easily available on Roku is iTunes. There are clunky workarounds but they are just that. Clunky. If iTunes is a non-issue you will not find a better experience than that of the Roku 3. Search, though no voice search works well. The overall UI and the remote are well crafted. The remote is wireless, not IR so no line of sight is required and the box can be located nearly anywhere including attached to the back of the TV with velcro. A commonly asked question is "how do I turn my Roku player off." It is just that efficient. Because they maintain Swiss-like neutrality with regards to content there are no competitive reasons not to stand up your service on Roku (except Apple of course). Roku provides extensive support for app development and it shows. It must be easy--there are over half a dozen pet-sitting apps catering to your favorite creature.

Then there are smart TV sets either with a proprietary app ecosystem (e.g., Samsung) or increasingly incorporating one of the dominant player systems. Sony will incorporate Google's AndroidTV in all their 4K/UHD TVs and several manufacturers are lining up behind Roku. It is not worth the money to buy a new set just for the streaming services, but if you're buying a new set anyway you may not have an option. If you do have an option you may find that a "smart" version of a standard set costs more than the dumb TV with a Roku 3. Just watch the pricing.

There is one other item you need to look at: your data network. Wired is best but not always an option  and WiFi has improved. At a cost. A good WiFi Router/Access Point will not be cheap--plan on north of $150. This class of device will not only support the necessary data rates it will also support a greater number of simultaneous WiFi devices than previous generations of devices. Then there is access network bandwidth. You can get by with 3Mbps DSL but you are not going to lookup a moving on IMDB while you'r watching it. You won't get HD either. You should provision about 5Mbps per set that you want to use at the same time. For three sets that also puts you in range of Netflix's recommendation for 4K/UHD content.

We'll end with a bit of bad news: you're probably going to need High Speed Data over cable to get the bandwidth you might want. Unless you can get Google Fiber which we are not slated to see in daVille  (more on that later) then you're stuck Uverse-class service or cable. And some cable providers, notably the one serving most of Dunwoody, are now enforcing bandwidth caps. 

CC 201 : Cord Cutting Plan Of Attack

If you've gotten this far you are either profoundly bored or are seriously considering Cutting the Cord. And this is serious business requiring careful planning and deliberate execution. Disappoint is universally caused by unmet expectations and managing expectations is the best and most effective way to prevent what could be a relationship shattering tsunami of disappointment.

So. You need a plan.

There is no one size fits all plan. You have to take into account your individual circumstances. Are you in an established residence or are you just moving in? Do you have must-watch programming and if so, do you know what it is? Even without that knowledge in hand there is a general framework, a set of recommendations for moving forward. A meta-plan.

Some assumptions must be made even for a meta-plan, e.g., you have a high speed data plan of some sort? If you do not have and are not expecting to get high speed internet access you could skip directly to OTA but you will miss out on a large selection of content. But...there was life before the interweb.

A common practice in any service cutover is to "switch on before switching off." Turn up the post-cord-cutting services before you fire the cable company. Not one of the services and technologies you will be using in the Land Of No Cable is incompatible with that ugly set top and only one is inconvenient. 

A principal stolen from product development is "fail fast, fail cheap." If you THINK you know what the best option is but you're not absolutely certain, try a cheaper way of doing the same thing. Consider this a proof of concept, and if that works and you like the outcome, then consider the grander, more expensive option.

Let's look at how this works in practice starting with OTT. Start with Netfix, who like any good drug dealer gives you the first one free. Take that free month to learn the ropes and do the administrivial things like setting up your profile, searching for programs, build a list, watch some things and rate what you watch. Doesn't cost much as you can watch the programming on a PC, an Xbox, or many a Bluray player and if you find you (and yours) really don't like it, Netflix has a no-contract cancel-at-any-time policy. If you find you like it you may want to move on/up to Hulu or Amazon, keeping in mind that you are still in an exploratory phase. Even if you don't like what you see you didn't sink a lot of money figuring out that watching streamed TV isn't your cup of tea. 

Similarly for OTA. You can buy any number of antennas for well under $100 with Mohu being one of the more highly regarded in the low cost one-antenna-per-TV category. Dunwoody is pretty well situated with a major antenna farm to the South/Southeast such that one of the mudflap antennas is likely to work in a second story bed/bonus room. The amplified version may be required but even that retails for about $70. Significantly less than one month's extended basic cable and probably less than a year's set top rental. It is much more difficult to explain how much programming is now available over the air than it is to hook up an antenna, scan for channels and just look around.

If these prove out the concept then it is time determine where you are going to go with these services and what your ultimate system would look like. And if you find out that you really prefer what you already have then you know that for certain and have not made an expensive mistake.

CC103 : What Freedom Looks Like

Some advocates of Cord Cutting promote the notion that Americans need to go on a severe TV diet--just turn the thing off. Get a life. Read. Garden. Golf, which with current cable prices looks increasingly affordable. These are all good, but they are more about Ditching TV more than Cutting the Cord.

With Cord Cutting there will be some change in WHAT you watch and this may dissuade you from making the move but in many cases the biggest change will be how you access what you like to watch. Oh, and how much you pay. There are two ways* most Cord Cutters get their boob tube fix: Over The Top (OTT) and Over The Air (OTA).

OTT services are delivered over the internet to PCs, boxes and sticks, Smart TVs and other players. Most folks, at least those under forty are familiar with services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Amazon, YouTube (it's not just cat videos), Google Play. Some free, some subscription, some pay per view but all cheaper than cable. More esoteric OTT streamers include NASA, Weather Underground, many public broadcast stations, and some local tv stations (mostly news). More recently major broadcast networks are streaming content at no cost and opening some of that content to anyone regardless of whether or not they also subscribe to cable. The real game-changer is currently in Beta. Sling TV is poised to offer a no-contract, $20/month streaming service with much of the most popular content including ESPN, ESPN2, Disney, ABC Family, TNT, HGTV and the Food Network. For $5/month more you can add addition content popular with children or some of the next most popular offers including Bloomberg, CNN and HLN.

Incumbent pay TV services cannot fathom the business model underpinning these new media companies even to the point of predicting the failure of Netflix when they first started. This goes beyond business model to something more fundamental. Cable is a broadcast medium and broadcasters are accustomed to showing you what they want you to watch, when they want you to watch it.

Netflix (to pick on just one) has built its business around providing you what you want to watch, when and wherever you want to watch it for a fixed subscription fee and without commercials.  Sounds like TV heaven. This has many business benefits but also includes a significant knock-on effect for viewers: Netflix knows what YOU like to watch and they use that to get more programming that you will enjoy. Cable companies use Nielsen ratings to set advertising prices and while that does correlated to what you want to watch, it is "you" in general and you are probably not even a "Nielsen Family," are you? Because Netflix knows what you like, and in some cases how much you like it, Netflix is well armed in content negotiations. They will also tell you about new content they think you will want to watch and most times they are spot on.

Over The Air is olde school. Broadcasters still have powerful transmitting towers (just not in your backyard :) so when you're watch Fox 5 using an antenna you'll see exactly what your neighbor with XFinity sees only you'll see it a bit earlier and have a much better picture. You'll be screaming Gooaaaallll!!! before he sees the kick and when he comes over investigate he is not going to believe that is the same seven year old plasma he was laughing at last week when he was showing of that new UHD OLED. As you are probably aware antenna-TV is now digital (except for a few low power stations in the boondocks) which means a beautiful picture when the signal is strong and some pretty bad macro-blocking when it isn't. Think "satellite TV in a thunderstorm". In daVille we are pretty lucky as we have a clear shot (line of sight is always best) to the antenna farm south and a bit east of here.

So if you like watching what someone else wants you to on their schedule you are one antenna away from about thirty channels of cable quality programming and another thirty or so of crap. And growing. You will also find some of the stars who made Food Network and HGTV popular have gone to or back to Public TV. You never saw Jacques Pepin on Food Fight Network and Mind of a Chef is only on PBS. OTA is a lot more than it was when you ditched that last set of rabbit ears and paid to have that old Curtis Mathis hauled away.

So don't let the fear that cable is the only way to get quality (and crappy) content keep you chained to that high bill. There is a lot of content out there from other sources including quite a few that show up on cable.

* We're not going to cover BitTorrent and other technologies used by folks who are downloading and sharing pirated content. Because it is illegal.

CC102: Cord Cutting Motivations, Pros And Cons

Why do folks cut the cord? Is it because pay TV companies are second only to Congress as the most despised organization on earth? Or could it be the money?

It could be the former but let's spend a moment looking at the money. A report released in May 2014 by the FCC provides quite a bit of insight into the pay TV business, cable in particular. They examined the costs of three services levels, Basic, Extended and Next Most Popular over 18 years from 1995 to 2013. Over that period average cable bills rose by 107% compared to the CPI which increased by a smidgen over half that at 54%. If you look at the Extended package those prices rose by 188% over that period.

You would think we're discussing college costs and not how much we pay to see stuffed purple dinosaurs and skinny Dunwoody refugees.

It is perhaps worth noting that the number of channels available in each package has increased such that Extended packages now sport an average of 160 channels--of crap you probably do not want to watch. Which brings us the topic of what we watch vs what we pay.

ESPN is by far the most expensive channel in terms of cost to the service provider which is passed along to you, the sofa spud. It currently averages around $5.54 per subscriber. Compare that with Disney at around $1.15 per sub. Not really that surprising when you check out the etymology of "fan" and see that it is closely associated with "fanatic." And you might think that ESPN has more average total viewers than Disney. That would be wrong. ESPN garners 2.2 million whilst Disney gets 2.4 million. On average. Because of tiered services (fancy name for the packages) if you want to watch Disney you will also pay for ESPN even if you hate sports. It may come as no surprise that Disney owns ESPN.

So the factors favoring firing the cable company seem to center around money and when you consider the average cable bill is now around $78/month (almost $1000/yr) that pays for a few trips to the sports bar. You might also benefit from simply watching less TV. Perhaps your life would improve if you went out back and actually planted a tomato instead of watching someone else do it on the boob tube. You might also find that alternative media outlets deliver programming that is more to your liking and when delivered on your schedule may offer greater enjoyment while consuming less of the rest of your life.

Maybe.

But there are folks who would be absolutely miserable should they lose their favorite programming. Sports nuts top that list, though ESPN has a streaming service in beta with Sling and at a proposed monthly price of $20/month might be a win-win-win. But if you're really wrapped around AMC, with TV's top-rated drama, you might not have many options. Same for FoodTV, History Channel and HGTV. Similar programming is available from non-cable sources, some say it's better, some say different, but it certainly is not the same.

So if there is content you really, really must watch and you cannot wait for it to appear on DVD or streaming services cable is just the thing for you. Not yet anyway.

At the end of the day only you can determine if what you're paying for cable is worth what you're getting. One way to bring that into clearer focus is to keep a diary of what  you and others in your household watch. You already know what you're paying and with this you'll also know what you're getting.

CC101 : An Introduction To Cord Cutting

You watch TV, right? So you've seen the MegaMillions commercial where the Yuppy comes into the kitchen to inform the Yuppette that he won the jackpot. Of only fifteen million dollars. The Yuppette, more in need of a mental massage that her precious mani-pedi ends her wailing by remarking "we'll have to drop the cable."

That was meant to be funny, but if you've looked at your cable bill lately, or worse yet if you've been tracking it over the last few years then you are probably NOT smiling. And you are not alone. Just like TV landlines before them increasingly folks are giving up on TV delivered down some fat black tube and getting their entertainment jollies elsewhere.

And our label-conscious society has a name for them. They're called "Cable Cutters" and you just might want to join their ranks. Most folks associate Cable-Cutting with Millennials but in most cases this demographics cannot cut the cable because they never had a cable in the first place but they point to a future where you watch what you want, when and where you want to watch it. They demand it and the rest of us benefit. If we choose to.

The following little clip will give you an idea of how this new media generation consumes content, entertains themselves and just what they think of pay-TV monopolies.



So we will take advantage of the City Manager Honeymoon Period to lay off our usual bitching and moaning instead explore the ins and outs, the ups and downs of putting as much distance as possible between your wallet and pay-TV providers.