Satellite and Cable Costs During a Down Economy
Saturday January 3, 2009
Time Warner customers were threatened with losing Viacom channels such as Nickelodeon and Noggin last week. Viacom wanted customers to pay 23 cents per month for the stations, which they claimed were undervalued by Time Warner. The companies struck a deal, but the cost will likely be passed on to consumers as some point. Will that cost be just a few extra cents a month, or will there be a larger rate hike? The issue got me thinking about the cost of cable and satellite TV. The shows we watch through these mediums don't come cheap, and in a down economy, this is one area where families may be forced to cut spending.
We were actually just going over this cost for our family. My husband has been hearing about AT&T U-Verse, which offers TV, phone and Internet packages, and it has just become available in our neighborhood. Apparently, once he checked it out, he found that we would save about $35-40 per month. We would get much faster Internet, but we might not have as many HD channels. Until now, we have chosen the satellite option because there is a family channel we like that isn't available through cable. U-verse has all of the channels we want, so we just have to figure out if it is worth it to make the switch (and if there are any hidden fees that will end up making the options even out in the end).
What about your family? How did you choose between the available TV options? Did you save money? Have you had to cut your home entertainment spending lately? Use the comments link below to let us in on any secrets you have for saving money and still getting the family channels we have all come to love!
We had a bundle (phone, Internet, cable) from Charter until just this week. It seemed like every other month we had to call customer service to get the “special.” If we didn’t, we’d see a hike in the bill. Sometimes it was as much as $60. Ridiculous. Why can’t the bill just be low and have some stability.
So, we started thinking about it, too. And we started to evaluate just how much TV we watch that is really cable. Not much, as it turns out. So, we ditched it all. We just watch shows on the networks / PBS, got AT&T “naked” DSL and we’re just using our cell phones instead of the digital landline. It’s saving us $120 per month and I couldn’t be more pleased.