The unchallenged reign has come to an end now. In today’s world, however, numerous competitors offer unique, and often preferable, entertainment alternatives to cable TV. There are so many new competing options in fact, that it can be hard to figure out which ones are right for you.
In order to help you figure out where to start looking, we are going to explore the top alternatives to cable TV that you can go out and experience for yourself today.
#1 Pick and Choose an Online TV Service
Standard cable packages can run you anywhere from thirty-five dollars to over one-hundred dollars. By picking and choosing streaming alternatives to cable TV like Netflix and Amazon Prime you can put together a sort of internet package of your own.
Some of the more Popular options Include:
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Amazon Prime
- Youtube TV
- CBS All Access
Between these, you should be able to find almost any show you could want. You can even mix and match a few of these for fantastic variety at likely still less than half the cost of the cheapest cable packages.
#2 Use Your Savings to Add on a Premium Channel.
Maybe you have decided to cut the cable bill, or perhaps you went with a cheaper online tv service. Now use those savings to grab a Premium channel like HBO On Demand, and you have a highly customizable entertainment package for as much or less than what you would be paying for standard cable -all accessible from a multitude of devices (in most cases).
The variety of options, and the ability to tack on premium channels, gives you the ability to create your own custom package alternatives to cable TV.
The favorite premium channels include:
- HBO On Demand
- Starz
- Showtime
#3 Spend Some Time to Find Good Free Sources
There are thousands of high-quality documentaries, discussions, dramas and more online for free. Many TV channels will post free episodes of their shows. Youtube and Vimeo are packed full of quality entertainment if you know where to look. Youtube also has an on-demand video buy/rental option as well. While none of these are direct alternatives to cable TV, they provide a good supplement to your other services.
Spend some time searching, and you are likely to unlock whole troves of quality shows and docs. Just be careful not to fall for any scams. Sites like Crackle area good places to start. Crackle is free and gives you access to a bunch of great movies and shows like Community.
There are other options like Flixtor, but we suggest you spend time reading some reviews about each service before committing to a purchase. There are quite a few services that will promise you a lot and deliver very little.
If you watch the news and are a bit more computer savvy, try delving into the online TV news archive. This is a “ 501(c)(3) non-profit, digital library of Internet sites” that lets you go through huge amounts of digital new videos. Most news services also stream from their website and Youtube in some form. The internet already has complete alternatives to cable TV news stations.
There is also a movie section on archive.org full of older films. If you are into the classics then you will absolutely love this resource.