Cutting the Cable
We have been subscribers to Shaw Direct (it was Star Choice) for years and the service was ok. Back when we lived in Rosthern there was not much choice you either got satellite tv or you have crappy cable tv from the local cable company. Since we moved to Regina a few years ago things have changed considerably. We tried Zip.ca for awhile, but the fact that they were slow to bring in streaming was (I still don’t think they have it) was killer. When Netflix opened up here I jumped on it the first day it was available and we have never looked back.
Once we joined Netflix out watching satellite tv started to drop of. The kids never turned the satellite on any more and the only person that watched it occasionally was myself to watch the Rider games. Considering how bad their season was in 2011 it was even hard to sit and watch them for a whole game. By the end of October it was obvious that we really did not need Shaw Direct any more, no one was watching it so we decided to cancel. We went from paying $50/month for satellite tv that no one was watching to using only Netflix for $7.99/month! The kids don’t care, and I can usually find something to watch that I enjoy. I recently went through the entire 10 seasons of Stargate SG1.
Netflix still might have the best selection here in Canada yet but it is getting better. We don’t feel like we are missing anything without having Shaw Direct. If you do feel a need to catch the latest episode of some newer show you from the US or UK (I like Doctor Who, are you surprised) you can easily use a VPN service to stream those. I guess it is either that or do a torrent search, not that I recommend either. :)
Lots of people talk about getting rid of their cable or satellite tv but it does not seem like a lot of people actually do it. They have one reason or another why they hold onto their cable packages and pay the cable companies outrageous sums of money each month to watch whatever is on at the moment. If you have not stopped paying for cable of satellite tv why not?