5 Reasons to Ditch Streaming and Go Back to Cable

There are dozens of streaming services on the market, and it’s hard to keep up! It’s also hard for our wallets to understand why we keep forking out money for this and that subscription. (We can all relate.)

But now we’re seeing streaming prices skyrocket, and we’re finding more and more reasons to go back to cable TV.

Subscribing to streaming TV services used to be the go-to if you wanted to save money on entertainment, but now, the tables have turned—it’s worth going back to cable.

So, let’s find the answer to this question: should you ditch your streaming service subscriptions and go back to good ol’ cable?

A few years ago, streaming services were known to save you more money than if you were to order a cable TV package. YouTube TV used to be $35 per month when it launched in early 2018!

Now, live TV streaming services are increasing their prices due to the rising costs of programming, such as Disney Channel, CNN, and TBS. And now, their pricing is looking similar to that of cable television.

Hands down, cable TV has more channels than live TV streaming does (sometimes double or triple the amount!).

But the downside to getting 400+ channels with Verizon Fios TV and Optimum TV is that they’re not widely available across the US. For example, you can’t get either service if you live on the West Coast.

So we recommend double-checking during your checkout process if you’ll be able to access all news, sports, kids, movie, and entertainment that TV offers.

All TV shows and movies you can think of are on cable television (besides Originals). So with cable TV, you can just set up a recording before you go to work, and it will be ready to watch when you get home.

Some cable TV providers also have on-demand content to watch whenever you’d like. That’s the nice thing about on-demand content: you can watch it while cleaning in the early morning or when you can’t sleep in the middle of the night.

Although you can potentially get more content through cable TV (it just might not be neatly categorized in rows like it is with streaming), some streaming services have more storage capacity.

YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV have an unlimited DVR storage space. Xfinity TV has up to 300 hours of DVR space, and Cox TV has 1,000.

When you switch back to cable TV, you won’t have to worry about Wi-Fi reliability and lag when you’re trying to watch the NBA Playoffs.

But it’s 2023. So you might consider a TV and internet bundle.

You can bundle an Xfinity TV plan with internet of 400 Mbps download speeds for $50 more per month than if you were to order only TV (for the first year).

If you don’t need Wi-Fi and internet access, that means more savings for your new big screen 4K TV.

We understand you might already have an Apple TV, Roku TV, or Amazon Fire TV Stick, but you won’t have to worry about upgrading devices in the future.

That’s an extra cost you won’t have to worry about when you switch over to cable. But we must warn you: cable TV does have fees that you’ll have to budget for.

Just to prepare you, some fees might include:

• Cable box rental fees
• DVR service fees
• Broadcast and regional sports fees (for your local and sports channels)

You should switch to cable if these reasons sound appealing to you:

1. Some cable TV plans save you more money
2. More channels
3. All the content you want and more
4. No need to worry about Wi-Fi
5. A streaming device or smart TV is not necessary

We recommend you check out our list of best cable TV providers. But if a big on-demand content library and unlimited DVR storage space sound better than receiving double the channels, you might consider a live TV streaming service. Sports fans should also check out packages available on cable and streaming.

• Best TV Service Providers of 2023
• Best Cable TV Providers of 2023
• Best Cable TV and Internet Bundles 2023
• Best TV, Internet, and Phone Bundles 2023