Cut The Cable Cord & Stream Your Services Instead

For decades, consumers played the cable monopoly game…if you wanted to watch the handful of premium channels in your home, it meant that you would also have to purchase the 50+ “useless” channels that came along with them. There was no picking and choosing what you wanted. Rather, you had to pay the high bundled price for all those numbered channels regardless of whether you wanted them all or not. Obviously, those days are almost over! Custom Audio Video is here to show you how to cut the cable cord and stream your services instead.

What will I need?
Once you return your cable box, you’ll need a way to get streaming content directly to your TV.

• HD Antenna – This doesn’t provide a way to watch streaming videos, but if you want to just watch live basic channel TV, it’s the cheapest and simplest solution. You may remember having rabbit ears on your hand-me-down TV as a kid — an HD antenna is basically the modern-day version of that. You hook the device into your TV, put it somewhere near a window and watch as the free channels roll in. However, in the low country, the high tree count makes this extremely difficult to accomplish.

• Streaming Device – If your goal is to see the shows that aren’t on basic channels, and you don’t already have a Smart TV (a television with a built-in streaming device capability), you will need to connect a streaming device to your television. This will allow it to where you can take advantage of the various streaming services out there — such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime among others. The most common streaming devices come from Roku, Google, Amazon and Apple.

  The Roku Ultra is our top pick, as it offers thousands of channels, 4K resolution and an inventive interface. The Apple TV is also a good choice for people who already own a lot of Apple devices. Streaming devices range in price from $35 to $400 depending on the device’s capabilities.

• Subscription-Based Services – Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are the three best-known subscription-based services right now. Even though all three offer excellent selections of TV shows and movies, each of them are unique in their own way. Netflix is a good all-purpose service with classic shows (and ambitious original programming), Hulu focuses on providing network and cable TV shows a day or so after they air on TV, and Amazon Prime is part of a larger service that also offers free shipping on Amazon orders, e-book loans and other perks.

  Since they don’t really offer exactly the same thing, you may find yourself subscribing to more than one of them at the same time which is perfectly understandable. The good news is that since each one costs between $8 and $12 per month, even if you subscribe to all three, you’d still be paying less than you would have with cable.

• Premium Channel Services – By cutting the cord, you’re also losing your access to premium channels, which often have some of the most daring content on TV. Networks like HBO, Showtime and Starz are the prime destination for the well sought-out edgy dramas, the raunchy comedy specials, niche documentaries and new releases.

  The good news is that premium channels are starting to cut out the middleman just like everyone else, so you can subscribe to them independently as well. HBO Now costs $15 per month, Showtime Anytime costs $11 per month and Starz costs $9 per month. You can subscribe and have direct access to them anytime you want through your streaming device.

From sports to foreign films…the list of streaming content out there for you to explore…we could go on and on. In a nutshell, cutting the cord means cutting yourself out of the monopoly game…and no longer having to pay the cable company every time you pass go.

“CUSTOM AUDIO VIDEO CAN HELP YOU HELP YOURSELF.”