Tips to Save Money on your Cable Bill
I’m all about stretching my paycheck as far as possible each month. It’s a necessity which has also turned into a money saving game for me. One of my pet peeves is the cost of cable and satellite television and the unbelievably horrible customer service that most providers offer. If you are currently paying $50-$60 a month for 200+ channels you rarely watch did you know you have options?
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Here are 3 options that will not only save you money on your cable bill but can also actually improve your programming.
Online Viewing Options
If you are a TV viewer that only watches a handful of channels or shows, online viewing may be a solid option. Cancel your monthly service and watch a la carte programming on services like Hulu.com and Crackle.com. Combined, they have thousands of free movies and television programs. The only downside is they don’t carry local programming and have limited sports action. But you can often make up for this with the power of the Internet. For example, ESPN offers an online service called WatchESPN which has free online streaming available of SportsCenter and dozens of sporting events every day of the week. For local news, just go to the website of your local news stations as they typically stream their newscasts and weather reports shortly after they broadcast them.
The “Cancel Call”
If you are brave enough to make the “cancel call” you have a great chance of getting rewarded. This is when you call your cable or satellite provider and tell them you would like to cancel your service. They will ask you why you want to cancel. At this point you can go two different routes, either the service is too expensive, or you are going to switch to a competitor. At this point, they will typically transfer you to their customer retention department and this is where things start to get interesting. Often they will offer you everything but the kitchen sink to keep you aboard. At the very least they will offer you free movie channels. Personally, I did this a couple years ago and received $15 off my monthly bill and even got a slightly better programming package. If you are not satisfied with what they are offering you but don’t really want to cancel, just tell them that you want to think about your options and will get back to them.
Free and Almost Free Options
Have you seriously considered cancelling your service altogether? If you do, you still have viewing options. For example, use your public library to rent DVDs for free. Almost all public libraries are stocked with hundreds of DVD movies including newer releases and tons of family movies. Also, consider RedBox where you can rent movies for $1 each. In my neck of the woods, RedBox’s are popping up all over the place, especially at Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven, and all Target locations.
Bonus Tip: Dish Network Secret Programming Package
Are you a current Dish Network satellite TV subscriber? Are you aware they have a “secret” programming package which is a screaming deal and not widely advertised? It’s called the “Introductory Package” and is available to all customers (not sure why they call it introductory) where you get 60 channels, including all locals in HD, for only $14.99 a month. My family has this package and it works great for us as it has a nice mix of family programming, music, news, and some sports channels.
The key to saving money on cable is actually doing something to improve your current situation. If you just keep paying the same amount month after month without considering your alternatives you are destined to overpay. When you start to do the math for an entire year you can easily overpay by $400-$500. Why not spend a little time and save a good chunk of change.
Have you used any of these techniques to lower your cable costs? If so, how are they working out?
WSL Editor’s note: with January and parts of February being dedicated to the Debt Movement where we’re helping people pay off substantial amounts of debt, I asked Kyle to write up an information post on how to save money and he didn’t disappoint! While making extra money may be a strategy you use to increase your disposable income so that you have extra money available for one of your strategies for debt reduction, another important factor is finding ways to reduce how much you spend as that also directly effects your disposable income. I wasn’t aware of this Dish Network offer…I’m going to have to look at what those 60 channels include!
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I was considering canceling the cable, and you have pushed me over the edge! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Good for you! You really do have some great alternatives.
We cancelled cable and have never regretted it. TV is mostly a waste of time anyway and it was getting way too expensive when we cancelled it. ($80) I would much rather have my time and my money for myself!~
Yeah 80 bones is totally ridiculous. I would cancel it too but I really like having our locals for news and sports and the $14.99 is 50 cents a day that I can justify.
We cancelled our cable and have never regretted it. It was getting ay too expensive ($80 per month) and we decided to see if we could live without it. I don’t miss it at all.
I have negotiated every year when I had cable and it worked great. Now I just watch TV online, or rent DVDs, and watch much more than before. On demand services are great to avoid commercials and stop being a slave to the programming schedule.
That’s awesome. I’m curious what online services you use and if you like them?
I usually call every 12 months and try to get the new customer rate. It worked last time!
We have the most basic plan with Dish and for the longest time is was less than $30 per month with a DVR. The rate just went up so perhaps we will have to see if they have a better deal or check out DirecTV. Thanks for the heads up!
Check out Dish’s Intro package that I talk about in the post. It is perfect for my family and the 15 bucks a month is pretty justifiable for most.
I have Dish and unfortunately have a couple stations that are non-negotiable and not in the introductory package (you’re right….I didn’t know it existed until I read this!). Once I find other ways to watch those programs, I’m calling Dish to get that package. Good stuff.
I’m calling Dish right now, thanks.
Our bill is ridiculous. I really need to look into alternatives.
I cancelled our cable last year and went with a great $30 (one time fee) over the air antenna. We pick up the major broadcast networks, like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and quite a few more. I get to watch everything in HD and I only paid $30 for it. I even got a second one. I think we pick up about 25 channels, all for free!
Good tip Grayson. I actually bought a Leaf HD antenna last year and was excited to try it out. Unfortunately, we live to far out in the country to pick up any channels, I think we got 2 channels, and 3 that were really fuzzy and un-watchable. I ended up returning it. But if you live in a urban area you can get a bunch of channels in HD for free.
The cancel call is what we did. And boy does that work. They don’t really want to lose you! Another thing that peopel can do? Steal it. Lol, just kiddin’ dudes, you get in serious trouble doing that.
Great ideas! We only have Basic cable, so we only get HD from the over the air channels. With one exception we are pleased as we can be (and that exception is the inability to watch my wife’s favorite NBA team in HD). We use Netflix streaming daily.
Your wife enjoys watching the NBA? You are 1 lucky guy Thad!
I’ve just switched from a paid cable service to a free sattelite package where you pay a one off fee for the box and that’s it. It’s got all the channels I need except the premium UK sports channels but then that does give me an excuse to head to the pub now and then to watch the big games! Great post Kyle
I was under the impression “watch espn” only worked if you had a cable subscription much like HBOgo. So cutting cable wouldn’t help there, unless you were filling to go to justin tv or sites like that…
It may be called ESPNU, but you can definitely watch quite a few games online for free.
Now that I think about it a little more, I believe Brian is correct. It didn’t dawn on me when I was editing this post because it’s something that ESPN recently changed (and I’ve only tried to use it once since they changed it). Around 6 months ago (and prior), I was able to watch “ESPN3″ (espn3.com) for free, but now they require that you do business with a select group of providers. If you don’t have internet or cable through one of those providers then you cannot watch it online. Thanks for the clarification, Brian!
I’ve been looking for a way to cut down or ditch my TV service for a long time now. Unfortunately I’m a sports junkie and there just aren’t any good (free) options to watch live sports without cable/satellite.
BOOM! I’m all about option #1! Have been internet only for 4 years running, and I don’t miss cable one bit. $45 a month for high speed, stream all our fav. shows with Hulu App (for free), and just borrow movies if we want to watch something.
I’m not sure what we pay for cable (bf pays for the Internet/cable package). I know we got a decent deal for signing up for the bundle (a gift card if I remember correctly). When that deal is up we’ll likely call to cancel and see if we can get a better deal. Can’t hurt to try.
I’ve considered calling my cable provider and telling them I want to cancel my service and see what kind of options they give me. If I could get $15 or $20 off it would be worth it but as far as more channels I would have to pass because I hardly watch TV the way it is. Thanks for the good advice.
We make an annual call to our cable provider and negotiate a price for the year. I’ve always been honest with them. We don’t have to try and cancel with the company we are with. They reward long standing, good paying customers who want to stick around. I’d rather research what other companies will offer and see if they will match it. Every year they have been more than happy to give us the best deal. All you gotta do is ask!
I very much luck out in that cable is provided free as part of the condo we’re renting. I would be thinking VERY hard these days before I signed up for it at full price! These are excellent tips!
We too just cancelled completely, rarely miss it, and LOVE having the extra money to put toward debt every month. We’ll probably do Netflix or something cheap in the future, but for now, even a measly 8 bucks less a month toward debt makes me cringe
I never really understood why people still even use cable. Netflix is a much cheaper alternative and numerous new tv shows can be found on Hulu. Cable news channels are also pointless, reading the news is a lot better.
We’ve done the “cancel call”. They immediately offered us a 25% discount. Now, whenever they raise the rates (even by just a few dollars), we phone and tell them that we absolutely can not afford the increased rate. We’ve managed to keep our bill at the exact same price for more than five years now! Well worth the phone call..
Just last month I called my satellite provider with the intent of cancelling and going to another service. I was quite surprised when they ended up reducing my overall bill by better than 30% with no further commitment. They seem to have a lot of flexibility in terms of customer retention. But I’m sure you have to have satisfied the terms of your original contract before they’ll flex on their pricing.
I’m a fan of the call threatening to cancel anything. You can almost guarantee being transferred to customer retention and thus getting a discount on your bill. Good stuff, thanks for sharing!