Reducing the cost of watching tv [View all]

Right now, I'm paying $80.95 a month to Dish Network for the top 200 package and that includes two receivers. One for the tv in the living room and the other for the tv in our bedroom. I get my internet from the phone company for $50.95 a month for a total of $131.90 per month.

The phone company had a special where if I agreed to a 1 year contract and upped my internet speed to 30 Mbps, I'd get a free Roku 1 and the cost would be $49.95 a month for the first 6 months and then $59.95 a month for the remaining 6 months. A Roku 1 costs about $48.00 at the local Walmart.

I signed up for that, hooked up the Roku 1 after the phone company replaced my wireless modem, and played around with it. There's quite a few free channels, some of which I put in my list and I did some research on pay channels. Amazon, Netflix, and Hula cost about $8.00 to $9.00 a month and there's Sling TV which costs $20.00 a month.

The Sling TV basic package carries several of the channels the wife and I watch and with the free ones I've already selected, we would be pretty well set. If one pre-pays for 3 months service from Sling TV, there is no contract, they'll send a free Roku 2 which costs about $68.00 at Walmart.

The two year contract I had signed with Dish ended in January so I'm free to cancel that service now without penalty.

Upping my internet speed will increase my monthly cost, averaged out over 12 months, by $4.00. Cancelling Dish and going with Sling will reduce my monthly tv bill by $60.95. A net savings of $56.95 a month plus I'm not paying over a $100 for the two Roku media players that I need to switch over to streaming.