Paul’s Tech Makeover: A Cord-Cutting Update (Premium)

Back in July, I discussed my plans to replace cable TV with some variety of online services. Key to this plan is a service that will provide live and recorded TV capabilities.

My testing of these services is ongoing---we're still subscribed to both PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV, though that can't last---and I'll try other services, too. But after just a few weeks in our new home, this testing has uncovered something unexpected.

Which is, I'm not really sure we even need this kind of service.

I have a bigger editorial in the making about embracing change, which I've imaginatively titled Embracing Change. Hopefully, that will see the light of day---it's kind of grown out of control, so I've let it sit for a bit---but the gist of it applies here. Change, whether big or small, is healthy. More specifically, being open to change is healthy, since you may test different ways of doing some thing and then decide that you were already on the right path. The point is to try.

So with that in mind, there are a few important things to consider when it comes to cord-cutting. That is, to online services that seek to replace traditional cable TV.

The first is behavioral, and whether you are opening doing things a different way. Do you "need" to be in front of the TV when a live TV show first airs? Are you OK with waiting until a series seasons ends so you can binge-watch it?

There is the cost, of course: Some argue that cord-cutting services ultimately don't save users much, if any, money when compared to cable. That hasn't been my experience, but depending on what your cable costs look like, it should be close. No matter: I feel that the flexibility of these services, which are easy to drop and then pick up again as needed, far outweighs that concern.

Finally, there's just the time suck that's involved in researching which services offer which channels, networks, live TV in your particular local market, and so on. Are live local sports important to you? Premium channels like HBO? You need to actually do a bit of work to figure out what's best for you. Your needs will vary from mine.

In my case, in my family's case, there's been an interesting (and retroactively obvious) shift to binge-watching high-quality TV shows---many of which are from Europe---from live or recorded (DVR) shows that we consume as they air, over time. And we have enough shows stacked up, if you will, on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu to last us for many months, I bet.

But it's not all or nothing. Eventually, one of the "big event" TV shows we do watch, like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and maybe a few others, will begin airing again. And then we'll be tested.

Actually, it sort of happened already: The most recent (and truncated) season of Game of Thrones aired this summer, and we were in the middle of a logistical mess involving our home swap in Spain, the move, and all the driving that the move required. We were able to watch a few episodes before ...