Streaming is the new cable, or so the common wisdom goes. It’s easy to spend more on streaming services now than the average cable bill was 20 years ago, because there are too many streaming services.
This is a change. In the early days of cord cutting—in the late 2000’s—the entire point was to save monty. This was when could pay for Netflix and watch pretty much everything, before every media conglomerate decided they wanted to take their content off Netflix and launch their own streaming service.
Here’s the thing, though: there’s still a lot more flexibility now than cable ever offered, if you take advantage. Here’s my advice for saving money on streaming while still having plenty to watch.
- Only pay for one streaming service at a time. There’s way too much content on every streaming service for you to ever watch, so there’s no reason for you to pay for more than one such service at a time. Pay for Netflix until you run out of stuff you want to watch, then cancel it and pay for something else for a couple months.
- Buy actual Blu-Rays or DVDs if you constantly re-watch a show. Peacock costs $4.99 a month, with ads. The complete The Office box set costs $40 on Amazon. You don’t have to subscribe to Peacock for the rest of your life just to watch The Office again and again (and again.)
- Get an antenna. Major networks like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and PBS all broadcast over the air, meaning you can pick up their signals using an antenna. It always surprises me how few people realize this—you don’t need cable to watch these channels, or to record shows from these channels.
- Use Plex. This is a media management application. The idea is that you can install it on a computer in your house, add a collection of media files to it, then stream those files from any smart TV, mobile device, or computer. It’s great if you want to watch your ripped Blu-Ray collection, and it also comes with a built-in PVR. Over time it becomes a self-hosted Netflix, except your favourite shows won’t randomly disappear the next time the licensing agreement expires.
- Don’t forget about your local library. Most libraries have an extensive collection of TV shows and movies, either on hand or that you can request from other branches. Take advantage of this—if there’s a particular show you want to watch, check if the library has it before you start paying for another streaming service. Some libraries also offer free access to Kanopy, a surprisingly great streaming service.
It’s just a few ideas! I thought you might find it handy.
Editors, I know you’re reading. Please get in touch if you want an extended version of the above article.
Stuff I wrote
- This Chrome extension stops you from using work apps after work. The Wall Street Journal This little app started as a joke but I sincerely found it a useful way to unplug.
- 10 apps that make Twitter better PC Mag Twitter is a hellsite but it’s our hellsite. People care about it, which is why so many people who don’t work for Twitter spend time building things to make Twitter better.
I’m an emoji expert (in Spain)
In 2020 I wrote a guide to using emoji at work, mostly because a male co-worker kept creeping out female co-workers by sending them winky emoji. He stopped after the article went live.
Last week I discovered, through the magic of Twitter mentions, that an article in La Vanguardia—the biggest newspaper in Catalonia—cited me as an emoji expert:
Here’s a quick Google translation:
Another emoji on which caution is recommended is the winking eye emoji 😉. In the opinion of Justin Pot, an expert who writes for Wired or The Wall Street Journal, many people should think twice before using this emoji in the workplace. “For some, the wink emoji is a harmless way of clarifying that a statement is meant to be a joke or, at the very least, to sound friendly,” he says. “The problem is that there are numerous references on the internet that warn that the wink emoji implies that you are being flirty and/or suggestive. In the best of cases you will seem unconscious”, Pot writes about the potential ambiguity of the stick figure.
That’s right: I’m an “expert”. On emojis. In Spain. Take that, haters.