Cable tv savings

Tell them you're switching companies

Tell them you've researched another company that would let you have the packages you want at the price you want. They'll be more likely to offer to take away the cancellation fee.

what about the perks?

Answer to vidsu:
It seems very tempting to ditch the cable bill and get a digital converter box like you say, but what about the features like recording shows ahead of time and fast forwarding thru commercials (which I really love because I absolutely HATE the commercials - they seem to be assaulting me)? I know saving money is great and I'm all for it, but I also enjoy these features because it gives me control over what I'm watching and I can make sure I don't miss something if I have to work, etc.

Cancel your cable

I would cancel cable and buy an antenna so that you can still view basic channels if you wish. In less than two months time you will recoup your loss by canceling the contract. Today's antennas are far better than several years ago; you will be surprised at how many channels you can get in great picture quality. Keep your low cost internet connection so that you can view additional television shows via the internet (this is of course optional). This should save you a lot going forward.

Mark
http://theprudentplanner.com

Cable Bill

Calculate how many months it will take to justify adjusting your contact and see if it makes sense to you.
Also consider the times you have gone around the horn searching for anything to watch on cable.

We eliminated cable 3 years ago and have not regreted it once. It was tough at first because of the habit. Now we just watch free over air tv. If we want to see other things we look on HULU and see if it is available. The other thing would be to consider adjusting another habit to help pay for your cable desires.
Make these tough choices and you will win.
My goal is minimum monthy payments. I don't buy anything with monthly payments connected.

An answer for you

I live in southern California. My cable and internet (combined service) bill jumped from in "introductory" $68/month, to $88/month, to $111/month. I hardly watch TV at all, so I said screw this and cancelled the entire service.

I can live without TV, but I can't live without internet (used for work mostly). So after some research I signed up with my former cable company for their "basic" internet service at $19/month ($24/month with taxes etc). They tried very hard to sell me their FASTEST internet package for BLAZING downloads like I used to have with them, but I stuck with the basic $19 service.

Here is what I learned:

The "basic" service to me seems just as fast as the BLAZING service I used to have with them, and it is about $25 less per month.

I have learned that I kind of miss TV from time to time, not often but there are moments when TV in the background is nice. Okay, so if I sign on with a cable or dish company, I am jumping back in the same boat that I just jumped out of, don't want to do that.

So I looked into the "rabbit ears/digital converter box" option, thinking I would get maybe 3 broadcast channels like when I was a kid.

What I discovered is what the cable and dish companies apparently DO NOT want you to know. That these days I can get 23 broadcast channels, with good, strong signals, in DIGITAL quality - for FREE!! TWENTY THREE CHANNELS! And 21 of those are in english. Sweet!

http://www.dtv.gov/stationlist.htm?l=EN&zipCode=92503&x=11&y=9

My advice is pay the $75 cancellation fee, buy a digital converter box (about $65 in stores or less on eBay or Craigslist) and the free tv service will have payed for the cancellation fee and the converter box in a couple of months.

cable

I used to change my plan with them all the time, and that was never used as a threat. Do you remember signing anything?