Kevin Tofel just cut the cord. While he’s a good pal (having live-Tweeted each other’s weddings), what makes his “cable” television exodus a bit more fascinating is his technological background — including years of contributions to the TV-centric HDBeat and PVRWire (RIP) blogs. Heck, we even collaborated on a piece for PC Magazine (back in 2006, when it was paper) documenting how to cut the cord… possibly before that term even existed.
So what’s different in 2016? The content Kevin and his family appreciate, including premium channels and futbol, is now available “over-the-top” … on the hardware of his choosing … and without waiting around for the FCC to unlock the box.
I’m convinced we’ve reached a bit of a turning point in the industry that makes “cord cutting” more feasible for a wider range of people. […] We’re not completely “cutting the cord” but are instead using a different “cord” for television content. […] Frankly, I don’t see why I need to pay Verizon — or any other company — $600 a year to rent set-top boxes or have the ability to DVR content.
Kevin went with PS Vue ($40/mo), over Sling TV ($20/mo), for a variety of reasons including channel lineup and DVR functionality. I generally agree that PS Vue is the superior service. However, limited platform availability (Amazon Fire TV or Playstations) and what I’d call more of a catch-up service than a true “DVR” (given only 28 days of recording availability) might not meet everyone’s needs. In fact, if I weren’t invested in TiVo hardware, I’d likely cut the cord with Tablo for OTA DVR functionality and out-of-home streaming plus Sling TV and commercial-free Hulu with Roku endpoints. And therein lies the beauty of the current landscape. Yeah, things are still in flux (including content licensing). But we have several solid options to customize our own entertainment packages. Even the cable providers are getting in on the action.