TV in 2012

This is why I subscribe to Hulu Plus.

Portlandia is a witty, clever, and light-hearted take on the urban, hipster landscape, and I enjoy it via Netflix (Season 1) and Hulu Plus (clips of Season 2).

We don’t watch TV in the traditional way.  Instead, we have a nice TV (thanks, Mom) hooked up to our Playstation3 (thanks, Davey) and Wii (thanks, us), and we can watch shows and movies via streaming internet or on Blueray from the local video store.  Yep, we still have a video store in our neighborhood!

If we were a little more savvy, we could even use the antenna that we bought last year and get all the basic cable stations for free in HD. We are not those people, though, as I found out on Thanksgiving when I tried to watch the parade.  Obviously, our plan is not perfect.  But, it does allow us to watch TV on our computers and on the iPad when we are on the go and not just sitting in our livingroom.  It is pretty handy all around.

PLUS (and the reason we did it in the first place), it saves us a good chunk of money each month!  A cable and internet package would cost us $80/month.  Netflix, which is nonnegotiable with Chris, adds an extra $8.99  With our concoction, we pay $55.  That’s $34 bucks to use toward other things.  Yeah.

Here’s the breakdown:

Service	Cost
Netflix streaming only- available for PS3, Wii, Roku, etc…	$8.99
Hulu Plus- available for PS3, Roku	$7.99
Comcast Xfinity internet	$38.00
Total	$54.98
Comcast internet and basic cable subscription	$80.00
Netflix	$8.99
Total	$88.99
Savings	$34.01

Are you putting these new technologies to use in your home?  What has worked for you?  Not worked?  As we are trying to cut back further to deal with the impending HSLP, we’d love to try some of your tricks!