Maybe it's not the saving money...

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When I cut the cord in early 2011, it was after looking over two years of data. I looked at my viewing habits form 2009 and calculated if I could have saved money by streaming content instead. That mean watching current season TV shows on-demand from Hulu (free at the time), Hulu Plus (the paid version that had a different content library), TV antenna (live and recorded), and purchasing content from Amazon, iTunes, or other sources.

My numbers showed I would not have saved money in 2009, but when I ran the numbers again covering 2010, I would have saved money. So, I cut the cord and began relying on streaming TV.

But now that I've been streaming for over a decade, what would I miss the most? The money? Sure, that would be something I'd miss. But that would only be on the days I paid the bill.

What I'd miss the most, that is, on most days, is the control over my TV viewing. That would be every day I watched TV, no just on the days I paid the bill.

I began controlling my TV when I got a TiVo in 2006. It allowed me to watch TV when I wanted. I rarely watched anything live. And, during 2010, apart from sports programming, I didn't watch anything live. Well, some news shows, but that was it.

The live news shows were lost when I cut the cord, but the truth is I didn't really miss them. Sports, particularly college football, was another matter, so after live streaming services began, I started doing them in the fall.

Apart from that, I don't watch live TV. I watch stuff on demand, because I prefer it to fit my schedule. TiVo allowed that, and I've enjoyed it greatly since then. So, if I stopped streaming, I'd miss the ability to watch what I wanted when I wanted. I'd miss on-demand. I'd miss the control.

I suppose that's a flaw of mine, liking control. But I don't need to control others' lives. Just my life. And that includes my Streaming Life. And I would miss that, if I couldn't stream. I'd miss the money too.

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