the current price of TV

With Sling TV and Sony Playstation Vue (and the upcoming Apple TV service), there is now some competition in the market.

I'm with Oceanic (which is Time Warner Cable) which is the most expensive, but even they have their tiers.

They do have a basic service which are the local channels plus TBS.  The price is $16.04.  Plus there is a broadcast TV fee of $2.25.

Next is a big jump up to Standard Service which costs $64.74.  This includes the basic service plus a bunch of channels most people are accustomed to watching.  This includes CNN, Fox News, OCSports (UH Sports), ESPN, ESPN2, Time Warner SportsNet (Lakers), Prime Ticket (Clippers), TV Land, SyFy, MSNBC, Spike, FX, AMC, TNT, Travel, HGTV, Food, Comedy Central, Animal Planet, History Channel, National Geographic, A&E, and more.

[6/24/15 - Don't know what how much they charge for the "value service" mentioned in the Channel Listing pdf linked in the paragraph above.  I assume it must be a little cheaper than the Standard Service.]

You catch these by plugging your cable directly into your TV without a cable box.  You can also catch some digital TV channels this way including your local channels in HD, OCSports in HD, CW in HD, CNBC in HD.

Next step up is to rent a Digital Adapter (DTA) for (it says here) 99 cents a month.  It's like a barebones cable box.  With this you can watch additional channels in HD such as Fox News, ESPN, ESPN2, Food Network, Travel Channel, History Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Disney Channel.

The next step up is to rent an HD cable box instead of a DTA.  This will cost you $7.31 a month.  Checking the digital lineup, you get HD channels such as CNN, Fox Sports 1, Time Warner Sports Net, Fox Sports West, Prime Ticket, HGTV, TBS, TNT, FX, USA, Spike, AMC.

Next step up is the Digital Variety Pack which is $88.54 (actually I'm getting the Digital Cable Pak, which includes the Digital Variety Pack and the box for $80.99).  This adds HD channels such as Bloomberg, The Weather Channel, NFL Network, MLB Baseball, ESPNU, ESPNews, FXX, CBS Sports Network, Smithsonian, Nat Geo Wild, Fox Movie Channel.

Then I added the HD Entertainment Pack which is costing my an additional $6.95.   With this come HD channels such as NBA TV, SyFy, Universal HD.  They mention you also get CNN, USA, TBS, TNT but I see these now come with the Standard Service.  So actually I'm paying $6.95 just for NBA TV HD since I don't watch the others much.  I think I originally got it because I wanted to see the NBA on TNT in HD.  But now it comes with standard service.  Maybe I'll cancel this after the NBA season is over.  I'd be tempted to switch to the Sports Pass service for $9.49, but apparently the only way you can get NBA TV HD is through the HD entertainment pack.

The other thing that's costing me is the DVR which I'm renting for $12.99.

I'm tempted to get the standalone DVR which accepts a cable card (wherever I saw it).  Maybe that'll be in my next post (after I transfer the recording out of my current DVR -- one day as I'm paying $13 a month for basically nothing.  Well it does give you the capability to pause and rewind shows on the fly which is pretty neat.

So anyway that's why my cable bill is now up to $114 a month.

***

How about Hawaiian Telcom?

If I can trust this page, they have two basic packages: Advantage and Advantage Plus for $68.95 a month and $78.95 a month (plus fees and taxes I assume).

Wait I see they also have a Basic service which includes 30 channels plus the box for $20.95 a month.  You get pretty much local network channels many (or most) of which you could catch over the air for free (assuming you had a good antenna).  None of the channels are HD.  So not as good a deal as Oceanic here.

OK, back to the regular packages.  Checking the lineup, you get a lot of channels, even OCSports (1089) and TWC SportsNet (1069).  What do they carry that's not on Oceanic?  Not much, but I see American Hero, Destination America, whatever they are.  Notably missing is Prime Ticket which is odd since they do carry Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2.  Also no OC16 if you're into local high school sports.

What do you get with Advantage Plus?  Pac 12, SEC, Fox Sports 2, Big Ten, Tennis, NBA TV, Nat Geo Wild, Biography.

So actually this Advantage Plus is a pretty good deal compared to Oceanic, since their DVR is better.  No On Demand TV though.  And no Prime Ticket is drawback.  Well maybe if they bring it back..

***

A cheap option would be to go with SlingTV for $20 a month.  With this you get ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, HGTV. Food, Travel, History, H2, Disney, ABC Family, CNN and a few more.  However streaming sports over the internet doesn't seem as smooth as over cable TV.  And no local channels.  (But if you get a good antenna, you might have something.)

The other streaming service is the PlayStation Vue currently available only in Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia.  The plans start at $49.99 a month for the Access plan.  It varies a little per city, but basically (looking at New York City) you get CBS, Fox, CNN, TBS, TNT.   The Core plan for $59.99 gets you NBC, Fox News, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, FX, Spike, TV Land, USA.  The Elite plan for $69.99 gets you AMC, Animal Planet,  CNBC, Food, FXX, HGTV, NatGeo, Nat Geo Wild, Spike, SyFy, USA.

So you're missing ABC (and ESPN and Disney) here.

Actually the cheapest option would be to get a good antenna if you're lucky enough to be in a good location.

If I were starting from scratch, I think I would go with HawaiianTelcom.  Though no Prime Ticket is a drawback.

[4/7/15] 7 things to consider before canceling cable

[4/8/15] Money's guide to watching TV without a cable bill

[5/23/15] Savings calculator from Slate