Why You Should Get Rid of Cable and Get Hulu

I can confidently say that I have now been without cable television for almost two years, and I am very happy that I did. It wound up coming to a point where we were paying too much and getting nothing out of it. We had no DVR and had to pay an excessive amount of money if we wanted to add on something like HBO or Showtime. We did a lot of research and finally took the plunge, “cold turkey”. There are a lot of people today that are inquiring about making the switch, like us, and they may be anxious about what can fill the void for them. Hulu is the answer.

Hulu is a streaming service. What that means is that all you need to access the content is an account, a monthly subscription and an internet connection. The subscription service begins at just $5.99 a month for the basic package, and the only catch is that you will be shown ads. At $11.99 a month, you are paying to eliminate all of the ads that you would have to watch with the basic plan.

What makes this such a competitive option to cable television is that Hulu has so many shows available that are currently being shown on tv, but you just have to wait until the next day to watch it. For example, say that I am an avid fan of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. I won’t be able to watch it in real time as it is airing, but I can watch it the next day with ads if I have the basic package. If you have the willpower to wait the few extra hours in this day and age of urgency, I suggest you sign up.

Not every show that you watch and not every television station is on this service, but I can tell you that they have so much content, in both shows and movies, that you could endlessly find things to watch. Missed the first season of a show that is now in its second season and want to watch it from the beginning? Try Hulu. Feel like clicking through the fifteen seasons of Project Runway to catch up on all the episodes from when you stopped watching two years ago? Try Hulu. Really wanted to watch Saturday Night Live but couldn’t stay up because you were too tired? Hulu will have it ready for you the next day. Feel like reminiscing from your childhood by watching some old episodes from The Golden Girls? Yes, Hulu even provides access to so many shows from the past!

Hulu, like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, also has their very own content that you can only see if you subscribe to them. If you’ve ever heard of “original content”, this is what I am referring to. If you’ve been paying attention to entertainment news in the past couple of years, you may have heard of the show The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elizabeth Moss. This show is considered a Hulu original and can only be viewed by Hulu subscribers. Sometimes, a pretty recent movie may also be available to watch on Hulu before the other streaming companies have access to it.

If you are still sitting around wondering how you can watch shows that you were getting on HBO or Showtime through your cable, Hulu has an answer. HBO can be added to your basic or upgraded subscription at the cost of $14.99 a month, while Showtime costs an extra $10.99. Some may not think this is a valuable option, but for someone like my husband who needed to see Game of Thrones each week, he added on HBO just for those months when it was on. You aren’t locked in for a specific time frame like for a year; you are able to cancel at your convenience.

What is important to understand is that Netflix and Amazon Prime Video do not offer the ability to watch shows up to their current episode. That is the one thing that separates Hulu from the others, and how can we forget about the cost? $5.99 a month? You can forego just one day of takeout or coffee and pay for the whole month of this.