For years, we asked to be able to pay for just the cable channels we want. Now, between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Sling TV, newcomer Starz, and a ton of others, you can ditch cable and pay for just the content you like. It won’t save you much money, though.


Yesterday, Starz joined the massive dogpile of streaming subscriptions that allow you to pay a monthly fee to access their library of content. I signed up for it. I still haven’t finished watching Black Sails and I’ve been meaning to start Party Down for a while, so I figured why not. It’s only $9. That wouldn’t be such a big deal if I weren’t already paying for several other subscriptions.


Streaming Subscriptions Add Up to As Much As a Cable Package

Like most living humans, I have a Netflix subscription. Now, $9.99 a month for more content than I could ever watch is probably enough for anyone. Like most people, though, there are shows I’m interested in that Netflix doesn’t have. So, I need to branch out. Currently, here’s how my subscriptions break down each month:

Netflix ($7.99): Currently, I’m still grandfathered into the older priced plan, but that will end soon

Currently, I’m still grandfathered into the older priced plan, but Hulu ($11.99): I decided to pay for the commercial-free option

I decided to pay for Amazon Prime Instant Video ($8.33): It’s not entirely fair to include this here, since I’d have Amazon Prime even if I didn’t watch anything on Instant Video, but I still occasionally find a movie on the subscription that Netflix doesn’t have.

It’s not entirely fair to include this here, since I’d have Amazon Prime even if I didn’t watch anything on Instant Video, but I still occasionally find a movie on the subscription that Netflix doesn’t have. Starz ($8.99): Yesterday, I signed up for this so I could catch up on Black Sails. Plus, I’ve been meaning to watch Party Down for a long time.

Yesterday, I signed up for this so I could catch up on Black Sails. Plus, I’ve been meaning to watch Party Down for a long time. HBO Now ($14.99): At the time of this writing, I don’t have an HBO Now subscription, but I will at the end of the month when Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley start back up again.

All told, if I had all of these subscriptions at once (I’ll come back to that), it would cost a grand total of $52.29 a month. Good lord. This also doesn’t take into consideration the many, many other subscription services I could subscribe to like Sling ($20/mo, plus bonus packages), CBS All Access ($6), Crunchyroll Premium ($7), NBC’s Seeso ($4), YouTube Red ($10) or tons of others. Depending on the variety of shows you want to watch, you could end up paying a small fortune paying for each service individually.

Just for fun, I decided to compare what I’d pay in subscriptions to cable packages in my area. Here’s what I found:


Obviously, the biggest cable packages are more expensive, but not by as much of a margin as I would’ve expected. I could also save a ton of money if I got a basic cable package plus HBO. Though, to be fair, I’d still probably pay for Netflix either way, so that cost stays the same. Regardless, my choice hasn’t become any easier. I have to either choose a cable package where I sacrifice some channels, or roll my own with subscriptions. Either way, having more freedom to watch what I want means paying more money to get it.

The Solution: Rotate Your Streaming Subscriptions


It turns out, the dream of paying for just the stuff you want to watch can be just as crappy as a cable package. Each individual subscription is cheaper than cable, but they also have to be priced to make a profit on a much smaller group of users. So, when you finally subscribe to enough services to cover everything you want to watch, you could end up paying more in the long run.

However, there’s a silver lining: you don’t have to keep all your subscriptions all the time. If you’re like me, your subscriptions fall into one of two categories:

There’s always something to watch. For me, this is Netflix. Between their original shows and the backlog of older shows, I can find something I like on Netflix every single month.

For me, this is Netflix. Between their original shows and the backlog of older shows, I can find something I like on Netflix every single month. There’s one or two shows you want to watch right now. Once Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley are over, there’s basically nothing I’m interested in watching on HBO. I have no need to keep this subscription year round.


The first category of subscriptions, I always keep. For the times when I’m not sure what I want to watch, I go to Netflix. For the second category, I only keep those subscriptions when there’s either a show I want to binge, or a show I like is currently on the air. For example, I’m probably going to drop my Hulu subscription soon. I used it to keep up with new episodes of South Park, but that’s over. Meanwhile, I don’t mind watching Agents of SHIELD on an eight-day delay, which I can do for free. Similarly, I’ll probably keep Starz long enough to get through Black Sails and Party Down, but once I’m done, I’ll drop it until one of those shows gets a new season. As a bonus, I may be able to qualify for discounts or free trials later on as a “new” member again.

In the long run, this still saves me money. If I wanted to buy a single full season of Black Sails alone, it would cost me $13 to stream season one on Google Play or $17 to buy the DVDs from Amazon. Paying Starz $9 so I can watch all three is great. I just have to remember to cancel when I’m done.


Managing which services I’m currently subscribed to sounds like a hassle. Canceling a service for ten months out of the year (or putting them on hold as Hulu allows you to do) is just one more thing to remember, or else you’re wasting money. On the other hand, this is what we all asked for. We’ve reached the point where you can find a subscription service for nearly everything you could ever want to watch and you can build your own package. Now it’s up to you to manage that package every single month to make sure you’re not paying more than you would just getting cable.