It’s been over a year since the household cut the cable. Let me report to you that all is well.

I reduced my cable bill by over $100 by removing my super-dooper digital TV lineup, the bonus music channels I never listened to, and HBO. In its place, I subscribe to HBO Now ($15/month), HULU ($12/month) and Netflix ($9/month). So I’m ahead financially, but what about the quality of the shows?

Pretty dang good, I’d say.

HULU provides us with access to those shows we watch regularly, which are few. Still, a coupla nights a week, the family gathers around the Internet-ready TV, opens the HULU app, and catches up on our favorite network shows. The time is our own, which is also a blessing. No more does anyone have to rush home to catch our favorite show in time.

HBO Now provides access to a wealth of movies, including some from theaters just last year. Plus we get Game of Thrones, Westworld, and other series any time we want.

Netflix takes up the slack for what HULU and HBO Now don’t offer, including some marvelous series. In fact, if you follow Hollywood at all (and you really shouldn’t), then you know that most of the best shows to watch on TV are offered through Netflix and HBO.

I also have an Amazon Fire stick, though we don’t really use it that often. Amazon occasionally offers a free movie with my Prime membership, but I’ve not seen anything attractive in a few months. I tried watching The Man in the High Castle, but never got into it. Still, it’s an option.

And there’s YouTube, which I admit that we watch probably as much as the other services. It’s taken me a while, but I have various channels on YouTube to which I subscribe and enjoy the updates. Some of the stuff is really good, which is sad for me because these content-producers would probably make a lot more money in the traditional channels. But, as this post demonstrates, the traditional channels aren’t there anymore.

We’ve already reached a culture where you no longer have to wait to have phone service connected when you move into a new apartment or house. Kids under 10 have probably never dialed a phone in the traditional sense. And soon, memories of watching broadcast TV will be just that: memories.