Life Until Done

About three years ago I turned off cable and switched to watching TV via streaming channels only. To make it more enjoyable I bought a Roku player that enables me to watch my shows on an actual TV instead of my laptop.

To watch my favorite shows without having to scour the internet:

• I subscribe to Netflix as they have a great foreign language selection especially in French and Spanish as well as some of my favorite British TV.
• As an Amazon Prime subscriber I have access to a wide selection of TV shows and old movies for free. I can also purchase most current TV shows as an entire season upfront or on a per episode basis for about $1.99 each or rent more current/new release movies for anywhere between $2.99 & $4.99/48 hours.
• Then there’s Hulu/Hulu Plus that carries in addition to current TV shows for free, some great exclusive to Hulu mini series also for free.

In a nutshell, if I don’t buy/rent any shows, I pay less than $16/month for what was previously an $80 cable bill.

Here’s my dilemma:

There are shows and movies on Amazon that are available for a small fee but readily available on Netflix as part of my subscription, and there are shows on Hulu available for free (though often with up to a two-week delay) but available day-of or day-after their original air-date on Amazon for a small fee of $1.99 ($1.89 if I buy the season). Yes, of course, it’s a no-brainer that if a show is available for free vs a fee I should wait and watch it for free – after all 4 episodes at $1.99 = my monthly subscription with a dose of patience.

The thing is there’s no way of finding out where and when a show is available and for how much without scouring all 3 “channels”. For lack of a better name, I just wish there was a streaming media TV guide.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an App* for that?

**If there is one feel free to let me know in the comments or if you build one and make millions off it just remember where you found the idea.