finally called my bluff a year ago when i kept saying "nope, not good enough i wanna cancel"...she abruptly was like "ok...done".

i went without dish for a month then signed back up again as a "new" customer with the lower 2 year lock in rate they refused to give me during the "negotiation".

but during the last 5+ years i've been month-to-month more than under contract. i could've cancelled at any time. and as soon as my rate got bumped up i made a 15-20 minute phone call to get it back down. the fact that i wasn't under contract gave me that negotiating power.

granted...i pay about $70 for either top-200 or top-250 i can't remember which service it is. but i get P12 network, B1G network, longhorn, CBSSN, and all the random other channels a sporting event could be on...plus standard FS1, FS2, ESPN/2/U/News, etc.

so...with my $50/mo internet my family is into "entertainment" about $120 a month. maybe i'm totally off but i'd venture to say that's not too far off of what most cord-cutters pay for internet/hulu/netflix/amazon/etc/etc.