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PODCAST: Cord cutting 101 for Canadians

Episode 3 of The Practical Geek examines the basics of going cable free
cuttign the cord
Sean Whitehead of Kutko Canada wants to help you cut the cable TV cord. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Cord cutting is on the rise in Canada, and that shouldn’t be a surprise given our history as a country at the forefront of communications technology. A study released last fall by an Ottawa-based consulting firm and reported in the Huffington Post estimated Canadians were cutting their cable and satellite TV subscriptions at a rate seven times higher than the year before. The study estimates service providers lost 153,000 subscribers in the first nine months of last year, which is a tiny figure compared to the 11.5 million subscribers in Canada overall. But the number is growing, and there are thousands of you out there who are considering cutting the cord.

But cutting the cord can be daunting to the beginner, or even the experienced tech consumer. So in this episode we look at the basics by interviewing a consultant who has a business helping people cut the cord.

 

Sean Whitehead is one of three people with Kutkco Canada. It started four years ago after what he describes as “a horrible experience” with his cable provider led to his own experiments in cutting the cord. His newfound expertise led to family and friends asking him for help to also cut the cord, and then people started offering him money to do the same. By 2013, he was running a business in an entirely new field of service.

Whitehead has worked in technology for 25 years and he’s comfortable with it. I thought he’d be a good person to talk to in explaining the basics of cord cutting in Canada: what you can expect, what kind of devices to consider, and how much money you might save.

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Theme music for the Practical Geek is by Michael Kissinger. Incidental music is by the Republic of Gabriola. The executive producer of The Practical Geek is Tim Shoults.

You can reach the host at blink@glaciermedia.ca.