MobiusArcher: I have been keeping my eye on Amazon Prime. It currently doesn't have much stuff I'm interested in that Netflix doesn't already have, but its growing. I don't think it will be much longer before there is enough unique things on it, that in combination with the free 2 day shipping deal, will make it worth getting. When I get it, ill still keep my Netflix. In order to get the channels I would actually watch on cable it would cost me over $100 a month, so I would still be saving big even with both streaming services. There is only one cable provider where I live, so they don't have to price competitively. I actually have the opposite opinion on the yearly subscription though. I would rather pay by month, and Amazon doesn't even offer that ability.
Im totally with you on Hulu. Last time I used it they had a great free service, but Hulu plus was not really much of an upgrade. It still has commercials, and Im not big on most of the shows that I would have more episodes of. The only thing it does that I actually care about is being able to use Hulu on my PS3. and that ability isn't actually worth any money to me. For some reason, when I stream content to my PS3, it looks way better than with my PC. My PS3, 360, and PC are all hooked up to the same TV. When most content is running in 1080p on a console, it still doesn't look as clear as on PC, regardless of AA and AF settings. DVDs, and Streaming content always looks way better though. Very crisp and clear on a console, but a little bit fuzzy looking on PC. Maybe I just don't have something set right? Anyway, It would be a nice feature to have with Hulu, but I wouldn't actually pay money for it.
Just to clarify a couple of things from my post:
My issue with Netflix wasn't that they charged monthly, its that they do not allow you to prepay with cash. they still charge a credit card or paypal account and then refund the money every single month. Meaning, that even though someone paid for me to have a full year of service, they would NOT let me sign up without giving them a credit card, AND they canceled my account after I removed the payment method even though I had 11 months left of PAID time. So its not exactly a billing preference... they stopped providing a service that was fully paid for.
In contrast, I can pay cash for a hulu card and sign up with it. They don't bill me when there is no reason to. Same thing with Amazon.
The other thing about Hulu... their commercial time has tripled over the past few years. When I first started watching, they lasted about 30 seconds each brake. Now they last about 1:30. Its still better than TV, but when you add their selection that keeps disappearing, I'm giving up on them.
Netflix also has an issue with rotation. They never seem to ADD content... it seems that in order to add new content, they have to remove old content. I haven't looked at their numbers, but when I signed up before I quit using the watchlist because most movies or shows were removed before I could get around to watching them.
But, as others have said, this is a highly opinionated topic, so utilize the free trial to see what works best for you.
I have also canceled cable and save about $100.00/month. I bought a 12 dollar antenna and could pick up about 14 local channels in HD. I replaced that with a $22 antenna and now get about 24 local channels in HD. I used to flip through 400 channels and would constantly complain that "nothing is on". I don't have that problem now. ;)