When Netflix recently announced it would be cracking down on subscription sharing, many cost-­conscious TV viewers were left in a tizzy. After all, Netflix had practically encouraged, if not outright endorsed, the sharing of subscriptions in the past. In fact, this sharing of subscriptions promoted, if not originated, the concept of “cutting the cord.” As other providers are sure to follow suit, will the cutting of the cord be a thing of the past?

What exactly is cutting the cord? Simply put, it’s a metaphor for canceling one’s cable TV subscription. The cable is the cord. For techno-nerds, the cord also could be fiber or satellite TV, but for the purposes of this column, we’ll refer to them all as cable.

With the advent of high-speed internet, apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling and others are easily accessible. Such apps are of technical high quality (not speaking to quality of the content, that’s for another section of the paper), and, in certain cases, better than that available with cable.

Since the advent of cable more than 40 years ago in Hawaii, regardless of the provider, folks have complained about the cost, regardless of the provider. As such, many folks considered these alternate services as a means of saving money. This was especially true when the aforementioned subscription sharing was all the rage.

With subscription sharing headed out the door, can folks still save money by cutting the cord? As always, the answer is, “It depends.” Sure, the apps services look cheaper, especially with their “first month free” type offers. And if you can get by with just one or two subscriptions, it will be less costly.

But many, if not most, households watch a mix of content that requires a variety of services. If you need local channels and events such as University of Hawaii sports, other live sports, reality TV, as well as recent movies, for example, a traditional cable plan may be cheaper.

You also have to factor in the convenience of cable. One box, one plain old TV and that’s it. The alternative services all pretty much require a smart TV or device such as an Apple TV or Roku, which adds to the complexity of simply watching TV.

Further, not all so-called smart TVs support all the apps, so be wary of that if you are buying a smart TV. Virtually all apps run on Apple TV and Roku.

For cord-cutters, one oft-­overlooked option is over-the-air, or OTA, broadcasts. All local channels broadcast a clear, high-definition signal over the air. Like the old days, especially in Hawaii with our mountains and valleys, the ability to receive the signal varies from neighborhood to neighborhood. But unlike the old days, if you can get the signal, it is of high quality, and anecdotally speaking, consistent. Many folks report getting OTA channels simply with old-school rabbit ears.

In fact, there are nearly 60 OTA channels available on Oahu. The big local stations all have alternative channels, some as many as five.

Of course, everything has a downside, and with OTA the downside is there is no recording method built-in. So you need to buy a third-party DVR, some of which are subscription based because they store your recordings in the cloud.

Probably the easiest way for most folks to figure out if they can cut the cord is to keep a log of everything you watch in a month. Then find the services that support that content and do the math. If it looks too expensive, figure out if you can do without and do the math again. Then compare that to your cable bill.

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John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.