The Real Cost (Hulu Live TV Beta vs Dish)

At the time of this writing, I live in a condo and have exactly 1 company who's authorized to provide TV service and exactly 2 options for internet access (one of which I've already had and dumped for poor reliability). We had a TV & Internet bundle through a company called Broadstar Communications, which exclusively services apartment- and condo-complexes. For my area, their internet is through leased fiber lines from Cox Communications and they're a re-seller for Dish satellite TV service (the cable box, remote and software all say "Dish", but I'm not directly a Dish customer.) For the purpose of this post, I'll be examining the pros/cons and cost difference of leaving a "traditional" TV package for Hulu Live TV, including factoring in the power consumption on the equipment.
***For this comparison, Hulu will be running on an AppleTV 4K. Power metrics are gathered using a Kill-A-Watt power meter.***

Power Consumption

The VIP722K cable box uses pulls around 30 watts at any given time, whether it's on or off, watching TV, recording TV or both. The AppleTV 4K pulls a peak of 6.5 w, though normal usage (IE, streaming music or watching streaming video) pulls about 2.1w and while sleeping, it pulls 1.8w. For my area, utility power costs $0.680/kWh. With that information (averaging out the ATV wattage), my monthly cable box (using approximately 21.672 kWh) costs roughly $14.74 per month while the AppleTV 4K (using approximately 1.323 kWh) costs a whopping $0.90 per month. These numbers are for my average usage. My utility company has a tiered cost model, so these numbers are for tier 1. After 850kWh, it's a higher price per kWh (jumping up to $0.0930/kWh). I'll factor include this cost along with the cost of the services at the conclusion of the post.

Pros

For the Dish service:

• Spreading of Risk (IE, if the internet goes out, we can still watch TV).
• Less tech I have to support (if the AppleTV messes up, it's on me, but the cable box is rented tech I don't have to wipe and reconfigure)
• ALL THE CHANNELS (I'm guessing off the top of my head, but between the cable, network and premium channels (HBO), it had to be a solid 250 channels.)

For Hulu on the AppleTV:

• Cost. Spoiler alert, but generally, bang for the buck is better for streaming services. YMMV.
• Searching is way better. The guide on the cable box isn't completely awful, but Hulu's interface, while not perfect, is significantly better than any cable box I've ever used. For example, with HBO's movies on Dish I'd have to spend 10-15 minutes each week going through the upcoming week to see what new movies were coming up so I could record them. On Hulu, I can easily search and simply add them to my watch list or watch them right then and there. 
• Watching almost anything you want without having to record it prior. (If it's one of the networks where Hulu has a season or the last 5 epsisodes of a given show, then no recording is necessary. For example, Shark Tank isn't in Hulu's normal catalog, so when I add it to "My Stuff", it'll record any new episodes that air and it'll count towards my cloud DVR hours, of which you get 50 by default).  

Cons

For the Dish service:

• Cost. Again, total spoiler. 
• DVR timers aren't intelligent at all. They rely on metadata about the show, such as air-date, title, etc. Sometimes, the air-date is incorrect so the DVR timer won't record a new episode or will record an old episode that you've already seen. 
• DVR timers don't overlap. If you're recording This is Us at 8pm, as well as Chicago Med at 9pm, there's a solid bet that your This is Us recording will cut off the last 30 seconds of the show so it can start recording the next show. You can configure global timer settings to start recording X minutes before the show starts and X minutes, but if your show goes a little over, and you're not recording the next thing, you're screwed. It's such a first world problem, but it's extremely annoying. 
• If you don't have a cable box with DVR capability, you can only watch what's available at the moment. 
• DVR storage is local, so if your living room cable box recorded The Walking Dead, forget about watching anywhere else but your living room. (Some nicer cable boxes, or other services do allow you to stream your DVR recordings, so the technology does exist but my service/equipment doesn't offer those features.)
• The boxes are often power sucking, drawing a steady stream of power far greater than a streaming box like the ATV, Roku, FireTV, etc.

For Hulu on the AppleTV:

• All of our entertainment eggs in one Internet-shaped basket.
• Channel selection is down to 35 to 40.
• Premium content access is an add-on (which isn't always the case with a cable package.)

Fixed Cost

For me the Dish service is part of a Cable/Internet bundle. The cost of the Internet service is $57.50 (including modem rental). Total fixed monthly cost of the bundle is $153.13. If you remove the Internet cost, Dish service costs $95.63. The cost of Hulu is $62.26, which is roughly 65% of the Dish service. 

Conclusion

(At the same time I bought the ATV, I also bought a new cable modem, so I won't be paying the equipment rental fee, putting my internet costs at $50).

Monthly Total Costs (including Power)

Dish service + Internet + Modem + Power = $167.87

Hulu on ATV + Internet + Power = $113.16

Based on these figures, moving to Hulu on the AppleTV is $54.71 cheaper than my old cable bundle. While my testing was done with an AppleTV, most other streaming boxes have similar features and power usage. All things are possible on Reddit. Depending on your financial situation, $50 may not seem like a ton, but it's still $50. I hope this information has helped somebody.