How to decode your cable bill and save money

Those monthly love letters from the cable company are full of jargon, charges, and fees that are mystifying—even to us, and we write about this stuff all the time! To help you make sense of your triple-play bill, we created a composite bill that lists the charges found on most cable, satellite, and phone-company bills. Here's what it means, along with tips on where you might be able to save money.

1. Taxes and fees: You're stuck

These vary by state and might be different for a cable company versus a telecom provider such as Verizon FiOS. There's not much you can do about these charges. The providers are allowed to pass along 911/E-911 fees for phones as well as their mandatory "contributions" to the Federal Universal Service Fund (which makes phone and Internet services available to all consumers), so you ultimately foot the bill.

2. TV service: Lots of room for savings

• Your bill will indicate the type of TV package, or tier of service, that you're subscribed to. Many companies offer three or four tiers, including bare-bones, everything under the sun, and one or two levels in between. Scaling back to a lower-level package with fewer channels is an obvious way to pay less. See if you can talk your significant other or kids into doing without.

• You might also be paying $10 or so a month for each premium channel (such as HBO and Showtime) or more—possibly way more—for a sports package. Think hard about whether you can live without them.

[Do you want to save on your TV costs? Click to get quotes from providers in your area now.]

• If you must have 300-plus channels, see if you qualify for a promotional rate. You might have to utter the words "canceling service," in which case you’ll be sent over to the customer-retention department. In an effort to keep TV service as part of your triple play, they might give you a price break or "free" premium channels or equipment—but pay attention to the time limits. After a set period, often three to 12 months, you'll be charged full price if you don't cancel those freebies.

• You might also be able to save on equipment. Do you really want to pay $7 a month or so for a set-top box for the basement TV that nobody ever watches? How about the bedroom TV? If you mostly watch late-night talk shows and morning programs on the major networks, try a digital antenna ($30 or so) that pulls in free over-the-air HD broadcasts.

3. Sports surcharge or RSN (regional sports networks): Avoidable, but it'll hurt

This is a relatively new charge of a few bucks a month that's been tacked on by many TV providers. Cable companies claim that they can’t keep up with the rising costs of sports networks such as MASN in the Washington, D.C., area, MSG in the New York metropolitan region, and SportsNet LA in Los Angeles. So what do they do? Pass it on to you, whether you watch sports or not. The only way around it is to switch to a basic or economy sports-free package, which might not include this charge.

4. Internet service:Somewhat negotiable

Fold broadband into a triple play and the price is reasonable, but subscribe only to the Internet service and the price can jump $30 a month. Haggling might get you a free bandwidth boost, but don’t pay extra for speeds higher than 15 Mbps, because that's all you need for most streaming services.

[Ready to save on your TV and Internet costs? Click to get quotes from providers in your area now.]

5. Phone service: Easily cut for something cheaper, but might not be worth it

You can get cheaper home-phone service by signing up with a company such as Ooma. You have to buy a device that you connect to your Internet service (the Telo, $150, less during promotions) and then pay only $4 or so a month for taxes. If you’re now paying about $30 a month for your phone, you’d amortize the cost of the Telo in about five months. But cutting the phone from your triple play might not save you as little as $5 or so a month, because the price of the double play for TV and Internet is likely to go up.

More from Consumer Report:

• Best new cars for under $25,000
• Dependable washers for $600 or less
• 5 things you didn't know you could do with your router

Watch video below about tips on how to save on your cable bill:

[Do you want to save on your TV costs? Click to get quotes from providers in your area now.]