There has never been a better time to quit paying for TV, and it's only going to get better

If you've been thinking about dropping your subscription to TV, now may be a good time to cut the cord.

That's because there have never been more ways to watch TV without actually paying a cable or satellite company each month for a bundle of channels, many of which you probably never watch.

Showtime, which announced on Wednesday that its standalone streaming service will launch next month, is the latest network to offer its programming to people who don't subscribe to traditional pay TV packages. That means soon you'll be able to watch live streams of Showtime, as well as all episodes of the network's original series, like "Homeland" and "Nurse Jackie," without paying for a TV subscription from a company like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, or DirecTV.

The premium network said that its standalone streaming service will cost $10.99 per month and be available on Apple devices, like iPhones, iPads ,and Apple TVs, in July.

A Showtime spokesperson told Business Insider that the network will announce additional providers in addition to Apple soon.

The launch of Showtime's service comes as an increasing number of people are choosing to quit paying for TV, opting instead to cobble together their video entertainment from a mix of services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime Instant Video, and MLB.TV, to name just a few.

The pay TV industry lost 31,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year, according to a report last month from the media research firm MoffettNathanson. Although that's a relatively small number of the roughly 100 million homes that subscribe to pay TV, the industry lost subscribers for 12 consecutive months, according to MoffettNathanson.

Ratings are down, Americans are watching less traditional TV than they used to, but cable bills are rising faster than inflation. At the same time, Americans are streaming more than ever.

TV networks don't want to miss out on the shift in how people - especially younger Americans - are watching TV, so they're launching services that make their programming available to people who don't subscribe to cable or satellite. The following chart from BI Intelligence shows that shift:

HBO launched HBO Now in April, which offers the network's programming for $14.99 per month, and Nickelodeon unveiled its own $5.99 per month streaming service this year. Last fall, CBS, Showtime's parent company, announced CBS All Access, which allows subscribers to watch live CBS streams and on-demand programming for $5.99 per month.

There are also a few new services, like Dish's Sling TV and Sony's PlayStation Vue, which offer live TV streamed over the internet. The services aren't perfect - Sling TV, which starts at $20 per month and includes ESPN, has suffered some outages, and isn't as reliable as cable or satellite. And PlayStation's service is relatively expensive, and only available to people who have PlayStation game consoles and live in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Apple is reportedly launching an online TV service this fall, and Verizon has said it will launch one this year.

People who cut the cord, of course, still have to pay for broadband internet, so just because you quit paying Comcast for TV doesn't mean you're going to stop forking over money to the company each month.

But now consumers have more choice than ever. They can watch "Game of Thrones" and "Homeland" and "SportsCenter" without paying for hundreds of channels they don't watch.

And more choice is always good.