Cutting the cable/dish loose. Any suggestions

[Mr Slugger]

In the next couple of weeks I'm going to get rid of my satellite service. Especially seeing the bill now is like $100 a month, and 85% of what we watch is basically channels we get get for free over the air. So I've started doing the conversion. I've got a roof antenna for those channels, figured I'd keep the netflix membership for the movies, and I've got most things wired up so the computers can connect to the tv and the computer and record shows. So just curious if anyone else has done this, and has anyone had any luck replacing the other 15% of tv viewing. Like with me it's scifi channel, discovery. The kids it's cartoon network, and sprout. I know there's some services. I've started watching some stuff on hulu, etc. Being on a mac has some drawbacks on some services.

But anyone got any suggestions, services that work good, etc.

[PepperElf]

Kinda except I went a little more extreme than you probably want to. I don't even own a tv anymore. If there's a series I really like I buy the dvds and have an annual marathon.

but yeah the kids might hate that idea.

i know it's possible to get by without cable at all. of course anohter answer would be to get a bottom of the line pc (something under 500) just to download the shows that they refuse to put in mac format.

[Kogarashi]

Hubby and I don't currently have cable or satellite. The basic package we were paying for (and which was all we can afford on his stipend) was giving us two copies of network channels, plus some religious and home shopping channels. We were watching maybe one show a week, tops. So we cancelled.

We watch the occasional show streamed online, but mostly our TV viewing is movies we own. We have an Amazon credit card, so we get two or three $25 gift certificates from Amazon.com each year and use those to buy more movies we've been wanting. We occasionally go out and rent if we have time/spare change, and once we finish watching the movies we have on our shelves that we haven't actually opened yet, we're going to start our Netflix account up again. Our daughter (age 2) doesn't really watch TV either, except the occasional Winnie the Pooh, Care Bears Movie, or VeggieTales video (we've got a few more just for her that we haven't gotten around to opening yet).

The biggest reasons we still have the TV are it's got the best screen in the house for DVD watching, and it's what my video game systems are hooked up to.

I wish cable/satellite companies would let you pick and choose just the channels you want and pay for those only. My preferred package would have SciFi, Discovery, Food Network, and CMT, with maybe one or two kids' channels for Daughter (Hubby's tastes in channels are almost identical to mine).

[sexiphatchick]

Most of what we watch are cable channels. We had to live without cable for awhile last year, it was absolute hell. I CAN go without it if I have to, but I definitely don't like to.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

This right here.

We went from having EVERYTHING the cable company had to offer for free (cuz I worked for said cable company) to me being laid off and us deciding we could probably get away with doing away with cable completely. Most of what we watch comes from Netflix anyways. And the baby watches stuff we can put in the Roku box for free. All the stuff she was watching is available on the Roku, pretty much.

Plus, it's hooked up to Amazon video.

So far, we love it. First month, it' pays for itself. I think it was a hundred bucks. My cable, had I been paying for it, would have been 250 bucks per month.

Note about a la carte cable: probably not going to happen anytime soon. The licencing fees alone would make it prohibitive for them to do it that way, much less for anyone to afford it. Believe me, if it were doable, cable would be doing it, becuase that is what everyone wants. But it's all about licencing, and right now, just not doable.

[AdminAssistant]

I debating shutting it off. My cable/internet is $75, and I'm likely looking at a summer with no income. Now, internet is mandatory (yes, yes it is, for me) and because my town's provider uses &%%^&* broadband with limits and fees I had to go to a higher option that costs $50/month all by itself. I've thought about dropping the TV - but then I'd have to get a digital antenna or converter box.

Hm. Guess I'll stay with it. I hate the local company, though. Hate hate hate.

[Kogarashi]

A few years ago, I heard talk about cable/satellite companies going a la carte which I was all for since there are only a few channels I really watch. Dunno what happened to this talk though I do remember the people who owned the religious channels were up in arms over the idea.

You just reminded me of one more channel for my list. Getting BYUTV would definitely make watching Conference at home easier (right now we stream that too, but sometimes it lags).

And Hubby and I are collecting TV shows we like on DVD for our kids to watch, largely because we don't like much of anything made for kids these days, with few exceptions. So we're collecting some of the shows we watched and loved as kids for our own children to watch instead.

I'm just glad our internet is fairly high-speed and free (University-provided).

[blas]

In all honesty, if my cable TV wasn't included in my rent, I wouldn't have cable. I'd probably get 3 channels, maximum. Fox, ABC, and NBC.

I have basic cable provided by my landlord, channels 2-72. Unfortunately, SOAPnet, G4, and some other channels went to extended last year

I have to keep my internet. If the landlord decided to charge for cable TV, I'd just watch TV online.

[Eric the Grey]

The only thing I can add is to make certain you have a digital converter box, unless you have a digital TV. Without cable/satellite, you're not going to pick up anything at all once the conversions go through.

Of course, that assumes you are in the US. Outside that, you may not need it...

I'd consider doing that myself, if I wasn't hooked on the SciFi channel shows....



Eric the Grey

[Becks]

I've been without cable TV since I moved to NJ 5½ years ago.

I missed it for a while, then I got over it.

I'm thinking of getting it again, though.

[Dips]

We never had cable or satellite. We have rabbit ears and a converter box to pick up the digital broadcasts (we still have an analog TV) and Netflix to watch cable shows and movies.

When nothing's on or we're waiting for Netflix, we just watch something from our DVD collection or just do something else like reading or playing a board game.

I like it.

[LingualMonkey]

We dropped our satellite completely last year for six months. When we turned it back on, we turned on the most basic, bare-bones service available.

We're thinking of killing it again. It's not worth keeping for the one show we watch.

I admit that even now I miss things like AMC and Turner Classic Movies, but I live without them, and I think my life is better without so much turn-off-my-brain time.