Comments on: The Realities of Dropping Cable

By: Steve in W MA

Steve in W MA — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:36:29 +0000

I check out videos at my library once a week and occasionally rent a video from our local video store. I wouldn’t mind getting a digital antenna and a digital converter for my TV so I could get news and channels over the air, but I haven’t sprung for it yet…maybe soon I will be able to pick one up used or on Freecycle.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:08:02 +0000

We recently moved and decided not to get cable and just subscribe to netflix. It was one of the greatest decisions we’ve made. I feel much more free not being strapped into a cable bill once a month. In addition, I am completely thrilled about the variety of HD PBS channels available in my area. I get them using an old fashioned antennae. The PBS programs are amazing AND commercial free! It’s not the same PBS I remember as a kid. It’s much better.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:08:07 +0000

Well, we did get the Netflix and we absolutely love it!! We still have the cable, though. If I watch anything on TV, it’s the local channels and the occasional cable show, which is why we are still mulling over dropping the cable and upping our Internet connection. Most of the time, the TV is on as background noise. Expensive background noise. :-/ We’re still trying to figure out how to get an OTA antenna to work in our place, short of moving into another place that faces the right direction.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:04:35 +0000

Another thing we did… Moved our TV and Wii and my DH videogame systems into his game room. (We already were using a spare room for this.)

Guess what?! We hardly ever go in there now! It’s been a month since we even watched TV off our antenna!

I hate advertisements.

I know our life will be different in NFL season but what a good compromise!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:02:20 +0000

@9 We got a connector that can DVR from our laptop. You just hook it up to the antenna from outside. It also has a small antenna, but it doesn’t work well where we are.

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:05:11 +0000

Trent, which company do you use that only charges $55 for cable, phone and internet? INternet and phone charges added up to about $65 for me. Thanks for the information.

By: Nik

Nik — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:59:40 +0000

I’ve never owned a television. Nothing that I intended, but when I went off to college my family didn’t have the money for an extra TV, so I just watched in the common room when I wanted to. I had roommates until I was 24, and they had TVs, so I’d watch theirs. When I got a place of my own, I still didn’t buy one – every time I had the money saved up, I’d realize I’d rather take a trip to visit friends or family than buy a TV! I’ve never thought of TV as bad, I’ve just never had the desire to own one.

I still live alone, and I find myself going out to do things with friends, or on my own, because I get bored sitting at home alone, and this makes my entertainment bill pretty darn high! So, I’m considering getting a TV now, and possibly a Netflix subscription, so I will spend more time at home cheaply! I’ve tried watching shows on the computer, and frankly I find it uncomfortable on my eyes. If I’m going to watch a movie or show, I’d rather be comfortably ensconced on my couch, crocheting away.

By: AG

AG — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:05:04 +0000

Gave up our TV 5 years ago and have never looked back. Didn’t miss it one bit to tell you the truth. We have been so much happier ever since. There are so many other more important things that will fill your time when you ditch that life-energy sucking TV.

By: Marie Tinamisan

Marie Tinamisan — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:06:13 +0000

My husband and I actually don’t even own a television set! And it’s been great. I think tv’s are ugly pieces of furniture anyhow. I watch hulu for specific shows and keep up with movies on netflix for the 1 dvd out at a time plan. And I am not embarrassed telling people this at all. I feel very proud of myself. It seemed similar to giving up an addiction, because yes tv does take up all your time and just sucks you right in.

good for you!

By: Nadine

Nadine — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:31:31 +0000

TV can make stupid people more stupid and bright people brighter. It just depends on how u use it. Same as with books!
I have a DVR, plan the movies or my favorite series ahead of time, watch whenever it suits me and I skip all the commercials.
Around xmas I found the biggest commercial break in Willy Wonka: 12 minutes a piece. (and they had 3 or 4 of these breaks in the whole movie throughout the evening). Why should I waste my time on 48 minutes of commercials? No more!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:16:32 +0000

I gave up cable a little over two years ago. I still have my TV but it rarely gets turned on. Because of it, my life has been richer. I read more, exercise more, spend more time doing hobbies, and am not out of the loop in terms of current events because I get all of my news from newspapers/internet.

It’s just a matter of getting used to not watching tv. Once it becomes a habit, you don’t even know it’s missing. You’ll also have a lot more time to do other stuff. Finally, saving around $60/month is a bonus.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:59:49 +0000

We’re mulling over dropping cable in favor of a Netflix account. Our main reason for dropping it, if and when we choose to do so, is that we can’t justify paying for cable when we don’t watch very much of it. The one hurdle for us (on the con side) is that we live in an apartment and we cannot get a digital antenna to pick up the local stations (we’re not facing in the right direction to get reception). Most nights, we’re watching DVD’s that we either bought (because we want to own then) or got from the library for free. I agree with those who say that not all TV is bad. It’s not. Sometimes you just have to dig a little to find the good stuff.

By: Technophile

Technophile — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:49:41 +0000

We have Basic Cable with about 50 channels included in our rent. We have no plans to extend that… so right now the only “utlity” we have related to entertainment is NetFlix (free for us) and high-speed internet ($50/mo or so). I think that’s a pretty good deal! We only watch shows on basic cable channels anyway, plus I have an HD antenna for local channels.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:10:47 +0000

“All American television is controlled by only five corporations.”

That is not factually correct. Even the major broadcast networks are owned by more than 5 companies plus PBS. Thats not even counting the 100′s of cable networks.

By: twblues

twblues — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:08:48 +0000

I live alone, and I enjoy watching cable TV. I have cut back on how much I watch over the last few years, but I find that I end up spending the hours “saved” on the internet, so what did I really gain? I still have my trusty VCR, so I can record my shows and watch them when I want, and FF through commercials. (Commercials don’t make me want to buy anything, BTW.) I like to watch an episode while riding my stationary bike in the morning. I also take advantage of OnDemand and watch full episodes online. I see no reason to cut it out completely, even if other people think they are virtuous for doing so. To each his own.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:04:54 +0000

YAY for you! We haven’t had cable for the past 8 years. It started as a fiscal decision, but then became habit and I just didn’t want to “find” that extra $50-60 a month for it (that’s for TV only – I don’t know where y’all are getting your bundles). We’ve had an antenna, and that works OK. We had to give up a few favorite shows, and once in awhile we miss some of the great offerings we know are out there. The kids whine about it sometimes, but we watch movies and a few select programs.
We also had to admit that we (hubby and me) can become addicted pretty easily, knowing that in our younger days, we’d blow a whole Sunday afternoon channel surfing, mostly while saying, “There’s nothing to watch.” It’s true that not everything on TV is crap, and we do want our kids to be able to make their own judgments in this world of overkill and no boundaries. We’re not trying to keep them in a bubble. But we can select a few tv shows from the web or the library, and our kids appreciate the library in a way that they might not otherwise have if they were sitting around with the remote glued to their hands. And, when we limit other “screen time”, our family actually has conversations and we do things together.
@SwingCheese – I wish we had the guts to give up our cell phones. We do limit the use of them, and one son got a phone (limited texting and minutes, no internet or picture messaging) when he was 14, and the 12 year old doesn’t have one, even though most of his friends do. It’s tough to be in the minority, and I cringe every month when I pay that bill.
Thanks for bringing this up – it’s interesting to learn about others’ views and habits. And BTW, when I mention that we don’t have cable, it’s sort of a joke. It’s usually followed by “That’s child abuse!” or “Do you have indoor plumbing?”

By: K.C.

K.C. — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:28:43 +0000

We dropped cable when we moved into our present house in 1985. Didn’t have room in the budget for it at that time. We also dropped our subscription to the newspaper. We watched broadcast analog TV when there was something we wanted to see.

We bought the converter box for broadcast digital. There are a couple of shows we watch when we can get a decent signal. Mostly we watch old movies(VHS and DVD) and old TV series(DVD) on our old television sets. Did I mention that we are old, as well?

TV ads never really influenced my buying behavior, at least not consciously, but subconsciously, who knows. For some strange reason I have always had a craving for JIF peanut butter.

By: SwingCheese

SwingCheese — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:06:54 +0000

We are also netflix lovers! We don’t have pay channels, but we do have the HD converter box, so we still have basic channels, and a few new ones that we didn’t have before (hello retro network! I haven’t seen Magnum PI for awhile!) On the whole, my husband and I are two different types of people – he prefers to have the tv on for background noise, I would just as soon shut it off and listen to the radio. So we do still watch TV, we just don’t bother with cable channels.

On a Luddite side note, we also don’t have cell phones. Whenever the subject comes up, I’m hit with a barrage of comments about my personal safety, but they always seem a little hostile (or astonished). As I often tell people, any time I drive by myself, I’m in the city, and thus, never out of walking distance for a phone. I understand the convenience, and if I lived in the country, or had an interstate commute, I would consider it, but for the most part, it is as though a majority of the people I talk to have forgotten that they ever lived without cell phones. And most of these folks are older than ! am!

By: David/yourfinances101

David/yourfinances101 — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:52:41 +0000

Its all about priorities.

Dropping cable is defintiely an option, and if you do decide to do that, you will more than likely find yourself with more free time to devote to other ventures—-possibly even starting up something that can generate you income.

By: kitty

kitty — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:45:11 +0000

@Kellye (#72 and #78)

“I just feel like my intelligence gets insulted three times every half hour when I’m around a television set.”

Maybe you didn’t watch the right shows? Tell me how watching an old movie on TCM or watching Great Performances (either music or just drama) on PBS or history channel or something on discover would insult your intelligence? PBS (at least in some areas) has BBC productions of classical novels, in many areas they routinely show Met in HD broadcasts, concerts, they had La Boheme movie with Villazon and Netrebko last December. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, this is a trailer on YouTube: /watch?v=2SNAeTk-ze0 . Does it look “insulting for your intelligence”? What about this – /watch?v=UlGMlxElB3A – I watched it last Sunday? For that matter, while I don’t always agree with what cnbc says, I find it pretty interesting and sometimes educational.

“I don’t care very much for popular culture, it’s unreliable and generally sucks.”

I don’t care for popular culture either, but there are good programs on tv; some are part of popular culture, others – aren’t. Some maybe be meaningless, but may provide escape for someone who wants to forget about some personal problems for a few moments.

“All American television is controlled by only five corporations.”
1. So what?
2. PBS is not controlled by any corporation, it’s public TV, it gets donations from large corporations but also from “viewers like you”.

“I think the main concept that envelops the “TV is bad” mindset is the difference between productive and unproductive means of entertainment. Learning a language, writing, painting something, gardening, these are productive (and creative, and potentially lucrative) means of entertainment. ”

You can use tv to learn a language too, by for example watching a Spanish-language show on Univision. Watching RAI programs on channel 22 (in my area) on Sunday morning is a great way for me not to forget my Italian. In fact, none of your language program will teach you understanding of spoken language quite as well as watching tv in my experience. This is from someone who speaks 4 languages, 3 of them (Russian – native, English, Italian) fluently, one (Spanish) good enough to understand said Univision programs. I know enough German and French not to get lost in Germany and France, but I don’t count that level as “knowing a language”.

Also not everyone enjoys gardening. Writing is tiring and I don’t consider it relaxing at all.

Besides “productive” is not necessarily better than “non-productive”. Going to a classical music concert, opera, ballet, a play is also not productive, but I don’t think you’d consider it “crap”. At the same time, writing may be productive if you have talent, but writing junk that nobody would read is hardly good use of one time. Painting is great if you have at least a small amount of talent, but without it, I don’t see how it’s better than watching TV. Learning to sing is productive or is it? /watch?v=qtf2Q4yyuJ0