If you read the Wired article linked to above, they kind of admit that sports is what you really can’t get. You can’t get the cornucopia you get with a cable package. You can get individual season packages of things, but often there are blackouts and poor quality.
For instance, the only sports I watch are Steelers games. They’re all on broadcast channels.
Streaming and internet stuff is a great option especially if you pair it with Apple TV, TiVo/DVR (as in tivo’ing broadcast channels, such as ABC, CBS, and FOX) and a netflix device. You can get most live shows through Hulu or through a “season pass” on Itunes. Depending on what you watch, you can get all your current TV needs met through broadcast channels, itunes season passes, and a Netflix streaming device.
ETA: What I watch:
Community, Outsourced, The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock. All on NBC. I watch them live or on Hulu. I will watch them on a Tivo, when I get one in the future. NBC is a free broadcast channel.
Daily Show/Colbert Report. Don’t really miss them. If I did, I’d watch 'em via an Itunes Season Pass.
Mad Men. Itunes Season Pass.
It’s Always Sunny, The League. Itunes Season Pass.
We were on the verge of doing this but ran into two obstacles:
We were under contract with our cable company and ditching cable would have required paying a fee significantly larger than our monthly bill.
We could never find an indoor antenna that worked to our satisfaction – you get one channel coming in crystal clear, but sacrifice reception on another. We rent an apartment, so mounting something outside isn’t an option.
Once our cable contract is up, we might try again since we’re actually pretty OK with not watching things as they air. I’m eyeing the high-end Roku box for that, or maybe a hacked Apple TV or Boxee Box.
We ditched cable last winter. With the money savings we bought a Roku. When Apple TV we bought one of those too.
Love it.
Instant Watch is doing exactly what Netflix wanted it to do. We used to send back about 3 discs per week, now it is usually one or less. Instant Watch is so convenient.
Regarding Antennas, I built one of the DB4 antennas here: http://www.tvantennaplans.com/
and it worked better than any of the ones I could buy in the store…
I have, on occasion, thought about asking why people still watch cable, when there are so many options out there! I haven’t had cable TV since before 2001, and Katrina was the last time I even turned on the TV to watch TV at all.
So yes, it has been years and years. And now with Netflix instant watch, I will never go back.
Timely thread for me. We’re actually making this change this week. We’ve already got a Xbox 360 with Netflix, and we use it a lot, but I also bought a cheap desktop to connect with our TV so we can have the versatility of streaming from various sites. I also have a subscription for PlayOn, which I like (though I bought it specifically to watch BBC shows, and now we no longer can get BBC1 or BBC2 and it really pisses me off a lot but that’s neither here nor there). With $10 for Netflix and $10 for playon, that’s about $150 cheaper than what Comcast charges.
I’m going to miss NFL RedZone so, so, so much. Hmm, it’s only $10 a month though. I wonder if I can cancel all the programming except that, finish out the season, and then say adios to Comcast forever.
I really hope that enough people will make this change that the cable providers stop being such unbelievable dickheads. There’s absolutely no reason my bill for Internet/Cable needs to be $220/month. And now that they’ve started calling themselves Xfinity, I hate them even more.
Starz programming is available as it airs, but there’s a wait on everything else. But I’ve noticed that several television shows are making it to the instant queue much faster these days–faster than the DVDs are released in stores at any rate (like FX’s Louie). I think this will be a trend that continues.
When they first had billboards up promoting xfinity, I wondered what it was, assuming it was the spread of HD programming or faster internet or something.
Instead it’s their same old shit repackaged. I wonder what idiot got thousands of dollars to pull the name “xfinity” out of their pampered ass. When you put a bow on a turd, it’s still a fucking turd. I hate Comcast and am thrilled my bill is now $60/month instead of $110.
Comcast is the only broadband worth getting in my neighborhood, and I can’t get FioS or other fiber here. They charge the same for internet + basic cable vs just internet, so I have both just because hey why not? If I could get fast internet cheaper elsewhere I’d only go with internet and no cable.
Same here. Except they don’t charge the same - they actually charge LESS for internet + basic cable vs just internet.
FIOS is now in the city of Pittsburgh. I wish they’d advertise even half as much as Xfininity, but I’m locked into a year contract so it makes no difference. And I will dance and dance upon Comcast’s grave when I’m done with them. Daaaaaaance and daaaaaaance…
Huh. Apparently, and I was not aware of this, Dell sells what are basically ready-to-go HTPC boxes.
So now I’m completely refiguring everything. Sure, it’s a larger initial investment, but it’s a smaller monthly or yearly cost because I can amortize the cost of the equipment over multiple years.