I dropped my cable just over five years ago. Some people need a constant barrage of white noise while they are home, and I prefer silence. Obviously it’s not for everyone, and as I live alone there’s no one to complain about there not being any TV
You’ll be a lot more productive since you’ll be spending less time flying the couch.
I’m no longer big on sports, so I can’t say I miss that. That’s the network’s trump card, really. Given what you save on a year’s worth of access, you can pick up several series you’re interested in on DVD/BD each year. Then there’s also the streaming networks like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc.
Weird experience: go for an entire month without watching any TV, then go to a friend’s house and see what happens when a commercial break rolls in.
That’s my next step, since Global broadcasts some sports (NFL games and golf) on the weekends and CBC does hockey. I’ll stop by The Source some time this week and pick up an over-the-air antenna to try.
Get ready for a steady stream of “good for 6 months” offers from your previous cable company. Stay strong!
I haven’t had cable in 6 years or so. I watch:
Broadcast HDTV recorded with Tivo ($12 per month)
Netflix ($8 per month)
Amazon Prime
Various free stuff like Crackle on Roku box
Hulu on my computer
YouTube
So basically any time I want to watch something there is plenty to pick from. Total monthly expenditure is about $20 not counting Amazon Prime which I signed up for before they even offered video.
A Roku box is well worth getting not only to access Netflix and Amazon, but for their free stuff too, there are a lot of different “channels” you can subscribe to.
For those of you who want local programming, we use the Leaf antenna ($40 on Amazon), which works great. My husband put ours in the attic, but I have friends who just stuck it on a wall and are perfectly happy. We get a lot of local channels.
It might have been a typo, but it’s Aereo, not Aero.
I’m a cutter for a couple of months now. Best decision I ever made with regards to my home entertainment needs. Be patient with Aereo. I’m in the Atlanta market, and I’ve had it since April or May. It took a while to get it configured but it was worth it. There is also an Aerep app available for the Roku box; but it’s what they called a private app that you can’t get through the Roku app store. http://support.aereo.com/customer/portal/articles/383178-aereo-on-roku---setup
I too thought I was going to go through an ESPN withdraw. As it turns out, it’s Sports Center that I miss; but not much else. I get enough games over broadcast antenna to keep me busy and happy.
Don’t buy into the hype of “HDTV” antennas. If you have line of sight, rabbit ears work just well. Plus HD signals from OTA are uncompressed; and in many cases better than the comporessed HD signal from cable. I do have an amplified antenna on one of my tvs that seems to need a little extra oomph; but it doesn’t matter that much anyway because with Aereo I can watch all of those channels streaming anyway.
I cut the cable a few months back. Thrilled with the expansion of our options. Expansion! I cut my monthly bill by $60+ and I have MORE options. Watch the whole 6 seasons of Eureka, I can watch Fringe or old stuff like Twin Peaks. I’m not locked in to a particular broadcast schedule of old shows, I just pick what I want.
Hulu and other providers do have access to current Cable Network and Broadcast Network shows, though it is far from universal, and they often do not make it convenient to stream to your TV.
We cut cable a few years ago. I miss the Discovery Channel, but that’s it, and I simply cannot justify paying $50/month for 1 channel. For the most part, I don’t miss cable. We watch a lot more network TV now, and now that most channels have 2 or 3 sub-channels (ie, 56-1, 56-2…) your options without cable are much more varied than they used to be. We use Netflix for most of our movies, and to watch the occasional TV series from cable.
My TV crashed some months back, and I couldn’t affor to replace it then. Now, when I’m earning decent money again, I haven’t even added one to my list of future purchase. Internet and computer 24/7 baby!
I’d gladly cut my satellite, but since I live in the middle of nowhere my data options are limited. I have Verizon, but I only get 10 gb data/month. That isn’t much when you’re downloading TV.
Why can’t you sports fans go to a sports bar to watch your football/hockey?
First of all, there’s convenience and comfort of being in your own home. Secondly, my husband watches 3 or 4 baseball and/or football games a week. It’d be cheaper to get cable than to pay a bar tab x 12.
Done. I get 6 HD local channels with $30 rabbit ears. CBC is only broadcasting 720p and a few of the channels will probably cut out when the weather is bad, but you can’t beat the price.
I’ve been looking into cutting the cable, since my pretty good 2-year special price just ended and the bill suddenly doubled(!). I’d be all over the AppleTV with Huluplus and maybe Amazon, but my girlfriend is addicted to stuff on Oprah’s network, and as far as I can see there are absolutely no options for watching those shows anywhere but on cable. If anyone has any info to the contrary I would love you forever.
I’ve considered going internet-only a few times but it just doesn’t work out in my situation.
My choices are RCN, Comcast, or Verizon (FiOS). I’ve had all three at one point or another:
RCN was horrific; the price jumped 50% every few months for no reason, and the internet would go out for no reason at least every other day, and wouldn’t be restored unless I called customer service (which, to their credit, was always very friendly and helpful).
Comcast was horrific; their service was also constantly going out, and their customer service was just awful. Rude, condescending, and never really fixed the problem.
I’ve had FiOS for a couple of years and the only time it’s ever gone out is when a branch physically severed the line into my house. Their CS was also a pain to deal with, but they did promptly repair the problem.
Anyways, FiOS is the company I’ve found to provide the most reliable service, and the way their pricing model is set up, cable is essentially free. I’ve looked into dropping the cable TV service, and the difference in price is only $10, and that’s for the cable box rental.
There’s an OWN channel on PlayOn, which I linked to above. I’ll try to check it when I get home and see what the offerings are. Sometimes they’re extensive (all shows typically aired) or limited (5 minute clips of shows, or somesuch nonsense).
I cut the cable when I moved into my current house and really do not miss it.
For the basic package I believe I was paying over $50 a month. Also, all the channels I liked such as Sci Fi, AMC etc. began changing and stopped showing anything older than the 1980’s.
I have no interest in sports and felt I was being forced to pay for stuff I’d never watch.
Netflix was starting up and I subscribed to see what it was like and loved it.
Don’t have as much time to sit and watch a lot of TV and when I did it was usually the Netflix discs.
With Netflix streaming and Roku, I still don’t have time to watch everything I want, but there is always something I do want to watch available which frankly wasn’t true with cable.
CBC is only broadcasting 720p and a few of the channels will probably cut out when the weather is bad, but you can’t beat the price.