Today, a young man came to my door and asked if we had cable tv. I said no, and he handed me an advertisement. They are having some promotion. Apparently, I can get 80 channels for about 40 dollars a month. That isn’t too bad. I thought it would be a three month deal, but if you sign up by the 10th of next month, you are “promised” the same price for a year or two (I forget)…
I had cable my whole life (or sattelite, which isn’t an option in our current place because of landlord and upstairs neighbor issues) until I moved to college. When I first came, I had basic 20-channel in my dorm, then I moved in with Mrs. Small. We had 80+ channel for a few months because it was included in our rent. We moved across town and haven’t had cable in either apartment we lived in since then.
I kind of wonder - is it worth it? I’m asking for opinions because I don’t actually remember what it is like to have it. Right now, I get a local CW/WB station, plus 4 PBS (one regular, 3 high-definition) and don’t actually watch that much television, but I know I miss the discovery and history channel.
So tell me, Dopers, is it worth it to you? Do you have cable? Would you reccomend it? Tell me all about it!
We have cable and can’t live without it (bad reception). Is it worth it? Nope. It’s 90% crap and 10% mostly crap. But we’re addicted to TV and we really like the good reception. I want to pay per channel. I’d save 75% of my bill if we did it that way.
HBO has series that cannot be matched on reg TV. Sopranos, The Wire,Oz,Rome ,for example. Boxing ,if you like it, is also available. Movies are less important because you have to wait so long for it to get tom cable. Crappy movies do come on faster. I resent commercials and having TV monitored for language and subject matter.
\ Plus you get Daily, South Park, History Channel.Documentary Channel etc.
IMHO, cable is worth it just for TNT and TLC. Very few of the current primetime network sitcoms and dramas appeal to me. It just depends on what kind of shows you like to watch.
I am in full agreement with Gonzomax. My husband is a videophile and our set-up is pretty crazy. This has exacerbated my TV junkie tendencies, but we have fun with it. Showtime and HBO are definitely the best because of their series. Where else can you find series like Rome, Deadwood, Sopranos, Penn & Teller Bullshit, and The Tudors? I also love Discovery, Animal Planet, TNT, TBS, and a few others.
I wish I could do this. I’d pick 10 channels and be fine, that is kind of why I’m so hesitant to get cable. I wish the channels I did like were in the cheap package that is only 15 a month, but I’m not that lucky.
I guess it’ll take a little more thought to make a decision on this…
Cable is a must for me, not because of the cable TV (I’m up to about 120 channels now, and often can’t find anything worth watching) but because of the cable internet connection.
There’s no place like broadband, there’s no place like broadband.
I think that’s pretty close to how many we’d pick (in addition to the regular network channels).
I’m more than a little pissed that Encore can run the same three shitty movies all day long. Who wants to watch that crap? I positively adore IFC and Sundance. If it weren’t for those two channels, I probably wouldn’t watch movies on cable at all. We no longer feel its worth it to pay for HBO and the other premiums.
We’d need it anyway for reception (we have satellite, but no difference for the purposes of this thread) and we don’t watch much TV, but 90% of what we do watch is on cable. We don’t have any premium channels. If I wanted to watch The Sopranos, I’d get the DVDs from Netflix.
The Daily Show and the Weather Channel are enough to justify the cost for us.
I eventually got a dish (after not having any cable until I went to college. ) I pretty much use it for the following: football (and some other sports, but mostly football), Daily Show, Colbert Report, Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, Hardball/Countdown/Scarborough Country, South Park, and sometimes Adult Swim. For those keeping score at home, that is approximately 4 cable channels, not counting the fact that one of the reasons I got a dish was because my antenna reception from the El Paso stations was so bad. I get more than 100 on the dish, so I watch less than 10% of what is available.
Dish Network plus DSL is still a better deal than trying to do everything through Comcast. I’d never get the DVR capabilities I have now with Comcast.
My friends and I are in our early 20s, settling into our own apartments and figuring out what cable packages to buy, and the consensus seems to be that if you don’t have it, you don’t miss it. If you have it, you watch it all day. Do you have a life outside of your house, and a particular attraction to shows that happen to be on cable, and some cash to burn? Then it’s a good idea. If you’re just bored or whatever, then skip it. There’s always DVDs and fuzzy basic cable when you really want to veg out.
Very true. I’m 26, live alone and don’t have a TV. Haven’t had one in almost 2 years. I watch one show online (Prison Break) and rent any movies I want to see.
When I visit friends and family and the TV is on, I’m reminded of what I’m missing. Advertisements, reruns, crappy shows and movies, infomercials, more advertisements, etc. When I think of how much of my old life was tied up in watching a show I didn’t like just because it was on, I wonder at how I did it. I’d much rather save my $50-60 a month, get out of the house and do something constructive, and save my movie time for something I know I’ll enjoy.
I have Directv and wouldn’t want to live without it, because I need TCM. Love those old movies. I have 250 channels including all the premium movie channels, but usually don’t watch more than 10 of them. The only reason we have so many is we get them free. One of the perks for getting yelled at by their customers when something goes wrong.
If you don’t watch that much TV, the $40 a month could go to Netflix or to buying DVDs – watch what you want, on your schedule.
We started with basic cable that only offered one premium channel. We thought we needed more – it’s like drugs, I tell ya – and now we’re paying about $80 a month and only watch about 10 hours a week, if that.
It’s ridiculous and it’s a rip-off. You can get 8 DVDs at a time from netflix for the price we were paying for cable tv. That’s right. Choose what you want, control your tv, not the other way around.
The only reason we had it was because we get one channel out in this boondock hole in the ground town. At least now it takes less time to find out there’s nothing on.
I saw more ads for more crap I dont want or need and I was paying for it monthly. It’s a scam. 80 channels out of which you’re going to watch 10 total, and 3 regularly.
never been big on tv… i mean i watch it here & there, mostly just to burn time. the last place i lived we had a digibox, because the other roommates wanted it. appx $100 per month (split 4 ways, so wasn’t that bad) got us ~500 channels (though a lot of them were just other timezone feeds of the same old, same old.)
don’t have cable now, and don’t really miss it – i still pick up 8 - 10 channels, weather permitting (cbc, ctv, city, global, omni1, omni2, cpac, one of the french channels, tvo, and the community access channel.)
the only thing i really miss is hockey – i mean there’s hnic, but i’m at work saturday nights and i’m horrible about remembering to set the vcr. with the digi, we had usually 3 or 4 mid-week games, plus leafstv & the nhl channel (classic games & series, all day everyday? hellsfuckya!). thankfully the playoffs are only like a week & half or something away… hockey every night on the ceeb until late may!!! woo-hoo!!
but really, i’d have to have money to burn before i pay for cable again.
Wow, do you have some version of IFC and Sundance that don’t run the same movies over and over again? Because I’d like to switch to that one please.
That’s fine if everything that you want to watch is released on DVD.
Personally, I wouldn’t do without cable because most of the shows I watch are non-network. I pay about $75 a month, not sure how many channels I get, but that includes the Showtime channel package (kept only because I want Logo and it’s bundled) and a specialty channel called here! each of which has to be purchased separately. It’s less than $3 a day and I generally watch at least one non-broadcast thing a day so for now it’s worth it.
No, they run the same movies over and over, but they usually don’t suck as much as Encore’s line-up.
I’ve also found that the best movies in most station’s line-up are shown between 2 and 4 am. Luckily, I’m an early riser so I can catch them occasionally!
