# Pulling the plug on cable - it's not as bad as I thought! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903 "2012-02-25T01:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/21 "2012-02-25T12:20:05Z")
> **[Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television](https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-televisi-1819565469)** > > CHAPEL HILL, NC–Area resident Jonathan Green does not own a television, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers–as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his... ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/22 "2012-02-25T19:35:50Z")
[QUOTE=johnpost;14808759 [www.tvfool.com](http://www.tvfool.com) [/QUOTE] A good link. I now know that WESH has a broadcast power of only 55kw, while the other commercial stations are from 600 to 1000 kw. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/23 "2012-02-25T19:47:08Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I don’t even own a TV… 😛 Q. Why do some people not own a Tv? A. So they can tell everyone that they don’t own one. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/24 "2012-02-25T19:49:07Z")
I’m not yet willing to give up live sports and watch Tv on a laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/25 "2012-02-25T20:03:56Z")
I actually have cable, but only because it comes with my HOA dues, and I’m not going to let them charge me without providing the service. I haven’t looked at it since checking to make sure it worked when they hooked it up a few months ago, though. It’s mostly there in case I have guests who want to watch something. I have media PCs hooked up to my TVs instead, so I can watch stuff (streaming, stored on my file server, or just browsing the net) on a big screen if I feel like it. Handy for club meetings and gaming sessions, too, since I can just pull up documents and such on a screen where everyone can see them at once. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/26 "2012-02-25T22:53:31Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Q. Why do some people not own a Tv? > > A. So they can tell everyone that they don’t own one. I wasn’t being serious, in case that was in question. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903/27 "2012-02-26T01:05:39Z")
Basic cable used to be pretty cheap in the states. I remember paying $16/mo. back in the 90s. The way you guys are talking maybe that changed. It’s AU$70/mo. for the cheapest FOXTEL package I found via Google right away, which jibes with what I’ve heard-- and it’s AU$92 for the sports package. Digital Free to Air in my area has maybe 20 channels, which is decent. I believe the show selection is comparable to what I might get in the US, although not every US show-- probably not even half-- make it. There’s a sports channel, called One, if I recall, but it’s pretty weak compared to cable. SBS will have the World Cup and the Ashes, I guess, and maybe the Superbowl. Internet TV is better. We hooked our Bravia up to the modem and there’s a ton of kid’s shows on the ABC station. No commercials, not even the annoying “tune in at 4:15 for Thomas the Tank Engine!” ones. ABC is also good for the odd doco, and so is SBS, although the comedies are, IMO, terrible. Good foreign dramas like _Breaking Bad_ don’t seem to make it to internet TV for some reason, even though they’re on broadcast. There’s an internet movie channel called QuikFlix or something that’s OK. I had a look the other day and I could’ve watched _Ghostbusters_ or _A Clockwork Orange_ if I felt like it. It’s good that internet TV is decent because Australia is still badly off when it comes to things like [Hulu.com](http://Hulu.com). And yeah, we sometimes will buy a series we want to watch, although it has been a while. The trick seems to be to wait a year or more (probably until a more recent one has been released) before buying a season. Done OK picking them up at pawn shops but it’s not a major bargain and there is the risk that the disc won’t work, even if it looks fine. Sure, there’s a 7 day return policy, but it’s not like I’m going to pick up a year’s worth of shows and watch them all right away. Plus, pawn shops must get a lot of dirtbag customers because they always act like I’m trying to put one over on them when I return something. I’ve rambled on already, but I wanted to touch on the “I don’t have a TV” thing. I know it’s a stereotype that Dopers are prone to claim to only watch TV while stuck in a waiting room when they forgot to charge their e-reader and thus couldn’t peruse the latest issue of Utne (which conveniently allows them to cluck over the shocking idiocy of the common herd), but that’s got to be a dead horse given how much TV talk goes on in Cafe Society. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulling-the-plug-on-cable-its-not-as-bad-as-i-thought/613903.md?page=1)