I haven’t had cable since 1995. Then again I’ve had satellite since about 2002.
So, for 7 years or so we only got 3 English channels, and one French channel. To be honest it wasn’t difficult at all. When the kids started to become cognisant is when we got satellite. Then again I’ve never been a big TV watcher. I like the news but don’t watch anything with any kind of regularity. My wife would be lost now if she couldn’t watch all the reality crap she watches.
[ul]So, You Think You Can Type[/ul]
[ul]Horseshoes With the Stars[/ul]
[ul]Extreme Hangover (Holiday Edition)[/ul]
[ul]American Idiot[/ul]
[ul]Etc.[/ul]
I love, love, love not having cable. Why would I pay someone to pipe crap into my house? As far as I can tell, there’s no downside. I get my news from the Internet and NPR. We do watch a lot of TV shows on DVD, so we’re about a year behind the rest of the country in terms of knowing what’s happening with, for example, Battlestar Galatica.
Haven’t really watched TV for six months. I had a small portable that got 4 terrestrial channels but it would remain off for weeks. Don’t miss it, though it is now quite fun to go to someone’s house where they’re watching trash TV, and marvel at the colourful moving pictures.
Haven’t had cable in 3 years and two months. I don’t miss it at all. Thanks to hulu.com, tidaltv, Netflix and the various channel websites (fox.com, nbc.com), I get to watch whatever I want and nothing I don’t.
I’d guess I’ve saved…$2584 in the past 3 years on cable.
OK - I have come and gone and gone back again to Cable.
We had cable most of the time. Then, the older boy was having academic issues (in elementary school - which is a Pit worthy rant itself - and NOT about the boy). We decided that we had a problem of coming home, turning on the TV, and watching whatever looked interesting. We killed cable and plugged in the bunny ears.
3 years later our TV died. We replaced our old 29" CRT TV with a nice 52" HD DLP rear-projection unit. We were pulling down some great broadcast HD signals, but they would still go out every now and then. So, we went back to cable for the HD channels.
Our new habit is under better control. We mainly watch the HD channels (I am LOVING the olympics on HD). My wife is a sucker for the non-stop Law & Order offerings, and I like catching soccer matches. We had to make ourselves be, well, parents when it comes to the kids watching too much. We also have to control our own intake.
Going cold turkey for a few years was a good experience, though.
The only time in my life I’ve had cable was in my 3rd semester of grad school; basic cable was included with rent. I basically didn’t watch it then, except once in a while I’d hang out with my roommate while she was watching. My TV gets used almost exclusively for watching DVDs; I probably didn’t bother to plug it in for a month after moving into the new apartment. (I don’t like watching video on a computer screen in chunks of more than a couple of minutes.)
Someday I might get around to subscribing to cable, but I am afraid of being sucked in by CNN, the History Channel, and the Food Network. Plus I just can’t make myself spend the money for something like that. But I can see why my sister has cable; with a 3-year-old and a film-addict husband, a few hours of babysitting time would pay their cable bill.
We have a 2 year old. I think a total block on TV for kids is silly. It helps with their imagination, gives them common ground with other kids, and gives you some time off (not a bad thing occasionally!).
But, yeah, we certainly go for the minimal approach. Half an hour at a time, not every day. Seems to work.
So by the OP you mean you’re giving up TV altogether? Or just cable, and you can still get some channels?
I was raised with no TV in the house and I went without it for a few years as an adult. But now I have a dish and I wouldn’t go without it. It’s because I live alone and it keeps me company while I quilt and craft. If I had a partner or kids I would cut back or cut it out respectively.
I stopped getting cable and watching network TV at least 3 years ago. I still watch movies and some TV shows on DVD, but I have been very happy to avoid the barrage of ads and what passes for news on TV these days.
A friend of mine had her satellite TV service turned off earlier this year because she couldn’t afford it. Since she lives in a rural area with no broadcast reception, she no longer watches any television. However, there are a number of shows I record for her on my DVR, and she visits a few evenings a week to watch them, along with movies I get from Netflix.
I can’t imagine being without my cable. I had trouble getting connected when I moved into my current residence last month, and I was seriously annoyed about having to miss some of my favorite shows.
I have not had cable TV since I moved out of my parents’ house at age 18. The husband and I had it briefly when we moved into our current place, but I soon convinced him that it wasn’t worth 40$ per month for one weekly TV show and the occasional hockey game.
Moving in with me the year before we got married was the first he’d ever lived without cable, and after a month or so of bitching he realised that reading through my prodigous library was far more interesting than random channel-surfing if he had a free hour or two.
I disagree about the imagination thing. My kids’ imaginations have benefitted a lot more from books and just old-fashioned playing than they have from TV or movies. We haven’t banned it. They watch a bit at their friend’s house and at the grandparents and they’ve kept up with most of the popular movies through camp or after school programs so they have that common ground. I don’t think I want them to have a lot of common ground yet with the 8-year-old I heard quoting from, I think it was, Family Guy yesterday.
No cable TV since college (included in dorms fee).
I can see paying for HBO (no commercials except between programs), but to pay money AND to have to watch commercials?
I get the networks over the air. For good cable series I buy or borrow DVDs (recently finished Battlestar season 3 - watching Doctor Who season 3 right now)
I do enjoy cable tv in motels or sibling’s homes, but not enogh to fork over $. (and I’d probably watch too much)
I haven’t had cable (if you don’t count the six month trial I had in college where I got all the channels plus HBO for $25 a month) in at least 5 years. My new house gets over the air digital, which is more than enough for me. Just never have been a big TV guy since I started high school.
What is the “over-the-air-digital” cable? I knwo there is something where people all need to switch to digital cable…but what does that mean? Does it mean that if I have a cable ready TV and don’t buy cable I still get a couple channels? That sounds like The Man trying to make me watch TV.
I’d say just don’t get so smug about not having cable that you come in and threadshit on threads like, “Should I get cable or satellite?”
As far as living without it, I’ve done it and hated it. I’m a sports fan and most sporting events are on cable. I realized I could get cable and internet together cheaper than all the money I was spending at a sports bar.
It’s not actually ‘cable’. It’s digital distribution of television over the air, similar to satellite with a receiver box and all, but you aim a small antenna at a nearby land-based transmitter, rather than aiming a dish at a satellite. It uses similar frequencies to satellite, instead of the traditional televison broadcast frequencies. Here’s a FAQ from a Canadian operation.
Incidentally, this FAQ seems to indicate that it does not to support HD.
I’ve heard it described as ‘wireless cable’, though, which is a bit odd.
