It is, in fact, shockingly easy to forgo cable television. I should know: I’m one of these people.
Some people have had it with TV. They’ve had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don’t like timing their lives around network show schedules. They’re tired of $100-plus monthly bills.
A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don’t even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group “Zero TV” households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.
You get a heck of a lot more control over what your kids see, too. Worth it, right there.
I’ll consider cable when I can pay for only the channels I want.
I am half with ya Moe.
I watch most of my “stories” on the net. But when the tv is on, it is always cable. Broadcast tv is always leftist and inane. The only exceptions are non NBC sporting events.
I presented this plan to the family and had a full scale rebellion from my 14 year old daughter. My advice is to not have a 14 year old daughter…
Wrong approach, Jeff.
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First, you show her – on a locked down laptop or tablet – how to watch stuff on Hulu Plus or equivalent.
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Then, you show her – same locked down config – how to watch stuff off the networks’ web sites.
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Once she’s doing that, just cut the cable and see if she notices.
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Mew
No, her issue was not watching it the following day. She much watch it in real time as its broadcast at the same time all her friends are watching the exact same shows so that they can tweet, text, snapchat, and whatnot about it (but not Facebook, Facebook is for old people). It’s not a technological issue but a social issue
When I was in middle school our tv broke and we didn’t replace it because we didn’t have the money. It actually made my life more social. When I wanted to watch something, I’d go to a friend’s house and hangout.
It went “You want me to have NO FRIENDS?? You’re RUINING my LIFE!!!” I think this sentence must be used by every 14 year old girl at least once a day or they loose their union card or something.
Cableless (well, satelliteless)for over a year now. Only vaguely miss it when I have to stream a sporting event, but the $110 a month in my pocket more than makes up for it.
I’ll try to avoid the 14 y/o daughters, but one just turned 2 and the other is 7 weeks….
Very close to cutting the cable, myself. Only my addiction to football keeps me from doing it.
Me too, which is probably why the networks will pay a very tidy sum to keep the NFL off the interwebs in the same way you can watch baseball games online for a price. Both my wife and I live out of market for our favorite teams (Eagles & Bears), even with cable I’d probably pay to stream games if I could.
Left cable seven-ish years ago. Kids were reason A. Reason B is that I would watch it mindlessly which further interferes with reason A. I did splurge on Netflix streaming. Some objectionable points to negotiate around but I like commercial free kids shows. There are a few good choices there.
Ironically, got satellite last year after a decade of a rooftop antenna, but probably not gonna renew when the contract’s up.
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Cheaper, in the short term, than replacing the three TiVos that we’d accumulated – and used heavily – over the decade of no cable.
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Mew
Roku + Netflix + Amazon Prime + Private Channel where I can watch my YouTube videos + the ability to hook my laptop to the TV = Happy Cam.
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Basically, the moment I received the Roku box for Christmas was the DOOOM! of the DirecTv account.
I really don’t watch anything on live tv anymore, my kids don’t either. Most things get dvr’d and watched later. But, I still have a hefty cable bill. If I could get the NFL on Roku and cartoon network for the kids, I’d really have no reason to have cable anymore.