POLL: Have you gotten rid of cable TV?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

With the cancellation of Law & Order, I have only two shows left to watch, SVU and Criminal Intent. Both of which I can get from iTunes. And I can also get baseball from MLB.TV. So I'm thinking of getting rid of my cable line. How many of you have done that? And what influenced your decision? Do you save a lot of money by that?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, fuck cable. I find a $20 DSL connection is a much better deal than $60+ a month for cable.

 

[John Picard]

Cable? Satellite? Hell, all I have is Netflix for my old analog TV!

 

[RoJoHen]

I went 6 months without cable, and I was fine, but when I moved back here, it made sense to get cable again. There's pretty much only one company around here for TV and internet, and if you get internet with them, you might as well get cable as well. It's actually a lot cheaper that way.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ But wouldn't you save more money by dumping cable, than you would have if you bundle cable and internet?

Me, I probably would have ALREADY dumped cable if I didn't need it for This Week in Baseball. I'm still trying to find it online so I can do that.

 

[RoJoHen]

^ But wouldn't you save more money by dumping cable, than you would have if you bundle cable and internet?

I'd only save about $5 a month. For that $5, I get regular cable, HD cable, and free OnDemand, so even though I don't watch it a ton, it's still worth it to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

You pay only $5 a month for cable? Who's YOUR provider?

 

[RoJoHen]

No, but the difference between internet alone and the internet/cable bundle is only about $5. Internet alone is about $50. Cable alone is about $50. Internet/Cable Bundle is $55. My provider is MediaCom. Don't ask me why, but that's how they do things.

 

[Flavius]

Why would I get rid of cable TV? Expensive? -Yeah. But I can afford it. So. No.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Expensive? -Yeah. But I can afford it.

Perhaps. But do you NEED it?

 

[RoJoHen]

I pay for a lot of things I don't need. Doesn't mean I shouldn't have them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Well, as long as you can afford it (or at least think you can), I suppose that's enough.

I'm just looking for an excuse to dump this stupid cable and be done with it. By my reckoning I'd save about $75 a month. Would *you* continue to pony up cash like that if you only watched TWO TV shows regularly? (With MLB.TV, I no longer need cable to get baseball games, although there are certain ones that are blacked out live and so I would have to wait about an hour and a half before I could watch them.)

Just because one can technically afford something, doesn't mean it isn't still a waste of money.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, that's the reason I initially got rid of it. I realized I was paying for something I hadn't even turned on in 3 months.

My schedule is a bit different now, and I find myself watching it more than I used to. I don't watch it A LOT, but again, for me, it's only about $5 a month more than I would be paying if I got rid of it. I hate watching TV shows on my computer (feels like a big waste of a 50" TV if I'm just streaming stuff onto my laptop), so when I am able to watch one of my favorites shows live, I like that I have cable with which to do that. And really, when LOST ends this weekend, I will only have one show left on TV that I watch.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I hate watching TV shows on my computer (feels like a big waste of a 50" TV if I'm just streaming stuff onto my laptop)

That's why I love my AppleTV. Even shows I get through iTunes, I can still watch on the TV. Which is what I'd do with SVU and CI if I dumped cable.

Although I would actually miss This Week in Baseball. I have so far been unable to find that show online.

 

[Flavius]

Expensive? -Yeah. But I can afford it.

Perhaps. But do you NEED it?

When I grew up I had the opportunity to watch the near perfect execution of this philosophy that I suspect behind this question up close. Every time I traveled to East Berlin (before November '89) I didn't have to bother what kind of coffee to buy or sugar etc.. In East Germany there was hardly anything offered in some variety, because resources were used otherwise. What do you do really need 10 different kinds of sugar, or even two kinds of sugar for? Or cars? There was the Trabant and the Wartburg for the 'upper class'. So, I'm not a fan of that question. Can you rephrase it?

 

[RoJoHen]

So, I'm not a fan of that question. Can you rephrase it?

Would getting rid of cable dramatically alter your current lifestyle, or would you even notice it was gone?

 

[backstept]

I do not have cable . . . I have Hulu for all my TV needs

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So, I'm not a fan of that question. Can you rephrase it?

Okay, how about this: Are you getting your money's worth?

It's not so bad for RoJo here since he's lucky enough to only pay $5 a month for cable. Mine's a bit pricier than that. So you can understand why I might question if I needed that, since like I said I only watch 2 bloody shows! Would you pay 80 bucks a month for just that? Well?

 

[trekkiedane]

In Denmark it used to be that people living in a certain area would get together and form an antenna union: they'd put up a big antenna and then be able to receive Danish, German, Swedish and some places even Norwegian Radio and TV.

These days certain cable companies deliver the signal to the unions (some signals, that is), but most of us still get our signal from the user owned unions; we get to vote on which channels we want, and how much we want to pay for them. Most unions have four to five different packages you can choose from - I recently opted to go to the smallest one, I now have five channels of TV -which is three more than I actually feel that I need.

 

[eastman23]

I used to have cable, but dropped it in favour of setting up a satellite dish and hooking on to my parent's subscription. So yes. And no.