Losing interest in TV?

[Sheep]

Now that I live by myself, saving $100 a month was more important to me than having the cable package my roommate and I used to have in our old place.

A relatively small outlay for a PC TV tuner and a bigger hard drive and I have all the broadcast TV I need along with a DVR.

 

[Spot's Meow]

It's hard to cut channels, if only because the decent channels are usually in the upper tier. You might have 3 good channels in the base package, and then nothing good until Super Ultra Premium Gold Platinum Diamond Tiara package which is $60 more a month. They know this and do this on purpose, which is why reasonable a la carte packaging will not happen. I mean, come on, what was once a basic cable channel now sits in the Premium Plus package? Yeah, sure.

I agree with this. Also, they price the different tiers such that you aren't saving much more than $3 a month when you try to go to a lower package. At first it looks $30 cheaper...but the higher package includes 3 rooms and a DVR for free, and if you were to still want those things with the lower package, well that will cost you around $30. How convenient.

 

[Amaris]

It's hard to cut channels, if only because the decent channels are usually in the upper tier. You might have 3 good channels in the base package, and then nothing good until Super Ultra Premium Gold Platinum Diamond Tiara package which is $60 more a month. They know this and do this on purpose, which is why reasonable a la carte packaging will not happen. I mean, come on, what was once a basic cable channel now sits in the Premium Plus package? Yeah, sure.

I agree with this. Also, they price the different tiers such that you aren't saving much more than $3 a month when you try to go to a lower package. At first it looks $30 cheaper...but the higher package includes 3 rooms and a DVR for free, and if you were to still want those things with the lower package, well that will cost you around $30. How convenient.

Yep. Satellite is what we have, and we moved to it because it was a lot cheaper than cable. Well, at least it seemed that way. After we ordered the $29.99 package, we got a DVR that broadcast to two TVs (one in HD and the other in SD). I wasn't a fan of that, since that meant if I wanted to watch something, nothing could be recorded since it used the 2nd TV as the recording side.

Anyhoo, that $29 package ended up being $54 after taxes and service fees, along with an installation fee of $99. When we moved, we paid a moving fee of $99. It's still a bit less than cable, but it isn't worth the trouble. It's an old business model that needs to go away, because when you can order Netflix for $8 a month and watch as many instant watch movies and TV shows you want, and attach a $5 set of rabbit ears to your TV and get your local stations for free, that should put the pressure on providers to be more reasonable, but they're not.

 

[clint g]

I still enjoy TV...I just hate scheduling my time around it. Anything I want to watch I pretty much stream now. I hope that one day the TV studios really get it and put everything up for streaming.

 

[MANT!]

I only watch a few channels..and a few shows on those channels... Sports..and the like..sometimes a movie comes on, but I've purchased enough DVDs and Blu-Rays that I could run 2 shows a day and a movie and never repeat ANYTHING for about 6 months...

When the History Channel is running "Reality Shows" it's time to cut the cord...

 

[clint g]

I only watch a few channels..and a few shows on those channels... Sports..and the like..sometimes a movie comes on, but I've purchased enough DVDs and Blu-Rays that I could run 2 shows a day and a movie and never repeat ANYTHING for about 6 months...

When the History Channel is running "Reality Shows" it's time to cut the cord...

Im getting to the point where I want to get rid of cable as well. As of right now, I only really use cable for Yankees games and the news. If MLB ever allowed you to stream in market games then I would very quickly toss out my cable box.

 

[Kelthaz]

There's plenty of great TV shows today, but you have to look outside American primetime and broaden your interests. Cable Channels, Japan, and England are where it's at.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I used to watch plenty of TV when I was a kid; of course, I had a lot more time then. If there was nothing but network TV now, like then, I wouldn't be watching anything. But there are a handful of shows on cable and pay cable that are quite good and worth watching.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I lost interest in TV quite some time ago. Haven't even had cable in about four years; we realized we really weren't using it, and cancelled. Then, a couple years ago, I moved into a new place with a new roommate, and neither of us even gave any thought to getting cable.

Same here. If I like a show I buy it on DVD, but I haven't regularly watched TV in many years. The only reason the TV would turn on most nights was because my ex wanted it on for background, but after some joker stole our aerial cable, we said "fuck it" and didn't bother getting it replaced.

In my new flat I have no aerial and I also pay no TV license as a result. I watch the odd web show like Zero Punctuation or HigaTV on YouTube, but that's it outside of stuff on DVD.

Given the choice I prefer interactive entertainment like games over watching a show, whether film or TV, but it can be fun sometimes...

 

[Mary Ann]

If I like a show I buy it on DVD, but I haven't regularly watched TV in many years.

Same here. I watched a ridiculous amount of TV when I was a kid, like 5 solid hours of cartoons every Saturday morning, but at the moment the only show I'm planning to watch this week is Stephen Fry's Planet Word. My husband works evenings so if he has to miss a show he'd like to watch we rent it or buy it, depending on financial circumstances.

In my new flat I have no aerial and I also pay no TV license as a result.

Have you had the TV Licence people knocking on your door yet? I know a few people with no TV and the Licence schmucks are incapable of believing that these people are not cheating the system. They're as persistent as double glazing salesmen and show up on my friends' doorsteps a few times a year.

 

[Sean Aaron]

In my new flat I have no aerial and I also pay no TV license as a result.

Have you had the TV Licence people knocking on your door yet? I know a few people with no TV and the Licence schmucks are incapable of believing that these people are not cheating the system. They're as persistent as double glazing salesmen and show up on my friends' doorsteps a few times a year.

Interestingly no and it's been nearly a full year. I did have to phone them a couple of times: first time to say I didn't need one and the second in response to a threatening letter they said I could ignore.

I was frankly surprised I could avoid it. I had thought if you had a TV with a tuner in it you automatically had to pay, but so long as you're not using it (in my case I explained that it wasn't connected to the aerial outlet - it's not even on the same wall) and you're not using a live streaming service online (iPlayer and other time-delayed services don't count) you don't have to pay.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I'm in pretty much the same place, Warped9. In recent years the shows I care about have dwindled to almost nothing. Even the "geek shows" that I read about on here and that everyone seems to love don't really grab me enough to for me to make an effort to watch or record.

The only exceptions currently are Mad Men, which I do still enjoy and will make an effort to watch when it returns, and Big Bang Theory, which never fails to make me laugh out loud. Otherwise, I'd rather read or write or listen to music or do pretty much anything but watch TV. Don't know what's changed more, though: TV or me.

I just thought of one glaring caveat to my comments above: sports. I am a HUGE sports fan, especially Pro baseball and football (as well as select college level events.) I am not as obsessed as I was just a couple of years ago, but I will usually have the Red Sox on in the evening (while I may be doing something else - especially recently), and likewise with NFL on Sundays.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's hard to cut channels, if only because the decent channels are usually in the upper tier. You might have 3 good channels in the base package, and then nothing good until Super Ultra Premium Gold Platinum Diamond Tiara package which is $60 more a month. They know this and do this on purpose, which is why reasonable a la carte packaging will not happen. I mean, come on, what was once a basic cable channel now sits in the Premium Plus package? Yeah, sure.

Yeah, it really is. The thing that gets me is that there's so much excess baggage, ie a dumping ground for whatever networks to dump old shows and reality shows on, that nobody hardly ever watches, which then become clones more or less of what's already out there.

Well, as I mentioned our cable bill is going up because the price of packages is also going up. The sad thing is that the company doesn't even offer half the number of HD channels that are out there, and the there's been recent news that they want to add a 3D channel, which is befuddling.

 

[RAMA]

DVR is the greatest thing that has happened to TV. Even VHS seems quaint now by comparison. Technological change in the future will be rapid though, I sense a convergence in the Force! Already many people use a PC/TV monitor, server/hard drive/streaming as their source of viewing...or they have cable hooked up to their tv wirelessly or wired.

RAMA

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I dont watch much live TV now, last thing i watched on a regular basis was Top Gear on BBCHD, and thats about it, if there is something i do want to see i recored it.....i have a pile of Hornblowers to watch and some CSI and NCIS....and thats about it.

 

[AliciaD496]

I've basically lost interest in most TV...

I enjoy a few network shows (Glee, House, The Office) and once these end I think I'm going to have a tough time finding new ones that I actually like. While I've picked up HIMYM and Two and a Half Men thanks to syndication, they're both pretty late into their runs as well. I don't have cable, and when I did I didn't watch a lot of shows anyway, if I do pick up a show from there or premium channel like HBO or Showtime it'll likely be via DVD and Netflix (or whatever it's going to be called now).

I don't watch sports (my family kinda ruined me by watching way too much golf growing up, and that HAS to be the most boring TV to watch EVER, football and racing don't interest me as I'm not into violence, and baseball's only interesting in October). I don't really enjoy 'real house wives' or 'hanging with the Kardashians' or any of those other faux-celebrity type shows, or Dancing with faux-celebrities, or those other reality shows. I did kind of like cooking reality shows but I got soured on that by this season's blatant drama and ratings hounding on Hell's Kitchen.

I have my TV on quite a bit, but usually it's more background noise while I web surf.

So...yeah, I'm not interested in most reality TV or sports, and watching scripted dramas and comedies does seem to work out better on DVD than live in the end. If it weren't for wanting local news and weather I'd probably drop cable, but considering I'm already down to $13 a month basic cable I'm about as bare bones as it gets anyway.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Nope, I'm as big of a TV addict as ever, worse even. However, I've basically given up on broadcast TV and almost everything I watch is on cable.

Currently watching (when they're on): The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Justified, Falling Skies, Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Clone Wars and The Vampire Diaries.

New shows that I'm sticking with for now: Pan Am, Person of Interest, Terra Nova.

Looking forward to checking out: Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Hell on Wheels and American Horror Story. Also Luck on HBO(via DVD).

Checking out on DVD: The Wire, Spartacus, and eventually Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

 

[auntiehill]

^That would go for me, as well. I think my addiction to TV is just as strong. I LOVE Dexter, Walking Dead, Justified, and Doctor Who. I also like checking out the BBC dramas like Being Human, Luther and Sherlock.

Of the regular network shows, I like Supernatural and I'm interested in checking out at least some of Person of Interest.

I'm still a TV junkie.

 

[Lord Garth]

I am and I'm not.

I lost interest network TV about 15 years ago and mostly stuck to cable (and VHS/DVD releases) afterwards. Only problem is I don't have cable anymore. So, the only way I watch TV now is through Neflix streaming.

If I hear good word-of-mouth about a series or see a description that catches my eye, I'll watch. Thanks to streaming, I've watched a greater variety of series than I ever did before. Mainly this is because I'm not necessarily watching first-run, I'm getting the best (or at least what interests me most) of the past decade all at once. Before, I'd used to have to set the recorder or rent or purchase, it was more costly and/or time-consuming; now I watch whatever I want, whenever I want, as much or as little as I want, for a fixed rate per month.

 

[tomalak301]

I've been turning more towards Sports on TV than shows. I mean I still have my favorite shows (Glee, Amazing Race, even though that show is waning, and the NBC Comedies Parks and Rec and 30 Rock) but other than that I haven't watched any of the new stuff this season and I even gave up on Survivor. The best reality tv is sports anyway, so I'll take it. Looking forward to the start of the NHL Season.