December 06, 2010

Back in style: rabbit ears and free TV
— Purple Avenger

When you lose 300,000+ customers over 6 months, maybe its time to reconsider the price/value equation you're offering customers.

...Many pay TV customers are making the same decision. From April to September, cable and satellite companies had a net loss of about 330,000 customers. Craig Moffett, a longtime cable analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said the consensus of the industry executives he had talked to was that most of these so-called cord-cutters were turning to over-the-air TV. “It looks like they’re leaving for the antenna,” he said...
I'd argue that this trend is part of the "new normal". The depression is causing a lot of people to reevaluate what is necessary and what is luxury in their lives. Whenever you can move some perceived necessity into the luxury column, that allows reallocation of funds to those luxuries that you really desire.

Blowing off a $90/month cable bill allows for more eating out, some movies, paint to repaint several rooms in a house, etc. Over the span of a year, you could buy enough tools and materials to re-trim a crib with mouldings you made yourself, or build a fancy wall unit, etc.

I find this this new consumer pragmatism encouraging. Cable exec's probably not so much.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 10:53 PM | Comments (78)
Post contains 220 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Why have cable? I have a PS3 with Netflix and Hulu. For less than $20/month, I have all the video entertainment I need and then some. No need to get a cable package for $50+/month and rent a DVR for $15/month. Yeah, it sucks to not always be able to watch college football, but the season's over now and the bowl games just don't excite me that much this year. I cut the cable this month. Done and done.

Posted by: LowlyVoter at December 06, 2010 11:05 PM (AaQ2F)

2 I'm not buyin' it.  People are dumping their cable because they can get the same shows over the internet.  If your ISP is a telco instead of a cable company there's no reason to have cable.

Posted by: Ace's liver at December 06, 2010 11:19 PM (QgI7g)

3 You'll get my cable remote from me when  you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 06, 2010 11:23 PM (fjoLg)

4 When I was in college, I had a TV with an analogue dial tuner, like the tuner on a radio.  With the antenna in the right direction in the evenings, I could tune very carefully between channels and pick up a few cable stations.  Somehow.

Posted by: rdbrewer at December 06, 2010 11:34 PM (ypvW4)

5 I could tune very carefully between channels and pick up a few cable stations.

Cool. Perhaps you were near some downlink from the satellites, and were picking up some overspill. This was on the UHF dial, I assume.

Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 06, 2010 11:49 PM (fjoLg)

6 I find this this new consumer pragmatism encouraging. Cable exec's probably not so much. I've pondered learning shortwave operation. This bit a of news my inspire me to ponder again. I'm easily distracted.

Posted by: fluffy sees the shiny!! at December 07, 2010 12:20 AM (SwkdU)

7 I think a lot has to do with internet and cheap laptops. Wi-Fi doesnt help either. I live in a large and I get dozens of free wifi signals from my apartment.

Posted by: swamp yankee at December 07, 2010 12:29 AM (3DIBw)

8

Living in CT I get about 2 dozen stations over the air, all four major networks and a bunch of smaller outfits.

All in all, about 23 channels more than I need.

I suspect people are watching on the internet though or simply doing without, most people are not aware the OTA broacasts even exsist.

Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 01:29 AM (A/JSg)

9 I can offer you hours of cheap entertainment.

Posted by: naughty librarian at December 07, 2010 01:42 AM (4Kl5M)

10

Yep.  That is why the government was giving away millions of digital TV receiver boxes...

The implication of course is that if the government is giving something away, there must be some need for it right?

In my discussions with dozens of people most of them had no clue there was still OTA broadcasting going on. Hell most of them were confused if there cable was still going to work after the digital switchover!

Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 01:55 AM (A/JSg)

11 I could tune very carefully between channels and pick up a few cable stations.

Cool. Perhaps you were near some downlink from the satellites, and were picking up some overspill. This was on the UHF dial, I assume.

Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at December 07, 2010 03:49 AM (fjoLg)

Not really, satellites operate in the gigahz range. He was probably picking up cable bleed from surrounding cable feeds. Something the FCC finally cracked down on and made the local cable companies replace their feeder cables with a higher grade shielded cable.  

As for a "trend" of people going to rabbit ears because of the new digital broadcast I have to throw the flag there.

With the conversion from analog to digital you are able to get fewer channels than before. The old analog signals would allow you to watch some channels with a snowy picture. Digital will not. You either get it good, or not at all. Sure its HD but its the same shit you had before with a clearer and sharper picture.

I suspect people are dropping cable for the same reasons they are dropping a lot of other shit; times are damn tough for a lot of people. When people get down to it, cable comes up as a good way to cut costs because (1) the damn bills have rose uncontrolled for years and are now sky high and (2) TV program has been shit for decades.

Right now I am paying $50/month for cable solely for internet. I am paying $60/month for HD satellite. I mistakenly thought when the government mandated HD came about ALL the channels would become HD and I could drop the $10/month extra charge for HD.

I was stupid. Should have known better.

I am seriously considering dropping back to basic. I would lose Fox news and the music channels. Right now the music channels are the thing I use most but the one I like gets pre-empted every holiday for crap. Currently they are playing "Hanukkah music". Hell I didn't know there was music dedicated to Hannukkah.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 01:55 AM (e4sSD)

12 I'm familiar with Hulu Plus.  A whole mess of regular TV programs, but can you get Fox News and things like the Food Network and the Home Channel (my wife watches those two).

And anyone know of any others besides Hulu?

Posted by: Sukie Tawdry at December 07, 2010 02:09 AM (jbCcb)

13

With the conversion from analog to digital you are able to get fewer channels than before.

Not true in my case- A lot of the station have subchannels now.

ABC uses 8.1 8.2 8.3, some stations have as much as 4 or 5 subchannels.

I have been on antenna for over 10 years now, I get more stations now since the digital switchover than before.

Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 02:09 AM (A/JSg)

14 Heck, I'm Jewish and the only thing that comes quickly to mind is 'Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel.'

If I have to choose between cable/satellite and internet service, cable loses in a flash. It's harder for my mother and sister because they've no or very little, respectively, ability to deal with anything beyond DVDs. I got my mother a DVD player plays DiVX/Xvid but just doesn't understand the idea of a file system and so gets confused. Worse, she'll enthusiastically tune in to the broadcast of a show that I've assembled a complete collection on discs piled next to her TV. Somehow, to her mind, watching the broadcast is participating in a group activity while watching the disc is isolated.

Currently, we're getting a pretty decent price on the cable company's triple play (TV/data/phone) package but I have to wonder if they've noted how many keep the data service while dropping the TV service.

Posted by: epobirs at December 07, 2010 02:11 AM (cSH12)

15 12 I can offer you hours of cheap entertainment. Posted by: naughty librarian at December 07, 2010 05:42 AM (4Kl5M) Girls with glasses posing rabbit ear style are cute. But you have to factor in the cost of dinner.

Posted by: CoolCzech at December 07, 2010 02:12 AM (tJjm/)

16 Not true in my case- A lot of the station have subchannels now.

I don't consider those as extra channels. Here all they do with the "one" they usually have is broadcast the gov weather channel.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:14 AM (e4sSD)

17 The 'dropping cable but keeping data' trend should be especially notable in my area where OTC reception is pretty much hopeless. The simple rule is, on a clear day, can you see Mt. Wilson from the roof of your place? If the answer is no, your reception will be nil.

Even if you're extremely honest and won't use torrents, box sets of TV series were going pretty damn cheap on Black Friday. You could line up hundreds of hours of viewing for a fraction of the cost for a year's cable/sat service.

Posted by: epobirs at December 07, 2010 02:15 AM (cSH12)

18 Currently, we're getting a pretty decent price on the cable company's triple play (TV/data/phone) package but I have to wonder if they've noted how many keep the data service while dropping the TV service.

My MIL just signed up for that here. It is costing the same as what I am paying for both cable and satellite. The difference is she is getting phone service out of it and she doesn't get the high def.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:17 AM (e4sSD)

19 AT&T is set to offer competition to cable in our town, over the phone lines. Hopefully competition will drive down prices.

Posted by: CoolCzech at December 07, 2010 02:20 AM (tJjm/)

20

I don't consider those as extra channels. Here all they do with the "one" they usually have is broadcast the gov weather channel.

Not here in CT! Usually 8 will have a weather subchannel (live no less) but 26 has a local station plus Qubo (26.2 excellent childrens programs) 26.3 ION network plus a religion based program run on 26.4

Posted by: gdonovan at December 07, 2010 02:21 AM (A/JSg)

21 Dropped my full 'basic' (100 channels) to 'lifeline basic' (~20 channels) + cable I-net  -- a difference of $45.  Stop at my library on the way past (a mile from my house) if I want to snag a movie.  The reason to drop was simple -- there was never anything on that I wanted to watch!  What do I miss?...ESPN, ESPN2, Speed...if I could pay for these only, I'd have them

Posted by: billygoat at December 07, 2010 02:25 AM (5qJM5)

22 24 - Cool Czech, we just got ATT U-verse package - HD TV, Internet, land line, cells.  Just for signing up we got the premium TV package for free for a year.  I told the rep after a year I'd go down a few notches in packages for cost sake.  He told me not to worry that when I called in year, ATT would continue the premium package for free.  We'll see about that.  I'm in the St. Louis area and my monthly cost for whole thing is about $175/mo.

Posted by: Sukie Tawdry at December 07, 2010 02:29 AM (jbCcb)

23 Yep, I separated out the triple deal from the cable company last year. Now I've got a cheap cellphone, digital antenna, cable internet and Netflix. I suppose the thing that irked me the most was the package deals that both cable and satellite love to offer: a whole bunch of channels for x amount of $, when we ended up only watching 5 channels a month. So I built a computer for the living room TV and pick out what to watch rather than channel surf.

Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 02:32 AM (DXa7u)

24 What aggravates the crap out of me is how the satellite channel package cost always mirrors the local cable costs. I have the same satellite package with the same provider that my younger brother in GA has (except for the HD).

My package w/o HD costs $20 per month more than his. Since there is NO cables to string they can't blame it on anything other than pure profit because the local cable company here is higher than the local cable company in GA. .

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:33 AM (e4sSD)

25 I suppose the thing that irked me the most was the package deals that both cable and satellite love to offer: a whole bunch of channels for x amount of $, when we ended up only watching 5 channels a month.

What I have been wishing for forever is for them to go to a "cafeteria" style service. Let you pay some low flat rate just for the cable/sat hookup, then add channels at a cost/channel.

Either that or a modified package where for a flat rate you got x number of channels but you got to choose the channels you wanted. They could still charge extra for HBO, skinmax, etc.

They will never do this though unless one of two things happen (1) gov forces them (2) people start dropping them like a bad debt.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:37 AM (e4sSD)

26 I believe it. When I lost my job due to layoffs the cable was the first luxury to go. We get all our television from either Hulu, Netflix or torrents.

Posted by: Scoop11 at December 07, 2010 02:43 AM (mqt6U)

27

"AT&T is set to offer competition to cable in our town, over the phone lines. Hopefully competition will drive down prices."

Don't count on it. Here in Central MD, FIOS is about to come to my town, and the local County authorities (along with Comcrap), have made the pricing comparable with what Comcrap extorts. No such thing as competition when the fix is alreay in.

Just wish some vendor would package Internet TV access with just the stations you want, instead of 25+ Bible Thumpers, 10+ selling channels (Shop NBC?!?!?!), and a whole lotta other channels we blast past.

If I could pick/choose our personal package (like the Choose 2/3 at Don Pablo's dinner menu), I'd be in heaven, and ditch Comcrap.

Posted by: fred zeppelin at December 07, 2010 02:49 AM (zL/eJ)

28

I would easily go for cafeteria style pricing, but I don't think it'll ever happen. To be honest, I think professional sports caused the problem. If you actually paid for only what you watch, sports channels would be very expensive. Broadcasters were willing to pay a lot for the right to transmit particular sports, and spread the cost out to all their customers.

My wife and I don't watch sports, and we don't want to pay so others can get it cheaper. So we dropped out. It took some getting used to, but at least the only commercials I see now are the 30 second ones on Hulu.

Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 02:51 AM (DXa7u)

29

I think what we're seeing here is that there are a lot of reasons to dump cable or the dish.  You could go with U-Verse (or Verizon's slightly better but more expensive FIOS service), go with an antenna, or just use the inter-tubes for your content: which you pick depends on price and perceived value.

For instance, I can't do the Hulu thing: they don't have some of the shows Mrs. AllenG watches religously- and since they're "reality" shows (mostly Survivor, Amazing Race, and So You Think You Can Dance), waiting 'til they're available on NetFlix won't cut it.

Since I need internet access at home for work anyway, we went with U-Verse, and it works for us.

The big thing is that people are figuring out that Cable and Satellite aren't really very good value compared to what they could be getting.

Personally, I'd like to see a la carte programming selections: I don't get some channels I'd like to right now, and I do get others that I never watch.  I'd love to be able to switch those.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at December 07, 2010 02:53 AM (AWX5Z)

30

On a related score:

Via Drudge to Breitbart TV he is at it again. Black FCC commissioner says internet (probably cable TV too) is a “right” for every Nappy-Headed child

Beitbart Via Drudge Link

First off, wasn’t this what Don Imus was fired for? Second where does this “right” come from, other than every Obama black appointee seems to be a commie I deserve it from all you crackas community agitator who is totally unqualified for the position they are in.

Keep in mind that the FCC was created in order to shut down political dissent from FDR. It hasnÂ’t changed much since then. This is another gov department that needs to be shutdown and zero-budgeted.  

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 02:58 AM (e4sSD)

31 I love the peace in our house, after getting rid of satellite TV.We moved the TV out of the living room, to a spare bedroom, where we can watch a DVD if we want.No news, sports or locals. No rabbit ears. We sit by the fire at night and chat now, or play the piano and sing, or read. Sounds hokey, but we're really enjoying a new level of calm, which is priceless in these days. Wish we had got rid of it a lot sooner!

Posted by: Lizabth at December 07, 2010 03:09 AM (JZBti)

32 Lizabeth -- I really don't miss it in the warmer (Spring, Summer, Fall) months...only during Winter; and even then I find that I read more and just generally get more done...more free time!

Posted by: billygoat at December 07, 2010 03:11 AM (5qJM5)

33 My wife has made it to the reading (mostly Kindle) in the living room stage. I'm still doing a lot of work on the computer, but you're right, the new level of calm is nice. Like I said before, the lack of commercials is great.

Posted by: 141Driver at December 07, 2010 03:20 AM (DXa7u)

34 Most of the day my TV is off, the satellite receiver is tuned to an easy listening channel that plays Chet Atkins, Ray Conniff, Percy Faith etc style music at a low level.

My time is spent (lately) typing on here and reading. My wife is gone most of the day with various social groups in town (bridge club, Red hats etc).

TV gets looked at when I tune to Fox News for updates or when wife watches some schmaltzy Christmas show and Wheel of Fortune. I watch football when college football is going and GA is on TV.

The rest of the time the only time the TV itself is used is for watching movies on DVD or BluRay.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 03:20 AM (e4sSD)

35 Dropping cable for data... eventually they are going to come after that bandwidth and make you pay for it.  If you are watching TV via the internet, that's going to eat up some pipe, especially if it's in HD, certainly if they see that people are dropping TV but keeping Internet, they will eventually make a pricing change there.

Posted by: Reality Man at December 07, 2010 03:44 AM (L2x1w)

36 When I was in college, I had a TV with an analogue dial tuner

Back in the days of CGA and monochrome monitors, I used one of those non-detent "smooth tuner" TV's (Zenith made one) as the basis of a prototype remote screen snooping apparatus.  As I recall, the Hercules monochrome card broadcast pretty strongly between channel 5/6 or 6/7.

Just on its own, the Zenith TV was good enough to see the image the card was broadcasting, and do it at a distance of 30'+ (the most I tested).  Of course there were no synch pulses in the received signal so the image would be flipping and rolling, but it was obviously what was on the test computer's screen.  A little circuit to inject a synch pulse into the "blank spots" and you were in business with some pretty cutting edge (for the late 80's) spy gear.

Had I been less ethically inclined at the time, I'd probably be typing this from a beach in Tahiti and sitting on a bank account worth a few hundred mil.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at December 07, 2010 04:24 AM (g5cS5)

37 AT&T is set to offer competition to cable in our town, over the phone lines. Hopefully competition will drive down prices.

AT&T is doing this in south FL. Comcast is as intransigent as ever, and AT&T's prices are still quite high.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at December 07, 2010 04:29 AM (g5cS5)

38 @ Vic

With the way GA's been playing you must not be watching much television. LOL

How 'bout them Dawgs?!

Posted by: Praxeus at December 07, 2010 04:36 AM (rD7n3)

39 With the way GA's been playing you must not be watching much television. LOL

How 'bout them Dawgs?!

Posted by: Praxeus at December 07, 2010 08:36 AM (rD7n3)

I didn't watch much this year. The season started so bad because most of their first string was suspended or in jail.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 04:40 AM (e4sSD)

40 I work for a major cable company, and it galls me to no end that upper management is pushing us to upsell on every call. "Focus on the customers needs!," we're told in our sales 'classes'. Uhm, cable is not a need. It's a luxury. I understand that selling more product means the longer our call center stays open and I stay employed. I just loathe selling, and my own family had to drop most of our cable services for cost reasons. It's been difficult to not to scream at management and tell them what to do with their 'customer needs' Kool-Aid.

(I also like to stay employed and receive a paycheck too. Meh.)

Posted by: Andric at December 07, 2010 04:59 AM (YBnr0)

41

I use a Roku player for Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon Video on Demand, Break!(free), Vimeo(free), Pub-D-Hub Classic Film Channel(free), Ruku NewsCaster(free), and Pandora Radio(free)... for now, maily because I just got it and haven't checked out some of the other channels available. I'll add more when I get the chance.

I've been using my BlueRay player to stream Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube for almost 2 years now and don't miss cable one bit. I dropped cable for no other reason than I got no perceived value for the 7 channels I watched out of 200+ I pay $90.00\month for and I refuse to call every year and go through the Kabuki dance of threatening to drop them if they don't give me a better deal.

Posted by: theBman at December 07, 2010 05:02 AM (Wm6Ut)

42 I've been using my BlueRay player to stream Netflix, Pandora, and YouTube for almost 2 years now and don't miss cable one bit.

I have been scared to sign up for that because I can barely watch u-tube videos w/o lockup even though I have high speed cable internet.

I am scared the movie viewing would either be severely degraded in definition or would constantly lockup.

This is not to mention the upcoming fight over bandwidth.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:11 AM (e4sSD)

43 Been on Antenna (DTV) for a long time here.. 

It has it's disadvantages..  Like I know who Tavis Smiley is and why he's on late at night on PBS..

But the picture is far and away much better than anything cable had..

And DSL for those cable shows that I can't get anymore..  (SGU and The Walking Dead) 

Posted by: Dave C at December 07, 2010 05:23 AM (yIAqe)

44

I'd have them come out and check your line Vic. If you aren't getting the speeds you are paying for, make them fix it.

That being said, sometimes youtube runs slow for me also, but 99% of the time I can watch HD streaming with no problems whatsoever.

FYI, the Roku player recommends a 5MB braodband connection for HD streaming. That is what I have. RoadRunner standard is 5MB IIRC. They have a Lite version and a Turbo version.

Also, if you've had the same modem for over a couple of years, take it back to them and ask for a new one because the one you have is "acting flakey". They will switch it out for free with no other questions. That could be the problem also.

Posted by: theBman at December 07, 2010 05:28 AM (Wm6Ut)

45 I'd have them come out and check your line Vic. If you aren't getting the speeds you are paying for, make them fix it.

I just had them put in a new line last year just to get my signal strength up above -12 which is the minimum (long drop). I have -6 now in the early morning but it drops during the day.

What is funny is when I first got it and ran tests I was getting about 1M/sec from CA. I am now lucky if I can get 400K from anywhere.

Your speed is really dependent on the number of people they have crammed on the lines and they have crammed a lot of new people on the lines here and cramming more everyday.

And I am on Roadrunner BTW.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:41 AM (e4sSD)

46 I live within a mile or two several TV transmitters, and the picture from my HDTV antenna is perfect. Between that, Netflix, and Hulu, why pay for a bunch of channels I'll never watch?

Posted by: Jim Treacher at December 07, 2010 05:42 AM (WuMZ3)

47 Clear for internet, HDTV antenna.  12 channels (1 weather, 2 Spanish, 3 PBS -- which is actually pretty good). Cost: $30.00/month.

Posted by: PMike at December 07, 2010 05:46 AM (R9qZf)

48 Why do they get away with charging extra for digital when it's all digital anyway? BTW, I saw this mentioned in an ad for satellite, I think. They say they didn't start charging you more when TV went from B/W to color did they? This is true. It's a rip-off.

Posted by: PoconoJoe at December 07, 2010 05:49 AM (q2DY5)

49 Why do they get away with charging extra for digital when it's all digital anyway?

Because they can.

Posted by: Vic at December 07, 2010 05:55 AM (e4sSD)

50 <P>What's to pay for? Blondie (I'm a legend in my own mind) the douche nozzle dawg hunter? Spikey (Hey, I'm ghey, look what I can do...squash) the bug killer, or boring truck driver shows?</P>   <P>I can still get This Old House, as well as Frontline, American Experience, Nature, etc., on PBS, and it's still free. I notice one of the big 3 nets has picked up The Deadliest Catch now, so why pay?</P>   <P>Dancing with the lamers, Survivor, Look who can't dance, and the rest of the current crop, insult my intelligence and make me want to vomit.</P>   <P>Finally, there are the extra pay channels. I had the opportunity to watch HBO this year while I was on three different deployments for the gobbermint and living the luxurious hotel life. Skanks in the City,  The series about the Boardwalk (I couldn't stomach any other series) and hey, let's watch the Jet's training camp again for the 40th time this week. Then they show Skanks in the city again, followed by the Boardwalk show and to throw in a little variety, there was that stupid show with Ted Dancin I could never watch for more then a minute or two (all several times a day).

Posted by: Wascully Wabbit at December 07, 2010 06:21 AM (FweJ7)

51 With Netflix delivering a dvd everyday, plus a WiFi B-ray player to stream on demand, cable loses its appeal. After all, does anyone really like a program enough to sit through increasingly stupid commercials about other increasingly stupid programs regularly? Watch what you want. Life is short.

Posted by: '99er at December 07, 2010 06:28 AM (BGJIZ)

52

 

I'm one of them.  I no longer gat any frilly TV sations.  Not even Fox news. 

I refuse to pay the outrage.

 

Posted by: Lemon Kitten at December 07, 2010 06:32 AM (0fzsA)

53

I scroll through the channels 1-999 and find nothing worth wasting time sitting and watching, I turn to my dogs and say, "I do not know why I pay for this manure" then cut the TV off and watch the pine trees grow.

Posted by: HEP-T at December 07, 2010 06:43 AM (XKKWs)

54 I put an antenna on the roof a year ago. Haven't looked back since. I watch Fox News streaming on TVPC.com, download Sarah Palin's Alaska from iTunes, and watch Netflix on my AppleTV. Plus, I get the teleworker discount for internet. Faster speed, lower cost. I've saved over $1,500 so far.

Posted by: Skree at December 07, 2010 06:44 AM (HBmnd)

55

I recently switched from Comcast to ATT U-verse. It's a much better deal. As poster above mentioned, you get land line phone, cable (big package), internet all for about 40% less than Comcast.

I'm going for the Netflix streaming deal next. No more DVDs and it's ten bucks a month for all you can watch.

Posted by: Scott at December 07, 2010 06:50 AM (TUAju)

56 About four years ago, I had the cable turned off in favor of rabbit ears.

So, while I watched less t.v., I watched more BAD t.v.  (I really missed TCM.) The switch to digital was no improvement.

Now I live without t.v....period.  I'm reading more, and practising my instruments.


Posted by: Norton at December 07, 2010 07:00 AM (TINo7)

57 If it wasn't for Sunday Ticket, I'd dump mine. If they flex the GB-Bears game to Sunday night, I'm done with the bastards at DTV in January.
They keep changing the packages, so anytime you want to add a channel or make a change, your old, cheaper package must be "upgraded" to a new, more expensive package--with the same or less channels.
Yeah, I'm done.
It's not worth it. Next season, I'll do what  I used to do, go to a bar. $25/week (sammich and a couple of beers) for 4 months is a lot cheaper.

Posted by: jimmuy at December 07, 2010 07:19 AM (rfVS5)

58 About two years ago, I got rid of cable as well.  I was spending $100 per month for service that I never used.  Instead, I got cable internet for $40 per month, and used the rest for violin lessons, dance lessons, etc.

What I don't understand is why so many poor people have cable or satellite, at least as far as I can see.  I've heard the complaint that it's the only form of entertainment, but if that's the case, then take your kids to the library and the used bookstore.  Buy puzzles or other board games.  It's what my father and stepmother did when my sister and I were growing up, and we had cable. 

Posted by: Alex at December 07, 2010 07:38 AM (yY28H)

59 I am 56 years old and have never once been a cable subscriber. I could afford it, but why? I figure over the course of my life I have pocketed enough money to buy a sporty 2 seater, which, in fact, I did do recently. Paid cash for it. I am enjoying it a lot more than MSNBC, I will tell you that much!

Posted by: navybrat at December 07, 2010 07:54 AM (92iYg)

60 64 I put an antenna on the roof a year ago. Haven't looked back since. I watch Fox News streaming on TVPC.com


Really? That's interesting considering Fox cut us (tvpc.com) off almost a year ago.

Posted by: TVPC at December 07, 2010 08:06 AM (sA76j)

61 I've cut down my cable service. I used to get all the movie channels, now I get none. The reason why is obvious: my cable bill today (without those channels) is the same as it was 8 years ago WITH them. My next move is to have the box taken out of my bedroom.

Cable prices need to come down. Now. Compete or die.

Posted by: Chris R at December 07, 2010 08:27 AM (QiNmA)

62 ESPN is the primary reason for your cable/satellite bill rising each year.  ESPN is often 1/3 the cable company's cost of every channel you're receiving!  And every year they shamelessly demand tens of millions more to carry their suite of channels.  And of course, virtually no one can opt out since ESPN tries to make sure they're in the lowest possible channel tier on most cable systems, to grab as many viewers as possible, charging that back to the cable co.

Posted by: Rod Rescueman at December 07, 2010 08:38 AM (QxGmu)

63 I cut the cord when I moved to D.C. Just using the OTA tuner in my TV, plus Netflix, Hulu, Amazon on Demand, etc. via xbox or HDMI from my computer. Plus, my brother is a total copyright thief. Not a chance I'm going to go back to paying $50 a month for cable on top of internet.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at December 07, 2010 09:34 AM (B2LxR)

64 Oh, and as far as the sports go, ESPN3 has almost everything I want to watch and when it doesn't...well, I'll just go over to bro's house.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at December 07, 2010 09:34 AM (B2LxR)

65 Surfthechannel will get you any show you've ever wanted to see, usually within a day or two after it's airing. It's a link site that will normally send you to Megavideo or Vureel. Megavideo costs, I believe, $15/month. For those of you looking to watch live sports, there is myp2p.eu, which streams pretty much any live sport online. You'll need a few different streaming programs, but they're all legit, no spam.

Posted by: Paul Kroenke at December 07, 2010 10:26 AM (Ev98V)

66 I killed my Dish Network subscription about 2 years ago and just have a high speed internet connection and a netflix account.  Haven't really been left wanting anything on broadcast TV except for sports.  I use the money I save on satellite TV and just go to the bar and get drunk.  Oh, and watch their TV when I'm not watching the waitresses asses.

Posted by: HeftyJo at December 07, 2010 10:27 AM (0/c8m)

67 I haven't had cable since we moved into the house in 1990. I did spend around $200 on a good antenna system I installed myself. (At this point that works out to less than $1 / month!) I am one of the few oddballs, though, that has a TiVo hooked up to an antenna. So the shows we like to watch are there when we want to watch them. It's a really great combination.

Posted by: steve w at December 07, 2010 10:33 AM (JvW7r)

68 My new tv has netflix built in and with my antenna and torrent downloads of tv shows I'm not missing a thing.

Posted by: Jeff at December 07, 2010 10:47 AM (idTg2)

69 I use the rabbit HD rabbit ears in Los Angeles and get all the regular channels except ABC. I belong to Netflix but I've found people post tv episodes on hosting servers as AVI files and I find them by using a search engine. I download them like MP3 files and then delete when I'm done. I'm plowing through every episode of Criminal Minds this way. Great while it lasts!

Posted by: Al at December 07, 2010 02:38 PM (d3lGk)

70 70 64 I put an antenna on the roof a year ago. Haven't looked back since. I watch Fox News streaming on TVPC.com Really? That's interesting considering Fox cut us (tvpc.com) off almost a year ago Yeah? Well, it's there. Go figure

Posted by: Skree at December 07, 2010 02:43 PM (HBmnd)

71 We get hundreds of cable channels and 98% of it is garbage, I have been trying to get my wife to drop cable.

Posted by: Art at December 07, 2010 02:52 PM (hPWsk)

72 Does cable cost $90 a month? I got cable just to watch the last us invasion of iraq. My plan didn't have a contract and I cancelled service soon after the iconoclasm in bagdhad. Mostly I don't watch tv. When I look at the prices of the digital tv's, I came to the conclusion the conversion to digital was a conspiracy to make tv's more expensive for the benefit of manufactures and retailers. I won't buy one. I have one of those converter boxes for analog tv's but I haven't tried it. I don't object to other people watching tv. I used to watch hours and hours of tv when I was a child now I can't stand it. The more you watch the sooner you will realize what a waste of time it is.

Posted by: lsgfnwngi3b at December 07, 2010 04:45 PM (siIZJ)

73 Actually, the lowest profit margin cable companies have is on video service. They make far more money from internet and phone. Cable companies have to buy video from networks. That costs a lot of money. That's why they became ISPs. They make a lot more money selling internet, because the cable company doesn't have to pay anyone for content. The real losers from the drop in cable subscriptions are the networks, because they can't get as much money from broadcasters as from cable companies. Cable companies will be fine as long as they can sell internet service.

Posted by: John Lynch at December 07, 2010 04:50 PM (/zCpf)

74 "Yep.  That is why the government was giving away millions of digital TV receiver boxes..." probably because half the programming is gov tv (aka PBS). will come in handy when our socialist FCC decides to take over the airways.

Posted by: bull at December 07, 2010 05:34 PM (PqQus)

75 Comcast has 200 channels of crap for $39.95 a month. DirectTV has 200 channels of crap for $39.95 a month. My rabbit ears pick up 20 channels of crap _*FOR*_*FREE*_. I get 180 less channels of crap with rabbit ears. It's a no-brainer. Charlie

Posted by: Charlie at December 07, 2010 07:26 PM (Fyesg)

76 I think I could get by just with Netflix on demand and a basic middle of the road borad band package these days.

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