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Tim Boger
04-28-2014, 6:58 PM
The wife and I finally made it happen .... we've cancelled our Cable TV service from Time Warner Cable, still have our internet connection with them though.

Figure to save around $125 a month, we bought a new Smart TV and are now learning how to continue enjoying the programs we've become fond of.

It took us over an hour to get past their "Retention" dept. and call it quits .... I'm thinking we spoke with the Philippines, India and Wisconsin.

I would appreciate suggestions on how to get current national news and tips regarding Netflix, Hulu-plus and Amazon Prime.

Thanks,
Tim

Pat Barry
04-28-2014, 7:15 PM
Good luck with that. Be curious to hear an update from you in 6 months. Do you watch much in the way of sports? That would be a deal breaker for me.

Tim Boger
04-28-2014, 7:36 PM
We do enjoy an occasional NFL game .... she more than I. Don't really care if we were to watch it a week or two after the event date.

Yep ... time will tell.

Art Mann
04-28-2014, 8:03 PM
We cut off cable TV over a year ago and haven't missed it at all. We are now mostly watching Netflix, Youtube and Vudu for entertainment. We occasionally rent movies at the Redbox kiosks. I can receive all the broadcast networks by way of antenna but the offerings are so pathetic that I seldom tune them in.

David Weaver
04-28-2014, 8:30 PM
I cut it off 10 years ago. There are times when I can't see a game because its on ESPN or something, but I usually get over that in 15 seconds, and do something more useful with my time.

And with small kids, we're better off without it. Pretty much every study says it makes kids dumber and less able to focus, anyway.

Myk Rian
04-28-2014, 8:41 PM
We just left our Daughters' home in Colorado to fly home today. She has Roku, and I couldn't find anything to watch without having to pay for it.
They TRY to get regular programming over the I-net. A real cluster bomb if you ask me.
Pat got it right. ^^^^^^

Andrew Fleck
04-28-2014, 9:02 PM
Count me as another who has cut off cable over a year ago. We don't miss it one bit. We have a Roku and can watch all sorts of shows. We subscribe to Netflix and watch that through the Roku.

No real tips regarding Netflix. It depends on what you like to watch. My wife and I tend to find a series and watch those. Lately we have been on a British kick. Oh, and I haven't seen a commercial in over a year except for the short ones that preclude a Youtube video.

Jim Matthews
04-28-2014, 9:57 PM
If you've got an XBox Live account you can stream all kinds of video.
It's how we watched the NHL Gamecenter all season.

There are lots of inexpensive BluRay players that will allow you to join Netflix and stream.
It will require that you have an Ethernet connection to your router.

This time of year, we're forced to reconnect to Charter cable's service in order
to watch the NBC coverage of the Playoffs. After two weeks of broadcast TV
I can honestly say that Netflix is better, for all it's limitations.

* NO COMMERCIALS *

* Content that I can't find anywhere else *

* Cheaper, and on demand *

You can also cancel whenever you like, without penalties.

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/stream-netflix-sony-bluray-player-2052.html

David Weaver
04-28-2014, 11:17 PM
We just left our Daughters' home in Colorado to fly home today. She has Roku, and I couldn't find anything to watch without having to pay for it.
They TRY to get regular programming over the I-net. A real cluster bomb if you ask me.
Pat got it right. ^^^^^^

I can't imagine trying to pay attention to watch regular programming any longer, anyway. I have zero desire to let it take up space in my brain, the exception being...doc martin.

But I don't always see it (it's free on PBS), I'll see the episodes when they become free on amazon prime, or I won't at all. It won't make a difference.

The idea, to me, of someone asking me to give them $125 a month is just trash. If I got a TV bill for that much and just handed it over with nothing in return of permanent value, i'd have the same response mike rowe did when he talked about his adventure on a sheep farm.."how did I get here? how did I arrive at a place where I'm willing to spend the money on nothing?"

At $125, they're getting me to pay them to do something that wastes my time (with the commercials, schedule switching, etc). I got out 10 or 12 years ago when expanded basic went, over a 3 year period, from 29 a month to 49 a month. It was an instant improvement in my life not to follow all of that garbage around.

Really guys, you won't have any convulsions, ticks, shivers or anything like that. You will instead entertain yourself with something stimulating and focused.

Chuck Wintle
04-29-2014, 6:22 AM
if its possible to stream jeopardy thru the internet then I would cancel my cable as well and revert to Roku or just an ordinary antenna. What I am concerned abut now is the loss of net neutrality and the advantage it will give to the big players.

David Weaver
04-29-2014, 7:20 AM
I'd bet you can get jeopardy for free with a $10 antenna.

Pat Barry
04-29-2014, 8:08 AM
I can't imagine trying to pay attention to watch regular programming any longer, anyway. I have zero desire to let it take up space in my brain, the exception being...doc martin.

But I don't always see it (it's free on PBS), I'll see the episodes when they become free on amazon prime, or I won't at all. It won't make a difference.

The idea, to me, of someone asking me to give them $125 a month is just trash. If I got a TV bill for that much and just handed it over with nothing in return of permanent value, i'd have the same response mike rowe did when he talked about his adventure on a sheep farm.."how did I get here? how did I arrive at a place where I'm willing to spend the money on nothing?"

At $125, they're getting me to pay them to do something that wastes my time (with the commercials, schedule switching, etc). I got out 10 or 12 years ago when expanded basic went, over a 3 year period, from 29 a month to 49 a month. It was an instant improvement in my life not to follow all of that garbage around.

Really guys, you won't have any convulsions, ticks, shivers or anything like that. You will instead entertain yourself with something stimulating and focused.
I respect your commitment to your decision. How does your family feel about that? As you know, Amazon prime is a very expensive TV service on its own, with very limited options. You can be sure their price will rise as the viewership increases -its the modern way.

David Weaver
04-29-2014, 8:25 AM
Well, prime isn't really that (expensive) compared to anything. We got prime without knowing anything about there being streaming videos, so we weren't paying $79 for anything video related, they're just there.

My wife watches TV less than I do, and the kids are given very limited TV. My daughter would rather watch something specific from prime the 45 minutes a day or so that she's allowed to watch a video for quiet time.

It's not hard to watch my daughter (4) and son (1) and see that their brain activity is stifled as soon as they're watching TV. We obviously don't show TV to a 1 year old, but he will sometimes try to watch it when I'm watching something - but what I watch (golf, pbs) doesn't have enough noise and distraction for him to pay attention to it. Even at 1, if there's something with music and lots of noise, he get sucked into it and his brain shuts off.

I watched a rash of documentaries when I first got prime and found free video on it (and I say free because it used to be $79 without video, but it's obviously not free if all you're getting it for is the video), but got over that fairly quickly. I doubt I'll have prime after this year, but it isn't hard to go out to youtube and find content if you really want to watch something. Might not be exactly what you wanted to watch, but there's plenty of interesting topic material on youtube.

At any rate, my wife is a busy body and values groups of people over TV (clubs, spending time with friends, etc), and thus my daughter goes along with that now, too. My parents allowed me to watch unlimited TV, and I have a short attention span. Because of it? I don't know. I know when I turn the TV off, I do things that are much more satisfying, and it only takes 5 minutes or so of an activity to get over the hurdle of laziness and realize that I'm a lot happier doing than watching.

Look around on google and check out brain scans of watching TV vs. doing various activities, and search for discussions regarding TV and dealing with reality and its effect on attention spans, especially for young viewers.

(now saying all of this, when I was 12 and probably watching 5 hours of TV a day - unless I had a baseball game or something (i grew up rural, so TV was the easy option if you were bored) - I would've thought I just couldn't survive without TV).

I suppose we'll find out the internet has a similar effect, but it's difficult to get an objective view on it, because it's a handy medium for collecting data on people and piping advertisements. Nobody footing the bill is really going to want to encourage you to unplug everything and do something more stimulating.

glenn bradley
04-29-2014, 8:33 AM
I think you will find a method that works for you. I banned network/cable TV from the house 20-odd years ago. I did watch movies and shows that I specifically acquire through rental, streaming or whatever. Currently I do not have a TV in the house (and haven't for a number of years) but, I do plan on getting another in the near future as LOML enjoys watching some things now and again. To me a television is like a cell phone; convenient if used properly but, intrusive if not controlled.

Sean Troy
04-29-2014, 8:49 AM
We got rid of Satellite and installed: http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT751-Durable-Compact-Outdoor/dp/B0024R4B5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398775597&sr=8-1&keywords=exterior+antenna We live in a town on the smaller side yet get 21 channels local. Netflix and Hulu Plus cost 16.00 a month and no one in the family misses all those channels we used to get on satellite.

Ethan Melad
04-29-2014, 8:50 AM
if you want to get away from cable but don't get antenna reception, you can try Aereo.com (http://www.aereo.com). works pretty well for us, and is like $8/month. Seems a little silly paying for something that should be free, but $8 is a whole lot better than paying $40 for a bunch of stuff I don't watch anyway.

Justin Ludwig
04-29-2014, 8:51 AM
I cut it off 10 years ago. There are times when I can't see a game because its on ESPN or something, but I usually get over that in 15 seconds, and do something more useful with my time.

And with small kids, we're better off without it. Pretty much every study says it makes kids dumber and less able to focus, anyway.

+1 Here. Going on 8 years.

People tell me it's a down side to not knowing current events from watching the news, but IMO and experience, this is one of those instances where "ignorance IS bliss".

Tim,

We use Netflix and Amazon Prime. We're not sports fans unless it's going to a game. When we can't find something to watch we both read. I can't imagine a person liking be shut off of broadcast TV if they're not a reader.

David Weaver
04-29-2014, 8:58 AM
if you want to get away from cable but don't get antenna reception, you can try Aereo.com (http://www.aereo.com). works pretty well for us, and is like $8/month. Seems a little silly paying for something that should be free, but $8 is a whole lot better than paying $40 for a bunch of stuff I don't watch anyway.

Cable charges a "broadcast TV Fee" now, anyway. I thought that was illegal, but I guess they claim that it costs them money to rebroadcast it (reality is it always did, and they just want to nickel and dime on fees).

The only reason I know this as someone who cut cable TV off is that I have cable internet and they have set up the pricing structure so that the discount for having basic cable TV is the same price as the basic cable TV. We don't use it, though, we use a $20 digital antenna instead, because we get more channels locally than cable rebroadcasts, and the other basic channels are worthless. Years ago that was my first step, get rid of expanded (because reception is terrible here due to the mountains), and there were still a few decent channels, but they all went away from basic and digital TV transmits here a lot better than analog, so we get the pleasure of paying for basic as part of comcast's pricing scam, but we don't use it.

Ethan Melad
04-29-2014, 9:26 AM
hm thats interesting. Aereo is a defendant in a supreme court case challenging their ability to charge for broadcast TV; I wonder if cable company practices will have any bearing on the outcome.

Chris Walls
04-29-2014, 9:58 AM
Tim
My television died almost three years ago and I did not replace it. I cancelled the Directv and haven't looked back. It took about a year for the satellite tv people to stop calling a couple or three times a week. My wife has a tv that she watches movies and series on with a bluetooth player. I'm not a big fan so she usually watches alone. I really must say I have not missed it. I still have my internet connection , and read a lot at sights like this one, and the news on a number of sites. I usually read in the evenings, I have subscriptions to a number of magazines and enjoy them , the local paper (such as it is ) comes every day. We go to the local library often and I can sit and read all of the magazines that I would never buy a subscription too. I would say give it about 6 to 8 months and see if you don't like livings a little more unplugged.
Chris

Judson Green
04-29-2014, 10:47 AM
Never had cable. Started doing Netflix/Chromecast late last year. So between it, the antenna and everything the internet has to offer I'm pretty covered.

Actual that's not entirely true, at times I'm frustrated that Netflix doesn't have some movies that I'd like to see

Tom Stenzel
04-29-2014, 12:00 PM
I remember when cable came to Detroit my room mate and I decided to get it. When he left, I remember turning on the television twice the next month. And didn't find anything to watch either time. I called Barton Cablevision to come get their box.

When I got married my Wife had a 25 inch color television and cable where she was living. I had a 19 inch portable on a rollcart, complete with rabbit ears and a VCR that didn't work. A previous room mate of mine had jammed it with a tape and didn't tell me. Close to a year after he had moved out I still hadn't noticed.

A few years ago I came home and found my Wife had signed us up with AT&T U-verse. To cut costs we've since dumped the TV part but still have the phone and the mighty 1.5 MPS service, the cheapest they sold at the time.

I never had any sports channels so I don't miss them. But then most of the world doesn't have the Detroit Lions to watch as their home team. All I need to do is take a little tinfoil from my hat, hang it from the rabbit ears for a 'lil extra, and I can get Hockey Night in Canada. That's about all the TV sports I need. For some reason I still prefer to listen to the Tigers on the radio, must be from growing up with Ernie Harwell.

-Tom

max taylor
04-29-2014, 3:46 PM
my wife and I are planning to do the same. max

Moses Yoder
04-29-2014, 4:28 PM
Netflix will recommend shows to try based on what you watch from them; this has actually led us to a lot of shows we didn't know about and now like. I was not allowed to play sports as a child, thus I have no interest in sports. I have no interest in news either, since it is all bad. If you are interested in sports and news there are web sites you can subscribe to for those. I did some research while thinking about following the Wolverines (Michigan football) last fall and found most of the network television websites have various subscriptions to stream sports. I get all the news I need from friends and coworkers but there are plenty of news sites online as well.

David Masters
04-29-2014, 7:55 PM
I cut the cable two years ago and haven't looked back. I bought a cheap TiVo box and pay a monthly charge of around $15 for the service. I can get Netflix through that. Hulu and Amazon are also available, but the TiVo can't distinguish between Prime or non Prime customers, so got a Cheap Roku box which does support Prime memberships. But I found that I don't use Amazon Prime for videos that much.

Larry Frank
04-29-2014, 8:18 PM
I hate my cable bill but pay it each month. I say to each their own. There are a number of shows that I really enjoy. I have some issues with my back and such and need some time a couple times during the day to just sit. (Yes, I could read which I do about two books a week.)

I find that there are a number of shows that are really good on History, Science and National Geographic channels. There are a lot of shows that I think that are junk but others like.

Great country where if you do not want cable you do not have to buy it. If I want my cable it, I can buy it.

The best thing about the DVR is that you can record shows and then watch them and zip through the commercials without watching them. We rarely watch anything live except some sports shows.

Bert Kemp
04-30-2014, 11:40 PM
I cut Cable over 10 years ago , I have my 42 inch plasma hooked directly to a computer and I watch any thing I want for the cost of my internet connection. I watch my local news in the morning and night. I watch my Nascar on Sunday, I watch the Super Bowl and the world series all pretty much commercial free. There's a website that has just about every tv station in the world on it. Theres another one that has just about every tv show you can think of old and new, NO COMMERCIALS. I use that one for Mash, Hogans Heros, and a bunch of other old shows.Well anyway like I said I can watch just about anything there is to watch out there on the net. Oh and every radio station in the world also. These people that are paying a cable company big bucks each month to watch commercial must be crazy or just don't cars about money.

Tim Boger
05-01-2014, 7:01 AM
I cut Cable over 10 years ago , I have my 42 inch plasma hooked directly to a computer and I watch any thing I want for the cost of my internet connection. I watch my local news in the morning and night. I watch my Nascar on Sunday, I watch the Super Bowl and the world series all pretty much commercial free. There's a website that has just about every tv station in the world on it. Theres another one that has just about every tv show you can think of old and new, NO COMMERCIALS. I use that one for Mash, Hogans Heros, and a bunch of other old shows.Well anyway like I said I can watch just about anything there is to watch out there on the net. Oh and every radio station in the world also. These people that are paying a cable company big bucks each month to watch commercial must be crazy or just don't cars about money.

Hey Bert,

Pls check your messages, I'm interested in your online sources for programming.

.................................................. .................................................. ...............

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

Brian Elfert
05-01-2014, 7:04 AM
I cut Cable over 10 years ago , I have my 42 inch plasma hooked directly to a computer and I watch any thing I want for the cost of my internet connection. I watch my local news in the morning and night. I watch my Nascar on Sunday, I watch the Super Bowl and the world series all pretty much commercial free. There's a website that has just about every tv station in the world on it. Theres another one that has just about every tv show you can think of old and new, NO COMMERCIALS. I use that one for Mash, Hogans Heros, and a bunch of other old shows.Well anyway like I said I can watch just about anything there is to watch out there on the net. Oh and every radio station in the world also. These people that are paying a cable company big bucks each month to watch commercial must be crazy or just don't cars about money.

Care to tell us the names of some of these websites? I didn't think you could watch any NFL games online for free. (Not that I watch any NFL games anyhow.) From my admittedly limited searching a lot of TV shows don't seem to be available online, but I am probably not looking hard enough.

Brian Elfert
05-01-2014, 7:19 AM
What I really want to see is the ability to only pay for those cable channels I watch. I suppose a dozen channels might cost 50% of what I pay for a large package, but still 50% cheaper than what I pay now. The ESPN channels cost each subscriber about $5 a month even if you never watch ESPN!

Harold Burrell
05-01-2014, 7:28 AM
Believe it or not, I haven't had cable for over 20 years. I can't even imagine spending that much money when I have learned so many ways to waste time for free.

Judson Green
05-01-2014, 9:40 AM
Be even nicer to pay for just the shows you want to see.

Pat Barry
05-01-2014, 12:35 PM
I cut Cable over 10 years ago , I have my 42 inch plasma hooked directly to a computer and I watch any thing I want for the cost of my internet connection. I watch my local news in the morning and night. I watch my Nascar on Sunday, I watch the Super Bowl and the world series all pretty much commercial free. There's a website that has just about every tv station in the world on it. Theres another one that has just about every tv show you can think of old and new, NO COMMERCIALS. I use that one for Mash, Hogans Heros, and a bunch of other old shows.Well anyway like I said I can watch just about anything there is to watch out there on the net. Oh and every radio station in the world also. These people that are paying a cable company big bucks each month to watch commercial must be crazy or just don't cars about money.
I used to watch Hogan's Heroes (in the 70's). the fact you can get that for free is not surprising.