Last night as we clicked through 150+ channels with nothing worth watching, my lovely wife points out that we are paying close to $80 a month for this junk, and why not just get rid of it. It has me thinking all day, and I’m really getting to appreciate the idea. All I would miss are movies, so a NetFlix membership would fill that void nicely.
So, who here lives without network/cable/satellite TV, whether you never had it or just gave it up? I’m curious to hear.
For a relatively small investment you can put up an antenna and return to the days of free T.V. Mine can go months without being turned on but sometimes their is something worth watching. It is handy for local news and weather coverage at times.
we disconnected cable a year ago but have local over the air channels for news and 2 1/2 men, total cost. $34.95 (one time) for antenna.
I’m sure some of your Amish neighbors could give you some input. 
Heck I don’t even have a computer… wait I mean I don’t have a fancy one like Joe has…
TV cost is really high and I have as you Val been thinking of changing over to a Comcast bundle for all my data and tv services we pay $ 70.00 for just the TV now
plus ATT, Verision ect… , funny I had the same exact thought as you Val just two day ago…
Wife is on it tomorrow… I will chime back in with any huge savings, hopefully so anyway…
Be saFE
We have lived without TV for most or our married lives (30 years), through kids and all. We still watch rented movies occasionally, especially in winter, and aren’t above going to friends and neighbors for a current event or some special occasion. It is sort of like smoking,once you quit you can’t believe you ever did it. TV in general is so crass and the constant advertising really takes away any real experience that a good show might have. I read the news online and do it to excess for sure but to get your news without the hype and phony drama that comes with the network talking heads is really refreshing. It seems like TV just has to make everything so exciting, otherwise they are afraid no one will watch. I could go on and on but I better not.
We didn’t have cable for about 8 years. Only got it about a year ago because it was a “2 for the price of 3” services through Mediacom…we “needed” the internet and land-based phone, so it was like getting the Cable for free. We rarely watch it. We do use our TV to watch rented movies or free movies from the Library, however. Even with the movies…about 1/2 the time I will just tie flies or go fishing in the dark rather than watch it.
Years ago we had one of those giant old dishes that made it look like we were in command of the Mars rover. In our homes over the years, we’ve had cable, or should I say various cable companies have had their way with us.
About five years ago, not wishing to become a permanent slave to cable, I decided to go with a good old fashioned set top antenna. But then that whole digital thing started. So I went out with coupon in hand and bought a converter box.
Wow, for a while the new digital signal was as good or better than any cable system we’d ever had and the number of channels available went from a fuzzy twelve with the old rabbit ears to twenty nine crisp clear channels, but we still couldn’t find much worth watching.
Then one day the new digital converter box crapped out and we went tubeless, sort of.
Interesting side note, none of the stores around here that originally carried converter boxes, carry them now. ( Insert conspiracy theory here. )
It’s been a few months now and neither of us are in any rush to change the way things are. Although we have an ever growing d.v.d collection of around 400 titles.
If anything happens in the world that we actually need to know about, of course there is the radio ( mostly NPR ) and the infernal machine that I’m typing on right now is capable of tuning in to every network news source we would’ve turned to with the TV.
Of course, I’m the guy who rides his bikes more miles each year than he drives a car.
That damn hippy, Dave
Valhalla,
I haven’t owned a TV in 6.5 years since I moved out of my mom’s house and I don’t miss it at all. Even when I was at home this summer with my family, (they have a big screen and cable with tons of channels) I didn’t feel the need to turn it on because any entertainment I found on it would certainly be less enjoyable and productive than fly tying or spending time with my family, or reading a book I enjoyed, etc…
You could just do a trial with no cable for a few weeks and see what happens. The cable company certainly wouldn’t prohibit you from signing up again. lol, and that’s almost $1,000 a year saved. Think of what you and your wife could do with $1,000.
In '07 we had an ice storm here in SW MO. The cable fell off the pole. It’d been a couple years since I cut it off my house w/ wire dikes. Don’t miss it a bit. All they ever did was give me attitude & a big bill, leave wheel ruts & trash in my yard. I miss 'em like a tooth ache. The cable that lay in the yaed got cut off the pole w/ a hatchet. Cable company ,“Have a nice day!”
Steve, you have me wondering; Joe (Who?) I’ve been giving some serious consideration to bailing out on TV all together. The only shows I like are NCIS, Criminal Minds & American Chopper. BUT, for every 5 minutes of showtime, you have to deal with equal time (or more) of commercials. What the HECK am I paying for? I have better entertainment watching my dogs.
We just have free TV at our place, and almost never watch it. When I first moved to NZ in 1997 I didn’t get a TV and was without one for years and quite happy. The one we now have is used only to watch movies and other DVDs. We may even dump it and just get a nice big screen and use the computer for movies.
Just me and my laptop! Cut the “cord” 2-3 yrs ago? I think/ can’t remember/ don’t really care. Tried the rabbit ear thing (4 or 5 different kinds) none worked. Thought about wearing a tin hat, but that probably wouldn’t work either. Too much interference from all the other tin-hat wearers. LOL!!! I honestly can not ,in any shape or form, justify getting my T.V. hooked back up!!! Besides, my dogs can not be trusted with the remote!
Best Regards, Dave S.
My wife and I have 9 TV’s. That’s pretty bad, I know. I can remember as a kid growing up when our family didn’t have any TV. Then there were years when we only had one. Gradually we added a second, then a third, and so on.
More recently, the internet came into our lives, then cell phones. One computer, then two, then three, and now I “think” I need a fourth.
But yet we’re pretty 'basic" when it comes to our TV programming. We subscribe to “only” 250 channels from the DISH satellite TV network. Same thing with our cell phones and service. Our kids are way beyond my wife and me with their Iphones and such. But I got them “beat” with the navigation systems in our vehicles, that come with their DVD players, GPS’s and Sirius radios.
What has our life become? I hope I can still find some time this coming weekend away from all the TV’s, the computers, the cell phones, and the Sirius radios to take my grandson fishing. I did pry him away from the cartoon channel on the TV last weekend long enough to play some catch football in the backyard.
I for one am happy to pay for my television because I feel the choices have never been better. First of all, I never watch major network television and haven’t for years, you can have that! PBS offers some stuff I enjoy but that’s once a week, the rest of the time that stinks too. So much for my free options.
But even when it comes to cable which is what I have, the variety of programming keeps my interest. I just have a basic cable package with HD which is bundled with my phone & Internet for $99. I don’t do Netflix, I don’t do pay-per-view or other “entertainment” extras like HBO, etc. Despite the “white bread” choices in my basic package, there is always something worth watching IMHO if you skip the sitcoms, dramas and stupid major network reality programming.
I have the MLB Channel with baseball 24/7, Discovery, HGTV, Animal Planet, BBC America, History Channel, TCM with Cagney, Bogart, Tracy and the movies I love with NO commercials; RTV which has old shows like McHale’s Navy, Dragnet, Leave it to Beaver, Emergency and Adam 12 among others, Speed TV with Formula 1 racing which I can’t get elsewhere and with the local channel packaging I get, I see more Yankees games than ever without paying for a subscription, not to mention someone other than Katie Couric, et al for the news!
I also find some of the new activity/reality programming on cable fun to watch like Pawn Stars, Pickers, Hoarders and Storm Chasers. Then there is How It’s Made, Modern Marvels and Myth Busters which I could watch 24 hours a day!
Yup, I love my TV! I wouldn’t go back to the days of three networks, one PBS, and three UHF channels for all the money in the world even though it sometimes seems like I’m spending that on cable!
Having my finances tied down to where I have the liberty to spend for toys, I keep a close eye on what I spend. What blows my mind is the category for “Communication”, including Internet, TV, and phone. When added up it comes pretty close to my mortgage !!! 
For a single guy to pay what is necessary for communication any more is ridiculous. However I do really enjoy my NFL football in HD 
We still own a tv, but only as a monitor for our DVD player. I unplugged about 10 years ago, and when we married, my wife decided to follow suit. Can’t really say we’re missing anything and we spend more of our time at home together communicating, tying flies, etc.
We got a couple of tvs. Cable with internet and phone. We rarely watch anything on the network channels except local news from time to time. We watch a lot of Natgeo, Discovery, Science, Travel, etc.
I used to have a computer network built at home with 2 servers and 4 or 5 workstations because I am a systems admin. Then I realized I was working all day on the networks/computers at work then coming home and doing the same thing there. We now have two computers not networked except for the internet connection.
I am thinking of building an entertainment system and pulling all my video/audio wants from the internet and doing away with the cable. The technology is there and one can store tv, movies, and music onto one computer system and deliver it anywhere in the house from that system at anytime you want to watch/listen.
We have one, but I don’t watch it much. It goes on every now and then at bedtime, but usually we only use it to watch a movie or two.
TT.
We have tv, but I SELDOM watch network shows. I watch my football & fly fishing shows as available, but other than that it’s the aforementioned classic movies, Food, Travel, History, Animal networks & PBS. I honestly don’t think I could name a single primetime network tv show.
Now, if Cable would come up with an economy plan where I could pick any SIX or maybe SEVEN channels, I would be all over it.
Mike