Has anyone gotten rid of their cable TV?

[Bichon Barb]

I'm the cable TV watcher in the family. My husband rarely watches TV. The boys (8 and 10) watch Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network sometimes in the evenings -- but moreso in the winter months. In the summer the are outside a lot. We are gone camping about every other weekend in the summer.

I'm thinking about having the service shut down for the summer months. I'm afraid. Will I go through withdrawals with no TLC or AP? It would save us about $50 a month.

Has anyone done this?

TIA for your thoughts.

 

[JetMom]

What would the cost be to reinstate the service in the fall? It might cancel out the savings for July and August.

 

[Christine]

I've been thinking about doing this myself but am too chicken. I'm not much of a TV watcher at all (General Hospital--that's it), but my kids and DH watch a lot. But, I'm thinking that $50 a month is an awful lot of money to pay to watch TV. I grew up in an area where they did not offer cable until I was about 20. I had the major network channels and PBS. That was fine for me. I could go back to that easily. But where I used to live got much better reception. I'm told that where I live now, it would be difficult to get good reception. No one around here seems to go without cable so I just don't know.

 

[stinkerbelle]

well - to be honest...we lived in an apartment for 6 months while our new house was being built - we only had cable for the first 3 months...the last 3 months were horrible. No basic channels - only what we could get in on "rabbit ears".

I went through SERIOUS TLC/HGTV/HBO withdrawals. On yucky days, when we were stuck inside, I most read or napped. (I know - so lazy.)

I really hated only have 4 channels...but that's just my opinion.

 

[Bichon Barb]

It's not just the money, I think it's a good lesson for the kids. They take things for granted. Anyway, I'm looking at my bill, if I decide to pay it, it would give me service from 4/27 - 5/26. Am I ready to get rid of it as early as this Tuesday?!

When we'd reinstate in the fall, I think we'd weigh standard cable vs. digital vs. satellite dish.

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

Yes, we cancelled it last April when hubby got laid off.

He's been back to work for 3 months and we haven't reconnected our cable service.......but we DO miss some of the stations like Discover and HGtv. I guess so far not enough to get hooked back up though. LOL

Good luck with your decision. That's a toughie, but you did mention that you were planning to do it just for the summer. That could work I think.

 

[gallaj0]

We made the switch to satellite about 3 years ago, and we'll never go back to cable.
I like the fact that we own our equipment, no "rental" fees for a remote; we don't have any premium movie channels, so our bill for 3 rooms is still under $40 a month; cable in our town for the same service would be between 80-90 a month.
The satellite is more reliable than the cable with better picture.
I like the fact that you're allowed to fiddle with your wiring, satellite dish, etc.; but that's just me, I love to fiddle with things, and hate waiting for a repair man to come out; but if I need a repair man, they are great.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Sure -- to switch to DirectTV!

 

[Pixie_Dust]

Originally posted by Bob Slydell
Sure -- to switch to DirectTV!

Ditto. And Tivo too!

 

[Mom2Madi]

I recently cancelled all of the bells and whistles, left us with basic cable for less than $30 a month - I was paying more than $70 because of the movie channels, digital cable, etc. DD missed ToonDisney (got over it) - DH misses Sopranos (still whines), but I like the extra $40 a month! Good luck with your decision. Now if the savings went directly into an account for your next vacation, the kids may be more receptive. Maybe you could set aside $X for a boat ride or entry to DQ if that wasn't on your agenda.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

My best friend did that last month, they were big time tv watchers and now they run videos all day. I don't understand it, they still watch tv all day. Maybe it was a money thing with them

 

[Maleficent13]

I got rid of cable about two years ago when I got divorced (I couldn't afford it). Surprisingly, I have never missed it. I find myself doing lots of other things, including reading. When I get the urge to watch something, I pop in a DVD (this happens maybe once a week).

Every once in a while I get an urge to just "veg out" in front of the TV, but they get fewer and farther between the longer I go without. Plus, when I go to my SO's house, who does have cable, it always seems like there's nothing on! So I really don't think I miss much!

 

[stinkerbelle]

Originally posted by Pixie_Dust
Ditto. And Tivo too!

Get the DirecTV w/ the Tivo all in one box - I love mine!

Our bill is rather high though...DH buys all the sports packages...and we have 1 movie package.

 

[C.Ann]

Interesting you should bring this up as I've just been going round and round with our cable company up to the lake..

Last year I had expanded cable for $26 and change per month - which gave us 36 channels.. When it gets shut off for the season (Oct. or Nov.) I pay $5 a month until it gets turned back on in mid-April or the 1st of May..

Well last week I tried to get it turned back on and had to deal with the nastiest, most miserable witch ever! She INSISTED that the "cheapest" package I could get this year was $48 and change per month - which would include 69 channels! What do I need with 69 channels???? It's mostly for rainy days (cartoons for my granddaughter - and NASCAR races for my son-in-law - and Lifetime movies for me late at night..) Unfortunately we're in a "dead zone" up there (cell phones don't work - can't get local channels on t.v.) so we have to have cable in order to have any television at all..

I thought about it over the weekend and yesterday I called back "pretending" to be someone getting service for the very first time.. Well guess what? I can get the expanded basic cable (which now has 52 channels) for $36 a month! Still more than I wanted to pay, but better than $48 and change per month.. That ding bat insisted there was NO package with less than 69 channels per month and I'm really, really hoping I get her again when I call to have it turned on later this week!!

If I were you I would go with the most basic pacakge and see if you can "wean" yourself off that way..

 

[UncleKyle]

Just the title of your thread made my heart stop and I started to sweat. I can't live without The Sopranos, The Daily Show, Monster House, American Choppers, etc. Just the thtought puts a tear in my eye.

 

[Bichon Barb]

OMG Uncle Kyle! I forgot about Comedy Central? (sniff sniff) You are not making this any easier.

 

[Vivianne]

When my DH and I bought a house 10 years ago, we were trying to find ways to save money. One of the first things to go was our cable connection.

I did like some channels but alot was just repeated movies from one movie channel to another.


I've figured we've saved a bit of money in 10 years!

If I really want to see a movie I rent it. Withdrawal was swift and easy for me.

 

[Feralpeg]

Maybe this will make you all feel better. You can use me as a bad example. I pay $170 a month for cable. That includes my Roadrunner service and all the cable channels. We also have 5 cable boxes in the house. Yes, I said 5. How else could we go from room to room leaving all of the TVs on? This might not seem so bad if it weren't for the fact that there are only two of us in the house! I look at it as my monthly entertainment expense. I don't go out a lot, so I am able to justify it. Ha!

 

[Micca]

I would never lose the cable. Too much good stuff

 

[Bichon Barb]

Can you just install splitter (or whatever they are called) to have the cable signal go to all the TV's? Is this a state-regulated type thing?

We have the cable going into the TV downstairs. The cable line also goes to our bedroom. My husband wired it so that it goes to the kids' room too. This isn't illegal in NYS. Once the cable comes into the house, you can do whatever you want with the signal.

At least I think.