Roku? ....want to cancel cable

[Muushka]

I'm the one holding us back from cutting cable and I rarely watch TV but I love Turner Classic Movies. The only other show I watch is American Idol which I only started last year, but this year I really love it. Otherwise all my kids shows seem to be available on computer.

Anyway to get Turner Classic Movie's without cable?

Have you checked out the classics that stream on Netflix? We have also ordered them on DVD.

 

[Frannie115]

In talking to people at work recently, I was amazed at how many do not have cable TV or landline phone.

It's time to take the plunge

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Which makes me wonder.. 10 years down the road, are their cable companies or Direct/Dish going out of business/merging as they lose customers? Channels shutting down because revenues aren't there?

 

[Nayan]

I doubt they'll go out of business, but I was reading an article yesterday that said with people moving from cable to internet for their viewing don't be surprised if your internet costs more than your cable in a year or two. If you want high speeds in order to stream movies and shows then eventually you're going to have to pay for it.

 

[DawnM]

Well, if my internet goes up to that cost, we will have to cut satellite for sure as I can't justify the payment on both!

Dawn

I doubt they'll go out of business, but I was reading an article yesterday that said with people moving from cable to internet for their viewing don't be surprised if your internet costs more than your cable in a year or two. If you want high speeds in order to stream movies and shows then eventually you're going to have to pay for it.

 

[JB2K]

Which makes me wonder.. 10 years down the road, are their cable companies or Direct/Dish going out of business/merging as they lose customers? Channels shutting down because revenues aren't there?

I doubt the CATV companies will go out of business anytime soon, as most of them have exclusive franchise agreements with your local town (if you look at your bill, you are paying the franchise fees).

One thing you have to look-out for is "other circumstances" which could shut-down a cable company. It already happened to Adelphia and Charter Communications was on thin ice, just a couple of years ago. Should that happen again, you can count on the others to step-in and take those assets, since the cable business is still viable.

As for the satellite TV companies, there have been several that have already ceased business (and their subscribers were rolled-into DirectTV). I don't think either Dish or DirecTV will be going-away, anytime soon (as the FCC already made a huge mistake allowing our only two satellite radio companies to merge).

In light of this week's Comcast/NBC Universal merger, I suspect the CATV industry now has little choice but to embrace emerging technologies such as video streaming (since that was a condition the Federal Government placed on them for this merger). A good example is NBC's already large presence on Hulu.

 

[smokeyblue]

I'm hoping to go cable free when I move into my new house in three weeks. I bought a laptop that has a HDMI port so I can hook it up to my TV. It works really well for my purposes, just me, no kids. I watch Netflix and streaming network TV shows. I don't really watch much TV other than network and Bravo, so I hope I can do it! My only problem is the high speed internet in this neck of the woods is so unpredictable. Our only choices are ATT DSL and Charter cable. ATT doesn't offer the highest speed here and Charter is out all of the time.