We finally pulled the plug!

[LockShockBarrel]

Hahah no it's fine. Its just sort of my sick sense of humor going "gosh they're awfully excited about this...OH Ohhhhhh wait I get it now. Oops took that the wrong way!" .

 

[wendow]

I will be honest and say that my dh misses sports. He is a sports guy. He loves baseball and there is never baseball on regular tv until you get to the playoffs (at least in our market). So he watches baseball online. Sometimes he subscribes to MLB for the season or even just a month or two when he knows he'll have time to watch. But even that is a huge savings over monthly cable bills. During football season, we watch every game we get and we always get our home games so that isn't an issue. He does miss basketball and hockey but not enough to pay for it.

 

[southlakejr]

Wish we could cut it! But, we are both sports fans. If it were just football and baseball (DH sports), we could probably get by with local channels, or even just a very basic cable package. Unfortunately, DH is also an avid soccer fan, and I love my hockey. Neither of which are very accessible without cable. If Center Ice didn't block out local games until the next day, I would do that and watch online. But, waiting 24 hours to see the game is not going to work for me

 

[taymaesmom]

We cut cable in January and dont miss it at all! We have Hulu and Netflix and dh subscribed to some legal download program so he can get newer movies and tv shows. Our only issue is we cannot pick up CBS with our antenna which is he channel we watched the most, but dh has been able to stream all the shows we did watch there. I was worried my teens would miss it but they dont!

 

[JeremyGNJ]

We cut cable in January and dont miss it at all! We have Hulu and Netflix and dh subscribed to some legal download program so he can get newer movies and tv shows. Our only issue is we cannot pick up CBS with our antenna which is he channel we watched the most, but dh has been able to stream all the shows we did watch there. I was worried my teens would miss it but they dont!

There are no "legal" download programs.

I don't cut cable because, quite simply, it gives me everything. When you pay for Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon (or Xbox video or apply TV)...you only get "some" stuff.

Right now, it might seem like a good deal. But as time passes, the price will go up, and there will be even more choices. You'll wind up spending just about as much streaming services.

But you'll have 4 "guides" and 10 different menus.

 

[DawnM]

OHHHH. The only time I have seen DTR is in dating as in "define the relationship." I kept not quite getting how it would fit in your situation!

daughter, sorry used nursing lingo there

 

[DawnM]

Yeah, I think it is usually referred to as cutting the cord rather than pulling the plug. I can see how one would think that.

Dawn

I thought something very different when I saw "pulled the plug!"

 

[ceemys]

We haven't had cable for two years. I love it!

 

[lucyem]

We cut cable many years ago. We don't do anything else either. Once in a while I will get Netflix for a short time, like this past winter. But now that the snow is going Netflix is gone. We borrow dvd's from the library or sometimes if a show sounds interesting we will find it online to check it out.

 

[Nayan]

There are no "legal" download programs.

I don't cut cable because, quite simply, it gives me everything. When you pay for Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon (or Xbox video or apply TV)...you only get "some" stuff.

Right now, it might seem like a good deal. But as time passes, the price will go up, and there will be even more choices. You'll wind up spending just about as much streaming services.

But you'll have 4 "guides" and 10 different menus.

Plus, with more people going online do you think your internet rates will stay the same? They will rise, along with the costs of streaming services. Netflix just agreed to pay Comcast oodles of money in order to have their content streamed faster. Who will pay for that in the end? You will.

Also a really big ruling will be coming up, Aereo vs. Broadcasters. What will happen then?

http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/1201157584-1201157584/

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So do any of you watch sports? We are big sports watchers here and that is one of the things holding us back. I

That's our problem too. Going to a restaurant every sat and sun in football season would cost more than the directv bill.

 

[mtfarlin]

I have not had cable in 2 yrs and do not miss it at all. My brother and my sister have also discontinued cable...we are all back to "TV the way it was" when we were growing up and we enjoy it. Get enough stations to satisfy my TV needs and don't have to worry about the huge cable bill each month..

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Plus, with more people going online do you think your internet rates will stay the same? They will rise, along with the costs of streaming services. Netflix just agreed to pay Comcast oodles of money in order to have their content streamed faster. Who will pay for that in the end? You will. Also a really big ruling will be coming up, Aereo vs. Broadcasters. What will happen then? http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/1201157584-1201157584/

I just read that and have no idea what any of it meant. Can you paraphrase?

 

[Nayan]

I just read that and have no idea what any of it meant. Can you paraphrase?

The short answer is that if Aereo wins, the broadcasters could put all their good programs and sports on cable and all you'd be left with is reruns of Maury if you watch via antenna. If the broadcasters win, that means Aereo shuts down.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

My own big complaint about cable TV is that the technology in the cable box is seriously lacking. For example...

- How come when I scroll through the guide, there's big delays and pauses, but when I scroll through the guide on my Windows Media Center device, it flows like water?

- Same thing for On-Demand. I click on demand, and there's a 3-5 second pauses before I get the menu of stuff. Then additional pauses as I go through the menus.

- and finally....WHY ON EARTH do I need to have to have two versions of each channel? NBC is on channel 3, but if I want to watch it in HD, I have to go to 807. SURELY there's a way in 2014 to simply detect that I'm using an HD tv, and just show the HD version? I'd even settle for a master switch in the options: "I have an HD TV, show HD content when available"

 

[dawnhaze]

There are no "legal" download programs.

Not entirely true. It's completely legal to buy and download a show on iTunes or Amazon.

I do know what you actually meant, though.

 

[hsmamato2]

Wow...good thread! I think those of us who have easily cut the cord are probably mostly those who don't care too much about specific sports, etc. Dare I say,even programming? I say that b/c I know for us, OTA is just fine...adding Netflix in winter makes it even easier, but again, that's a bonus,not a 'must have'. (like the cable was)
My thoughts are, if I like one show, I look around till I find a similiar,or new show that I also like. I don't mind waiting to see something,and I don't mind looking for new shows.
FWIW, I also bought a Tivo box,to hook to the antenna, for us, it's not the shows, it's the ability to watch them in MY time.....
There will likely always be free OTA content.... if there isn't I'll worry about it then.
As to rising internet prices for streaming content, I fully expected that anyway, it follows the general rule of business and selling - get the population hooked and 'needing' a service or item, then set your own price. With or without streaming, our internet prices will rise,since so many of us are now "needing" it so much. That's just business,it's how it works. I for one,am glad to see so many people being smart,and cutting the cable. I myself had it for about 10 years,and I can't believe how much money I wasted NOT watching most of the channels...
If you're really hooked on sports however, you may want to keep that 'cord'...

 

[fluffykalie]

we cut the cable when we bought our house 5 years ago. simpliy because we could not affored both. now that my husband is out of collage and an elctician apprentice we still do not have cable. But we do have netfilx, and if the price goes higher then i want to pay i may drop them as well. Id rather spend the money on running cars, my house, kids privet school, and of course disney.

 

[ssawka]

We went a few years without cable until my wife asked me to put it back. I had built a dedicated computer for watching online video (this was before Roku, "smart" TVs, or "smart" blu-rays. Any way, she just could never get used to the interface and having to go to different sources for content. Since she watches much more TV than I do, I turned it back on. Since I already had the HTPC, I bought a card to put in it so now I just rent a $5 card from Verizon rather then set-top boxes. We are on FIOS, so I only pay about $100 per month for enhanced speed Internet with cable.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

This is so cool, and I think it's really great that it works for so many!

We've talked about this, but we have a few reasons for not cutting the cord.

-Our AT&T Uverse service is bundled into our homeowner's dues (at a lower rate even). We have to pay the dues regardless of if we watch cable or not, so cancelling cable would not save us any money. That's the #1 reason. If we ever move into a neighborhood that doesn't do this, then it'd possibly be an option.

-We really, really love HBO. The extra price for HBO is worth it to us because we make an at-home "date night" out of our favorite HBO shows. Normal date night would mean hiring a sitter, paying the bill at the restaurant, and movie tickets & snacks (or whatever we end up doing on our date night). HBO saves us time & money! Haha

We use the heck out of that HBO Go service. It seems like they could easily make it available outside of having cable, the way Netflix, etc. works.

So if we didn't have those homeowner's dues, and if HBO made their GO service available to anyone without cable, we'd be cutting the cord. Until then...Winter is Coming....