Save Money & Your Brain - Get Rid of Cable TV

[feh]

My wife and I were probably pretty average tv watchers until our son was born. The tv was on a large percentage of the day; many brain cells were killed.

We didn't want our son hooked on tv, so we made a conscious effort to use it as little as possible after he was born, although we did still have cable or satellite services at different times.

Well, we just moved a couple months ago, and decided we didn't need satellite tv any more. For the few hours of tv we watched per week, it just didn't make financial sense.

I must admit I miss some shows, particularly some on Discovery/History/Science channels, but it hasn't been a big adjustment.

[mishi07]

Oh I don't think my household would survive without cable. All my family members have their channel which they tune in whenever. If we got rid of it, it'll just drawback on DVD purchases >__<;;

[sidney7]

The other benefit of getting rid of cable too is that it usually forces you to spend your time doing more "quality" things for entertainment like spending time with family, reading informative books, cleaning, learning a hobby, or any other number of things which are more productive then watching TV.

[mikewoodbooks]

I've never had cable. It's hard to find basic cable for under $40. I have definately looked into getting cable for the HD capability, but by the time you add HD, extra boxes, taxes, etc it ends up being about $100/month. I don't know anyone that is paying less than $50/month, and most people I know are paying $80 - $120/month.

Half of my concern with cable is not so much the money (although it is way too expensive), but the time. There is simply too much that I would like to watch on cable. And I don't have that kind of time to spare. With regular TV, there's nothing I need to watch on a regular basis. I might pick up a PBS show once a month. So it is a huge time savings.

For reception, I just use our antenna. It pulls in a half dozen stations clearly and another half dozen in various degrees of quality.

Responding to the points above: After the switch over to all digital, you will be able to buy a converter box (probably $50-100) and it will convert the signal you're getting off your antenna to digital.

For the person that's getting the $50 package for $15/month, I would worry that that will come back to haunt you. I have heard of cases like this where the cable company has come back to people and said, "oops, we made a billing error. You owe us $840." And they have won in these cases. Remember, cable companies are not known for having a friendly reputation.

There have been attempts over the years to force the cable companies to unbundle their packages. Basically, the sports programming costs much more than the other channels and people who buy packages subsidize ESPN and similar. If you had the option to drop the sports, your bill might fall to something reasonable, like $10/month. But as usual, our legislators like taking those campaign contributions from the cable companies so the consumer suffers in the end.

[feh]

For reception, I just use our antenna. It pulls in a half dozen stations clearly and another half dozen in various degrees of quality.

Responding to the points above: After the switch over to all digital, you will be able to buy a converter box (probably $50-100) and it will convert the signal you're getting off your antenna to digital.

One small correction - the converter box doesn't convert the signal from your antenna to digital. The broadcast is already digital - the converter box converts the digital broadcast to analog, so your analog television can display it.

Most stations are broadcasting both analog and digital signals currently. As of February, the analog broadcasts will end.

[disneysteve]

It's hard to find basic cable for under $40.

I don't know anyone that is paying less than $50/month, and most people I know are paying $80 - $120/month.

Call your cable company and ask about their "antenna service". Different companies call it different things but I believe they all have to offer a limited package that gives the local channels and a few others.

We pay $11.30/month total with all taxes and fees.

[Gailete]

We have been without cable for over 3 years and even though we have an antennae on the roof it isn't connected. We do however have a large collection of DVDs and VHS movies. My hubby is self-employed and likes movies running in the background while he works in the shop and when he gets done with work around 10-11PM he likes to relax with MASH espisodes. Most of the MASH episodes on DVD were received either as gifts or I got them through Amazon using gift certificates from my credit card use (from my ebay business) so even though the whole MASH series would have been about $250 retail we got them over the course of time for less than $25. We find VHS movies at yard sales etc also. Very rarely do we actually buy a new DVD. Most of what we have gets watched over and over again. I prefer to read even when watching TV so sinces for us it is mainly 'reruns' I have probably read at least 1000 books in the last year with no cable. It is just not something we can afford, so not having it for us leaves us that money to put towards something else that needs to be paid for.

One benefit to not having TV via cable or antennae is not having to see commercials which means you don't get all those subtle clues that your life is without meaning if you don't have the latest gadget or goodie.