I'm one of them now

jason

Seanchaí
Staff member
Well I'm officially "one of them now" as I've seen people refer to people who no longer have cable TV. Cable has been disconnected for over a week now, finally got the antenna up around 9pm Saturday. Still some fine tuning on that, but couldn't do it at night. We have the ruko though and use netflix, hulu and a few other services. Truth be told, the only thing I really miss is having the clock on the cable box. Might need to get some clocks for the house.
 

Bill_F

Active Member
Hey Brother Jason.
So, it's almost been a month now. Hows life without brighthouse cable? And have they called you with any good deals to try to win you back? I'm just curious as we're thinking of doing the same as you have done.
Thank you.
 

jason

Seanchaí
Staff member
I am actually surprised they have not offered anything to try and keep us. Not even when we called to cancel. Our bill dropped about a hundred dollars so that is nice. I miss Bay News 9. Only because I have tried my best to get out on the kayak this year and they ran weather reports including marine forecasts every 10 minutes or so. But I have only managed twice so far to get out. As far as shows I thought I might miss a few but I do not. Vikings I can watch on History Channel's Roku App. But to be honest I forget about the show until the weekend when a friend comes over and I put it on while we talk.

I have been "watching" a lot of Ted Talks. I put watching in quotes as it is often background noise while on the computer or working around the house. Right now as I type this I am listening to The Celts which is on Hulu. I guess it is a BBC program. Seems to have their feel. Pretty good and I find myself replaying some of them as I miss stuff only half paying attention. If you sign up for Hulu let me know. We both could get a free extra two weeks.

I find myself putting on a lot of documentaries. If I cannot sleep I may put on a TV show or Movie to fall asleep to.

Hulu also has a lot of stuff for the kids. While I do try for stuff that teaches them a little like Dora the Explorer, they love their Spongebob. I think their TV watching has gone down some. But it could be the warmer weather helping.

I really do not use the antenna much. Often it is just in the mornings as I drink my coffee and do my morning thing on the computer. I will put on the news to try and catch the weather report. Most of my news has been from around the web otherwise. I was able to follow the progress of the Bundy Ranch pretty easily while not worrying about whatever celebrity is making the news for their stupidity.

Sports may be a problem for some. I rarely if ever sat down to just watch a sports event, so it does not bother me. You can get some channels and pay for them through Roku to watch sports, but from my reading things like Football are hard to find.

I am been trying, although not that hard, on getting a computer up and running. I have a hard drive with a copy of our DVD's on it. I would like to try and get Plex running on it. This way I can stream the DVD's and I can keep them away from the kids and getting scratched. Plus the wife has some DVDs of stuff that other companies like netflix or amazon prime do not stream.

My reading went up by a book for the month. I just finished the second book in the Iron Druid series. So it is not all serious reading but it beats TV, although the book does have some mythology built into it.

While I cannot say my productivity has sky rocketed I have seen a slight increase. I really do not miss the cable. The money may saved may not be a lot to some, but it helps. For the foreseeable future I see no reason to go back to cable.

Amazon just launched their own TV hardware similar to the Roku. And Google's ChromeCast has been open for developers. Never really hear much about AppleTV anymore. This could be interesting to watch as more people switch over.
 

failghe

New Member
Here's a funny thing. I actually work for the cable company, won't mention which one. I have not watched tv for 2 weeks except for the morning news while getting ready for work. I will say that I have not missed it. History channel without history, MTV without music, etc. I am much more productive doing things around the house and relaxed sitting by the fire or reading the good book. BTW need, want, my internet though. LOL.
 

Bill_F

Active Member
Picked up a "Roku" receiver. I'm hooked already, and haven't even gone past netflix. There's so much available, but i want to try it out for a couple of months before i actually get rid of cable.
What a shame, a simple move like getting rid of a big time waster like TV is a huge decision.
 

trysquare

New Member
I haven't had cable in decades, and it's been years since I had actual TV reception. Netflix has fed any need I have for visual stimuli.
 
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