Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I was thinking of doing an experiment this spring/summer. I want to see if I can do without cable TV for the entire time. I intend to replace it with a combination of my Blockbuster Total Access and iTunes.

My reasonings:

1.) I'm addicted to TV and need to watch less
2.) My cable service sucks as far as the TV goes...crappy signal, crappy channel lineup

I think my biggest sacrifice will be sports events. I can always watch stuff at the local sports lounge, but watching sporting events at home could be tough. Since it's summer, I'd be missing out on golf and baseball which I do watch regularly.

I don't have an HDTV (yet), so nothing lost in that department.

Anyone think this is do-able?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

Definitely doable. I average 1 hour/week of tv.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I'd miss Food Network. I'd also miss the dvr. If I lost the internet that comes with my cable, that's the biggest thing I'd miss.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

It's doable. You're right, you'll miss sports ... but not as much as you might think.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

You have inspired me to un plug my cable. I can watch heroes on the internet. No more tv for a while for me.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

Easy. 99% of TV sucks major ass.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I don't even watch TV anymore. I download Veronica Mars, 24, and one other show I refuse to say. That's it.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I could do this but it would suck not being able to watch WWE for the entire summer tho. Would this include boxing, UFC and WWE PPVs as well or just normal TV shows?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I've never had cable except for a 2 year stint in where the previous leaser had it illegally hooked up. At first, I couldn't believe how much cool stuff was on TV that I'd been missing, but after 2 years I felt like 90% of the stuff I dug(history, discovery, comedy, etc) was repeats and the cable thing had gotten stale.
I thought I'd miss sports the most, but I actually missed sportscenter in the a.m. even more than I missed watching the games/events in the evening.
Turning off the tube is always a good thing. I supplemented with Netflix afterward.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

Very doable. I've thought about ditching cable for a while now. My college didn't have cable in the dorms, so I pretty much never watched TV. Just DVDs. My interest in sports dropped off considerably during college. It's since grown again. I'd really miss my NBA League pass, that's it.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I did this about three years ago. My wife was in her second year of Medical School and found herself distracted by all the stupid shows on cable. Since I don't watch much other than sports and history channel I agreed and we haven't had anything but the basic package (since it's cheaper bundled with cable modem than nothing) which includes the main networks, Discovery, Food Network, Bravo and two or so more.

Sure I miss ESPN, but when there's something worth seeing we usually go to some bar to watch it. Usually we end up putting in a movie if we feel like watching TV anyways so not a big deal really, and saving $30-XX per month is always nice. That being said, once she's done with school we're getting a big screen and the pimped out HD package so I can watch sports and nature shows the way they were meant to be seen.

Swede

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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I don't even watch TV anymore. I download Veronica Mars, 24, and one other show I refuse to say. That's it.

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Desperate Housewives?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

Once hockey season is over, I might consider this. I watch a lot of TV, but I could really live without cable if it weren't for sports. Afterall, I spent the first 18 years of my life without cable. Network TV + the internet + Netflix should be plenty to keep me entertained as much as I should be. I say should because I definitely watch way more TV than I really need to. When I moved to my current place, I went with zero TV for about a month and it suprisingly wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I'm doing it right now - I just get the locals - that's still two HD channels for sports -

Otherwise I'm wasting too much time when I should be recording - I have a very short attention span and to me, channel clicking is a valid time waster -

so when I moved I haven't redone the cable or the dish yet - though I HAVE a dish mounted on the side of the house - LOL

rb

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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I don't even watch TV anymore. I download Veronica Mars, 24, and one other show I refuse to say. That's it.

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Desperate Housewives?

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It's a half hour show that's more obscure in the US that has a much younger target audience. That's all I'll say.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

[ QUOTE ]
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I don't even watch TV anymore. I download Veronica Mars, 24, and one other show I refuse to say. That's it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Desperate Housewives?

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It's a half hour show that's more obscure in the US that has a much younger target audience. That's all I'll say.

[/ QUOTE ]

Teletubbies?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

[ QUOTE ]
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I don't even watch TV anymore. I download Veronica Mars, 24, and one other show I refuse to say. That's it.

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Desperate Housewives?

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It's a half hour show that's more obscure in the US that has a much younger target audience. That's all I'll say.

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Teletubbies?

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You are not humorous.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I haven't had cable in 2 and a half years. You forget about it pretty quickly. Plus, with TV on DVD, the internet, friends, and sports bars, you can usually find a way to watch something if you want to.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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Teletubbies?

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You are not humorous.

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I'm not sure you're being objective. I lol'd.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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Teletubbies?

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You are not humorous.

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I'm not sure you're being objective. I lol'd.

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I actually let out a guilty chuckle while typing my post, but objectively speaking I didn't think it was humorous. Too obvious and unoriginal.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

the best thing I did in the last 6 months of my life was sell my flat-screen TV to a craigslist drug dealer.

tv is a great time waster. I'd rather go watch a game at a local bar than sit at home and I've been sitting much less at home since I sold my tv obv...also reading lots more books which = good and listening to much more music which I stopped doing for a while.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I haven't owned a TV since college, though my roomates usually have one in the living room. (couple of years) As such, I hardly ever watch TV. Overall, I think it's a positive change, but not that big of a change: I still download stuff I want to watch (mostly movies and UFC stuff). And in terms of time savings, I think more than anything, the internet replaced the time I spent in front of the tube.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

There are some people, former mods even, who won't buy a TV. They can't handle the mediocrity.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I dvr the [censored] out of anything, if I cant fastforward through the commercials, i rarely watch it nowadays.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

i haven't had cable in eight years (since i started college) save a three-month stretch when a roommate hooked it up. i miss watching sports, but i can't watch the sox here anyway cause you can't get NESN in NYC. i settle for MLB.tv which sucks gigantic [censored] balls but other than that i don't miss much.

i was thinking about getting it again just to watch some stuff on comedy central and espn, but it's such a bad value that i find it pretty easy to postpone.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I guess i'm in the minority, but totally impossible for me.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

Can anyone here do the same thing with regards to a computer?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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Can anyone here do the same thing with regards to a computer?

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Noooooooooooooooooooo

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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the best thing I did in the last 6 months of my life was sell my flat-screen TV to a craigslist drug dealer.


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Did you sell it for drugs?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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Can anyone here do the same thing with regards to a computer?

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A better question might be if anyone here with broadband internet access could go back to dial-up.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

The Hills. It's ok to watch it bro.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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The Hills. It's ok to watch it bro.

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i feel like just coming out and saying it because: a) it's a really good show, and b) i hate people getting it wrong.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I have lived my entire life without either and I'm glad, cause I would have pissed away so many hours watching [censored]. The only t.v. show I watch is the office, and seinfeld. peace god

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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i feel like just coming out and saying it because: a) it's a really good show, and b) i hate people getting it wrong.

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Well then we're just going to have keep at you. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Power Puff Girls?

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I have no tv in my house. I havne't had a tv in my living space in around 6 yeras.

TV is -EV.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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I have no tv in my house. I havne't had a tv in my living space in around 6 yeras.

TV is -EV.

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http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I grew up without cable/satellite tv. It's not so bad

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

I don't have a TV in my house either, and I condsider my self superior to those who own one.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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I grew up without cable/satellite tv. It's not so bad

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Probably not your best argument ever.

Re: Life without cable or satellite TV?
 

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The Hills. It's ok to watch it bro.

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i feel like just coming out and saying it because: a) it's a really good show, and b) i hate people getting it wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]yeah how embarrassing would it be if an anonymous nickname and a guilty pleasure tv show were linked together [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]