Thinking About Ditching Cable

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So Meri and I are seriously considering just ditching our cable television entirely.

We’ve come to the realization that beyond her occasional crashing with some HGTV… we just don’t watch anything. Sure, there’s South Park when there are new episodes, but the official website & Netflix can take care of that in due time. We’ve dropped Heroes, so that doesn’t matter anymore. For other, regular ol’ American TV shows (if we’re ever going to watch them), we’d rather much watch them on DVD without commercials, anyway.

I also finally used Hulu for the first time the other day, and found it surprisingly watchable. We checked out a random, recent episode of The Simpsons, and I was thrilled to see Dilbert on there, as well. It’s definitely making the case for a media-hub PC output to the TV, rather than just the PS3 or 360.

Speaking of which, those two are also replacing much of the “TV viewing”. No, it’s not because of gaming, but actual programming. Whether it’s material from Game Trailers or Game Videos or even some other random site, I love tossing things on DVD-RW and popping it in one of the systems for TV-viewing. That’s about to get even better with the “New Xbox Experience” and its tie-in with our Netflix account… streaming right to the TV without needing any new equipment!

At the end of the day, we’re not ever really watching “TV” and saving about $80 on a product (digital cable package + On Demand) we’re not using sure doesn’t sound like a bad deal. Are any of you living (well) without cable? I don’t see myself missing it…

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6 responses to “Thinking About Ditching Cable”

November 19, 2008

Forgotten Hero

Saving $80 dollars could be invested in a new game or some Rock Band songs. A good investment.
There is no reason for me to have cable television when I have my own place. I can get my South Park and Lost online, or I could just buy the DVDs. No biggy!

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November 19, 2008

desirecampbell

Here in Canada, cable-TV will take months to get new South Park episodes, I haven’t heard of any of Venture Brothers airing here, and that leaves, like, two other shows I might watch on cable. It’s just not worth the money.

I haven’t had cable for nearly three years.

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November 19, 2008

SatoSky

I am finding myself in the same position as Mike. Slowly but surely the shows that I enjoy watching are disappearing or are just no longer entertainig enough for me to spend 60 bucks a month. Most of the stuff that I still enjoy I can find online.

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November 20, 2008

Logan

I have cable, but I am starting to also feel that way. Anymore if there is something on TV that i watch in prime time i wait the extra day and just torrent the episode. I still get to watch it, and there are no commercials. I think as long as you have internet, who needs tv.

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November 21, 2008

Taku128

I found the Netfilx titles streamable on 360 are dissapointing. There isn’t anything worth watching, although that might be because I have narrow taste in movies. *Shrugs*

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December 7, 2008

Brian

I’ve recently begun to move in that direction as well. Nearly all of the shows I watch are either on Hulu, or adult swim.com, I’m suprised at how little I actually watch on the actual televsion. It’s much more convienient to watch things on demand anyhow. Plus, if I ditch the cable, I can also ditch the whole “triple play” package from Verizon and just pay for Internet and a basic phone line. I would ditch the cable and save the extra money for a rainy day or an emergency.

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