Talk to me about life without cable

smilelari

Every day we watch the morning news and part of the Today Show while we get ready for work.  Other than that, I watch Once Upon a Time, either OnDemand or on my computer or I pay $1.99 to buy it from Amazon and watch it on my Kindle. I was thinking it would be nice to have the DVR back.  I really like the show 2 Broke Girls but CBS doesn't stream on Hulu and that show isn't streaming on cbs.com either.  There are a few other shows I'd watch if I didn't need to keep track of days, like Glee, but that's available on Hulu.  I also wouldn't mind checking out Game of Thrones but our HBO subscription is only free through March.  We also frequently rent movies from OnDemand, but also use the Playstation store for the same purpose.

We do have netflix, but usually only use it for kid shows.

So it seems we need cable + DVR if we want to watch the news, Today Show and 2 Broke Girls.  We need HBO if we want to watch Game of Thrones.  We need Netflix for kid shows.  Everything else is available on Hulu Plus and we can rent movies from Playstation

I'm not sure those few things are worth the cost of cable, even though I really do love the Today Show.

The other problem is that we have 3 TVs and use all 3, but only one is connected to the internet, so I guess the other 2 would just go away...

alithebull1

Starting next month, our cable will be gone.  We have already subscribed to Netflix and got an antenna.  We are going to get Hulu+ and our tvs are internet ready for everything.

The Today show is on local network tv and so is 2 Broke Girls so get an antenna and that solves that as long as you remember to watch when they are on.  The antenna will work for all 3 tvs...assuming we aren't talking about something REALLY old here.  The other ones you could look into getting a Roku box or you mention the Playstation - doesn't that hook you up too?

 

Game of Thrones we just plan to rent or whatever once the next season is done because yes, that show is good

 

We were going to be paying about $150 a month for tv, phone, and internet, plus the $100 for our cell phones.  When I thought about this I got very annoyed.  Now we will pay $7.99 each month for Hulu+ and Netflix, $30 a year for phone on Magic Jack (we are home phone people and like it that way, lol) and $20 a month for internet plus our cell phones.  Sure, I am going to lose a few shows but I suppose I will gain something else in life...including $100 a month!

BlueLikeJazz

I got rid of cable when DH and I got married (he'd never had it).  I thought it was going to be really hard, but I don't miss it at all.  Sports are the only thing I kinda-sorta-miss.  But I have a radio and that works too.

FWIW, DH watched the first season of Game Of Thrones online.  I'm not sure what site, but I could ask if you want. 

I've gotten way more into reading and knitting since getting rid of cable, and I couldn't be happier.

ac*m*mg

PP is right on with the antennae. On top of the that, every area we've lived in has had a terrestrial HD signal so all of those channels are in HD for free. I think we get something like 16 channels over the air, ABC, NCB, CBS, CW and Fox are included in that.

I have an eyeTV that I hook up to my computer. It has a little antennae on the end of it and acts as a DVR. After the initial investment, no monthly fees. It automatically converts files to iTunes which we can stream on our Apple TV's. Once again, after the initial hundred bucks, no monthly fees. We have Netflix which also streams over the AppleTV. I haven't found the plus to Hulu+ yet since I already have a DVR setup through eyeTV. As far as HBO shows go, best bet is going to be wait a season and watch on DVD.

 I hate getting hit monthly with fees, so this has been fantastic!

Mrs.Greeko

You can buy episodes of shows or whole seasons on amazon instant streaming or iTunes.  The antenna will get you the news and network shows.  You might need a converter box as well if your TVs are pretty old.  We gave up cable over 18 months ago and I have yet to miss it.  We use Netflix to watch shows.  Sure we are behind, but it doesn't bother me.  For shows I just have to see I've bought individual shows from iTunes and I actually just bought a season on there too.  $25 one time is a lot cheaper than $25 per month or whatever you are paying for cable.  Whenever a new episode airs I get an email telling me I have a new episode to watch.

smilelari

alithebull1:

Starting next month, our cable will be gone.  We have already subscribed to Netflix and got an antenna.  We are going to get Hulu+ and our tvs are internet ready for everything.

The Today show is on local network tv and so is 2 Broke Girls so get an antenna and that solves that as long as you remember to watch when they are on.  The antenna will work for all 3 tvs...assuming we aren't talking about something REALLY old here.  The other ones you could look into getting a Roku box or you mention the Playstation - doesn't that hook you up too?

 

Game of Thrones we just plan to rent or whatever once the next season is done because yes, that show is good

 

We were going to be paying about $150 a month for tv, phone, and internet, plus the $100 for our cell phones.  When I thought about this I got very annoyed.  Now we will pay $7.99 each month for Hulu+ and Netflix, $30 a year for phone on Magic Jack (we are home phone people and like it that way, lol) and $20 a month for internet plus our cell phones.  Sure, I am going to lose a few shows but I suppose I will gain something else in life...including $100 a month!

The Playstation is how our 1 TV is currently connected to the internet.  We don't have any internet ready TVs.  We do have 1 TV in use that is 20-ish years old.  We were thinking about indoor antenna?  We have a 2 story house and getting out on the roof would be complicated

Funny, I was kind of thinking this morning about recording on the VCR.  We actually still have one... hasn't been used in at least a decade but it's still sitting here

alithebull1

Well, now that I know about this eyeTV I am going to look into that too!

Mrs.Greeko

We have indoor antennas that we bought at Walmart.  Cheap and work great!  We did check that an antenna would work well enough for us before we actually cut the cable.  

smilelari

Mrs.Greeko:

We have indoor antennas that we bought at Walmart.  Cheap and work great!  We did check that an antenna would work well enough for us before we actually cut the cable.  

good idea!  bestbuy.com has a signal strength map on their website and it looks like we would be good to go.

shanbrite2

We have an indoor antenna too and it works great. I love not having cable. We even recently decided to stop getting Netflix as well and have been spending more time playing board games with each other. Sounds TOTALLY cheesy, but it has been wonderful. When we get the urge to watch a movie, we either rent from iTunes through our Apple TV or pick one up at RedBox. We still watch a few things on TV, but it's all free streaming. You may surprise yourself with how little you miss it!

tra_la_la

We were going to get rid of our sat but after adding up how much we would spend on netflix, hulu, and buying things from itunes it wasn't much cheaper. If you only use netflix for kids shows why don't you just record kids shows on your DVR and get rid of it. I'm also not sure about cable but with our sat we can watch shows on our DVR on our iphone/ipods, computer, and kindle. So again you could just record once upon a time and 2 broke girls and watch them on your computer or kindle. To me it doesn't really make sense to have hulu either if you have a DVR. Why not just record the shows on that?

xyllah

I just have basic cable. I pay 15.00 a month for it. Even with netflix I like "live" tv for the news every morning.

goldenjes

We have been without cable for about a year now, and I've been watching movies & shows through Netflix on the laptop, and going through our own movie stash.  We finally got a Roku, so we now have shows through Hulu & Netflix into the TV, plus a bunch of old movie selections from the free channels.  I think Fox news is free in the daytime on the Roku, but I usually just read local/national news online and listen to talk radio if I'm in the car.

We just hooked up an antenna (from Radio Shack) in time for the Super Bowl, and now we can watch regular TV for free too, so we might end up canceling Hulu+.

I should note that I have paid enough in fees to own my own Redbox or Blockbuster store, so I avoid renting anything that I have to return.  

smilelari

LBaker19:

We were going to get rid of our sat but after adding up how much we would spend on netflix, hulu, and buying things from itunes it wasn't much cheaper. If you only use netflix for kids shows why don't you just record kids shows on your DVR and get rid of it. I'm also not sure about cable but with our sat we can watch shows on our DVR on our iphone/ipods, computer, and kindle. So again you could just record once upon a time and 2 broke girls and watch them on your computer or kindle. To me it doesn't really make sense to have hulu either if you have a DVR. Why not just record the shows on that?

We don't currently have a DVR but I miss having it.  It's kind of a question of DVR vs. Hulu.  I wouldn't do both.   Right now our cable bill is $123 per month for TV and internet.  It would be around $60 for just internet, so that saves us $60 per month and we would just be adding Hulu for $7.99 per month.  So, Hulu and Netflix is $16 per month vs. $60.  Whether we keep cable or ditch it we have to pay to rent current movies and the cost is consistently the same between cable's OnDemand and the Playstation store.  Not sure what other costs would be associated with ditching cable?  One time cost of antennas... 

AugustBrideCO

We've been talking about doing this for about a year, and I think we're finally going to pull the plug next week. The plan is to get a good antenna so we can have all the network channels in HD and probably a Roku box. I already have Hulu+ (my sister and I are sharing our subscription) and watch almost everything on there anyway, but would like to be able to actually watch it on the tv and not just on my laptop. We don't have Netflix but might end up adding it.

I think that the only thing I'm going to miss is True Blood.

todds_wife

Chiming in late- in our bedroom we have a DVD-R, as in a machine that records on to writable DVDs. I hate to admit it, but we use it when we want to record one thing while watching another live on our dvr in the living room. Works like a Vcr, but with discs. I bet you could find one on CL.