superdeluxe

Was going to cancel my Sub to HBO. But the amount of quality programming just too great.

BW Empire, Game of THrones, wife likes True Blood.

chino77

if you have cable internet and a tv with a quam tuner u would get all those channels for free. i havent had cable for 3 yrs. the only thing i miss is channel flipping. i use hulu, netflix and torrents.

another thing i dont get is... people who subscribe to cable but still buy episodes from itunes or wherever. why do you? you pay the monthly cable fee so if you miss a show just download it for free...who is it hurting? other than apple or amazon.

MikahC

That may have been true 3 years ago back when you had cable, but it isn't true now. Comcast encrypts pretty much everything except the over the air channels. So that's all a QAM tuner picks up these days.

writer106

In the past couple of years, several people I know have cut the cord. They do mostly netflix and hulu. I will never cut the cord because I'm a sports fan and there is stuff that like on the History Channel, NatGeo and several other channels that isn't put online. I think some basic cable channels like USA, TNT and AMC have definitely stepped in original programming. I like when certain shows when they originally air.

Shannon Nutt

There's too much stuff I like to watch live - football, news/politics, etc. - to cut the cord. I can see why others have though. Almost all the TV shows my wife and I watch are on pay cable or AMC: True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Game of Thrones, Eastbound & Down, Episodes, Penn & Teller, Mad Men, Walking Dead, and The Killing...we watch very little on Network TV.

Another reason we don't switch is that our internet company and cable company are the same - Comcast - so it's not like we'd be ditching a company completely - we'd still need to pay Comcast for the internet.

Osiris3657

I live at an apartment complex who has a contract with Comcast, so my cable TV is part of the overall rent. I added the sports package for $4.99/month and pay $30 for their high speed internet. Basically my point is that my bill isn't high enough for me to consider canceling.

Nazgul

I'm in the same boat.

Michael Corvin

I didn't know you could buy/use third party cards. Do they actually sell them? Or is this strictly a ebay/craigslist type thing?

Red Dog

That would be fine for me. I was thinking about getting Comcast internet (instead of FIOS) just to give me an extra tuner that I can utilize during football/basketball season for the OTA stations (I'm in an antenna dead zone). Do you know if you can use a splitter or does that screw with the cable modem?

Ropes Pierre

Here's my situation, maybe i can get some feedback if i am getting jacked.

Dropping the cable (65 a month for non premium level, no HBO etc)
Looking into Time Warner internet. They are offering me standard level, 1.5 mb for 28.95 a month, and next tier up 10 mb for 45 a month. I am looking to get my TV via internet, so watch/download stuff like Justified from FX site, leverage from TNT, type thing. NO idea what the hell i am really doing, or what speeds i should be looking for or if i am not getting good retention offers to stay with TWC as internet provider.

Thanks for any advice or opinions.

orangecrush

I'd drop the additional $16 for the additional 8.5. You'll be able to consistently stream HD streams with the higher tier, not so much with the lower tier.

DJariya

I know your trying to save some money, but your looking at some major delays off Hulu and the network sites. If you have no problems with this.

USA= 30 day delay
FX= 7-30 day delay. IIRC, Sons of Anarchy is a 30 day delay and that premieres in September, so wouldn't be able to watch the premiere until October or later depending on how soon they post it.
SyFy= delayed until after the season completes it's TV run.
TNT= 7 day delay
AMC= No legal posting of any of it's shows. They will make a few rare exceptions here and there (The Killing) No postings of Mad Men, Breaking Bad or Walking Dead..They may post the 1st episode of the season, but that's it.

ABC Family usually posts their shows the day after they air.

FOX is now delaying their content 7 days for those who don't subscribe to Hulu Plus.

Warner Brothers shows are sporatically streamed online. Warner Bros doesn't allow The Mentalist to be streamed online. If you miss an episode, you will have to wait for a repeat.

I know there is people here who pirate the content via torrents, but if you want to support the programs legally, this is the deal.

Edit: Some in this forum have suggested buying the shows/episodes in HD ala carte via Amazon or Itunes as a cheaper alternative. How is spending $38 for 13 episodes of a cable drama cheaper? That's 1/3 or sometimes half the cost of a cable or satellite bill.

Say someone watches these shows in HD off Amazon:

Mad Men: $38.87 ($2.99 per episode in HD X 13 episodes)
Covert Affairs: $47.84 ($2.99 per episode in HD X 16 episodes)
The Walking Dead: $38.87 ($2.99 per episode in HD X 13 episodes)
White Collar: $47.84 ($2.99 per episode in HD X 16 episodes)

That's $173.42 for just 4 shows!!

FantasticVSDoom

Cut the cord 4 months ago and havent really missed it at all... However, with college football season coming up, Im starting to feel as if I may have to get cable back. Im going to try and hold out, but i dont know if Ill be able to

orangecrush

ESPN3 had a lot of college games last season (at least it seemed like it on the Xbox).

FantasticVSDoom

Yeah Im going to give that a shot first...

kefrank

Because it's illegal. The monthly cable fee does not entitle you to obtain broadcast content illegally. Do you think having a magazine subscription entitles you to steal a copy of it from Walgreen's because you lost that month's issue?

zuffy

Most of the shows I watch are OTA but once in a while, I like my ESPN, History, Discovery, Travel, Spike, USA channels.

Nefarious

That's a weak analogy. Downloading the show isn't the equivalent of stealing a magazine from Walgreen's where they are physically deprived of the object to sell.

I'm not arguing he's ok to do it but your analogy doesn't work.

Nausicaa

Only four shows, but entire season runs over the course of 4-5 months. Your cable bill for that same period will be $200+. Not saying the solution is obvious, but if you're like me and only follow a handful of shows, it's a no brainer. I get networks in HD over the air, and watch everything else online. Although I admit I download a lot illegally as well. Mostly just HBO and Showtime stuff until they offer an online only subscription option - which may never happen.

I know HBO won't do it because it is a hard sell getting people to shell out $10 a month for one channel, when half that gets you access to all of Hulu or Netflix catologue, but I wish they would experiment with some kind of online service. I can see how they would want to avoid outright selling their shows on iTunes or something, but what about rentals? I would gladly pay a dollar or two to rent and episode for 24 hours. Although this might hurt their cable subscription services. I still think offering the $10 subscription for online streaming is a good option, but what do I know?

Ropes Pierre

so it sounds like 1.5 mb is for something like an occasional viewing of Rebecca Black and 10mb is entry level for watching TV and movies online. in that case it sounds like extra money is worth it. I will also say i think the rep i spoke to is screwing me without kissing me first. I can find some sites that talk about 29.99 for 10 mb not 49.99. I am going to try talking to someone else over a few different days.


Thank you for taking the time to post the wait times for various shows and sites.

Much as i like TV, there is nothing that is worth paying an extra 30 a month to see, for me. this may change in the future. I think i also want to try cutting back a little for a year and seeing how that goes. I have tons of books and movies i haven't even opened and i think changing the way i watch TV may help me actually use some of the stuff i have already bought. I am nutty enough to buy a few Blus during the criterion sales and don't even own a Blu player yet. So i am not going to be lacking for entertainment. I also think i have become too fascinated with my TV shows possibly at the expense of my real life. I don't see my friends enough, have started to schedule things around shows and want to get back to more face to face living instead of sitting in front of a screen. I am not going to become some sort of anti TV zealot, just trying something i haven't really tried before and watching in a new way?

Something like SOA. I enjoy watching it, but can wait a month if i had to stream from FX. I will just pretend the premiere is a month later than it is. Same thing for me and Justified, i just pretend it is on a different day than Wednesday. I don't get too hinky about reading spoilers, so i can read and post here without feeling like i have to avoid it or something. I also have a bad memory so i will probably forget what i read, by the time i watch something and won't lose too much.

Worst case, this will force me to finally create or find some sort of TV watching group and see people along with my shows. I am not a freeloader and will bring food, booze, or fine assortments of pot pourri, that way no one could feel like i was sponging off their paying for cable. i guess that would be how i handle the mad men/walking dead situation.

Chrisedge

Bump of an old thread...

My TV/Internet/Phone bill hit $275 or so in the last few months. Decided to cut as much as I could.

Cut to the most basic phone service (no long distance) $20
Went down to 2-13 plus a few odd balls. (PBS / QVC?) No option for OTA Antenna here $25
Internet $70
Plus fees means I chopped over $130 bucks off my bill.
+$12 Hulu
+$15 HBONow

Still saving over $100 a month.

Michael Corvin

Still sounds pretty high.

I'm on TWC and I get a couple hundred channels (+ Showtime tossed in promo), a sports package, a cable card and 30MB internet for $100 after taxes/fees.

I also get phone with that price but don't use it because I don't want to pay their eternal monthly modem fees. I also use a TiVo with lifetime that was paid off long ago to avoid the monthly DVR charge as well.

SterlingBen

Basic cable, internet and phone for $120ish here. But I may eventually cut the cord. Especially if anyone ever calls my bluff when I call to cancel my service in order to get a lower promo price.

slop101

These monopolies and price fixings are killing me. I wish the FTC and the antitrust division of the DoJ would do something about these shysters, but these days, they won't do jack shit, because they have cushy jobs waiting for them at these companies after they allow them to collude.

Barth

Its the dang cable box rental fees that really get us. Three tvs. I've got the phone service with free international calling, the fios extreme hd, and the upgraded internet and I'm paying 185 after all is said and done with taxes and fees. Used to be I would have one cable box on the main tv and the others just screwed in to the coax jack. Can't do that anymore. I just don't know if I could do better anywhere else.