
I don't miss cable tv - messel
http://www.victusspiritus.com/2010/11/04/i-dont-miss-cable-tv/
======
DanielStraight
I don't think I've ever heard of someone giving up cable/TV and regretting it.
I don't have a TV, and I don't watch shows online either. I've been entirely
TV-free for close to a year, and I haven't missed it once. I watch movies once
a week at most, usually much less often. Don't miss that either.

Honestly, I don't see how people find the time for it. Between work, keeping
up my home, and spending time with my wife, I already feel like I don't have
any spare time.

~~~
tomjen3
If you stopped watching the movies, would you miss them? That is basically how
I feel about the few remaining shows I do watch - they have been selected for
awesomeness, and I consider the time I spend on them worthwhile.

~~~
DanielStraight
I don't think I would. There have been whole months where I didn't watch
anything and didn't miss it. When my wife and I do watch a movie, it's
generally more about the experience (of having a movie night, making popcorn
and drinking soda [neither of which we otherwise consume on anything
approaching a regular basis]) than the movie anyway, in the same way that
going out for drinks with friends is more about the conversation than the
beer, however delicious beer may be.

------
mahmud
_Sigh_

Has it already been a decade?

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-
mention...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-
he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/)

~~~
TheSOB88
Come on dude, don't be a troll. Here we have a personal blog post of a guy who
isn't _bragging_ about not having a TV, but explaining the flaws he sees in
American TV. It's a blog - it's the guy's thoughts. He's not constantly
bringing it up at your house parties or anything.

Don't be the crazy hobo outside the bar.

~~~
mahmud
Benevolent message, but .. far more people than you can imagine have "quit
TV". In fact, my entire twitter graph, people on IRC, social networks, even
the local pubs I frequent, and everyone who responded in this thread have all
quit TV. Stories of triumph over the tube are abundant, and the reasons nearly
identical. People have been unanimous on two things: 1) their disdain for TV,
American or otherwise and 2) their love for puppies.

Just from 4 days ago, front-page:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1850998>

~~~
mikeryan
So quitting TV and quitting cable are two very different things. Even the
article you link to is about cord cutting - not TV cutting.

The current industry trends are not actually people leaving cable all together
(though that did happen last quarter but in relatively minor amounts). The
scariest thing for the cable operators is people backing off of their premium
offerings. People aren't going to pay $10 an month extra for Showtime if they
can just buy a season Dexter on Amazon for ~$25.

People love their TV (average 2.5 hours per day watched in the US) they're
just finding new ways to get it.

------
bcrescimanno
I really, honestly, cannot wait to join the growing trend of ditching cable /
satellite TV. I consume the vast majority of my content through Netflix, Hulu,
and simply downloading episodes.

That said, until the NCAA and NFL are willing to provide a stand-alone service
that lets me subscribe to Georgia Tech and Atlanta Falcons football games, the
whole concept of ditching cable is a non-starter for me. Since I'm no longer
local to Atlanta, I have to have an option for viewing. ESPN3 is great for
NCAA games but requires a partner cable subscription. I still usually resort
to finding illegal streams of falcons games online since I have literally no
other option.

I recognize that HN might not be a bastion of football fans; but having grown
up in Atlanta, GA, football is a part of fall that I'm just not willing to go
without.

Live sports are really the last stronghold that cable & satellite have.

~~~
mikeryan
Live sports are not the last stronghold.

There's a whole slew of shows which would whither and die without a cable
subscription model.

Think Food Network or Discovery or any show which isn't a serialized story
model. Would you actually buy a season of Mythbusters?* I watch those shows
all the time, but usually when I'm just browsing. I'm not sure I'd actually
buy them ala carte.

BTW NFL and NCAA aren't holding out on streaming. The rights to internet
broadcast games are tied to their traditional cable and broadcast deals with
cable providers and the Comcasts and TWCs of the world are locking in those
restrictions. MLB is the only one who kept their streaming rights.

* Note I'm not saying no one would - but I don't think enough people would

~~~
duncanj
When I had Tivo, I definitely watched things like Modern Marvels, Mythbusters,
etc, more than other things like whatever was supposed to be on at 8PM. If the
model was based on recommendations and voting, like Tivo, I think a lot of
those shows could definitely survive.

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ben1040
Between dumping cable and using an ad blocker in Chrome, the only political
ads I saw this past election cycle were the occasional billboard. It was
absolutely blissful.

Here's hoping ad buys on Hulu continue to remain so expensive that politicians
can't get in on it.

~~~
nollidge
I saw political ads on Hulu. I believe it was for Ron Johnson for WI senate.

~~~
thehigherlife
he had 8.5 million of his wife's money to spend.

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lusis
We've not had cable tv service in 8 years. Don't really miss it.

When my, then, fiance and I bought our house, we never bothered to get it
connected because we were going to be travelling so much to MI with wedding
stuff.

We just never hooked it back up. About 2 years ago, I built out a mythtv
server and hooked it up to an OTA antennae for local content. The rest of the
stuff we would "acquire" and then buy the DVD box sets when they came out. We
also had Netflix.

Now, with Netflix streaming, we rarely watch anything except what MythTV has
picked up (usually PBS shows for the kids) and whatever's available on
Netflix. We listen to UofM games during football season over the internet.

------
TheFro
I'm an America who lives in the UK and I have yet to use any sort of cable/sat
provider since moving here.

Setup: Acer Aspire Revo - <http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225756> £300 \+
Loaded with Boxee \+ Proxied to an old laptop at my parents house in the US

Services I use: 1\. NFL overseas Gamepass package (~$250 for whole season) -
every game in full HD (yes literally just as good as watching it on cable
HDTV...NO JOKE) 2\. Hulu (via proxy) 3\. Netflix (via proxy) 4\. BBC (awesome
programming) -> BBC iPlayer

~~~
yardie
May I ask what ISP and speed your parents have? I'm also abroad and while I
could set a proxy up their house I'm worried that it would use up all the
upload bandwidth. They are on DSL 800kbit/7Mbit up/down

~~~
TheFro
They're in a suburban area on comcast cable. I think they consistently get
like 8Mbit down (not sure of up).

Seeing as I am 6hrs ahead of them I'm not really concerned about bandwidth
stealing of theirs ;)

------
axod
"I was sickened at the negative focus of broadcast news. Each and every
morning hundreds of millions of Americans are watching and listening to these
messages...."

Each time I see things like this, I can't believe people don't seem to see the
irony. People now do this with twitter, reddit, facebook etc. Even Hacker news
has its fair share of gossipy rumour "Mike doesn't like Jason any more!". It's
even worse than TV. We're turning society into school kid gossip mill mob rule
idiots.

It's like the people who laugh and mock people who get most of their news from
Fox news, and then get most of their own news from Reddit and the daily show.

Whilst the internet has replaced TV for a lot of society, is that actually a
good thing? Is the internet really that much better for society than TV? I'd
argue that on balance, no it's not. You get hyperbole stories everywhere. A
large amount of Reddit type websites etc is "You should be outraged by this!!!
(Until tomorrow by which time you'll have forgotten)".

The argument about TV will vary massively with where you live though. I'm in
the UK, and would happily pay the BBC a far higher license fee, simply because
the quality of programing they put out is fantastic. They even employ real
journalists who investigate, ask tough questions and provide balanced
information. (We do not have any of that sermonistic preaching that seems to
happen all too often in the US which personally creeps me out)

~~~
messel
Tech melodrama is something I can tune in or out, and it doesn't have the same
emotional damage. It's more like eating too much popcorn for your brain.

The issue with cable tv and news is that many still rely on it to keep up to
date on current events. The portrayal of current events is sinister.

------
artlogic
Hands down the best thing about giving up cable (and broadcast) television is
that I never just turn the TV on to "see what's on". If I turn on the TV it's
because I make the conscious decision to watch something specific. The first
month, in particular was illuminating. I found myself thinking about turning
on the TV, but then, when faced with the decision of what to watch, I found it
was easier to keep it off.

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stevederico
I have been without cable tv for about 5 years now. I dropped it because I
never watched it and when I did I was watching dvr'd shows. Since I have
subscribed to netflix for my entertainment needs and invest in the occasional
purchase on iTunes through my apple tv. Sports are a bit o a problem but
MLB.tv takes care of that. Either way it's a great way to save $600 a year.

------
LurkingGrue
Need to be careful not to become this guy:

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-
mention...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mentioning-
he-doesnt-own-a-tel,429/)

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smackfu
The whole "I don't watch TV" thing is a bit of a joke nowadays, where people
just watch online.

