Who among you has cancelled your cable tv, satellite tv, etc.?

powernoodle

powernoodle

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Jul 21, 2004
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After a long time of fantasizing about this, I'm about to cancel my cable tv package. We Powernoodles have figured out that $70/month (and some of you cats pay a lot more than that) is a lot of money for a bunch of cr@p that we never watch - and much of which makes me wonder where civilization is headed. We watch Netflix mostly, and have Amazon Prime. There are tons of good stuff on both. What gripes me just a little about cable is that I can't select only the channels I want, but have to pay for MTV, the Kardashians and Honey Boo Boo if I want ESPN and the Discovery channel. And even the Discovery Channel has jumped the shark with stuff like Naked and Afraid. Geez. My 16 year old astutely noted that even if I do find a show or two I like on cable, we are paying $70/month to watch it.

So without cable, you still get high def "free" television through the airwaves of the Big Four networks, plus PBS etc. And tons of cable and network stuff ends up on Netflix the following year. We are about to give season 1 of The Americans a try on Netflix, which was a big hit on FX last year.

Btw, Mrs. Powernoodle and I love the British Crime dramas on Netflix, like Vera and Sherlock. In my view, the chasm between Sherlock and Glee is the distance of infinity.

So have you guys pulled the plug on cable, and how did it go? Thanks.
 
Wife takes care of that stuff, and she's got it bundled with the phone(s) and internet. Wife and the Boy watch television, and we have no broadcast stations here.
If it were up to me, we'd cancel the television and boost Netflix to three DVDs at a time.
 
Me and me ex canceled our cable. We found ourselves zapping through the channels with nothing interesting to watch. Didn't wanna pay for nothing, so we opted out and we're left with a couple free channels and Netflix. We never regretted it. Most of the shows that's on nowadays almost makes one more stupid.

We've since separated and where I live now, I don't even own a tv. I just have my phone and Netflix and that's good enough for me. I prefer surfing the web or reading a book to watching garbage.

Do it, you won't regret it. Not for the money, but to not being a slave to today's "entertainment".
 
I am 28 years old and have never paid for cable/satellite. I do pay $7.99 for Netflix, and bought a decent amplified antenna ($65 iirc). Netflix's original series are really good too. PBS is great, and CBS shows the Colts during football season, so I am happy. I hate paying monthly bills for crap like that. Internet is one that we need, and I stomach, but it is the slowest/cheapest cable, and I ignore all their ads trying to get me to "bundle"
 
I canceled my satellite a few years ago. I had signed up with DirectTV. They came to my home to install their equipment and discovered they couldn't get proper lines of sight (due to tree cover) so their very own installer called and canceled the account due to that fact. 2 weeks later, I received an "early cancellation fee" bill in the mail for nearly $500.00...and it wasn't even me who canceled the account!!! It took me 3 freaking months...and a call to one of the big-wigs...to get it reversed. The experience caused me to swear off all satellite and cable providers for good.
 
I haven't had cable in over 10 years. I think it's too much money for what you get. I cancelled my Netflix subscription over a year ago because I rarely used it. I haven't missed either since cancelling... I only watch TV for NFL football anyway. I usually watch youtube, read, or play video games these days.
 
I haven't had satellite or broadcast for many years. Broadcast doesn't reach here since they went digital. Before that it was two channels...
Getting rid of the drool box is one of the more brain enlightening things to do.
Besides the monetary freedom, your imagination will be able to work again.

If I want to watch anything, there is always the internet.
 
We cancelled our cable when I quit my job to become a stay at home dad. Been almost 3 years now and really only miss the local news as we get everything else from the internet. We have Netflix to watch shows after the kids go to bed. I really thought I would miss it more but I do not. It is actually really nice not having that distraction. The big plus is that my kids find TV a reward and a privilege already at 4, 3, 18 months.
 
I canceled my cable TV about a year ago. The guys behind the counter tried to act incredulous because I was giving up their "service", but the huge pile of turned in equipment in the corner lent little credence to their protestations. I get along just fine with Netflix.
 
We ditched cable (direct tv) and haven't looked back. This was about 6 years ago and haven't missed it. We get local tv and that's mostly all we watch. We rent movies for family night on Friday if we're so inclined. We might sign up for Netflix though. We'll see.
 
I hate someone else trying to tell me what my reality should be.
 
My wife and I had no cable from 2011-2013. Just netflix via internet.
We trade our Wi-fi for the neigbors free Dishnetwork.
That is about it. Way too expensive. All we watch is Discovery/History/Food Network
 
Wow. Lots of responses in short order. You guys rock. We have 3 tv's that will need antennas, and a 4th that will have only Netflix. Even if I have to drop some coinage on some decent antennas, that cost will be recouped in a couple of months. I'm thinking this is pretty cool, and a small way of sticking it to "the man". Whoever that is.
 
No TV for almost 15 years. My parents still have cable, so I see it occasionally when visiting. Seeing it now and then makes me happy to be rid of it. I truly believe that TV makes you stupid.
 
I have not had TV in over 5 years. Never missed it.
 
No TV for over two years. I tried Netflix for a month or two and then cancelled that because it seemed like the movies I wanted to watch (for e.g. Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" stuff) were not available.

If I want a movie, I can check out what's out there in our library system, which actually has a surprising number of new releases for free. The A&E website has some stuff for free and the website topdocumentaryfilms.com also has a ton of very good programs for free.
 
I cut the Dishnetwork package in half back in January because watching tv is becoming a real pain in how TV shows are being produced. Most of the reality programming I gave up watching because it is difficult to follow programs that are all chopped up and scrambled. I quit watching those period and now watch older TV shows and some current events but that is about all I watch now. If it gets much worse I will dump Dishnetwork and go back to rabbit ears.
 
Save $100 a month from what I was paying for DVR and all. When with the cheapest cable package and upgraded the internet. Haven't looked back.
 
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