Getting Rid of Cable

[Nate McVey]

I've been toying around with the idea of getting rid of cable TV for quite some time now and with a move from Bloomington to Rochester on the horizon, I figure now is the time to do it.

I streamed Packer games last season (I know, I know.....this is a MN board, blah, blah, blah) on my Mac connected to my TV and had good results, but does anyone out there do this on a daily basis to avoid the cost of cable? I have been looking into buying an antenna, adding streaming Netflix and viewing more shows on line, but is this a viable option for a family that likes their "shows"?

Anyone have any success stories? Horror stories? Problems, etc.?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Don't end up in a road side ditch, get rid of cable.

Had to be said.

That's all the help I can give ya.

[nofishfisherman]

I haven't had cable for 4-5 years now. I get the basic stations plus i have streaming Netflix and thats all I really need. Although I don't really get into many shows so I don't really care if I'm missing them. If I do want to get into a show I just get into whats available to me either on basic tv, online, or through Netflix.

Hardest thing is watching sports. I miss most Twins games but the last 2 years thats been a blessing. Other than that football is easy enough to watch except Monday night football which is on ESPN.

In the end I do end up watching less tv but thats not a bad thing.

[titelines]

I was laid-off about this time 4 years ago, so we had to evaluate the budget and cut the fat. Got rid of Dish first, saving over $100.00/month. Long story short, we have yet to hook anything back up, even though we certainly could.

We got a good antenna and really don't miss having all the channel options. Sure, I do miss the occasional Wild or Gopher game, but all in all, it's nice to not have 100+ channels to cycle through. With cable, it seems like there's always something worth watching, so you tend to watch more TV. We really don't have that problem anymore and find ourselves going for walks, working outside etc.

We don't stream anything, we do Redbox when we're in the mood for a movie, and rent the occasional movie or something through iTunes and watch it on the laptop.

[nofishfisherman]

I've had several friends and family get rid of cable as well over the past year or two for various reason. Not one of them regrets the decision. Some are streaming content some are not but none are missing the 100 channels.

I always figure that on your death bed you are not very likely to wish that you had spent more of your life sitting on the couch in front of the tv. Even if you really hate missing your shows I'd bet that in a very short time you won't even realize you are missing them any more. Now I won't even start a tv series if I think its going to take any sort of commitment to follow it. I skipped both Lost and 24 (I even personally knew one of the main actos in 24 and I refused to watch it) for that very reason, I hate feeling like I have to be tied to the tv at a certain time each week just to follow whats going on.

[B. Amish]

if i got rid of cable and just had internet, i would save about $30/month.

i'd still get my local channels in hd over the air.

if i wanted to add in netflix, hulu, mlb.tv subscriptions - i'd eat up the $30/month quickly.

[Nate McVey]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I agree with all of you that I don't think we'll miss it once it's gone. The amount of sports, TV and movies that are available on line is incredible, so when we need a fix we can easily get it

B. Amish, you must have a cheaper package then I do currently, cause I would save $100 a month if I only paid $30 for internet.