When I'm not pumping out my latest TV rant for the ol' Squad here, I write pretty infrequently for another blog with some old college roomies called The Suite Spot. It's really nothing more than a bunch of disgruntled twentysomething males talking about whatever we want.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, my buddy Keith wrote something that astounded me: he's canceled his cable TV service. And not just cable - I mean everything. Basic service too. The man is TV-less.
Wha?!? Just how the heck can a red-blooded American male say no more to cable TV? Good-bye ESPN? So long crappy late night soft-core porn? Farewell Desperate Hou... wait, nevermind. That one sounds great, but you get my point.
Is Keith still watching TV? Sure, tons of it. But he's doing something that many of us only use as a supplement to our normal TV viewing. He's watching everything online.
I can't even fathom this, but at the same time, it sounds perfectly manageable. Between CBS.com, ABC.com (they have HD now, too), and Hulu, you can get pretty much all of your hit network shows. ESPN360.com and NFL.com air a ton of live sporting events. Keith doesn't mention it, but iTunes has become a go to destination for online TV too. $50 for a whole season of TV the day after it airs isn't all that bad when you're paying around $100 a month for cable service. Some stuff you may have to wait for (House, for instance, doesn't hit Hulu until eight days after the linear broadcast), but so what? All you're shelling out for is Internet service. Doesn't sound that bad, does it?
Of course, the question I immediately asked was what about all the cable shows I love to watch? Simple. Netflix, on top of dirt cheap subscription fees, now has the option to stream immediately instead of waiting for DVDs to get mailed to you. So catching up on old seasons of shows like The Shield or Dexter are a snap.
Again - this really is sounding quite good. But I just can't see myself adhering to that lifestyle. I live for new TV on the night it airs and frequently run into DVR conflicts like fellow Squadder Joel. I have a hard enough time resigning to the practice of watching even one show the next morning online. The idea of having to wait a day (or more) for everything I love to watch is not an option.
But for some, having the freedom of no cable bill can add up to some significant savings. And speaking of money, while the networks are losing fistfuls of advertising dollars because DVR viewership is jumping, they're not making up for much of those losses with online ads. It's quite the conundrum - the shift to online viewing is something all the networks are addressing quite well, but profits-wise, it's currently not in their best interest. That'll probably change though and there will end up being so many ads tacked onto an online episode, that no one will watch it anymore.
Anyway, I know Keith isn't the only one who's adopted this practice and I'm curious to know what others living the cable-free lifestyle think about it? Is it really possible to exist in a world where you don't watch Lost until the next afternoon on a laptop screen?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
12-30-2008 @ 12:25PM
colby said...
I actually did this for about 2 years, starting around 2001. So that's even taking online viewing out of the equation.
The only thing I couldn't go without was "24", so I had my sister videotape for me to watch on my VCR.
Other than that, I simply watched anything out of my DVD library.
But now, since owning an HD TV with DVR, and all the shows I'm now hooked on (The Office, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights), it would be impossible for me. I could probably drop cable as long as I could receive HD broadcasts from the big 3 ... but I don't think I could deal with losing my DVR ... sad, i know.
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12-30-2008 @ 12:25PM
KMF said...
I've gone without cable/satellite for coming up on 5 years after being sick and tired of how the local cable company was treating customers, and hiking the price without notice and such.
To be honest I do miss it, especially when someone talks about something cool they saw on a channel I used to watch and things like that.
I wouldn't go back to cable that's for sure, but down the road I'm considering satellite.
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12-30-2008 @ 12:26PM
ryan said...
Yes, this is possible. The worst part is that some of the premium cable channels don't make their shows available online at all... so if you are committed to the no-cable lifestyle you have to wait a long time or break some laws.
Regardless, the benefits of going cable-less are very strong. You watch a lot less crap, and a lot less reruns. You end up watching only what you really want to, which ends up being a really positive life change.
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12-30-2008 @ 12:26PM
CJ said...
I am always baffled by people thinking cable is a necessity. i've been without cable for over 13 years now (by choice mind you). The net recently has been wonderful for the few shows I would want to watch on cable.
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12-30-2008 @ 12:37PM
joanne said...
Like everyone else said, I don't have cable either and I get by just fine. I watch everything online and make due. I don't mind waiting and watching shows like Lost until the next day. The wait is worth it for limited interruptions.
The only stuff I really miss out on is Bravo shows. For those, I have to hit up family or friend's houses.
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12-30-2008 @ 1:15PM
Pudge said...
An even better place to get show you miss is from the other end of the internet. You know. I usually grab some of the shows that the network still cling to like The Soup and watch them online. I'll tune in for the daily show/colbert cause I'm up but the Internet is so much easier TV watching for me.
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12-30-2008 @ 1:07PM
Galley said...
I did it for nine months, but the MLB playoffs on TBS last October sucked me back in.
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12-30-2008 @ 1:16PM
Chris said...
I recently moved and opted to not sign up for my new building's restrictive (and some may say fascist) cable TV service. The commitment and content was just not worth the money for me.
Being a complete Telephile, I struggled with this decision, but slowly adjusted (because, well, I had to). I started catching shows the next day online and video-outing from my laptop to my TV. I end up saving a whole bunch of money and not wasting time watching complete garbage because it's on.
But what about watercooler shows or "appointment television"? Well, that's when I discovered that I could pick up HD channels on my flatscreen with my rabbit ear antenna, and I just tune in for the shows I have to watch immediately (Lost and Heroes, primarily).
I think that the traditional TV model is definitely in the midst of a big change. It really is an on-demand world and providers are going to have to cater to people's desire to only watch what they want when they want to.
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12-30-2008 @ 1:50PM
kenm said...
I've been without cable for more than 3 years now. In 2005 I discovered BitTorrent and I download everything I watch. The best part is that I can watch shows from all over the world at the same time they air there. Probably a good third of my TV viewing is of shows from the UK and Australia. No more waiting 2 years for a crap quality version of a good show to air on BBC America. I simply download a 720p version via BitTorrent within a couple hours of its airing.
It's a little bit of work to manage downloading the shows but it is so worth it. I could never go back to the old way of watching TV. I'd rather do without it completely.
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12-30-2008 @ 2:40PM
xnifex said...
I started off with BT for about 2 years & then got introduced to newsgroups. Much faster downloads. So yeah, all I do is get OTA broadcasts & get everything from newsgroups.
12-31-2008 @ 10:39AM
Discosis said...
I live in Singapore at the moment, the broadcast TV here is terrible (I say this as a westerner), there's no iTunes store for the region.
So, I'm throwing my vote in for BitTorrent as well. All you need is an internet subscription and you're good. You might watch a lot of shows, but you switch on to watch what you want and then you switch off, no wading through crap.
Yes, its from the "other end" of the internet (well put, btw). But it works better than the online streaming solutions.
12-31-2008 @ 10:39AM
Nathan said...
Watch out for that BT stuff, my ISP (Time Warner) called me about TV shows. Movies, I stay away from, but I thought TV would be fine...nope.
12-30-2008 @ 1:57PM
R-Bro said...
I've been giving this serious consideration, but there's just one problem: kids' shows. My kids like to watch Ben 10, Spider Man, and lots of other stuff that's not readily available online (or easily accessible to them). Thus, will probably stick with cable for a little while longer...
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12-30-2008 @ 2:39PM
jordancda said...
One word: Sports. If it weren't for live games (while ESPN 360 has quite a lot to offer college-wise, there's just not consistent access to the games I want) that I cannot miss, I would cancel satellite in a heartbeat. My problem is that I follow the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Huskies and Idaho Vandals and these teams are just not available enough online. Also, I watch a lot of soccer and while there's lots of soccer illegally available online, its not nearly the quality of the soccer-specific channels I subscribe to: Setanta Sports, GolTV, and Fox Soccer Channel. And I can't record them on my DVR to watch later... I HAVE to get up at 7 in the morning on Saturday to watch a Liverpool game. I just can't do that every Saturday.
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12-30-2008 @ 2:39PM
Travis said...
Sports is it! I've thought about it often, with Hulu, bittorrent, and others, but there is no online substitute for ESPN, NFL Network, etc. I cannot get ESPN360 through my ISP (though I've been requesting it for over 3 years now), and even if I could, it would be a letdown for the HD experience that I'm used to. If I was not a sports fan or a student or lived in an apartment with a smaller (under 40") TV, then I'd jump on the web and OTA wagon in a heartbeat.
12-30-2008 @ 2:39PM
khamel said...
you cant do this if you are a sports fan. theres just no way around it. the cost of getting mlb, nfl, nba on the internet would be probably $500-600, and i dont think you can watch live nfl online (but maybe you can). basic cable + espn is like $40-50 a month right, but even if its $60 you are paying $50/month to watch sports online or $50/60 to watch everything on your tv (which is probably much bigger than your computer screen).
i'm starting a new job that is 5 days of travel a week so i'm going to be watching quite a bit of streamed tv but i still wont cancel my cable.
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12-30-2008 @ 4:18PM
Jason said...
True, but there is the option of heading to the local pub for a game or three.
12-30-2008 @ 3:41PM
Amanda said...
My apartment has cable but my bedroom doesn't, and my roommate hogs the television 24/7, so I've been living without cable for 8 months now. I watch 1 show on the CW when I'm home for it, but otherwise I watch entirely online through various (read: legal and illegal) means. I don't miss cable at all. I have my DVDs and dl'ed MST3K when I want to have background noise; I have plenty of time at work on Tuesdays to catch up on Chuck and HIMYM at the network sites; and I have the Amazon VOD TV pass for Supernatural, which means that when I wake up on Friday, the new episode is already on my PC for me to upload to my Creative Zen Vision and take to work. I think it's great. About the only thing I miss is "I Love The..." marathons on VH1.
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12-30-2008 @ 5:11PM
jeremy said...
hook up a splitter an d run a line into your room then you can watch whatever you want might need a staplegun though
12-30-2008 @ 4:19PM
clodjee said...
I have some friends who are going without cable either to avoid TV (now they are reading much more books than me) or because they get everything online (legally or not). Personnally, my wife & I are news freeks and reading news on the internet (although I do read lots of feeds like this one) is not enough. I could not survive without CNN, BBC, RDI, CTV Newsnet, Euronews, etc. And, besides, I just bought a big HDTV!
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