So, just over a month ago, I canceled my Comcast subscription. I had digital TV [it's not fancy-schmancy HD, it's just what Comcast calls it when you get an extra nice menu and search functionality, so far as I can tell], and a DVR. I didn’t have any premium channels. And it was costing me almost $100 a month.
That’s outrageous.
Which I finally realized, and thus canceled the whole shebang.
But here’s the thing:
After 6+ weeks of no TV [don't have rabbit ears], I DO miss it. I no longer think of the days in terms of "House is on tonight!" or some such nonsense, but I do wonder who House has been yelling at lately. I think I’m cured of Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, both of which jumped the shark last season if not before. But I wouldn’t mind a little Boston Legal now and then. And I hate I missed the season finale of Mad Men, some of the finest TV to come along in my lifetime.
I’m not opposed to TV, for me or my kids. I AM opposed to paying almost $100 a month to watch a few hours a week and fight with my kids about it being time to turn off the TV, NOW!
So I’m hoping you can help me out.
Here are my requirements:
- Must be lots cheaper than Comcast’s $80+ bucks a month. I’m interested in the REAL price, not the promotional deal. In two years, what will I be paying each month?
- I’d like a service with a nice menu system with different options for finding programs.
- I want a DVR. Having had one, I can’t imagine TV without it. It definitely lets you unchain yourself from the TV gods’ schedule. Also, I no longer have a VCR. :) I don’t need massive amounts of recording space, however.
- These are the cable channels I, or someone in my family, like:
- A&E
- Bravo
- CNN
- Comedy Central
- C-SPAN
- Discovery
- Disney Channel
- ESPN
- FX
- Hallmark [So sue me, I'm a sap.]
- Lifetime [See above.]
- Nick
- TCM
- TNT
- USA
- The Weather Channel
- I’d like to get the local channels, and I do like Channel 3 [the Metro government channel]. Channel 3 is not a deal-breaker. Everything else is.
Tell me, is this even possible???
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
It really depends on personal taste.
My first house had an old fashioned big satellite dish. With those you could order packages or individual channels which are usually a couple of dollars each per month.
The downside being a bigass dish.
You can go basic cable sans DVR and cut your bill to about 60 bucks?
You can get a small satellite dish. If you don’t get any extra boxes (just one television) those are 30 bucks per month on DishNetwork.
Or, in the dead of night you can go to the neighbor’s house and tie into their cable. [RECOMMENDED]
I have Dish with 3 tvs connected. I have the America’s 200 package and have all the channels you listed. I don’t have a DVR, though. My bill, if I don’t buy any pay-per-view movies is 62.78 (total).
S&F, I just love you to death. That is all.
Wylde, I think I will definitely be looking into the various small-satellite options.
i would suggest the dish satellite options. if you want an actual dish i think i have one on the side of my house from prior owners. the key with them is just keeping one box. the more of those the more little costs.
I have Comcast and pay just under $50 for my cable (plus about $50 for the Internet service. I think it is a tad bit cheaper because I have both TV and Internet thru them, but it’s not some deal I’m on). It’s not digital (I just haven’t converted over yet), but I was told by the sales rep who called me the other day that all I have to do is go down to the service center and pick up a box, and they’d switch me over (and it would be the same price.) It wouldn’t have a DVR, but I use TiVo’s service–we pay $12.95 a month for that.
Now, I’m not recommending you go back to Comcast. Those assholes keep tacking on random fees, and my bill has gone up $10 over the last year. But I’m too cheap to pay more for AT&T’s Internet.
In South Carolina, we have Charter Communications for cable and it’s absolutely AWFUL that they get away with such highway robbery. What’s bad about them is they charge you for stuff that they PROMISED would be free and you have to be put on hold for hours to speak with someone to try to fix it. Come January, Christine and I will be ditching our cable, too, although we LOVE Discovery, ESPN, and of course that DVR. But what do you do?
Cable TV should be sold the way food is sold in a restaurant—on a menu. Only buy the channels you want. Why the hell do I need six Spanish Channels and the Home Shopping Network anyhow?
I watch most of my TV on the network websites. It’s free (ad-supported), and I can watch whenever I want.
You might want to sign up for a beta of NBC/Universal’s Hulu service. Paul posted about it on his blog: http://paulnich.blogspot.com/2007/11/showing-off-hulu.html
Laura,
Since I too enjoy TV when I am visiting with you and your family, I had this thought recently. You were willing to go thru the effort to fill out another application and run down your APS and now starting in January you will be saving approximately $ 60.00 per month on your life insurance premiums. This monthly savings would go a long way toward restoring the desired channels back to your house.
Dad