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View Full Version : If you watch TV and don't have cable



pastrygirl
12-02-2009, 05:21 PM
If you watch TV but don't have cable, what is your setup? Do you have an Apple TV? Tivo? Do you download shows from somewhere? Are shows available for download right after airing, or do you have to wait for the full season to be available?

I think we pay too much right now for $$$ cable plus Tivo. I'm wondering if we could still watch all the shows we watch without having to pay for cable, since we Tivo everything. We never watch anything "live" anymore.

AnnieW625
12-02-2009, 05:37 PM
Unless you want to get used to watching snippets of shows from websites like Hulu streamed through your TV or other other .com websites then no you will not have access to normal cable television. My parents don't have cable (never have) and they have a digital box and they get a couple of very basic channels like Qubo (Shari Lewis is on every day!!!), and Ion (which is included in most basic cable networks). You can still use Tivo with a regular non cable tv but it doesn't give you access to cable shows.

I have threatened to cancel our cable, but since DH grew up with it and we don't get out much anymore for $46 a month it's cheaper than going out once a month and getting a babysitter. We have a bundle plan through Time Warner Cable and our bill is around $135 to $140.

motherofone
12-02-2009, 05:48 PM
We have a digital converter box and antennae for the tv. We receive nbc, cbs, fox, 2 pbs, cw and a half-dozen or so spanish stations. We also have a roku box with netflix which allows us to watch movies and tv shows on the tv.

pastrygirl
12-02-2009, 06:02 PM
We mostly watch Sci-fi and a couple of network shows. Everything in HD. Maybe this won't work without cable...

JustMe
12-02-2009, 08:33 PM
I just have rabbit ears. This gets me the basic networks...no cable channels.

LMPC
12-02-2009, 08:51 PM
We canceled our satellite and I don't miss it at all...I can watch my Italian soccer online. We use Hulu for things like the Daily Show. And we have Netflix for movies. I am saving about $75 a month by not having satellite. Yay!

okinawama
12-02-2009, 09:09 PM
we also just have an antenna and receive abc, cbs, nbc, fox, 2pbs channels, and a religious channel. There are plenty of days that I miss cable, but the money in my pocket is more of a priority right now. I use hulu frequently and that has a few shows on there that I wold otherwise miss out on. Truth be told, it's a time of trimming the budget and this is one of the things that I miss the least, and it also provides one of the biggest savings.

vludmilla
12-02-2009, 09:20 PM
We have a digital converter box. I am very happy with it and have absolutely no intention of getting cable. I watch plenty of tv already.

maestramommy
12-02-2009, 09:36 PM
We have a digital converter box, but right now it plays only a small handful of channels, none of which we watch. Maybe one of these days we'll get a roof antenna. At the moment our TV is used as a video monitor:p

sarahsthreads
12-02-2009, 09:48 PM
We just canceled cable at the beginning of November. Well, we still pay $10/month for the most very basic service, because we can't get all the local channels over the antenna (this is mainly a problem for football on Sundays).

We have a Tivo that's able to stream from Netflix on demand, and also to download shows we buy through Amazon. So far we've bought Stargate Universe season 1 and Sanctuary season 2. You pay per episode - so they don't charge you for the whole season up front - but if you commit to buying the whole season it's a bit cheaper. They download overnight the evening they air, so we don't get to watch them as soon as if we still had cable, but we never watched them live anyway. Plus they have NO commercials. This means I don't have to put down my knitting to find the remote to fast forward through the commercials!

I've also use my Netflix subscription to get TV series more than movies - I don't often have time to sit down and watch a 2+ hour movie, but a 42 minute TV episode fits in nicely during naptime with time left over for doing productive things. :)

DH can hook his laptop up to the TV to watch the Daily Show on Hulu if we want, although that's not nearly as convenient. I do miss some of the older syndicated shows that I used to Tivo, but not enough to make it worth paying for cable.

DD1 has discovered a bunch of new shows on PBS to make up for losing Dora and Imagination Movers. DD2 doesn't care as long as we feed her a steady diet of Signing Time (that baby is *in love* with Rachel Coleman!)

DH is going to have to live with not watching baseball on TV anymore. I will confess that I am not exactly sad that we won't be watching baseball every night for 7 months out of the year. ;)

All in all, we're really happy with the decision to cancel cable, because at least 75% of what we used to watch is still something we can find ways to watch, and even though I've listed a lot of shows, we don't actually spend *that* much time watching TV. Certainly not enough to make it worth the money we were spending on it.

Sarah :)

trales
12-02-2009, 09:52 PM
We have the 10/month basic plan, b/c of the valley we are in, we can get no station over the air without a really, really large roof antennae. Everything else we watch on Hulu or the networks site. Frankly, I don't miss any of my shows.

LD92599
12-02-2009, 09:53 PM
We also cancelled our cable so we have a roof antennea (gorgeous picture and a ton of channels but we're just outside of NYC so i'm sure that helps). We also use EyeTV on our macs to record any shows we want and we often watch shows (free ones though we pay to rent movies through itunes) on AppleTV or we hook up our macs to the TV to watch through hulu.

Works for us very well and saves a ton of $$.

WatchingThemGrow
12-03-2009, 12:11 AM
We have $11 cable and TiVo - not sure how much it is, but not HD. Maybe $13-19/mo?? We always have more saved than we can watch, so we don't miss cable that much. When we're out of town, we're always sure to catch up with HGTV and ESPN after the kids are in bed.