To me, the benefits I get are worth the costs. But every family has to make that decision for themselves...if it isn't worth it to you, there are a ton of other things you can do for entertainment.
We were paying nearly $90/month and watching very few hours of cable which is where our decision to get rid of it came in. We mostly watched On Demand and hated commercials. So the switchover to Netflix was awesome for us.
We also decided to buy DVDs we thought worthy and that is really most of our entertainment budget. We don't go out to the movies. We buy DVDs we really like and rent others on Netflix.
I'm with Manda - We pay a bit for cable, but I'm ok with it. Cox's OnDemand is not nearly as good as Comcast, but it's getting there. Between that and Netflix, it is cheaper than getting a babysitter and going out all the time. Considering food+gas+movie+babysitter = more than we pay for cable and netflix in a month. Our bill from the cable company is around $100 a month (including digital phone, hs 'net and HD digital cable) and netflix is about $13.
We don't even have a TV, let alone cable. I'll admit the original withdrawal from cable was a little hard, but not all that terrible and I would never go back! We got rid of our TV for a variety of reasons, but without cable there really was no point to having one.
For news, we listen to NPR or read articles/watch videos online. You can also find almost all TV shows online. USA has most of their shows on their website as do other channels. I've found most cooking shows on You Tube and their is a great site called Fancast that has new and old tv shows as well as movies. BTW, Fancast is legal and you still have to put up with one commercial per show.
Honestly, we mostly read, work on our hobbies (I crochet), or actually get stuff done around the house. We watch maybe one show per week on the computer and watching movies is rare for us.
Modkittn~ If you are okay with this you can tell your hubby what I tell mine during Basketball season... Go to a sports bar! I'll go with him most of the time or he'll hang out with his friends. The cost of a beer a few times a month is a lot cheaper then cable.
After a ten year hiatus, I got digital cable about 6 years ago. Since then, my Comcast bill has been creeping up. This month, without any explanation, it went up $6! I have a package that includes movie channels like TCM, Sundance, Retro, etc. I looked over my package and considered going to basic cable, but in my area, that's $60., so for $25 more I can keep the movie channel. Also, I don't want to let the converter box go until I'm ready to buy a new digital tv. I also have netflicks and go to movies regularly, so my monthly entertainment bill is pretty high. That also doesn't include the many books I buy. For now, I'll keep it, but if my financial situation should go south, that would be the first to go.
To the first person who posted, if Mad Men is the only thing you're watching outside of basic cable, you could cut back to basic and rent the whole season from Netflicks next spring, when it will probably be available.
Except our HOA doesn't allow satellite dishes, so our choice is Comcast or nothing.
PhotoChick: Even if your HOA deed restrictions disallow satellite dishes, if I understand it correctly, they are not allowed to enforce that restriction.
This is the core of it. They do specify that it includes Homeowner associations and not just government entities.
"The rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) has been in effect since October 1996, and it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming. The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas. The rule prohibits most restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use; or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal."
Good timing chicks! Today I told a comcast cable rep their company was about to lose my business. I was furious. Their equipment has not worked since the day we got it. They want me to take the time and the gas to drive to their building so I can switch it out. I suggested they mail it to me. Well, they would, for a shipping fee!! (I am so angry reliving this, I am slamming the keys on my keyboard )
Cripes, I now have to call them back to finish resolving this. I am seriously thinking of ending comcast cable. We have verizon fios and satelite tv as alternative options here. Argh.
Like Kittycat - our Cox service has been iffy since we had it reinstalled after the move. I requested that we not be charged for the week that it would take for a tech to come and fix it and the answer was "no", because we did receive SOME channels.....oy.
I'm going to call again and speak to a manager...most times threatening to move your service will get you what you want.
I'm going to call again and speak to a manager...most times threatening to move your service will get you what you want.
I used to work for a call centre here in St. Catharine's, Ontario. The program I was on was Cox Communication, Billing Department, the people that probably told you no to a credit lol All you have to do is tell them everything was out, analoge and digital, you could also say it was out for longer than it really was, they have no way of telling when your cable isn't working, they don't know it's out until someone calls in to complain that it's not working. Also, you'd be better off dealing with a regular rep than a manager...the reps are more likely to be a little more generous with crediting...and I believe the area you live in, they are able to credit up to $50 per call...just an FYI Just be nice to the person on the phone, the're just doing the're job, and they'll be good to you. I was always grateful for nice people, and I would do all I could to help them. If you call during a really busy time, you'll most likely get the centre here in Canada, we took the overflow when things were busy, first thing in the morning was always really crazy, I think we're a little more relaxed with things than the other centres...hope this helps
we dropped cable when we moved down to basic. we use tivo and anything thats on the regular channels i tivo to watch later. we converted our old laptop into a tivo-like device, all our downloaded materiel can be played off of it and onto the TV. Whatever we can't find on download, I'll watch on the channels website.
To the first person who posted, if Mad Men is the only thing you're watching outside of basic cable, you could cut back to basic and rent the whole season from Netflicks next spring, when it will probably be available.
For tv shows that I watch, yup Mad Men is the only cable show I really like. It's Nick and Disney that my kids watch. I know they will outgrow these channels w/in the next few years and if we bide our time we will be able to drop down to basic. Of course by then, they'll probably have done away w/basic -- Murphy's Law an all.
What infuriates me more than anything else is that we HAVE to pay for tv channels that we don't watch. I would love them to tier their channels or bundle 'family channels' or 'sports channels', or have a 'build your own bundle' type package so you could get basic then a bundle of say 6 or 8 channels for xx price. Much less channels that what we have now and ultimately they could make a fortune off of it because per channel, it's more expensive. But for us, it would lower our monthly bill and we would be paying for what we watched and nothing else. Does that make sense?
I'm also bugged out because the two choices are Comcast or satellite. Both cost approx the same; actually Comcast is cheaper for us. Not according to the satellite folks. They'll provide like 50 or 100 more channles for about $10 more per month than what we are paying to Comcast now for somewhere around 100 channels. (Actually I don't even know how many channels we get because we have so many blocked off the remote because we do not watch them.) But MORE channels is certainly not what we want.
What I want is to pay for what I use but the only option is to pay for what I don't use. It's just so frustrating.
I'm also confused as to whether or not we will need some kind of converter box come Feb. All I read was that if you have cable you will be fine, do nothing. But now I'm hearing that if you have DIGITAL cable you will be fine; cable via analog signal may only get you your basic channels and you may need a converter box. Not the kind you can buy from a store but one you must rent from Comcast. So that's another $10/month.
With the most recent increase we will pay nearly $750/yr for tv. I remember when it was free, less channels and . . . well it was nice.
Why is Comcast allowed to increase their prices so much? I went back over our bills and on average they consistently raise their prices 10% every 14 months. I find this insane.
We will probably end up keeping it for awhile longer for the kid's channels but I'm looking forward to giving Comcast a permanent boot one of these days.
lizzie - not being too much of a dope but . . . is tivo a box thing you buy or is it a service . . or both? how does that work? thanks!
Well I'll give you my Charter Subscription for your Comcast. Charter just plain Sucks. I've had many a problems with them. But it is the only thing available in this area... the town over has Comcast and no one has a complaint about them. Charter on the other hand---- horrible costumer service... online, via the phone and in-person.
We had problems with them w/their wires and tinny sounds (nothing of our doing) they said it'd cost me $75 an hour for a guy to come and check out my box and wires. Um, no it is your problem. It ended up being the wire connection and a bad box. Hmph... them, not me. Oh and wait... I love how they were working on the wires outside my house and the cable was disconnected Friday-Monday evening. Wonderful... seeing as THEY disconnected our whole street and wouldn't give us a credit for not having it the whole weekend. So very typical of Charter.
Ok, I am done...
Honestly....the price raises in cable don't really surprise me....when is the last time that you paid for a service or good that DIDN'T have periodic price increases.
Our home and car insurance goes up every so often, even though we don't file claims, our energy bills have gone up even though we've taken steps to reduce our energy consumption, or gas bill is really high, grocery bill is really high.....we don't use more, but with inflation - companies cannot afford to keep their prices the same forever and still turn a profit. Call them greedy, but it is just like any other business.
Also, cable is a luxury. Simple as that. Sure, it is nice to have but in times of crisis we could definitely go without it. We didn't have cable the first three years my husband and I were married because we chose to save that money. Sure, my son would be upset that he couldn't watch his "Dragon Tales" or "Elmo's World", but since he doesn't pay the bills...he would get used to it. He has movies to watch, but more importantly, PLAYING to do. My son doesn't get to park himself in front of the television for hours on end, and honestly, I'm not so sure he would want to. He has energy that needs to be used or else he turns into something not human. We read, we bike, we play in the yard...
Anyway, my point is this: If a 2-3 dollar hike every other quarter is too much, get rid of cable. Most cable shows can be rented if they are that important. Most of us watch too much television as it is.
Modkittn~ If you are okay with this you can tell your hubby what I tell mine during Basketball season... Go to a sports bar! I'll go with him most of the time or he'll hang out with his friends. The cost of a beer a few times a month is a lot cheaper then cable.
You OBVIOUSLY have not seen my husband drink He will have 3-4 during a game, if it is not on a weeknight. That means $20+ for one game. And we pay $50 a month for cable. Also, he watches EVERY SINGLE GAME, so that is 3 games a week (roughly) and even though he doesn't drink on weeknights NOW, if he was forced to go to a bar to watch the game, he would probably have a few. There's no way that would be cheaper for us!
Photo - my husband works in satellite internet business and WebRover is right about the 1996 - your HOA can say that they restrict satellites, but if they are less than 1 meter in diameter they can't tell you that you can't have it. They can restrict the location for matters of aesthetics, but if the only location that works is on the front of your house sticking out towards the road the HOA rules would be overruled by the FCC if you protested.
Tivo is a a digital recorder- a lot of times Comcast gives them out w/ their service now (but it's called something else)- it records all my shows- i tell it what show i like and it records it every time it's on. it also can pull stuff off your hard drive of your computer so anything you have there you can play on tv too. there are other things it does like ours is set to download some podcasts and we have a couple we watch every week. mostly think- fancy vcr without the vhs takes.
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Just be nice to the person on the phone, the're just doing the're job, and they'll be good to you. I was always grateful for nice people, and I would do all I could to help them. If you call during a really busy time, you'll most likely get the centre here in Canada, we took the overflow when things were busy, first thing in the morning was always really crazy, I think we're a little more relaxed with things than the other centres...hope this helps 
