Comments on: Cable Companies Sensitive to Your Fiscal Needs

By: Cable Companies Bleeding Customers Instead Of Just Bleeding them Dry | Techcitement*

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:01:52 +0000

[…] in June, we at Techcitement commented on the cable industry’s decision to focus on making cable more affordable. We were wondering how that was working out for them, and it looks like it’s not going down […]

By: Mordechai Luchins

Mordechai Luchins — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:31:36 +0000

In reply to Jeremy Goldstone. Talk like that'll get you fired, mister.

By: Jeremy Goldstone

Jeremy Goldstone — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:16:32 +0000

You’re missing the important thing here — why in the name of all that is good and righteous would anyone want to watch Leverage?

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:26:24 +0000

Boo cable. Hurray Netflix, Hulu and set top boxes!
Honestly, I don’t care about most of the programming on TV these days. I feel like I’m being forced to watch what some network exec thinks I should, rather than something I really care about.

I think the final straw came one day when I found myself unable to adequately answer when my wife asked what I’m watching: “uh, I dunno” “Well, then why are you watching it?” “um… ‘cuz its on?”.

I don’t even watch network TV live anymore. I prefer to “power watch” multiple episodes at a time after the fact when possible. Am I out of the loop? Maybe, but I never regretted my decision.

By: Tom Wyrick

Tom Wyrick — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:44:30 +0000

Yep, I used to have the 200 channel AT&T U-Verse TV package bundled with my broadband access, but one day, I was informed that I could actually dump the TV part and keep just the high-speed Internet portion. (AT&T didn’t make that at all clear as an option back when I first subscribed. The “word on the street” was that you had to take at least the most basic TV package + some sort of Internet as a package, or else they’d tell you to just order DSL service instead.) I got rid of it, saving around $45-50 per month, and honestly, we RARELY miss it.

The over-the-air digital TV stations have better clarity than the typical U-Verse stations provided, and with almost all of them using sub-carriers now, you get 2-3x as many choices as you used to have. (Our local PBS station, for example, has a dedicated “PBS Kids” station running on 9.3, while 9.2 is some kind of DYI/home improvement type station.) With a Netflix subscription plus that, there’s enough content to find something worth watching when you’re in the mood for TV.

Honestly, if I was a really big sports fan, I *might* keep my cable TV for the ESPN stations — but that’s just not a big deal to me. Otherwise, I don’t even know what’s on cable anymore that really justifies the expense? It does seem like it’s gone back to being a costly luxury item…. Sure, HBO and Showtime try to stay relevant with their original series, which are often pretty good. But you have to pay even MORE per month on top of a basic cable package to see those channels. So how much are they really worth in the grand scheme of things?

By: Justin Davis

Justin Davis — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:27:00 +0000

I keep wanting to do something like this, but haven’t gotten to the point where I can cut myself off from the cable teat yet.