Goodbye Cable

So I officially canceled our cable this month. I'm done with the monthly bills, the ridiculous fees associated with moving, and god help you if something breaks and you have to deal with customer service. Now we get all our entertainment from 3 sources: a new antenna ($35) i installed that pulls in the network channels in high def (better than cable, actually), netflix for movies, and a computer hooked up to the tv for shows and other internet viewing. There's very little we can't get now with those 3 sources, and we have actually started watching tv shows we never did before, like my new favorite Breaking Bad, and old seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I spend less time getting shows now than I did trying to keep my DVR organized, and I don't turn on the tv and watch worthless programing on ESPN and Discovery just because they were on. True, watching a show is more of a hastle now, because we have to go find it on the website or order it on Netflix, but that just means we only watch shows that we are really interested in. In the past, I would go into my DVR and have 20 shows (Family Guy, Seinfeld, 24) that I felt like I needed to catch up on, and kill an hour and a half of my life without thinking. Now I have to care about it before I watch it, and this 'diet' has improved my intake dramatically. I actually took it one step further, and installed a program on our computer that pulls programming from the internet, and also lets you control it with your remote control. These programs have easy access to some really interesting stuff that I never would have looked into. With Academic Earth, I watched a Yale University lecture on game theory, CBS.com had all of the March Madness games on demand, and several other sites show soccer games I could never get on regular cable.

I don't think this approach was feasible in the past, but with new technology and studios slowly providing their content online, it is now an option. Also, the initial setup cost some time and money, but my Comcast bill is now $49 a month (internet) so I will make that money back quickly. In fact, the easiest interaction I've ever had with the cable guys (Time Warner too) was returning the cable box and remote. I drove it to their local office, and dropped it their "returns drop box". The clunk of the cable box falling into the returns heap was extremely satisfying, and my service was canceled automatically the next day. I even got our partial bill refunded, because the un-trusting bastards always bill a month ahead.

Take the plunge. The worst thing that will happen is you'll watch less tv...