Thursday, September 8, 2011

Update on going without cable TV

We have made it a little over 2 months now without having Cable Television.  It hasn't been terribly bad.  We have used the library for movies and tv series' that we hadn't watched in the past.  The library has been great because everything that we get from there is free.  My brother Matt clued me into putting requests on books and movies and I have been using it pretty faithfully ever since.
For our normal viewing of shows we bought the Roku box and we pay for Hulu and Netflix service which is around $8 a month for each of them. 
For netflix we are able to stream tv shows and movies to our TV.  Most of their stuff that they have is older.  If it is on DVD, then there is a chance that Netflix has it.
Hulu is a little different.  They have old TV shows (Quantum Leap, Hill Street Blues, and older), but they also have up to date shows that play each week.  They update within a day of the show being on and allow you to watch it pretty soon after it is broadcast.  We haven't had our regular shows start to see how this will impact our viewing.  I will update later to give the thumbs up or down on that one.
Through Hulu and Netflix we get tons of shows and movies that supplement what we used to watch in the past.  It has been fun to see old shows (Inspector Gadget, Fraggle Rock...) that I used to watch when I was little.  The kids don't appreciate those shows like I did when I was little.  Maybe some day they will come along.
For live television we have an antenna in the attic that gets CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, WGN, PBS and a few more channels.  That will allow us to watch shows coming up in the fall live if we choose.  I will be able to watch most NFL games and follow along with my fantasy team.
All in all, I would say that it hasn't been too bad making the switch.  We still do miss watching some of our cable shows, but I am in the process of ordering a cable to attach our computer to our TV.  After we get that hooked up we should be able to get just about everything that we were missing.
I had thought about doing this for months/years before we actually did it.  I am glad I put it on my list so I would be motivated to actually give it a try.  Time will tell if we really have gotten rid of our monthly cable bill.

2 comments:

Mom said...

Yay, Eric! With all of the family activities you probably don't need much TV to keep you entertained anyway!

Eric Weis said...

Winter is coming. Our active lives will be slowing down soon.