Is dumping cable/dish even a realistic option?

[Swampthing]

I have netflix streaming and for what it is, it's fine. The content is mostly old, alot of stuff i don't care about etc. But for 7 bucks a month i get my usage. I've looked at hulu and their selection is laughable at best.

Is there really any realistic alternative out there for streaming TV shows? I'm tired of paying 70-100 a month for tv with tons of channels i never watch. My wife wants something that has HGTV, DIY and travel channel.

Is there not one single service out there? Hulu makes it look like they have these shows but they don't. I don't want a service like amazon where you have to pay 4 bucks a show or something stupid like that.

I'd just like some kind of on demand service that has some of these other networks not just the crap that's on network tv.

evidently i'm asking for too much?

 

[soulcougher73]

Finding HGTV, DIY, and Travel Channel will be hard without going cable or dish. Unless you dont mind torrenting.

I use an outdoor antenna, Netlfix and $20 AT&T DSL and it works for my needs. I torrent what i cant find otherwise.

EZTV is what i use for my TV show torrents.

 

[Swampthing]

was afraid of that. Just isn't worth 70 bucks for the three channels she watches and what little she actually watches them.

You'd think there'd be enough people pissed about this kinda thing by now that things would change.

 

[kornphlake]

I really wish the providers would offer a'la carte packages, I'd rather pay $25 for 5 channels ($5 per channel) I frequently watch than paying $70 for 120 (58 cents per channel) channels I never watch. The 5 channels I watch most have absolutely no content legally available online. Comcast xfinity is supposed to allow comcast customers to view comcast content online, it's the biggest joke though, it's hulu with a different interface, it even says hulu all over it.

 

[zerocool84]

For many it is that watch only network tv shows but I watch a lot of sports. ESPN has their streaming stuff but it's still not everything.

 

[mshan]

I don't know if Dish Still offers this very basic package:

Hi, just to let everyone know, the Welcome Pack has been reinstated by Dish Network for $14.99 a month including locals. It is NOT a qualifying package, so cannot be added to an account that is currently under a commitment. It will include: 107,Comedy Central; 110, Food Network; 112, Home & Garden Television; 120, History; 127, Oxygen; 128, WE: Women's Entertainment; 130, AMC; 134, ShopNBC; 137, QVC; 139, TBS; 161,MTV2; 166, CMT; 175, Boomerang; 179, The HUB; 183, Learning Channel; 185, Hallmark; 203, Bloomberg; 209, MSNBC; 214, The Weather Channel; 222, HSN; & 230, ICTV. We have not updated our website yet so it is not available on-line right now.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/240066-welcome-pack.html

 

[Lean L]

I really wish the providers would offer a'la carte packages, I'd rather pay $25 for 5 channels ($5 per channel) I frequently watch than paying $70 for 120 (58 cents per channel) channels I never watch. The 5 channels I watch most have absolutely no content legally available online. Comcast xfinity is supposed to allow comcast customers to view comcast content online, it's the biggest joke though, it's hulu with a different interface, it even says hulu all over it.

That's not how it works. The channels you pay for don't have nearly as many ads as offering you 200 channels with ads. If you could pick and chose it'd be a lot more expensive believe it or not due to the lost ad revenues. Think about QVC or something, they are 100% ads but no one in their right mind would specifically order that channel. Many lost profits there.

 

[velillen]

Its definitely doable but it also depends on how willing you are for delayed shows and all.

I havent had cable in a long time. Well most i havent used it in a long time. My roommate shave cable but i dont have anything hooked up to it. I simply download my tv shows. Which also means i usually get them before they even air on the west coast. Movie wise i just have netflix. Sports wise is probably the biggest "loss". The only real loss is the fact you cant watch it live. Which for me isnt a big deal as i primary only watch soccer...the EPL and other europe leagues. So its on at 4-6am in the morning anyways and id have to record it then. But instead i can just download the games and watch it whenever....often times with better announcers and quality than shown here.

I do have a HD antenna...though its pretty crappy and i get the basic channels (4,5,7, KONG16, JoeTV) which covers quite a bit actually. get my local soccer MLS team (SOunders who are often on Kong and not "capped" for downloading).


So like i said...is it possible and doable to get rid of cable....yep. Does it involve some sacrifices? yep.

 

[dfuze]

You sound a lot like our house, mostly watching stuff that is network tv which is very easy to watch with either an antenna or with a ultra basic cable option for just the network channels which is what I do ($20 so I don't have to mess with an antenna). I also use netflix & hulu for the 20% of shows that I watch that aren't network. Hooking up an HTPC and downgrading cable was one of the better choices I could have made

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I've done it for over a year with Internet and using a Hauppauge 2250 tuner with basic tier cable that is provided by our HOA. The only problem is that I have all this money invested in an HDTV/surround sound system and the vast majority of content is 2 channel sound and non-HD.

We have Verizon FIOS internet. Found out that bundling FIOS TV would only be an extra $25 a month for their Extreme HD package, so I bought a Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner and I'm expecting the Verizon tech to show up any minute with the CableCard. It was nice not having a cable bill for over a year but for the extra 25 bucks a month it's worth it to be able to have all the HD content again.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I just canceled my Comcast cable. I don't watch sports, and there are only a few shows I don't mind waiting for on DVD/blu-ray or Netflix streaming.

With the $60/month I was paying for Comcast "digital standard" I can buy 30 SD or 20 HD episodes from Amazon or PSN, to watch when I feel like it, commercial-free and with better quality. That's much more than I need so I'll end up saving a nice amount of money.

 

[gorb]

I haven't had any kind of tv service for years. It's great

 

[kornphlake]

That's not how it works. The channels you pay for don't have nearly as many ads as offering you 200 channels with ads. If you could pick and chose it'd be a lot more expensive believe it or not due to the lost ad revenues. Think about QVC or something, they are 100% ads but no one in their right mind would specifically order that channel. Many lost profits there.

I'm not sure what you're getting at, a cable network like TNT has just as many commercials as a broadcast network like CBS. Several of the cable networks have hours of paid programming every day during the off peak hours, in addition to frequent commercial breaks during primetime. At one point, maybe 25 years ago, cable channels had very little advertising, most were similar to PBS and would air programs start to finish without commercials. I could understand paying a premium for the cable channels because the content was delivered without significant advertising, with the amount of advertising on the cable networks today I'm not sure what my monthly fee actually covers. If I had to guess I'd say it mostly goes in the pockets of the cable company and very little goes to the networks. I'm not a cable company manager so I really have no idea what the actual costs are, I just know that the quality of programming on public broadcast television is in most ways equal to the quality of the programming on cable television yet public broadcast is able to do it at no cost to the consumer.

Regardless of how cable networks are managed, what would it realistically cost to have only the history channel for example delivered without any other programming, I can't imagine that one channel would cost more than what I'm paying for 120 channels, even if I were paying for some "lost ad revenue." I am an unusual customer, most would rather have 120 channels and would watch the majority of those channels on a regular basis, the majority would rather get bulk pricing which in practice would keep the "lost ad revenue" to a minimum if a few customers decided they didn't really want all the channels in a package.

 

[spacejamz]

I killed my cable two months ago and haven't really missed it (except the NBA playoffs but I listened to the Dallas Mavericks on the radio if I didn't catch it a friends or a bar)...

I was paying $130/month for my Time Warner cable (10MB) plus two HD STB's (one was a dual tuner DVR) and now I just have the 10MB Internet service so my bill is $45/month now...

I have some rabbit ears hooked to my TV"s and I get a bunch of local digital channels (alot of them are spanish though)...

So far I am not regretting it...

 

[Plugers]

Regardless of how cable networks are managed, what would it realistically cost to have only the history channel for example delivered without any other programming,

Ever check out FTA satellite? History is free on SES 1.

I bought a PCI FTA satellite tuner card for $50 and an old Primestar dish for free to check it out, then I bought a motorized 36" of Craigslist for $30. You can get a DCT for around $100 if you don't want to mess with a PC. But you get a free DVR if you use the PC.

 

[rbk123]

Is the dish for an FTA setup any different than a DirectTV or Dish Network dish?

 

[Emulex]

just ask a buddy to run a slingbox to you. it works quite fine. most family won't mind and i don't have enough hours in the day to dent their budget. you can do a vulkano platinum for $99 at buy.com (which can be a dvr itself) and don't bug the dish guys for their horrible service (slingmedia).

I have 1 offer for comcast and 1 for u-verse - and i'm getting u-verse so i'll be able to throw 3 (different packages) and if necessary drop my service at any time.

An xbox-360 requires no monthly fee on u-verse and most sling/vulkano boxes know MCE remote natively.

 

[Plugers]

Is the dish for an FTA setup any different than a DirectTV or Dish Network dish?

Yes, it needs to be 31" or larger and have a linear LNB. Primestars have a linear LNB as do the World*** (I forget the name) international dishes.

If you stop by an apartment complex you can probably get one free from maintainence as everyone leaves them behind.

My 36" gets better signal than the Primestar, but I grabbed that to get into it and figure it out cheap (free). If it works out for you a h-h motors is nice, or if you have a decent yard and a spot to hide them 4-8 dishes can be put on a DiSEqC switch for quick channel changes between different satellites.

 

[Kadarin]

Basically I watch just Doctor Who and Fringe. So yeah, at that point it makes sense to not bother paying for cable/satellite (which for me has been the case for the past year and a half). I watch Fringe on Hulu and rent Doctor Who from iTunes, which works out to being a LOT better than ~$100/mo for cable.