Goodbye, Cable!
Sunday, October 11th, 2009There’s only so long that an individual can put up with such treatment. After my cable bill went up, YET AGAIN, by $15 no less, Lauren and I had a decision to make. Did we love cable television enough to continue paying $115 a month for cable television and internet? Internet is obvious; we won’t be ditching that. But television seemed like a luxury, and one that we increasingly could not afford.
The decision involved the experience of others. Friends Rose and Shane don’t have cable television, but watching TV at their place still means a wide array of channels. Without difficulty, they get all local networks in crystal clear style. Tony doesn’t have cable either, or even a television. Yet he keeps up on shows through the wonders of the internet.
Then, there was our busy schedule to consider. Increasingly, the internet has been a destination to catch up on our favorite shows. Just this Friday, we spent a good part of the evening catching up on shows we hadn’t watched during the week. It works like a dream – The Office, Parks and Recreation, Glee, and all other shows we watch are available online. There is one show that we can’t get online for free – Mad Men. But it’s available through the iTunes store, meaning we can purchase the episodes and see them that way. It’s not as good as free, but at $2.99 a piece, we can buy a lot of episodes with what we are saving.
Somehow, I’ve managed to pay the same cell phone bill for the past 4 years, including changing contracts. Even adding a line for Lauren’s phone changed the bill in an exactly predictable way. I don’t think I’ve paid the same amount for cable and internet for any longer than a few months. No other company offers such ever-increasing prices with absolutely no benefit for the consumer.
Today, we bought an antenna (small, no rabbit ears, fits right behind the TV stand, and is not visible) and hooked it up to the converter box. In 3 minutes, and with no fiddling with the antenna, we had all local channels. I’ll hook the cable back up to watch Mad Men tonight. But after that, me and cable TV are through.