Changing TV Watching Habits?

[Mike]

We have DirecTV, which has provided great service since we dumped Comcast Cable. However, we just bought a Roku and dumped our HBO/Starz/Showtime package.

 

It makes my stomach hurt a little when I think about how much we've wasted on these unwatched channels, but inertia is a powerful force. Over time, we've come to watch less and less TV and the $45/month we were paying for these premium channels had turned into a one-way relationship, with us probably watching, on average, one or two movies a month. Part of it is the fact that the movie channels' lineup is stale and repetitive.

 

We now are using Roku, along with a handful of movie services that are low- or no-cost. I know I'll eventually get to the point--belatedly, no doubt--where I feel I'm again getting screwed, and I'll dump one, several, or all of these movie sources. However, at least for now, I feel like I've regained a little control, while saving a fair amount of money.

 

Maybe this will change in time, but these days I don't seem to have enough time and patience to watch much on television. The ability to stream what I want on demand is a better fit for me. In fact, I can see the possibility of going back to over-the-air programming, along with something like Roku. Of course, once my internet provider picks up on this and deems me a heavy data user, it'll all change again.

 

How about you? Have your TV habits changed? Have you taken any steps to reassert control and save a few bucks?

[Firefight911]

RedBox for movies.

 

No frills DirectTV - I use it mostly for the music stations (Channel 821 in particular)

 

 

[leikam]

As I've mentioned before, I dropped TV service completely about a year ago. I moved house and realized that (for me) the value of the premium cable channels was less than their cost and I rarely actually watched the basic channels. I put some of the money I saved on TV to a fast, fat internet pipe.

 

Since then, I've watched TV shows on my phone via iTunes and streamed TV and movies through Hulu. I've also gone to movie theaters more and use the red box. What I watch now feels much more conscious; I used to watch TV because it was there and often multi-tasked. Now, what I watch is what I'm positively interested in and what I want to make time for. Overall, a very positive change.

[marcopolo]

We still use cable internet/TV, but a couple of months ago bought Apple TV. We have watched a fair number of movies using it (streaming video). You can also access Netflix through it, as well as other sources like YouTube etc. Apple TV has quite a good selection of movies, TV shows etc., but the picture quality is limited to 720p (probably because nobody would want to download a Bluray movie in 1080p, since a typical Bluray movie is around 30GB, whereas an HD movie from Apple TV in 720p is about 3GB). Our cable internet is capped at 60GB of downloading/month. Anything over that and you pay extra (or you bump up your download limits at extra cost, obviously). Since we have an iMac desktop, Apple TV also allows us to wirelessly access any content that we have on the iMac's hard drive (photos, music, movies, TV shows). That's handy. That said, we're not saving any money because we did not pare down our cable package.

[ltljohn]

No premium channels, we use redbox for movies, tv is mostly on sports History/Discovery/Science/Cooking channel. Sometimes my son watches cartoons.

[Rougarou]

We have expanded cable to cover all the DIY channels, along with the informational/educational channels. What do I watch, I give the remote to the wife, I really have no preference and usually, what she puts on is quite interesting.

 

Also, no sports, none, nada, zilch. I asked her if she liked sports when we were dating, she said no, I said good, we'll have no TV issues then.

[Mrs. Caddis]

We recently cut off the cable. Added an HD antenna for the local news. We stream some shows over the internet or watch a DVD. Trying out Amazon Prime, but really haven't used it much.

[upflying]

I need cable for SpeedChannel, HGTV, Discovery, History, A&E and Fox News. Don't watch the rest.

[Mike]

I need cable for SpeedChannel, HGTV, Discovery, History, A&E and Fox News. Don't watch the rest.

 

Ain't that the truth? I've got somewhere north of 200 channels and only a half dozen or so that I watch on anything resembling a regular basis.

[MT Wallet]

Out here in the boonies we have few over the air choices. No cable to my house just Direct TV. I'm getting tired of the price gouging for mostly lame or tired out programs. Can you explain Roku? or other sources of TV programs without the hassle of Direct TV and a big monthly bill.

[OoPEZoO]

My only choice for high speed internet in my area is Comcast, and because I subscribe to it they throw in limited basic cable for "free". If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have cable at all. We subscribe to the Netflix streaming service (which gets used pretty much every day), and occationally use a Redbox/Blockbuster kiosk.

 

If I had another option for high speed internet, I would cut the cable completely.

[Firefight911]

57 Channels and Nothin' On

[Mike]

Can you explain Roku? or other sources of TV programs without the hassle of Direct TV and a big monthly bill.

 

Roku website.

 

It's a tiny little black box (about 1' x 3" x 3") that communicates with your web connection via a wifi signal (or through an ethernet cable on the XS model) to stream content through a variety of channels.

 

I haven't done a lot of exploring of the channels yet, but there are channels ranging from news to weather to interest-specific (for instance, shooting) channels. There are a couple of channels that offer older public domain movies for free, but most of the services cost something. Netflix, for example, offers unlimited downloads of its movies and TV shows for a flat rate ($7.99). I'm also a Prime member of Amazon.com, which permits me to download a number of movies free of charge. However, the newer titles will cost you a bit, generally $4.99 a movie.

 

The bottom line is that the little Roku communicates with these channels via the web, then translates the data it receives into an HD (or standard definition) signal that feeds into your television's inputs. There's lots of free content, but you'll generally pay something for access to newer stuff.

 

Assuming I can exercise the slightest bit of restraint, it won't take long to come out ahead, given the fact that I was paying $45/month, plus taxes, for my "premium" movie channels.

[Kathy R]

I gave up all but the Basic channels and that twitch in my fingers went away! Yeah, I miss HGTV and a handful of other channels, but all that *choice* left me with no choice. My only regret is that I didn't pare it down a long time ago.

 

I started out using Netflix every day. Now, I default to the radio/ipod.

[CVA-42]

We had DIRECTV for several years but the cost seemed to keep creeping up and they always had some excuse why. Last year, my landline provider sent a really attractive bundling offer for high speed internet, phone (including unlimited long distance) and DISH TV, all of this with a lifetime rate guarantee (we'll see how that really works out). I called DIRECT and asked them if they could match this in a bundle and they said they couldn't. Bundle, that is. We dropped them and signed up for the DISH bundle and, of course, we now hear from DIRECT about every other day begging us to come back. Anyway, I sometimes think we could just as well get by with only network TV. Newton Minnow was way ahead of his time.

[texasaggie97]

Yes, I did the cable company decided to raise the rates so called them and just started canceling service until I got to a price that sounded better. It is amazing how many deals they can come up with when you start to cancel service. Less TV would be best for everyone.

[markgoodrich]

Suzanne and I discuss this periodically. Our DTV bill is about a hundred dollars a month. She has lots of programs she records and watches on the DVR; I have a very few, and occasionally watch a football game so I'll have something to talk to my son about. I'd like to drop HBO, but there's resistance. I have no use at all for the five million XM channels on the television...that's what my stereo is for.

 

I do watch a couple of hours of television several evenings a week, almost always a movie, streamed from Netflix. One of my telvisions has a direct wifi connection to my router, the other can stream through a laptop, which is only very slightly clumsy...two wires to plug in. This direct connection deal with televisions for streaming content is going to change a lot of habits...the new tv has Hulu and some other similar products which I haven't even looked at yet.

 

 

[szurszewski]

We're probably atypical in that we don't have a TV (ok, we do, but we gave it to my mother-in-law a few years ago...along with our DVD player and the cabinet/shelf system they lived in) - we have a 27" iMac in our livingroom instead.

 

Hooked to that we have a digital tuner for broadcast stations - we never watch anything live, but my wife records a couples of shows a week.

 

We also have Netflix streaming and one-at-a-time DVD subscriptions. The streaming gets watched with enough regularity to justify the price per month (even though we don't pay it - we get a year as a gift each Christmas from my parents who LOVE Netflix), but the DVDs get copied onto the computer at a rate of two or so a week...and then watched a rate of maybe one or so a month. We will probably drop the DVD service in the next week or so and start watching our backlog ... maybe going to a kiosk now and then to a get a new release...or maybe not.

 

We also have an independent, very modern first-run movie theater a few blocks down the street, so if there's a movie we really want to see, and have time, we can usually catch it there.

 

I've never seen the value in paying for cable, but then I don't feel very good about myself if I spend a bunch of time sitting in front of the TV.

 

 

[skinny_tom (aka boney)]

We have a TV so Mrs. Boney can watch it. Maybe a movie or two a month and some specialized motorsports coverage for me, but that's about it. It's stuff that doesn't show up on the interwebs too, so DirecTV it is for me.

 

BTW, off road racing fans. Set your DVR to record the Mint 400 show on Fuel. Sautrday at 0800. My DVR recorded this (I don't know why but am soooooooooo thankful) and it's worth the watch even if it is a 1 hour ad for General Tire.

[Francois_Dumas]

I hardly watch TV and hence cannot call it a 'habit'.

 

I just work, and maybe ride a bit from time to time..... world info comes through the Internet on one of my monitors.

 

TV is rubbish for research and I don't want to waste my time just watching others (which apparently is called entertainment ).

[Tank]

Francois nailed it for me.

Its been so many years since I've watched TV programing that I've been feeling deprogrammed finally.

I surely do miss " The Red Skelton Hour "

[ryan_a1982]

Just tonight I told my wife that the Roku purchase was one of the best $100 spent in a while. We haven't had cable for almost 3 years. We used to hook our laptops to the tv's and would watch shows online. Now with the roku we can watch programs and free up the computer.

 

We pay for netflix streaming and Hulu plus. Works for us. BUT, I can't stand watching sports, so I don't have that to worry about.

 

I love not having to channel surf. No QVC or other crap to distract me as I am changing through the channels.

 

 

[SinNH]

Threw my box into the woods,(picked up on dump day) about 22 years ago. One of the best moves of my life. Got fed up when sports, such as basketball had a eight minute commercial break, and when you got the game back the score had changed by five/six points.

Just simply had enough of the insults.

[Selden]

Yes, I did the cable company decided to raise the rates so called them and just started canceling service until I got to a price that sounded better. It is amazing how many deals they can come up with when you start to cancel service. Less TV would be best for everyone.

I've been meaning to walk into the nearest Comcast office and start paring — the amount of money we spend each month for "basic" cable, internet, and telephone service is obscene. Does anybody know if you can go a la carte with Comcast? Pretty much the only time the TV is on, its for PBS, Comedy Central, CNN, or TWC. I could survive pretty easily on 4 channels (which is one more than I had growing up).