Who needs cable TV in the 21st century?

If it wasn't for the NFL Sunday ticket, I'd get rid of Directv because I'd get only the channels I want with PS Vue or Sling tv. I already have Prime, Netflix and Hulu (during summer break). With all of the free movies channels on Roku, there's more than enough to watch. I pay $30 for high speed internet with 1,024 GB, which is more than enough every month.

 

As a former cable employee, I can tell you - if you call up and threaten to cancel, they will automatically send you to the 'cancellation/retention' department. Their job is dedicated to keep you, period. You can yell all kinds of nasty stuff at them, and their coolness will irritate you until it calms you down. Yes, this is their job. Ask for the world, just remember to call back a month before the special discount runs out.

I have AT&T Uverse. I really only need the internet myself. My guy needs the sports channels. The grand baby needs Nickleodeon and Disney Channel. And I don't know how I existed before Married at First Sight on Lifetime. Probably the only reality soap opera I ever watched and DVRd when I wasn't home.

My guy mentioned something about some Firestick. I dunno. Not one to monkey around with the utilities. Feel that they are some sacred cow and shouldn't be messed with. I was convinced to sign up for some green electric company, and my bill was higher. I digress...

I am not a movie nut, but enjoy commercial free entertainment and some late night comedy once in awhile.

Guess I'll be paying that $120 that somehow ends up being $175 with local taxes, blah-blah-blah. Whatever you do, don't get a late fee. If they cut you off, they expect $ and some companies blast this "You owe us money crawl on the bottom of the screen." Sheesh! And when they cut you off, they will charge a reconnection fee for EACH service.

You have my sympathies if you have the bundle including a land line phone. When it rains ...well forget about doing anything that night.

One beef I do have are those dreadful, Jetsons satellite dishes hanging off balconies and sticking outta apartment buildings walls. They just look goofy to me.

 

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I think too much access leads to wired kids and microwave generation adults. No down time. Read a book, do a puzzle, play a game once in awhile. Nope..TVs are in libraries and post offices now. Little or no quiet time.

Whatever happened to free TV? Besides movie channels, do you really need 400 channels? And internet should be free too, if you ask me. Can’t get or keep a job without internet access these days. I completed over 50 applcations on my iphone. Jobs these days expect you to do your own onboarding or Hiring paperwork. Use your ink and paper. Computers are becoming too slow for me. Now that I have a wireless printer, don’t even need my laptop unless I’m in Word typing a letter.

I don’t agree with 24 hr children’s programs. Kids need to have a set bedtime. We never had TVs in our bedrooms! Phones and ipads have become new pacifiers. Families in restaurants texting and kids in church with headphones, just sad to me...

 

I got rid of cable a couple of years ago now and rarely miss it. It definitely wasn't worth the price I was paying. Almost all of the shows I watched regularly were on local channels anyway, and those are on Hulu the day after they air. I pay for Hulu Plus ($8 per month) so I can watch the shows on my TV rather than on my computer. I used to have Netflix, but got rid of that too because I watched it so rarely. I plan to get Netflix for just one month this summer; I'll binge watch all of the shows I like and then cancel again.

 

Just get Netflix, Hulu, and Comcast Xfinity. Enough said.

 

My earliest memory of TV, I think I was about 5, and I was fascinated with the little UHF box that Dad attached to the black-and-white TV. Living in a semi-rural mountainous region, he and Mom were impressed that it could bring in 2 more channels for a grand total of 3. My favorite shows were Romper Room and The Lawrence Welk Show. (To be honest, I recall being more fascinated with my little 45 RPM record player).

My grandmother had the latest invention at her house--cable TV. It had 8 or 9 more channels. When I was 9 years old, I was at her house every day after school until my mom got off work, and I was fascinated with the PBS programs, especially The Friendly Giant and Mr. Rogers.

But when we moved to a new house, Dad decided it was time for us to get cable TV. When I became an older teenager, cable TV transformed into where-did-all-these-channels-come-from TV. My younger brother bought our first behemoth VCR, and wow! It could pick up channels before the cable company made them available in our package. The biggest surprise came after I returned from college. The old TV finally bit the dust (oh, by that time, TV repairmen were a thing of the past) and a new TV was delivered to our house (most TV's were consoles back then). I was the one waiting for the delivery, and when the gentlemen delivered a color TV, I almost sent it back. I knew my parents would never waste money on a color TV, where you had to wiggle the knob to hopefully come close the to the correct colors. Little did I know that they did purchase this new fangled color TV that automatically adjusted. Meanwhile, my aunt and uncle had the niftiest invention--a TV that could answer the phone. We laughed and laughed when we talked to my other aunt while watching Paul Gaudino exercise on The Family Fitness Show.

Transport to today--now I'm sitting at my desk typing on a computer. My android phone is by my side...while I was typing I verbally asked Google to search for the titles of the above TV shows, and Google even talked to me. We actually got rid of our cable 7 years ago and watch DVD's from the library, (OK, we still have a VCR, too). I recall, when I was 7, wishing I had a mobile Bat-phone and a Bat-computer like Batman on TV. Last night, my brother and I were discussing all the stuff that our little smart phones can do. Meanwhile, I added a couple more radio apps that he liked onto my phone and listened to some classic bluegrass that I could Bluetooth over to my new speaker--without wires even! Modern inventions have come a long way since I was 5-years-old, but now I see my clock is telling me I have to leave, so please excuse me while I step into my teleport machine. (Just kidding on that last phrase, but I did read a month ago that scientists are now working on that, too).

 

Wow Obadiah....

You took us way back memory lane!

“See me walk so straight and tall. I won’t let my basket fall!”

Everyone wished Ms. Mooney would call your name from the ‘Magic Mirror’. That show was great!

Did you ever expect to be on moving sidewalks on the airport? The Jetsons set the stage for today! George had a cell phone and did Facetime with his boss. What about Elroy using his computer to do his homework? Who knew?? I laughed when Jane flipped George out the bed while making breakfast at the same time. That was hilarious!

When my daughter moved with me after college, she was so frustrated dealing with all the boxes first few days. “We can’t eat! Where’s the microwave?!”

Uh, have you heard of this thing called a stove?? Cooking and reheating were not in her vocabulary.

 

I posted here already, but I had to call my cable/internet company just the other day to get the current, lower pricing since my triple bundle had finally gone up. So another yr for me of the price I'm willing to pay (for landline, internet, & cable)!

 

When I cancelled cable in 2009 I remember someone from the cable company coming to my door asking why I cancelled and would I be willing to sign up again with a discount. Um, no thank you. Go away please

 

We recently went with roku/YouTube tv. I'm never going back We were worried about all of our sports, which is why we waited so long. However, I've never been happier. Essentially the same as our cable and a fraction of the cost.