Sigh
Has it already been a decade?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mention...
I don't miss cable tv
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#12I'm an America who lives in the UK and I have yet to use any sort of cable/sat provider since moving here. Setup: Acer Aspire Revo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225756 £300 + Loaded with Boxee + Proxied to an old laptop at my parents house in the US Services I use: 1. NFL overseas Gamepass package (~$250 for whole season) - every game in full HD (yes literally just as good as watching it on cable HDTV...NO JOKE) 2.…
May I ask what ISP and speed your parents have? I'm also abroad and while I could set a proxy up their house I'm worried that it would use up all the upload bandwidth. They are on DSL 800kbit/7Mbit up/down
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#13I'm an America who lives in the UK and I have yet to use any sort of cable/sat provider since moving here. Setup: Acer Aspire Revo - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/225756 £300 + Loaded with Boxee + Proxied to an old laptop at my parents house in the US Services I use: 1. NFL overseas Gamepass package (~$250 for whole season) - every game in full HD (yes literally just as good as watching it on cable HDTV...NO JOKE) 2.…
I love the idea of an overseas subscription. It seems like living in another country makes it depressingly difficult to buy content from your home region (DVD regions, game regions, iTunes/Amazon/etc. are regionalised as well).
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#14"I was sickened at the negative focus of broadcast news. Each and every morning hundreds of millions of Americans are watching and listening to these messages...."
Each time I see things like this, I can't believe people don't seem to see the irony. People now do this with twitter, reddit, facebook etc. Even Hacker news has its fair share of gossipy rumour "Mike doesn't like Jason any more!". It's even worse than TV. We're turning society into school kid gossip mill mob rule idiots.
It's like the people who laugh and mock people who get most of their news from Fox news, and then get most of their own news from Reddit and the daily show.
Whilst the internet has replaced TV for a lot of society, is that actually a good thing? Is the internet really that much better for society than TV? I'd argue that on balance, no it's not. You get hyperbole stories everywhere. A large amount of Reddit type websites etc is "You should be outraged by this!!! (Until tomorrow by which time you'll have forgotten)".
The argument about TV will vary massively with where you live though. I'm in the UK, and would happily pay the BBC a far higher license fee, simply because the quality of programing they put out is fantastic. They even employ real journalists who investigate, ask tough questions and provide balanced information. (We do not have any of that sermonistic preaching that seems to happen all too often in the US which personally creeps me out)
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#15Sigh Has it already been a decade? http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mention...
Come on dude, don't be a troll. Here we have a personal blog post of a guy who isn't bragging about not having a TV, but explaining the flaws he sees in American TV. It's a blog - it's the guy's thoughts. He's not constantly bringing it up at your house parties or anything.
Don't be the crazy hobo outside the bar.
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#16Between dumping cable and using an ad blocker in Chrome, the only political ads I saw this past election cycle were the occasional billboard. It was absolutely blissful. Here's hoping ad buys on Hulu continue to remain so expensive that politicians can't get in on it.
I saw political ads on Hulu. I believe it was for Ron Johnson for WI senate.
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#17The whole "I don't watch TV" thing is a bit of a joke nowadays, where people just watch online.
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#18Sigh Has it already been a decade? http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-constantly-mention...
Come on dude, don't be a troll. Here we have a personal blog post of a guy who isn't bragging about not having a TV, but explaining the flaws he sees in American TV. It's a blog - it's the guy's thoughts. He's not constantly bringing it up at your house parties or anything. Don't be the crazy hobo outside the bar.
Benevolent message, but .. far more people than you can imagine have "quit TV". In fact, my entire twitter graph, people on IRC, social networks, even the local pubs I frequent, and everyone who responded in this thread have all quit TV. Stories of triumph over the tube are abundant, and the reasons nearly identical. People have been unanimous on two things: 1) their disdain for TV, American or otherwise and 2) their love for puppies.
Just from 4 days ago, front-page:
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#19I don't think I've ever heard of someone giving up cable/TV and regretting it. I don't have a TV, and I don't watch shows online either. I've been entirely TV-free for close to a year, and I haven't missed it once. I watch movies once a week at most, usually much less often. Don't miss that either. Honestly, I don't see how people find the time for it. Between work, keeping up my home, and spending time with my wife,…
If you stopped watching the movies, would you miss them? That is basically how I feel about the few remaining shows I do watch - they have been selected for awesomeness, and I consider the time I spend on them worthwhile.
I don't think I would. There have been whole months where I didn't watch anything and didn't miss it. When my wife and I do watch a movie, it's generally more about the experience (of having a movie night, making popcorn and drinking soda [neither of which we otherwise consume on anything approaching a regular basis]) than the movie anyway, in the same way that going out for drinks with friends is more about the conversation than the beer, however delicious beer may be.
Re: I don't miss cable tv
#20I really, honestly, cannot wait to join the growing trend of ditching cable / satellite TV. I consume the vast majority of my content through Netflix, Hulu, and simply downloading episodes. That said, until the NCAA and NFL are willing to provide a stand-alone service that lets me subscribe to Georgia Tech and Atlanta Falcons football games, the whole concept of ditching cable is a non-starter for me. Since I'm no lo…
Live sports are not the last stronghold.
There's a whole slew of shows which would whither and die without a cable subscription model.
Think Food Network or Discovery or any show which isn't a serialized story model. Would you actually buy a season of Mythbusters?* I watch those shows all the time, but usually when I'm just browsing. I'm not sure I'd actually buy them ala carte.
BTW NFL and NCAA aren't holding out on streaming. The rights to internet broadcast games are tied to their traditional cable and broadcast deals with cable providers and the Comcasts and TWCs of the world are locking in those restrictions. MLB is the only one who kept their streaming rights.
* Note I'm not saying no one would - but I don't think enough people would