Cable TV - What do you spend? Is it worth it?

[bleedingheart]

Does anyone remember when TV was free? You put some rabbit ears on the TV or got a fancy system where a little dial in your house moved the antenae on to of the roof.

But it was free. Granted there wasn't a lot of TV programs ...but they all tended to be of better quality and the News had people like Walter Cronkite.


Today...people are paying about $600/year for crap and the news is just corporate spin.

Funnier part is that people thought congress would intervene as cable prices went higher and higher but they have done squat.
Now a lot of elderly people are finding that they may have to just cut off their TV's because it is just pinching their budgets too much...and that is sad because in their cases it is sometimes their only entertainment...

Sometimes I think if people just started to cancel their TV services then it might just get cheaper and they might just have to put something of quality on TV...

So what are you paying per year..?

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

1. $600

and its not worth it. I should go back to the basic only for $15 per month

[bleedingheart]

2. I spend $150 a year

I only get the bare minimum of cable...I did it cuz I don't want to fund Fox and the other crap on TV.

I get to see the Daily Show only when I go to my sisters or my mom's...and sis has it on Tivo..

[quiet.american]

3. Basic cable = free.

Granted, no MSNBC, FAUX or CNN, but who needs them? The only thing I ever really caught on HBO was Sex & the City once in a while, and now that it's on TBS, that takes care of that.

[bpilgrim]

20. thats what i got - will never give the M$MWs a dime

they are a LARGE reason why we are fucked



peace

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. $600 a year and have no choice. The reception around here is the pits. n/t

[geomon666]

5. I pay nothing because I don't watch it.

I'll watch the games come football season with the rabbit ears and that's it. After that I'll go back to watching DVDs and such but I always get my news online, always.

[Tyranny_R_US]

6. I pay for Cable to the Internets thats all the TV service is free :)

[Boredtodeath]

7. $0

I don't have cable and won't pay for it. In my estimation, it's not worth a dime.

[RebelOne]

8. I have DishNetwork and pay $49.95 a month.

I have 150 channels of which about 40 of them are nothing but music. Then there are 5 religious channels that I have no interest in. Then there are the sport channels which I never watch. And then there are the Pay-Per-View channels. There are a bunch of those and I never rent any movies from those because I have NetFlix. So out of all those 150 channels, there are only around 25 worth seeing.

But I'm ditching the dish at the end of the month for ComCast. That is only $39.95 per month and I won't be receiving all those other useless channels. Plus, I'm also going to cable because every time it is overcast or rainy, I lose my reception, which happens quite often.

[EnfantTerrible]

9. I used to pay $10 a month, just for the reception...

This is what I thought was "Basic Cable". Then I got a call asking if I wanted to upgrade to "Basic"... "what do I have?" I asked... "Sub Basic"... "Huh?" I replied...

Anyway.... I don't have premium channels and my phone and internet all come through my cable company now so I can't really say...

[sdfernando]

10. $720/year

Premium channels and digital cable but no subscription channels like HBO/Cinemax. Not really worth it but its a package deal with my cable modem & phone, so I guess I'll stick with it.

[JesterCS]

11. I watch

stuff on SciFi and i like watching blacked out sports on Fox Sports Ohio. I also watch National Geographic and Military Channel on occasion because i have an intense fascination with WWII

[KansDem]

12. Wasn't cable TV suppose to do away with ads?

I thought originally cable TV was suppose to do away with all that obnoxious advertising because you paid for the service, rather than the advertisers. Somehow I can't get used to the idea that I'm going to pay to watch ads.

I remember back in the 1960s a ballot initiative was introduced to permit "Pay TV," which I believe was a precursor for cable TV. It was soundly voted down because, as the opponents of Pay TV were to say, "Why pay for something you already get for free?" When cable came around, I thought, "Ahhhh, I'll pay for the service and do away with all that advertising!" Not so...

[bleedingheart]

13. Funny isn't it...now watching TNT is painful...so many ads that it

doesn't make it worthwhile to watch anything...

[yy4me]

14. North Shore Massachusetts/Comcast

With senior discount, $89.20 per month (1070.40 year), cable TV and Internet. Not worth a fraction of the cost. We're thinking of getting an antenna for TV, and going to dial-up for internet. I'm thinking that a little slower speed on the web would not be such a bad thing. The only thing I would miss is the History channel on Cable. The rest is pure garbage!

[LeftyMom]

15. $300/yr for Directv (two recievers, basic package) & Tivo

It works for us, we get to record movies, kids' shows and such to watch later and we don't have to rush home to catch CSI (LeftyDad's TV vice) or the Kings game (mine.) Oh, and we get to skip the commercials and watch a hour show in 40 minutes. The time saved alone is worth it as far as I'm concerned.

We don't watch more TV than we did before we got the dish, but we watch more educational stuff and less crap. Oh, and we've got better reception, too. :)

[Synnical]

28. $840/yr for Directv (one receiver, basic +HBO) & Tivo

$320 wow! I see you're in CA - I'm in FLA. Huge difference, huh?

Also, what I pay is about $60 more a year than I'd pay for basic cable in this area, which is why I switched to Directv. (Even though it irks me every month to pay the bill, especially since it's a Rupert Murdoch company.)

But, way more channels (I finally get to watch Democracy Now!) and as you stated, the reception is much better. I love my Tivo - can't tell you the last time I watched a commercial.

Cheers,
Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[LeftyMom]

30. oops, bad math skills here

I must've had a brain fart, I pay about $50/mo = $600/yr. Still, we get pretty good rates on everything but gas here in Sacramento. :) One thing I'll miss when we move. :(

[rocktivity]

16. I paid Comcast $75/month for a digital package with HBO

Then I made a painful decision: I'd rather have a cable internet connection than The Sopranos. Now I'm paying $90/month for basic cable and broadband.

:headbang:
rocknation

[rocktivity]

25. To answer your other question--it is worth it--

I have three words for you: The Daily Show.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Tyler Durden]

17. $105/month for cable+broadband.

and don't think for one second THAT check doesn't hurt to write.

[Sabien]

18. pulled the plug 4 months ago

And HONESTLY, I'm kicking myself that I didn't do it 4 years ago. Bought a brand new set of "rabbit ears" for local weather and sports for a grand total of $7.50 and I'm happy as a clam. Still pay the cable company $45 for high speed internet access however, and will continue to do so until the village wi-fi system is fully operational (has been delayed by lawsuits from -surprise!- cable companies x() but that will only be $22/mo. afterwords with very little increases because it will be a public utility.

no cable tv = more time for walks, books, talks, watching movies, music, and living life.

I'm finally free of that electrical umbilical cord at age 34.

I've been "born again"

[spuddonna]

19. Let's see...

We have Comcast... it used to cost us $39.99 for basic cable, and we never really used it except to watch Jon Stewart, so we got Limited Cable (local channels, cspan) for $12.99 a month...

So we went from $479.88/yr to $155.88/yr.

Of course, we pay $46/mo to have Internet for my hubby and I to use for work, hubby's college, etc...

[feminazi]

21. almost $900/year for a comcast digital package

and i don't have hbo or sho. when comcast took over the service for my mobile home comunity my costs almost doubled for practically the same service/channels.

i'm wondering if it's worth it and am seriously thinking about just going to basic cable.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. I have digital cable (no movie channels) and Internet, but

I'm seriously looking at dropping the digital part. Ever since News World International was replaced by Current, and the intellectual level of BBCAmerica dropped by about 50 IQ points, and Discovery Civilization became Discovery Times and plays mostly conventional political stuff, and the military obsession of the History Channel is leaking into History International, there's less and less to watch. (BBC news is available on my local PBS station.)

Plus, if I dropped all but extended basic cable, I could afford a region-free DVD player and order DVDs from everywhere over the Internet. There are plenty of great BBC and Australian series that have never been released on DVD in North America and probably never will be.

Hmm, this is sounding better all the time.

[Obamanaut]

23. Outside antenna that picks up one station - we watch a lot of

old movies, listen to music, and/or read (I read a lot of DU). Life is much quieter at our house now.

[Gabi Hayes]

29. read? is you children learning?

[sepia_steel]

24. I pay about $80 a month

but a lot fo that is for cable internet access.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. am getting WOW TV for a year: $120/month for cable TV and modem, plus

phone service, which is free local and long distance.

saving over sixty bucks a month for the three

was paying $80/month for digital comcast with 11 HBO channels. three HBOs with new service....

going to miss Sundance/IFC if they aren't included

[Johonny]

26. TV?

29 $ for broadband. TV is for the weak minded.

[LSU_Subversive]

31. if my $ makes the daily show possible, then it's worth it.

actually on second thought, there's the family guy and news (although that's pretty much self-torture given the state of msm). i'm also becoming quite friendly toward stella and reno 911. basically comedy central and news make it worth it.

oh yeah, we pay ~50 for cable tv and internet, but that's a special deal and won't last forever.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Just tried an experiment with rabbit ears...

Most broadcast channels came in fuzzy, and others didn't come in at all. I may have to have at least basic cable. :-(

[SaveAmerica]

33. Your first paragraph is about us, Rabbit ears $5, local channels

Free, never paying for crap again: priceless.

[walldude]

34. I pay $50 a month for broadband

and get basic cable for another buck. I don't watch TV anyway just movies, I keep the cable for the kids, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Channel.. Oh and my wife watches all those fix up your house shows on TLC...