If you don't subscribe to any kind of TV other than the internet,

[JDPriestly]

please check in and state why?

We don't subscribe for two reasons. It is too expensive and we don't like the generally right-wing slant on everything. Our basic cable did not offer MSNBC. We could get Jon Stewart and his channel, but that was about it for untainted information.

I'd like to hear from other people.

I don't miss TV at all. We watch NetFlix and have the internet. We read. We talk with friends and family and do other things.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. I only have the local channels and they're too right wing

If they weren't free (under ten dollars) I'd have no TV at all and would only watch DVDs.

[Kitty Herder]

2. I didn't watch much tv anyhow because I hate it, then my tv broke.

I don't want another tv. Anything I really want to see I can usually find online anyway.

Television mostly just annoys the hell out of me. It's trash.

[vadawg]

8. funnily ive got HD big screens inevery room of my house

even my kids who are toddlers have big screens, and im lucky if i watch 20 mins of TV a week :shrug: but my wife likes her shows and my kids love phineas and pherb and scooby doo so who am i to cramp their enjoyment. Not sure if growing up with out TV has made me immune to its charms :) oops meant to add, we dont get internet at home very well so its a big no no for watching tv online...

[Ex Lurker]

3. I dropped cable years ago

I used rabbit ears until the signal changed. I was only watching it for Seinfeld reruns and the local weather anyway, and I can get both of those over the internet. A lot of people use the TV as background noise for their lives. When I'm in their homes, the din is jarring to me.

[villager]

4. Pretty much sums up my reasons, and situation, JD!

:hi:

[Confusious]

5. Wasted to much time

Only watched the history and discovery channel, waste of money, I had to many things I wanted to learn for one lifetime, let alone watching TV.

[Triana]

6. Have had no teevee since 2001 or so...

..only internet. After bu$hit was appointed King by ABC and the Usurping Crap Clown Court, I turned off, cut off my cable, and have been happily without since.

I am NOT paying that much money for "infotainment", "medialoids" (media infected by tabloid journalism), and generally, bullshit propaganda put out by the corprats that own all the media and are just concerned with ratings and selling their mag-rags. I have no use for it. I want the FULL story, ALL the facts, ALL sides and NOT a bunch of twisted, out-of-context crap and/or outright LIES and sensationalism - being passed off as "news" to boost ratings and sales.

No thanks. They can't tell the TRUTH about anything, whether it's Michael Jackson, health care, Iraq, a national election, climate change, public health, poverty, the economy, ANY Democrat or progressive person, or anything or anyone ELSE.

All they do is put out sensationalist propaganda that boosts their ratings, sells their rags, and protects and fattens their bottom line via ratings and website clicks. F*ck them with a stiff brillo pad. They are NOT a public service. The media are SELF-service. They serve THEMSELVES and their corporate taskmasters and their bottom lines - and that's ALL.

Not participating in that.

[JDPriestly]

7. Thanks. I hope more people respond.

This is really interesting. We empower corporate public relations and advertising when we subscribe to cable and buy their newspapers.

I notice that I began to spend a lot less money after we dropped our cable. You just aren't as tempted to buy junk once your life is quieter.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. I don't watch much tv anyway

I'm certainly not going to pay a huge price for something I rarely use. Since the switch to digital tv I got a converter box and now I get one channel that shows mostly B movies and only comes in relatively clearly late at night (depending on the weather). It would be nice to have local news and PBS (although PBS basically sucks anymore since they've steadily gotten rid of the best programs) but I can do just fine without it.

I've always thought it was bizzare how much time people spend watching stupidity on the tv.

[Bobbieo]

10. I don't bother with TV because I am hearing impaired. I really don't miss it

[wickerwoman]

11. I lived overseas for years and got out of the habit.

The only show I ever watched was Jon Stewart and as long as that's online, I don't see much need to watch network TV, let alone pay for cable.

I prefer to watch TV series in a block anyway (hate having to wait a week... sometimes three or four weeks to see how something is resolved.) I guess I've lost patience with episodic TV and just prefer to get the whole series on DVD commercial-free.

I do think some of the best TV ever has been created in the past ten years or so since Showtime and HBO started producing series and one of the reason that movies have been so weak in the 00s is that all the best writers and actors have migrated to TV. So it's not an issue of "all TV sucks" or "TV is a waste of time" for me. It's more that it's more convenient and cheaper to rent DVDs than to pay for a cable or premium cable subscription.

[freeplessinseattle]

12. I don't need to subscribe to get the few shows I watch

and spend way too much time staring at that screen at it is! For awhile I had no tv but when my parents wanted to give me their old tv I had a hard time saying no. I think I have lost brain cells and gained fat cells since then though.

Plus the cost factor, of course. I remember my neighbor was stunned when I told her I don't have either cable or hi-speed internet (free for Seattle area at Nocharge.com), but then got a funny look on her face when I said it saves me about $1000/yr, like she was thinking what she could do with a grand.

[hermetic]

13. I refuse to pay for TV

So I've been without for around 4 years now. I don't miss it at all but I do, after all, have internet. If I lost that I suspect I'd get a little wonky.

[corkhead]

14. ditto to exactly what you said.

way too expensive for what you get. $70 per month to watch a bunch of commercials.

Netflix gives me more to watch of what I want, when I want.
I bought a new antenna and a no-fee off the air DVR so I can accumulate programs to watch (mostly PBS). There is always more in the queue than I have time to watch. It records hi def which is much better than the feed I was getting from Dish Network.

I watch Jon Stewart on Hulu the next day at work while I eat my lunch.

Kicked the Dish network out the door about a year ago when they wanted to charge me $100 just to come out and look at their failed equipment that was over 5 years old when it started to malfunction. After trying to screw me, they begged for my business back when I called their bluff and asked to be disconnected. They didn't live up to their promises for new equipment and things got ugly.

I have never regretted getting rid of pay tv.

[Paper Roses]

15. I have basic Cable. Don't watch anything except local news.

The rest is not worth it. I have no choice in programming. I've complained to Comcast but they tell me Basic offerings are mandated by the FCC.

The only reason I keep the Basic is because my monthly internet bill will go up if I cancel TV. It is a way for Comcast to blackmail you into buying other levels of service. Sorry but it won't work for lots of us. I dropped to Basic when Comcast dropped MSNBC from the lineup I had at the time.

Miss KO and Rachel but thats all.

[eShirl]

16. costs far too much; we get PBS and 3 other channels over the air; we watch TV & movies free online

I have to update my TV links (see my sig) soon, but these are the links I visit most these days...


http://www.justin.tv/directory/entertainment

http://www.hulu.com/

http://www.tvpc.com/ChannelList.php

[eridani]

17. Too expensive, and it takes too much time

Even when people post videos of Rachel or Ed, reading the transcript takes about 20% of the time used in watching the video.

As far as interesting shows, I rely on friends and relatives to tape them, and we watch as a social occasion. Also, the best series will always eventually be out on DVD.

[The Doctor.]

18. Been Cable TV free for 5 months...

And not missing much.

I liked Adult Swim, Discovery, and Sci-Fi, but there's nothing I can't catch up on if I want to. Meanwhile, all news comes from the internet.

Even the kid doesn't much care, but he has his guitar and a whole lot of movies.

Also; with high bandwidth, HULU is a fun place to go on occasion.

[Statistical]

19. I put an antenna after digital switch.

I still like some network TV programs.

It is free. I got a rock solid, flawless HD picture.

I use Tivo so I got DVR. I will never go back to cable unless they offer ala-cart pricing (and they never will).

[ima_sinnic]

20. I pulled the plug this summer when I bought a house

I realized how much time I'd been wasting sitting around doing nothing but putting on fat and having my brain polluted with commercials and inanity. I found myself watching absolutely nothing, simply channel surfing, getting lazier every day. I was spending money for Dish but having to watch commercials. It had become way too easy to simply flop back and be passively "entertained," and then later claim I "didn't have time" for this or that.

I am reading novels again, the yammering of commercials is silenced. I'm sure my blood pressure is better, since I'm not constantly annoyed and infuriated by inane programming. I'm much more physically active, I have time to do things. I even feel smarter, because I'm using brain cells I'd gotten too lazy to use before, and I'm not having pablum, lies, distortions, and idiocy filling my gray matter.

Unplugging the TV is just one more thing--like boycotting Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and other soulless corporations, buying local, cutting down on wasteful driving, paying with cash, growing a garden--that is a form of protest as well as a new, positive change in focus. The TV is like a giant pipeline from the propagandists and merchants of junk direct to your wallet and brain.

Also, it's been found that people who spend a great deal of time sitting down--at their jobs, watching TV, and, yes, at the computer--live shorter lives--cutting out one of those factors can only help. Sitting around watching TV invites mindless eating of fat-filled sugary snacks and soda.

I get all my news online (specifically, mostly at DU), and occasionally watch Keith, Rachel, and Ed at msnbc.com.

I have a converter box but have never gotten around to hooking it up, nor to buying an antenna to go with it.

I buy inexpensive DVDs on Amazon and eBay--I budget about $15/month, about the same as a low-cost Netflix subscription. It's an experiment I'm trying--do I prefer buying, or renting? So far, I really like buying--it's nice to have something to share with people (I gave 4 to my father for Christmas), and I like watching them again to catch what I missed--if I want, I can get some of the money back by selling them at yard sales, or I can donate them to thrift shops (already have a couple of lemons set aside to donate). Last month I splurged the whole budget on the first season of Breaking Bad--if I'd had a TV, I would have gotten that in bits and pieces and never would have gotten that much out of it--I highly recommend this, very edgy and engaging, with very sympathetic characters--but anyway, I digress--can't recommend unplugging highly enough!

[JDPriestly]

28. Great post on this. It's very encouraging.

I'm so happy to see how many people have done what we did.

[alberg]

21. My wife and I stopped watching television when we moved to our log cabin

in 2003. We had the cabin for years as a vacation/weekend place. It never had a TV hookup - we liked it that way, the peace and quiet - it was a welcome contrast to our hectic life in the city. When we downsized and moved to the cabin full time we decided to keep it simple and leave the TV hookup behind. We took the TV set and the DVD player and now we watch a lot of Netflix and get whatever news or TV content we want directly from the Internet on our PC. It's all available on the Net now so if you want to see something, it's a mouse click away and you can watch it when you want. Not having a TV on in the background constantly has had a profound effect on how we experience television. It's now obvious to us the enormous unconscious effect it has on people's mindset, it's Orwellian. When we visit friends that have television in their homes, we experience how much of an assault on the senses it is, how mind numbing and hypnotizing. When your around a TV that is on, it is almost impossible not to be paying some amount of attention to it. We don't talk about this much because we recognize that while your in its thrall, it all seems normal. It's only when you've been away from it for awhile that you can accurately assess how powerful a force it is in the dumbing down and the mind control.

[JDPriestly]

29. "an assault on the senses." How true.

[elocs]

22. I get my tv free and over the air and have 12 channels to watch,

5 in very good high definition. I enjoying watching the thousands of hours of movies and tv series available through Netflix streaming and they look just fine on my 50" plasma. I gave up satellite some years ago after the VOOM HD satellite service folded. Then I got to think it was like the Bruce Springsteen song "57 Channels and Nothing's On" because I spent so much time channel surfing to find something better or switched during a commercial and never switch back.

I have some experience with people who somehow think they are holier than thou because they don't watch tv--literally. They were strict Pentecostals who believed it was sinful to watch tv and had a real attitude about it like it made them better than others. I chuckle when I sense some of that same attitude here.

Actually I enjoy watching tv. I don't watch a lot of news shows so I don't get bent out of shape about things being right wing. I used to enjoy reading, but I don't anymore and I must admit that I don't spend time talking to friends and family and doing other things. Then again, that's my choice. That's the great thing about Democrats, they love choice.

[we can do it]

23. TV Is That What That Square Thing Is In That Corner of the Room?

nope been off the crap since the early 90's - watch pbs occassionally on local station

[girl gone mad]

24. cable/satellite free for 2 yrs.

We have a dedicated server (old pc) that we use to watch stuff through Hulu, Netflix, Google video, etc.

I am very happy with this set up and will never go back. If I didn't read sites like DU, I would have no idea about Tiger Woods, Balloon Boy, Spongebob Exploding Pants or any of the other media fixations. I am also happy to have minimized my exposure to 24/7 Haiti disaster porn.

We watch much less tv. We only watch the things we care about, when we can find the time. In addition to saving us money, it has improved our quality of life, I think. My son and his teenage friends are much more into social networking and online gaming than tv or movies.

[Fumesucker]

25. Been TV free for at least five years now..

Got tired of the passiveness of it, being fed entertainment and information that someone else wanted me to have.

I always enjoyed reading more than TV anyway so it's really just going back to where I was forty years ago in many ways.

If I want to watch anything there are a great many shows and movies online and the quality is good enough that I don't miss the TV at all and best of all I watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it.

My blood pressure is far the better for not having the cable "news" channels any more too.. :)

[peace frog]

26. We have cable and premium channels

and programming still largely sucks. To quote Bruce Springsteen: "57 channels and nothin's on."

[PinkoDonkey]

27. Mostly cost

There is a small television in the corner that we use to watch DVDs which we check out from our fabulous public library. If we want to watch a television show, we can usually find it on the internet.

We did get cable in order to watch coverage of the primaries and the election. I think we will most likely do so again for the 2012 election. Outside of election season, it just isn't worth the cost. Every now and then at a friend's house I will ask to flip around the channels a bit. I keep finding the same thing: there's nothing worth watching on TV.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Nothing except basic cable for over two years

I still get PBS, but probably 3/4 of the time I turn the TV on to watch DVDs.

[superduperfarleft]

31. If it weren't for my wife, I'd have gotten rid of it long ago.

Somehow, she's able to enjoy it despite my saying every hour or so saying, "I can't believe I'm paying for this shit."

Even with the one or two shows I enjoy watching, I end up getting them online and watching them later because I don't like having to organize my life around a television schedule.

[Quantess]

32. It's too expensive and I didn't really watch it much anyway.

[MzNov]

33. I dumped Comcast bundle

they were pissing me off with their rate increases and choices of channels on TV. I had only a few favorite channels and I was paying a high rate for the rest of the junk. I've been TV-free for 6 months now. I do Netflix and my library has free DVD rentals. I've gotten such a great variety of subject this way. I can always get news on the radio and my work computer.

My office mate and her family did the same thing. They are doing just fine and we're all saving lots of money, over $100/mo.