An article entitled “Will People Ever Give Up Cable TV?” showed up on my iPod this morning from NPR. Among the points in the article was this statement: “Ever feel like you’re paying for channels you don’t use? I pay for dozens of cable channels I never watch.”
I can tell you that’s one of the reasons I gave up cable television. I don’t watch 90% of the channels in the most basic lineup, and I can’t justify paying the prices for a small sliver of their offerings. I’m a geek and I love my sci-fi movies and shows, but I can just as easily catch the episodes over the internet (Hulu and network sites), Netflix, or even by purchasing the box sets at a later date.
It’s nice to discuss the shows with friends as they happen in real time, but I find just as much satisfaction in reading the reviews, gauging the opinions, and diving in some time later. The show or movie’s story doesn’t just die because it’s six or nine months later, and, in the end, the only person I need to worry about satisfying over the entertainment value is myself.
In the long run, if cable television services offered a cheap à la carte option for the channels I really want, I’d consider going back. Until then, my money goes to other options and leaves the cable companies in the cold.
I agree – we’d had a good deal from Comcast years ago and when that expired, we opted not to renew. The sales agent bent over backward with promotions to keep us and we baffled her by refusing them all. Box went back, end of story. We realized we valued our time spent in other activities more than watching TV… and of what was on, very little was of interest to us anyway.
A la carte would be grand, but I don’t see that ever happening…
PS – why do you hve a captcha set up? Those are so hard to read. 😦
Captcha
I’m trying to defeat spammers. Is there a better way than using Captcha?
Re: Captcha
I don’t think LJ gets a high-spamming volume though.
They’re difficult for me to read so I’ll keep reading you, but I won’t likely be responding much. 😦
Re: Captcha
Learning as I go. 🙂 I changed the Captcha to affect non-friends only.
Re: Captcha
Thank you very much, Wompy! 😉
I agree – we’d had a good deal from Comcast years ago and when that expired, we opted not to renew. The sales agent bent over backward with promotions to keep us and we baffled her by refusing them all. Box went back, end of story. We realized we valued our time spent in other activities more than watching TV… and of what was on, very little was of interest to us anyway.
A la carte would be grand, but I don’t see that ever happening…
PS – why do you hve a captcha set up? Those are so hard to read. 😦
Captcha
I’m trying to defeat spammers. Is there a better way than using Captcha?
Re: Captcha
I don’t think LJ gets a high-spamming volume though.
They’re difficult for me to read so I’ll keep reading you, but I won’t likely be responding much. 😦
Re: Captcha
Learning as I go. 🙂 I changed the Captcha to affect non-friends only.
Re: Captcha
Thank you very much, Wompy! 😉
Heh. I haven’t had cable for years. Had it available in student apartments, but rarely watched, and now that im off campus, we don’t have a use for it. It saves $20-50 a month. 🙂