Why Would Someone Need Cable TV Service?

[Qs Laptop]

You may know already, but chances are you don’t need anything like 800 mbps internet unless you are running a business with lots of people online doing very data intensive tasks at the same time. HD streaming uses way more data than most other home uses, and that’s only about 3-5 mbps per stream. Even if you were streaming exclusively in 4K you’d only need about 15-20 mbps. You might be able to save significantly on your internet package and still have more overhead than you’d ever use. FWIW

I do already know this, but I have two 4K TV's in the house, three phones, two tablets, four computers, and various other devices. Now consider I have neighbors that are also on my cable run with at least as many devices and I get a bit concerned about speed at peak usage times. Yes, 800 mbps is probably a little overkill but I'm OK spending a bit more for the peace of mind.

The next step down is 400 mbps for $60. It's really not about the money for internet, it's about getting the cost of Comcrap cable TV down. I literally only watch local sports teams and The Blacklist on NBC (which I can get on Peacock the next day.)

Finally, my company pays for my internet access so it's not really coming out of my pocket.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

This is a good thread for me now. I am considering just dropping Cable TV (xFinity) "cold turkey" and see how it is going for a few months. My cable TV + Internet bill has crept up to a level that I consider "BTD" but also question if the value is still worth it. Plus I try not to sit in front of the TV for anything (including streaming) for more than 2-3 hours per day.

While the main reason I have it is live sports, those are primarily Football and March Madness. I usually do not focus a lot on watching baseball games until the playoffs, so online highlights are fine with me. My thought is to just drop Cable TV at least until September, then look at my options for getting live sports.

I am also curious if Comcast is will to "cut a deal" for those calling to drop cable. About 5-6 years ago I called and they cut my bill by about $30, but subsequent increases have brought it back to above that reduction.

If you're not on any deal now, I'm sure they will want to offer you something to keep it. It certainly doesn't hurt to try and you can always tell them to leave it as is while you consider their offer.
When I had Spectrum I always called and picked the prompt to cancel my service and got right to someone that was willing to make me an offer.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

This is a good thread for me now. I am considering just dropping Cable TV (xFinity) "cold turkey" and see how it is going for a few months. My cable TV + Internet bill has crept up to a level that I consider "BTD" but also question if the value is still worth it. Plus I try not to sit in front of the TV for anything (including streaming) for more than 2-3 hours per day.

While the main reason I have it is live sports, those are primarily Football and March Madness. I usually do not focus a lot on watching baseball games until the playoffs, so online highlights are fine with me. My thought is to just drop Cable TV at least until September, then look at my options for getting live sports.

This is exactly what I do. I get a live streaming service from October to early April for football and March Madness. Then watch Prime, Netflix or OTA for several months. A side benefit is that not watching cable news lowers my blood pressure. Of course, I don't really know this. Just feels like it.

 

[wannabefire]

I’ve been proven wrong here many times over the years. As my Dad used to say “too soon old, too late smart.” Cheers

As for conversion to streaming, I only push back because we’ve saved $ thousands and streaming has not diminished our TV experience at all. If anything it’s more convenient, no rented equipment or service calls. It took me about two years, and an untimely Dish price increase to finally get DW to even try it. She was shocked at how similar the experience was to cable/satellite, was used to it in 2-3 days, and she’d never go back.

So which services do you use now? I think I saw Hulu + Live and Youtube TV?

 

[Pellice]

The constant juggling of different apps/channels/equipment/companies keeps me firmly cabled to cable. The idea of 6 or 7 renewals popping up on different dates, different "devices" required for different programs, the research required to see what program is found there, the learning curve, the probable need to upgrade the TV - I just don't even want to think about it.

"Streaming" - what is it, really? How is it different from On Demand? What if it only works on your computer and not your TV? What if you need to research what equipment is needed to get from one to the other? What are channels - is Freevee a channel or a network?

It's so complicated that I give up.

 

[isisdave]

I have a few ideas to offer. Sorry for the length.

TL,DR: Spectrum TV Choice for Spectrum Internet users. OTA recorder or decoder if you can receive OTA signals. VPN.

1. If you have or can get Spectrum as an Internet provider at a reasonable price, you may be able to get Spectrum TV Choice -- an under-advertised product in which you get 15 channels of your choice from a menu of 100 or so, PLUS your local channels, for $30 additional. It's streaming-based; no hardware involved. I haven't tried this -- we don't need cable.

2. If you can receive the local stations you want over the air (OTA), you can use an old Tivo to record them. On some earlier machines, I believe you can do this without subscribing to their guide. Later machines require a subscription of some kind. However, there are lifetime (the machine's, not yours) subscriptions on which there are sometimes sales, and you can find machines with lifetime subscriptions on eBay and weaknees.com, and others.

This will give you an experience very similar to the cable box, depending on how old the Tivo is. And I live for the "D-button" which can skip commercials automatically. I wouldn't buy a new Tivo, though; I have concerns for the continued existence of the company. However, a new 2-tuner OTA recorder is $150, and guide service is $70 per year or $249 lifetime. These do have apps for a few popular streaming services, but you can't schedule to record from those, only the OTA signal.

Alternatives are other providers like Tablo and SiliconDust. ChannelMaster used to have a recorder line; if they don't still, there are used units to be had. I think most of these have some kind of free guide.

3. DW is a UCLA alumna, and we HAVE to be able to watch the volleyball teams, but they're on Pac-12 (at least one more year!) and we live in the midwest. Pac-12 requires you log in through your provider. The cheapest deal I found is Sling ($40 Orange plus $11 sports add-on) but the good part is that you can turn it on for only a month or two without having to talk to anyone, having an installer come out, etc. In some markets, Sling carries Fox and/or NBC.

My point here is that you sometimes have to Sling together a creative, possibly temporary solution.

4. VPNs, for the commenter with the MLB TV blackout problem. We use NordVPN and [something like Hulu+Live or Paramount+] to watch the Chargers by connecting to a VPN server in LA.

5. And here's something else I came across today, although it's about hardware and not programming. If you don't want to attach an antenna or a "cable" cable to your TV, you don't need a TV at all -- just a monitor that is "smart" or a "smartbox" like Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Tivo or its cousins, or for OTA even one of those decoder boxes they brought out when ATSC TV was new. Now there are "smart" monitors with these apps built in. I saw a 32-inch Samsung M5 at Sams for $199 yesterday.

At 32 inches and watched across a desk or table, FHD or 1024 lines is enough, although you can find UHD (4k) models for only $249 up (LG 32 at samsclub.com).

 

[JJpop]

OK, I don't NEED cable. Someone/I, whatever. Pedants gonna pedant.

I want to get rid of cable and I would like to do all my TV viewing using my Roku via streaming services.

The ONLY thing I watch on cable that I can't get elsewhere is baseball games involving the Minnesota Twins. I can watch all other baseball games involving any other team via my paid subscription to MLB.TV but the local team is blacked out.

However, as I understand it, if my wife wanted to watch TV shows on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS, or Bravo, AMC, INSP, etc. and we don't have cable she can't watch them via a streaming service because any streaming app for these networks is going to ask her to enter her username and credentials from our TV service. In our case that TV service would be Xfinity cable. Other people might get these channels using Hulu Live, YouTube TV, Sling, etc. I don't want to buy Hulu Live, YouTube TV, or Sling.

My point is I don't want to pay for any TV service provider, i.e. one that provides an aggregate number of channels.

Now, I could get the local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS stations with an over-the-air antenna. That means commercials and no easy way of recording content to skip those commercials.

You tube tv is excellent and you can get your local sports in most areas.

 

[Graybeard]

The constant juggling of different apps/channels/equipment/companies keeps me firmly cabled to cable. The idea of 6 or 7 renewals popping up on different dates, different "devices" required for different programs, the research required to see what program is found there, the learning curve, the probable need to upgrade the TV - I just don't even want to think about it.

"Streaming" - what is it, really? How is it different from On Demand? What if it only works on your computer and not your TV? What if you need to research what equipment is needed to get from one to the other? What are channels - is Freevee a channel or a network?

It's so complicated that I give up.

Amen!

 

[JJpop]

Amen!

I have to say after thinking about this that all the anguish over this is pretty ridiculous.

The process is actually very simple if you just take a deep breath and look at it like the other countless decisions you have made in your life.

I am not a high tech person. I don’t even have a computer, just an iPad.

I highly recommend you tube tv which streams right off your internet.
If you have a newer tv most of the other choices will be built in to your tv and you use the same remote for Netflix, Amazon, Disney or whatever.

You tube tv also has an awesome dvr that is the easiest to use and has unlimited storage.

After a week you will be as good as my 8 year old grandson

Now if your tv is ancient and you want to make everything difficult that is also a possibility.

New TV’s are very inexpensive so I would suggest investing in one if you care about watching TV.

 

[pb4uski]

... Now, I could get the local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS stations with an over-the-air antenna. That means commercials and no easy way of recording content to skip those commercials.

We have a Fire TV Recast in our attic a short 10' from our attic antenna. We can record any OTA show with the FREE handy guide that is provided and the watch those recorded shows from ANY of our 4 TV's in the house and garage and skip commercials. I can even stop a recorded show I'm watching in the living room, go out to the garage and turn on the TV there and resume where I left off.

Also, each TV uses a standard Fire TV remote so the controls are the same from any of the 4 TVs. We can also access the same streaming content from any TV through the Fire stick.

Initial cost was the Recast and 4 Fire TV sticks (that we already had). Monthly cost is $0 other than the monthly cost for a few streaming services that we subscribe to.

Also, unique for us, since we Comcast cable is included in our Florida condo fees we can use cable channel apps like HGTV and NBC Sports along with our Comcast credentials to watch those shows.

 

[Katiek]

Add me to the list who still like cable - mainly for the reason others suggested - convenience. I'll confess I have the tv on most of the time I'm home, even if it's just background noise. I like the easy dvr/pausing/skipping commercials and the ease of having one remote that can quickly give me lots of options.


I stream sometimes for things available only on streaming, but I don't like having to switch inputs and the user interfaces on a lot of the apps leave a lot to be desired. Plus maybe my cable isn't fast enough, but I tend to get more freezing on the streams.



We don't get any OTA channels where I live, so if I want easy broadcast tv, it's cable.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

I have a few ideas to offer. Sorry for the length.

TL,DR: Spectrum TV Choice for Spectrum Internet users. OTA recorder or decoder if you can receive OTA signals. VPN.

1. If you have or can get Spectrum as an Internet provider at a reasonable price, you may be able to get Spectrum TV Choice -- an under-advertised product in which you get 15 channels of your choice from a menu of 100 or so, PLUS your local channels, for $30 additional. It's streaming-based; no hardware involved. I haven't tried this -- we don't need cable.

I just dropped Spectrum Choice. It is $30 a month as you say, PLUS $22 FOR LOCAL BROADCAST SURCHARGE. At least in my area. You don't have the surcharge?

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

I've never had cable TV.
But... Where we currently live, the only way to get local TV stations is by getting cable or a dish. There are zero OTA channels in our neighborhood unless one were to put up a 265+ foot tall antenna.
We have a FireStick plugged into the back of our 32-inch TV in the living room and that works for us, even if we can't get NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.

 

[JoeWras]

Add me to the list who still like cable - mainly for the reason others suggested - convenience. I'll confess I have the tv on most of the time I'm home, even if it's just background noise. I like the easy dvr/pausing/skipping commercials and the ease of having one remote that can quickly give me lots of options.

Yes. I understand.

I will mention that "PlutoTV," which is 100% free (ad supported), is great for background noise. It has hundreds of themed channels from music videos, to news, to classic TV to movies, to artsy stuff like aerial photos of world sites.

We like to turn it to "The Price is Right." On 24/7. Always smiling people. They smile when they win, and frown off camera when they get the tax bill for their giant wooden horse.

 

[Duke of Sands]

We too are on the verge of cable-cutting, Dish for us. Are getting fiber internet here soon! I noted some praise for Youtube TV which we are in the process of trying out, has anyone compared same to Hulu Live?

 

[Philliefan33]

We too are on the verge of cable-cutting, Dish for us. Are getting fiber internet here soon! I noted some praise for Youtube TV which we are in the process of trying out, has anyone compared same to Hulu Live?

I recommend you do a free trial of each.

When we cut the cord, I started with a free trial of YTTV and it worked well. When the free trial ended I signed up for a free trial of Hulu Live. The buffering was terrible and we frequently got kicked off and had to restart the app. After a day of that, I enrolled in YTTV and never looked back.

I have no idea why Hulu Live was so bad for us while it works for others.

 

[pb4uski]

Add me to the list who still like cable - mainly for the reason others suggested - convenience. I'll confess I have the tv on most of the time I'm home, even if it's just background noise. I like the easy dvr/pausing/skipping commercials and the ease of having one remote that can quickly give me lots of options.


I stream sometimes for things available only on streaming, but I don't like having to switch inputs and the user interfaces on a lot of the apps leave a lot to be desired. Plus maybe my cable isn't fast enough, but I tend to get more freezing on the streams.



We don't get any OTA channels where I live, so if I want easy broadcast tv, it's cable.

We have both. Cable TV at our Florida condo (provided by the association and included in our quarterly fees) and OTA with a Fire TV Recast DVR at our Vermont home.

I get the convenience of cable. One remote, no switching sources or inputs, no multiple apps, etc. Our association looked at dropping cable twice over the last 5 years and in both cases owners, mostly older, preferred the simplicity of cable.

Though I will say that we used You Tube TV for a few months at our Vermont home before we realized that we would get OTA and in my opinion it was every bit as good as cable at a much lower cost. You can try it for a month or two and decide if the savings is worth it.

 

[MichaelB]

For me the choice of streaming over cable was easier. For us ad-free programming is so much more enjoyable than ad-based, cable is not longer an option.

In addition, streaming allows access to a catalog of shows and episodes, while cable retransmits whatever is being broadcast at that moment. It’s serial TV, much like the tape drive was a serial device.

 

[COcheesehead]

I have always had a small concern about letting technology drift away from me as I age. I have read on here and elsewhere about folks not embracing advances in tech and later having problems doing small things like 2FA or getting text messages from providers. I see the new age of television as being similar. If you can’t embrace streaming or using an app on a smart TV to watch your programs even if it means a significant savings aren’t you then becoming a slave of sorts to the cable company who will only continue to raise your rates?

 

[Qs Laptop]

We have a Fire TV Recast in our attic a short 10' from our attic antenna. We can record any OTA show with the FREE handy guide that is provided and the watch those recorded shows from ANY of our 4 TV's in the house and garage and skip commercials. I can even stop a recorded show I'm watching in the living room, go out to the garage and turn on the TV there and resume where I left off.

Also, each TV uses a standard Fire TV remote so the controls are the same from any of the 4 TVs. We can also access the same streaming content from any TV through the Fire stick.

Initial cost was the Recast and 4 Fire TV sticks (that we already had). Monthly cost is $0 other than the monthly cost for a few streaming services that we subscribe to.

That sounds like a great solution. Unfortunately, the Fire TV Recast with DVR is no longer available to buy from Amazon. Also, support will end in 2026 for existing units. Finally, we're deep into the Roku hardware for our streaming experience. But I can see that it would be an awesome system.

 

[athena53]

The constant juggling of different apps/channels/equipment/companies keeps me firmly cabled to cable. The idea of 6 or 7 renewals popping up on different dates, different "devices" required for different programs, the research required to see what program is found there, the learning curve, the probable need to upgrade the TV - I just don't even want to think about it.
<snip>

It's so complicated that I give up.

I'm a KISS person. I don't want to load up with so many subscriptions I'm back to paying what I did for the cable package. I did subscribe to Public Television in addition to Netflix for a year and found that it was too much trouble to toggle back and forth between Netflix and Public TV. So now I'm back to Netflix only. If I subscribe to another service I'm likely to drop Netflix.

 

[Skitso999]

OK, I don't NEED cable. Someone/I, whatever. Pedants gonna pedant.

I want to get rid of cable and I would like to do all my TV viewing using my Roku via streaming services.

The ONLY thing I watch on cable that I can't get elsewhere is baseball games involving the Minnesota Twins. I can watch all other baseball games involving any other team via my paid subscription to MLB.TV but the local team is blacked out.

However, as I understand it, if my wife wanted to watch TV shows on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, PBS, or Bravo, AMC, INSP, etc. and we don't have cable she can't watch them via a streaming service because any streaming app for these networks is going to ask her to enter her username and credentials from our TV service. In our case that TV service would be Xfinity cable. Other people might get these channels using Hulu Live, YouTube TV, Sling, etc. I don't want to buy Hulu Live, YouTube TV, or Sling.

My point is I don't want to pay for any TV service provider, i.e. one that provides an aggregate number of channels.

Now, I could get the local ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS stations with an over-the-air antenna. That means commercials and no easy way of recording content to skip those commercials.

I use a $40 over-the-air DVR to record TV shows ahead of time, then skip the commercials later. I have about 650 shows, all stored on a thumb drive and external hard drive. Works great and no stupid restrictions!!! I get the four major networks plus 31 other stations.

 

[Chuckanut]

We have a Fire TV Recast in our attic a short 10' from our attic antenna. We can record any OTA show with the FREE handy guide that is provided and the watch those recorded shows from ANY of our 4 TV's in the house and garage and skip commercials. I can even stop a recorded show I'm watching in the living room, go out to the garage and turn on the TV there and resume where I left off.

Also, each TV uses a standard Fire TV remote so the controls are the same from any of the 4 TVs. We can also access the same streaming content from any TV through the Fire stick.

Initial cost was the Recast and 4 Fire TV sticks (that we already had). Monthly cost is $0 other than the monthly cost for a few streaming services that we subscribe to.

Also, unique for us, since we Comcast cable is included in our Florida condo fees we can use cable channel apps like HGTV and NBC Sports along with our Comcast credentials to watch those shows.

Sadly Amazon seems to have abandoned this device. There is still TiVo though they are a shadow of what they used to be, IMO.

I have two old TIVO Roamio units that still do a great job recording OTA TV. Sadly their apps for streaming services are not that good on the Roamio, IMO. Perhaps the newer units are better on that respect.

 

[Cobra9777]

We have no OTA. So we subscribe to YouTube TV. It's pricey, but we split the cost with DMIL who lives in a granny flat on our property. I rarely watch it except for occasional live sports or news. But DW and her Mom watch it every day.

For our 4 TVs, it's still cheaper than an equivalent cable package. Although cable would include our regional Bally sports network. We don't care much about basketball and hockey. But we use DS's MLB credentials to watch live baseball.

We also subscribe to Netflix and other streaming services on a rotating basis, depending on what new program DW/DMIL are watching. Sometimes DMIL subscribes and sometimes we do. But it's rarely more than $5 or $6 per month.

We don't find this the least bit complicated. Even my 89 year-old MIL navigates with ease. We use the Fire TV platform. The Fire TV remote is small, simple, and controls everything. We never change inputs or use another remote.

 

[GenXguy]

Yes. I understand.

I will mention that "PlutoTV," which is 100% free (ad supported), is great for background noise. It has hundreds of themed channels from music videos, to news, to classic TV to movies, to artsy stuff like aerial photos of world sites.

We like to turn it to "The Price is Right." On 24/7. Always smiling people. They smile when they win, and frown off camera when they get the tax bill for their giant wooden horse.

Oh, I couldn't handle any games shows on, even as background noise. lol I tend to jump into XUMO more than PlutoTV, but I'm usually checking the news channels and don't watch much else on them. I'm still getting Peacock Premium (with ads) for free for now. I get about 10 channels OTA including major networks, CW, MeTV, Comet, and a few PBS stations using an attic antenna and amplifier, but quality of signal for many of them drops through much of the day in the spring through fall and experience more dropouts making it unwatchable. Broadcasts are about 50 miles away on those, with antennas in the same direction within a very narrow field. PBS is much closer in a different direction, but the signal and stronger and usually fine. With the issues of the distant OTA channels, it's nice to have those free streaming options to fall back on.

I did a lot of research, analyzing, and antenna positioning a few years back, installed FM traps, and the distant OTA channels were doing well, but it seems to have been slowly getting worse over time. I even tried a different amplifier temporarily with no improvement. This morning, CBS started dropping out around 8AM. Most days in the last few weeks, my 5-6PM news recordings are all pixelated, although yesterday was good. I've even had it dropping out at times before spring leaves were coming out. And plenty of times, the signal is lost completely on the distant channels.