About cable and other TV services

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

So, we all know RCN has turned off their analog signal. (They got my neighborhood today.) I phoned up RCN and asked them to disconnect my service. I thought I might share some information on our alternatives.


I was paying about $65/month for standard cable from RCN. I don't remember what their "basic" cable price was.

Comcast doesn't seem to want to divulge their pricing on their web site. They offer a promotional price for roughly equivalent service to what I had (except with box) for about $40/month, but it says that's only for 6 months and then you get charged their regular price, whatever that is. Their lowest package starts at a promotional price of about $30/month, and again, they don't divulge what you'll be paying after 6 months. A comcast guy just stopped by my house to offer me a special of about $90/month for cable, phone, and internet, with no contract. I'm guessing that's also only for 6 months, I forgot to ask.

Dish Network offers roughly equivalent service for about $33/month. Their cheapest package starts at about $20/month. If I understand correctly, with them you don't have to buy the equipment (dish and box) and if you get the basic equipment they don't charge extra for it. They usually have some kind of promotional deal about installation charges.

DirecTV has packages from about $30/month up, but like Comcast, those are promotional prices - after 12 months you'll be paying more. (But hey, 12 months beats 6 months, and I'm sure most providers will raise their prices in a year anyway.) DirecTV requires you to own your own equipment, but they'll apparently give you some equipment for free, depending on what you want.

I'm not going to get any of these right now. I'm going to take the money I was spending on cable and use it for legal downloads of TV shows. You can purchase downloads of popular shows from iTunes and Amazon Unbox, as well as getting free shows for streaming viewing on Hulu, Joost, and I understand a few shows are now being put on Youtube too. If you, like me, only watched a few shows anyway, these alternatives may actually get you what you want for less money. I'm going to give it a try, anyway.

Comments

[jodi.livejournal.com]

i'd also add to the list of alternatives to cable: netflix, they have tons of TV shows and and can keep a household full of watchable media for anywhere from $5-$18 .

and also, your local library is free and has lots of movies and tv shows. if a show isn't available at your library, just ask your librarian if you can get it on loan from another library. cost: $0

cable is a ripoff no matter what the price. its a million channels of crap with a few good things sprinkled in. it's time that cable providers realize that if people can't watch what they want, they aren't going to be so eager to shell out money for something they aren't that into (in a recession, even!).

[ron_newman]

But if you are a fan of local sports teams, living without cable is a challenge. I remember when at least half of Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics games were on local broadcast stations. Now they're almost all on NESN or Fox Comcast Sports Network.

This year, even the baseball playoffs were only on cable (TBS). Both the ALDS and ALCS.

[lonelyholiday.livejournal.com]

It's even rougher when you're a fan of non-local sports teams! As a native Pittsburgher, far too often I have to live with refreshing play-by-play websites.

(Not that this has much to do with the discussion. Just saying.) (heh)

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Hooray for bars with various sports packages! :)

[jodi.livejournal.com]

good point, ron. we are only hockey fans in our household, so the massive number of sports games consumed per-household in the hub is not as dire. and besides that, we aren't even rooting for the bruins, necessarily. what bad bostonians we make!

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Word. I have Netflix instead of cable.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I think you're leaving a little scripture out of your sermon. Either that or you don't know people who are rabid fans of TV shows. Hulu only carries a few episodes of a program at a time. Netflix Streaming may not get the content for up to a year, and it might not be in HD, and it might not even be a full season.

Similarly, the library doesn't necessarily have the latest and greatest.

Not saying they're not good options, depending on your situation (I use Netflix myself), just that there are definite drawbacks.

TV has always been a flood of crap; that's not the provider's fault, that's the fault of the channels and the audience.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

true! as fire and brimstone as my anti-cable rant might be, the true believing rabid fans will need cable to mainline their smack. personally, i don't need to see a show the exact night it comes on (i've always found it weird that people will say "i can't go out that night, my show is on") so i may be gah-gah over certain shows, but i am able to be just patient enough to take them whenever they come to me (they are still brand new to me whether i see them in September of January). not everyone can make that disconnect.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

You can also request online that things in the Minuteman Library Network be interlibrary-loaned to your preferred library, and they'll send you an email when they're ready for pickup. Which can still kind of suck given the West Branch's hours, but if that's not a barrier for you, it's a pretty awesome service. (http://www.mln.lib.ma.us/ , click on the catalog, go nuts)

[ron_newman]

For a while last year, they disallowed use of Minuteman for videos. It was overwhelming the system. I take it they've allowed it again now?

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried using ILL for videos, but I did test that you can look them up in the catalog, and I'm pretty sure the "request it" link was there.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

heartily seconded!

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Also, I've noticed lately that entire episodes of TV shows are sometimes available on the show's website. I recently wanted to find a recap of an episode of the Amazing Race, and discovered that all of the episodes were available for viewing online. And each episode only took 43 minutes to watch because the 15 minutes of commercials were gone!