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

[turil.livejournal.com]

Or, ditch the TV, and do more rewarding and fun and interactive and relaxing things with all the time saved!

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

You know who else didn't like TV? Hitler, that's who. And I also hear Stalin wasn't a fan.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Regardless of your goals in life, watching TV gets in the way of achieving them. The powerful, successful folks know this.

Do you think the world would be better off if the TV got in the way of That nut who complains a lot achieving his/her goals?

my standard response to anti-TV smugness

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Answer this question:

What's wrong with the phrase "Kill Your Television?"

Kill Your Television?

[turil.livejournal.com]

What I find wrong with it is that it's extremely violent and not at all inspiring. Plus, it's fear mongering, which I like to avoid.

And, of course, tv's aren't alive in the first place to kill, so the phrase is kind of silly, too.

Re: Kill Your Television?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You are literally the first person I've met who doesn't like television and could answer that question. Which I've been asking for a decade, so congratulations are in order.

What I find wrong with it is that it's extremely violent and not at all inspiring. Plus, it's fear mongering, which I like to avoid.

I'm not saying you have to like television, or you should be required to have one, but judging an entire medium based on some of its content always raises my hackles. It's just a medium, like books or movies or fine art. Nobody approves of EVERYTHING in a medium, but that doesn't mean people should stop using it or engaging with it.

Re: Kill Your Television?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

The medium is not completely neutral with regard to content... You buy a crappy magazine and there are a lot of crappy ads. You buy a book and there are no ads at all, usually... Content on most TV channels is just filler for ads, basically... I'm just asking what is there of any value on cable TV that cannot be acquired via other means. The TV series, I suppose. But those are definitely fillers for ads, in my opinion. You may as well wait for the season to be over and rent the DVDs to see the entire thing with out ads. What's so urgent that needs to be seen when it's shown for the first time?

Re: Kill Your Television?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You buy a book and there are no ads at all, usually...

You mean aside from "Also from this author?" Or the "other exciting novels" in the whatever line on some paperbacks? Or the list of quotes in the front to convince the skittish buyer to part with eight bucks?

There's advertising. You're just used to it.

Also, until about the mid-'80s, certain paperbacks had full-color ads in them, right in the middle of the book. I actually have a few Ed McBain paperbacks from that era that have cigarette ads (and a few, amusingly, that had the ad ripped out).

Content on most TV channels is just filler for ads, basically...

Why does the way it's paid for automatically render it without value? True, the model of television has its unique complications, but those are no different than the complications inherent in any medium: we call them "market forces."

You're correct on the financial model, but that's a lot like saying you won't read an LJ that has a banner ad.

I'm just asking what is there of any value on cable TV that cannot be acquired via other means.

How do you construe "value"? And would any of those means (well, the legitimate ones) somehow not feature advertising? Don't even try to claim Netflix doesn't have advertising, it's right there in those little red envelopes.

And, frankly, if it's all just filler anyway, why would you throw your money at it in the first place?

Either you pay a fee up front for no or minimal advertising, or you pay with small amounts of your time. Either way, you are going to pay. What makes one inherently better than the other?

Re: Kill Your Television?

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

I have a PVR that removes ads from a show for me when it records it. If I don't feel like seeing ads, I can let it remove them.

As for what has to be seen the first time it's shown... I have a video I recorded in 1986 of something that was only ever shown once, and never released on video, and probably never will be. Another from 1984 that was only shown three times and never released on video. I have numerous recordings of things that were shown several times, but probably won't ever be released on video.

The fact that you go around judging people because they enjoy some TV from time to time and don't mind paying a little to ensure good picture quality seems rather obnoxiously self-righteous, to put it mildly.

Re: Kill Your Television?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I actually very much like television. But I also was far happier and healthier when I stopped watching it. :-)

What's wrong with the phrase "Kill Your Television?"

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

It demonstrates that the person using the phrase is not competent to discern the difference between things that are alive and things that are not, and should consequently not be allowed in civilized society unaccompanied by a responsible adult.

Re: What's wrong with the phrase "Kill Your Television?"

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

It also shows that they're judgmental asshats who get off on a sense of moral superiority about other people's leisure activities.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I like watching TV, and saving an hour or two a month isn't going to widely expand my "rewarding and fun and interactive" horizons. I also find it quite relaxing.

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

I sew (and have taught advanced shirt tailoring), knit, quilt (and have been asked to contribute to a museum exhibit), cook, make candy, make jewelry, make furniture, do other small bits of woodworking, assemble clocks, play the autoharp, do photography (I'm semi-pro and also occasionally photograph weddings for close friends), practice the theremin (and am working on starting a company to manufacture them), maintain several web sites I own, read voraciously, am working on writing several books (one about sewing, one about programming), travel when I can afford to, and visit with friends several times a week. On top of which I have try to keep up with housework, and oh yeah, I hold a demanding full time job.

I do more "rewarding and fun and interactive" things than 99.5% of the population of the country. Or, for that matter, everybody else. I am *tired*. I can't cram anything more into my life if it requires I do anything more active than sit in a chair and vegetate.

Who the heck are you to tell me I shouldn't have a television for when I'm either exhausted and want to be entertained, or working at home and want something to listen to? Who the heck are you to judge me that I don't have enough to do in my life?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds like you could definitely use some relaxation. I'm very, sorry you're so stressed out, and overwhelmed, and tired. If television gives you the energy you need, then keep watching it as much as you like.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Can you not just accept the fact that some people, even people who live richer lives than you and give back more to the universe, actually enjoy watching television?

Or do you have this deep need to lecture others about How To Live and to be passive-aggressively smug about their emotions?

If you don't enjoy television, don't watch television. Other people enjoy television, so they watch television. Don't turn it into a moral one-upmanship competition.

I'm not in charge of you, you are. Do whatever makes you feel healthy.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I enjoy watching television. I just discovered that when I stopped watching television I enjoyed myself even more. Maybe that will be true for you and maybe it won't. It's up to you to decide.

Re: I'm not in charge of you, you are. Do whatever makes you feel healthy.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I agree with turil. Yet, I'm not sure I understand why. For example, looking out of the window is not that different from watching TV. You see a rectangular windows with people and stuff happening in it. And I may be having some fun bashing TV watching people, but I'm not serious at all about it. I play violent video games, how can I be serious about criticizing people who watch TV?