I miss Cable

[Helvegen]

I haven't had cable since I was 22 and living at home. Every time I go to someone else's house who has it, I just can't get over all the commercials.

I use Netflix, YouTube, and often you can find TV episodes hosted on the broadcaster's website.

[greenmimama]

UPDATE:

We have Netflix and Now Hulu Plus, I think I will cancel Netflix at the end of this month. I love just watching things on demand, and have enjoyed these, although my Roku doesn't work so well, not sure if it's just because it's so far away from where my wifi is but it's frustrating for sure, I just watch stuff on my phone when that happens, although it's not near as nice as watching it on the television.

Thank you all for your suggestions, we are missing football, but we'll live ;)

[Bardo]

After having Netflix I could never go back to cable tv.  I like that I can watch what I want, when I want, without commercials, for a hundred dollars less a month than cable costs.  If you use Netflix and listen to non-commercial radio stations it is easy to avoid all broadcast commercials, which is a huge lifestyle improvement right there. 

[MrFancypants]

UPDATE:

We have Netflix and Now Hulu Plus, I think I will cancel Netflix at the end of this month. I love just watching things on demand, and have enjoyed these, although my Roku doesn't work so well, not sure if it's just because it's so far away from where my wifi is but it's frustrating for sure, I just watch stuff on my phone when that happens, although it's not near as nice as watching it on the television.

Thank you all for your suggestions, we are missing football, but we'll live ;)

Depending on how many other people are running wifi in your area you may want to tweak the settings on yours a bit.  The first thing you may want to play with is the channel you're broadcasting on, because if other people are using it you'll probably experience low data rates.  Also make sure that you're running on 2.4 ghz if your Roku is a fair distance from your access point.  5 ghz will give you overall better performance, but it only works at a much shorter range.

[Lyssa]

Some people like TV. They really, really do. As long as there are no hair-on-fire debts and the path to FI is going satisfactorily, why shouldn't they have cable? I am not saying I want it myself--I am a shocking book-a-holic-- but I don't feel as though I should judge anybody who can afford cable and who wants it.

I love my mostly non-fiction books AND all of those great (mostly US) TV series produced during the last 10-15 years. How exactly are Breaking Bad, Sopranos, or the Wire on par with smoking? Yes, they can become quite a habit but not more destructive than reading just one more chapter of a good book. It's not really realistic that you would spend two hours after work teaching yourself Finnish instead. Or at least for me it's not.

[MrFancypants]

Some people like TV. They really, really do. As long as there are no hair-on-fire debts and the path to FI is going satisfactorily, why shouldn't they have cable? I am not saying I want it myself--I am a shocking book-a-holic-- but I don't feel as though I should judge anybody who can afford cable and who wants it.

I love my mostly non-fiction books AND all of those great (mostly US) TV series produced during the last 10-15 years. How exactly are Breaking Bad, Sopranos, or the Wire on par with smoking? Yes, they can become quite a habit but not more destructive than reading just one more chapter of a good book. It's not really realistic that you would spend two hours after work teaching yourself Finnish instead. Or at least for me it's not.

Cheers to this.

[Zette]

How does Roku compare to cable?  Is it easy to find things worth watching?  DH really wants to watch the local news, BBC America, and other programs to relax after work in the evening, so we won't go completely without TV.  Problem is we're paying $100/mo for U-verse and the DVR is filled up mainly with kid shows  -- there is so much junk in the guide we can't find much we adults want to watch.  We tend to like things like Nova, Alaska reality shows like The Last Frontier, some history documentaries, and well-done series like Game of Thrones. 

[arebelspy]

Every time I go to someone else's house who has it, I just can't get over all the commercials.

+1.  We only watch commercial-free things, when we do watch things, so when we're in a place that has commericals (like the local pub for a sporting event) it's quite odd.

My wife gets hooked into watching them.  I tune them out.

[MB1443]

Considering the price of cable per month is roughly the same as taking a family to the movies once,I don't think it I'd such a bad thing.  How is watching documentaries and bloomberg news a complete waste of time?  What about sporting events.  Sometimes having something to watch keeps me from wasting money out.  I mean it is roughly 1.50 a day. 

[arebelspy]

Considering the price of cable per month is roughly the same as taking a family to the movies once,I don't think it I'd such a bad thing.  How is watching documentaries and bloomberg news a complete waste of time?  What about sporting events.  Sometimes having something to watch keeps me from wasting money out.  I mean it is roughly 1.50 a day.

To me it's not just the price (which can get stupid high), but all the other downsides: the wasted time, the advertising, the filth.  My brain doesn't need or enjoy that stuff.

The few good things - including the two you mention - are easily and cheaply available elsewhere.

[SMCx3]

Roku with Netflix has made a huge difference in our home.  When we turn on the TV more than often it is the entire family watching a program instead of the absent minded flipping finding something to watch.  I probably watch 1/3 of the TV I used to which is the main benefit for me.

Thes are the others that stand out.

Save $
Less time watching commercials.
More quality time with family instead of tunning out the world.
I do not need to watch news about shootings, polotics, and robberies taking place

I do miss some of the sporting events, but I will not be going back to cable.

[socaso]

We have the Roku and with Hulu+ and Netflix I'm actually pretty spoiled for choice. Also there are lots of free channel options out there. One of the best in my opinion is PBS, lots of shows. I also just subscribed to Amazon Prime for a year and now I frankly think I have too many options! Still though if I continue everything as it is now I'll have paid $250 for everything for a year and we were paying $960 with the cable. Plus I can easily cancel Hulu and Netflix if I want and I got a crazy deal on the Amazon, only paid $59.

[rocksinmyhead]

How does Roku compare to cable?  Is it easy to find things worth watching?  DH really wants to watch the local news, BBC America, and other programs to relax after work in the evening, so we won't go completely without TV.  Problem is we're paying $100/mo for U-verse and the DVR is filled up mainly with kid shows  -- there is so much junk in the guide we can't find much we adults want to watch.  We tend to like things like Nova, Alaska reality shows like The Last Frontier, some history documentaries, and well-done series like Game of Thrones.

We have Roku with Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime and while I don't watch much beyond a couple specific shows (Daily Show/Colbert; GoT which we watch using our friend's HBO Go password), my boyfriend watches a TON of documentaries and PBS stuff like Frontline. There's definitely a lot of that available.

[MB1443]

Considering the price of cable per month is roughly the same as taking a family to the movies once,I don't think it I'd such a bad thing.  Howftp:// is watching documentaries and bloomberg news a complete waste of time?  What about sporting events.  Sometimes having something to watch keeps me from wasting money out.  I mean it is roughly 1.50 a day.

To me it's not just the price (which can get stupid high), but all the other downsides: the wasted time, the advertising, the filth.  My brain doesn't need or enjoy that stuff.

The few good things - including the two you mention - are easily and cheaply available elsewhere.

You can say the same thing about the internet.