We've had enough of television programming.

[sixdogs]

I'm the OP on this and it's now been over four years since we bailed on satellite TV. We don't miss it. Our over the air "rabbit ears" TV originally got us 17 or 19 channels but now is pushing 40 channels.

Sure, some are old reruns but they are good reruns like Highway Patrol, Dragnet and all the westerns. Wife seems happy with whatever she gets. Best of all, we have saved around $6,300 not having satellite TV. Prob more since rates have gone up.

Also on the plus side, we have way more time to do the things we want and my bucket list and personal chore list is nearly empty, save for a couple things I'll never do. We have more free time and have taken to sitting on the porch and watching the dogs play. It's hard to beat that.


With the cash saved, I did buy two implements I thought I would never get to own. One is a stump grinder that has fast become a favorite and saved me loads of time and effort.

 

[oldline1]

I had AT&T U-verse when I lived in Scum City and it was really pretty good programming and service. I retired in 2013 and moved to the Ozarks. NO broadcast anything.....phone, TV, radio or internet. Tried Direct for a couple years and cancelled when the contract was over. It was expensive and had poor service. Went to DISH and after 2 years cancelled for the same reasons. Internet was through Verizon as that's the only service available in my area. It was very expensive, unreliable and the service from them sucked. I found an internet service through my land line using a DSL. It has been more reliable than Verizon. My Verizon phone service is so poor at the house I had to get the land line.

ANYWAY..................doing without any TV has been great. No annoying, loud and redundant commercials blaring at me between lousy undesirable programs. The few enjoyable and intelligent things were overshadowed greatly by the political agenda of the companies. I spend more time outside and getting involved in the animals and gardening. Burn more diesel in my 1025R but that's more fun than watching what they shovel out on TV.

Just my 2¢.

Roger

 

[Deere Dude]

Had Dish but was talked into Hughs net as the best thing around for only a couple bucks more. The installer couldn't even pull up a speed test, but was better than Dish and we had no other uptions as we live in the boonies.

Six months ago Fiber came to town and I switched over immediately as are all my neighbors are in the process of it. The Dish provider was crying and whining for me to stay with them as I was to ignorant to figure out how fiber programming works. Speed test went from 3 MBS to over 100 MBS. Cost for internet and TV went from $180/m to $70/m and everyhing runs smoother.

I'm beginning to think all they want is your money.

 

[PILOON]

P.V.R. is your best friend, certainly was appreciated during Covid confinement.
We cut 20 mins out of each hour by skipping thru commercials using fast forward.
Any popular TV show now runs 12 or more commercials every 20 mins or so.

BUT
Some stations have now adopted internet tricks by popping commercials while a program is ongoing, usually at the bottom of the program screen, very distracting.

 

[notaz3]

Haven't paid for cable in over 50 years. I have had internet since 1998; but, never paid for any streaming service.

 

[3Ts]

When our Dish contract is up, we plan on cancelling. With no replacement - no streaming, dsl, OTA, etc, the options just are not there. I'm tired of watching 5 minutes of program, 7 minutes of commercials, and in the next 5 minutes of program, they repeat the last half of the previous 5 minutes. All we have is Hughes net, I'm signed up for Starlink and it can't get here fast enough. I've tried Amazon's prime videos, but my download speed is not fast enough, I get an error message on the TV that something is wrong. There've been reports of DSL coming, but that was years ago and nothing has showed up yet.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Burn more diesel in my 1025R but that's more fun than watching what they shovel out on TV.

Roger

I'll bet the cost of the diesel is less than the cost of cable. You're probably a happier man too!

 

[Frankenkubota]

Oh ad to that the Creative Director in advertising for Liberty Mutual insurance. I mute them when they come on.

my nephew plays on a team that is never on tv locally. i've tried everything. you might be able to buy this or that but after all the disclaimers i never know if i'm gonna "get the game".

i am a luddite when it comes to anything digital, and have the license plate to prove it

LUDDITE

Today is a good example, his games on at 3:30 so i gotta leave for the sports bar by 2:45 and it cuts the day in half. Actually, the rest of the day is shot.

I played in high school but i'm not a football fan by any means and to sit there at the bar, in the middle of the day, and watch a game that refuses to end! It might take 30 real-time minutes to play the last 2 game time minutes. It's worse than college basketball with all the fowls st the end.

The endless commercials, the timeouts, the challenges, half time, the injuries. I hate it plus........ I get to spend $25 for chicken wings while i sit.

The capper is, he's the backup. He plays a position that is prone to injury so i must be there in case the starter gets hurt and he gets in! He's currently on the bench. Not a bad way to make a living.

Man its a good thing i don't drink anymore. Me sitting in a bar drinking beer for 4 hours in the afternoon could result in some good stories!

 

[Frankenkubota]

P.V.R. is your best friend, certainly was appreciated during Covid confinement.
We cut 20 mins out of each hour by skipping thru commercials using fast forward.
Any popular TV show now runs 12 or more commercials every 20 mins or so.

BUT
Some stations have now adopted internet tricks by popping commercials while a program is ongoing, usually at the bottom of the program screen, very distracting.

golf does that and i HATE it. instant mute.

This shows you how ignorant i really am.

When i first started to see the split screen commercials, with the audio dedicated to the commercial side, i thought......

Wow...isnt it nice to see they are letting me watch the golf during one of their standard "commercials".......thinking they kept the same amount/number of commercials.

My buddy says nope, dumb azz, they added more commercials. That makes more sense.

 

[Oaktree]

I'm the OP on this and it's now been over four years since we bailed on satellite TV. We don't miss it. Our over the air "rabbit ears" TV originally got us 17 or 19 channels but now is pushing 40 channels.

Sure, some are old reruns but they are good reruns like Highway Patrol, Dragnet and all the westerns. Wife seems happy with whatever she gets. Best of all, we have saved around $6,300 not having satellite TV. Prob more since rates have gone up.

Satellite tv is kind of a ripoff, they lure you in with a low introductory rate (good for 1 year, but you need to sign a multi-year contract), but in many places they're the only game in town...too far out for cable, too far from any city for OTA.

I'm not really into all those old 50s/60s/70s shows. Yeah, there was less cussing but the plots were really thin and the acting rather wooden. Quite a few '00s shows we watch on the Roku.
We don't watch a lot of tv, but we do have the ultra-basic package from our cable company, between that and a Roku we're good. Something to do in the evening. No paid streaming channels.

Some stations have now adopted internet tricks by popping commercials while a program is ongoing, usually at the bottom of the program screen, very distracting.

Not only that, there's also product placement in the shows themselves...once you pick up on it, you can't un-see it...the camera will linger just a little longer than necessary on a company logo. Apple and toyota are particularly blatant about this.
Likewise, many of the "billboards" you see in a sporting event aren't there if you're actually in the arena. The networks insert them, kind of like the green screen map the weather guy on the news does.