Just looking for comments. I'm pricing cable packages right now for my new apartment. I can get a 5Mb Internet line for $29.99/mo (one year promotion), or get the same line with some TV channels for $79.99. I don't watch TV all that much anymore so I'm very seriously thinking of sticking with the rabbit ears since it's not worth the difference in price for me. The five channels I get on antenna (ABC, NBC, FOX, UPN, WLVI/WB) actually come in crystal clear because I'm a few miles from the stations' broadcasting towers. I will miss SpikeTV, CourtTV, HGTV and Discovery but I haven't watched them since November anyway since my last apartment's roommates had ultra-basic-cable. I usually only watch DVDs these days.

So - purely out of curiosity, how dependent are you on television broadcasting? Also, any TV programs out these days you think would truly be worth getting cable for? (Prison Break is on FOX thankfully!)

If you really only watch a few shows, it wouldn't be a problem to just use your fast 5mbit connection to download the shows you want. Provided they're major shows that people are actually going to record and put up on Torrents or the like anyhow.

Illegal, and won't be discussed on these forums.

(FWIW, I don't torrent. I really want just a 3Mb connection but 5Mb is slowest you can get around here it seems.)

Actually television is a little different than music media. It's not illegal to download TV shows off the Internet for your own personal use. No one's ever been sued for downloading a TV show. It is illegal to distribute them. So, while you are enabling the behavior, you're not actually conducting any illegal behavior simply by downloading it.

I don't know what I would do without my Fox News or Food Network

It really depends on the day as to how much I'm watching. I probably average around 5 hours/day during the season. Maybe 2 per day off season.

Must have cable stations for me:

Discovery (Mythbusters)
History / History International (Modern Marvels)
SciFi (Battlestar Galactica - one of the best written shows on TV!)
Science (Survivorman)
Travel (Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations)
Comedy Central (South Park, Reno 911, any stand-up)
Military (all the Wings shows, anything WWII related, anything Cold War related)

My TV watching has taken a signifigant hit since I signed up for XBox Live. I'm down to 1-2 hours now.

A few hours if that.

Almost none, I just downgraded to basic cable and eliminated cable internet to save the money and while I will miss Bravo, it just wasn't worth the extra $60 a month.

I haven't watched TV for a complete show in well over a year, and when I did, it was because a girlfriend got me into shows at the time..

I watch only a few shows, usually ESPN-HD (sportscenter), NESN-HD (red sox games, they suck ) and Discovery-HD (american chopper and extreme engineering) and thats pretty much it.



I watching nothing unless its HD, im spoiled

I turned my tv on tonight. I felt funny sitting in front of it. I didn't even know what to watch. I just have the basic 5 channels, so I flipped through them a few times, watched some Emmy's, then realized how boring it was and shut it off.

Internet p0rn FTW!!!

Mark

Maybe 5 hours? But I don't 'watch' tv, I have tv on as background noise while I computer. As soon as I get into my computer room I turn it on or listen to music or something... as far as activtly watching tv... maybe an hour or so a day, there are very few shows that hold my interest.

Originally posted by Y2KSVT:

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I turned my tv on tonight. I felt funny sitting in front of it. I didn't even know what to watch. I just have the basic 5 channels, so I flipped through them a few times, watched some Emmy's, then realized how boring it was and shut it off.

Internet p0rn FTW!!!

Mark

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Brilliant minds think alike!