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One Year Without Cable

Next week, it will be one year since we cancelled our satellite and learned to live without a million channels.  I just wanted him to try living without it. I asked him to turn it off for three months and if he truly missed it, get it back and I wouldn’t say another word about it. (Yea, right!)

Vince is a huge college football fan and right before football season, he decided to get Dish Network hooked up again but lucky for me, the installer didn’t show up when he had said he would be here, even though we sat home all day waiting for him. He didn’t call, he just never showed up so Vince said “forget it”. Yay!

Vince didn’t miss a single college football game that he wanted to watch so I think we’re done . . we’ll probably never have cable or satellite TV again.

We have watched some really good movies and series on Netflix or through Amazon Prime. We have Roku and we pay for an annual subscription to The Blaze.  We’ve watched and both loved and looked forward to seeing the following:

  • Friday Night Lights
  • Alias
  • Revenge
  • Burn Notice

We started watching Grey’s Anatomy but got bored with it. We tried watching Downton Abbey but I couldn’t understand their accents.  Maybe I’ll try that again.

We’ve recently watched the following movies:

  • Duplex
  • The Rainmaker
  • Lonesome Dove
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s

We didn’t cancel the cable because of money but if we were paying $80/month, we’ve saved close to $1,000.  We already had Netflix, Amazon Prime and The Blaze so we were paying for those along with the cable.

It took a lot of years for Vince to try living without cable but now that he has made it almost a whole year, I think the habit is broken.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I hear you about those accents… what I have to do with English movies and shows (or others with a strong accent) is turn on the closed captioning until I’ve developed an ear for the accent. It certainly is better to have the text along the bottom of the screen than to have to rewind a half dozen times when we don’t get it!
    We’ve also been without cable for a bit more than a year – we do get the broadcast basics NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and PBS which was mostly what we watched anyway, we have a TiVo for a DVR since we go to bed early and miss most of the stuff anyway. With Netflix we are happy to fill in the blanks… oh and I pay to get the Walking Dead… gotta have my Dead Fix… LOL

    • I don’t “watch” TV but mostly listen to it. I’m either knitting or working on the blog or something so if I have to pay attention, it’s just not worth it. We don’t get any local channels so what we get on Netflix or Amazon Prime is all we see.

  2. Congratulations on the 1 year anniversary! We’ve not had cable/dish TV for over 5 years now and our home sits in a “dead zone” for air TV. Your TV option lineup sounds almost exactly like ours. Sure love my Roku and love, love, love The Blaze! We’ve just finished season 3 of Justified on Amazon Prime. I’m like you and don’t actually watch TV…. I just listen while I’m knitting or hand piecing.

  3. We just do Netflix – and DVD’s from our collection or the library for other things not on Netflix, and I’ve been happy.

    Hubby recently got me hooked on a series called Leverage. Warehouse 13 was also good in a quirky geeky way.

  4. We were without cable for over two years until we had it re-installed earlier this month. During that time we had an antenna and Netflix. I wanted to watch more of the Olympics than what will be on the local NBC channel. We got a lesser package than we had before so the cost isn’t too much. If we don’t watch much after the Olympics are over we’ll probably cancel it again…we didn’t have to get a contract.

    I really don’t watch any more tv during the day now than I did when we didn’t have cable (maybe an hour over lunchtime), and about half the time we watch something on Netflix in the evening instead of something on cable. One thing I do like about our cable is that we have the On Demand channel so we don’t have to stay up late to watch a show we’d like to see (late for us is after about 9), but can watch them the next day instead.

  6. I love Alpha House on Amazon Prime. An Amazon original series about 4 senators who share a house including John Goodman. Funny!

  7. Try the “Longmire” episodes (either Netflix or Amazon). My husband and I both really enjoyed that. How is our kitty Boots doing?

  8. I have been watching Downton Abby by checking out the dvds from the library. By starting with season one I was able to understand the accent and follow the story line. I am on season three and on hold for season 4 (number 199) at the library. I enjoy using the library for many dvds and books on cd.

  9. We’ve done the exact same thing and haven’t missed it at all…..at least I haven’t. I’ll catch my husband wistfully searching roku for something to watch. Luckily he hasn’t been too disappointed. We will have to see how football season goes next year. A good show you may enjoy on netflix is White Collar.

  10. I love Doc Martin and Monarch of the Glen on Netflix. Foley’s War is very good. I like watching series one episode after another if I choose. We still have cable because our super fast wireless is through cable. It’s cheaper to have the bundle then pay for wireless alone. We live in a semi isolated rural area and are very fortunate to have great wireless and cable service all in one.

  11. We’ve been watching Chuck through Netflix. Love watching a show without having to wait a week before the next episode!

  12. I love cable and our Comcast service is excellent. I think we are experiencing the Golden Age of television right nw….Revenge, Scandal, White Collar, Covert Affairs, the Americans., Sherlock..the list goes on and on. We do also have Netflix and some of what I want to watch is on there but by no means everything. Gotta LOVE Kevin Spacey in the American version of House of Cards though!

  13. Congratulations!! I remember when you set out to give it a try. Can’t believe it’s been a whole year. I do not watch t.v., and even though I’m staying with my daughter and she has cable, I don’t have any interest. I watch the occasional movie while I stitch sometimes. A year from now, you will have saved $2000 (plus interest!).

  14. We have basic Dish, and Roku, and I subscribe to Audible.com–off all three entertainment options, Audible.com is my favorite! I download books to my iPod. I found this neat neck lanyard on Amazon that has a secure connector for my iPod, and built in earbuds too. I can listen to a book anyplace, doing anything now. I don’t have to put the iPod in my pocket or worry it will fall of the sewing desk if I stand up and forget it. I love Audible, they have all the latest books. For TV, I have downloaded a several TV channel Apps to my iPad. CBS, FX, Lifetime, and others are available now. Amazon Prime is great too. I’ve been disappointed in the movie selection on Netflix though, so unsubscribed that. Good to save some money, and not be bombarded with TV channels that have nothing on them but advertising. I think TV as we know it may be on it’s way out—live streaming is so much nicer.

  15. we still have cable as my hubby is a HUGE sports fan, hockey, football, golf…I tried to get him to go a week without TV…he wouldn’t even try! I do love Downton Abbey and have just finished season 4. I have an English background so the accents don’t usually faze me….you really should give it another go, it’s great!

  16. We haven’t had cable for years, but were able to get some local channels. We recently moved and can only get one channel with an ugly antenna which has to be moved around. Right now it is hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room – I hate it!

    Another tv show you might like is Castle. (Start at season1.) That’s my favorite (besides Masterpiece)

  17. Good for you! I’ve been asking to do something similar for past 6 months. I’ll keep at it and hopefully, we’ll go the same way. It irritates me to pay so much for cable when there really isn’t all that much worth watching.

  18. As Howdy suggested, please try the closed captioning feature. Downton Abbey is too good to miss. Maggie Smith’s character has some of the best lines.

  19. I’ve done without it for years. I love my Roku box and have an Amazon Prime membership and a membership to Acorn TV (British TV). I’ve learned the accents, so I’ve loved Downton Abbey.

  20. We went one step further and got rid of the TV, sent it with my daughter when she moved out. I can get so much more done and am sad about all the years I spent watching it. I have discovered some wonderful music artists to fill in the gap.

  21. We didn’t have cable for the first 20 years we were married. Our 3 boys were fascinated when we would go to a hotel and have all those channels with all those cartoons. About 5 years ago, we got cable, so my soccer son could watch the games, but I’m the one who watches the most TV now. My kids use Netflix on their computers.

  22. I know for a fact I could live without cable. The husband has been away working for three weeks and I haven’t turned the TV on once. I did watch Miss Marple on Netflix and then saw a new British show someone recommended. But seriously I do not understand why we pay so much $ for something only 1/3 of the family watches for 2 hours in the evenings, when he is in town. But, I do whatever keeps the peace. He earns the money let him spend it if he wants.
    I do need to read bout this Roku I keep hearing about.
    Congratulations on a year free of cable!!

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