Families can survive TV-less, by choice |
The power of choice. Download Hmmcast #35 mp4.
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January 5, 2007
The power of choice. Download Hmmcast #35 mp4. Did this post make you go hmm?
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I’m curious as to the reason for giving up television.
I went through previous posts and only found reference to the cost of cable/satellite television being the reason.
Did I miss something else or is this the main reason?
Comment by Wayne — January 5, 2007 @ 9:55 pm PST
Hi Wayne - money was a factor, yes, but not the only and probably not the primary one. We’re happy to pay for things we actually use. The fact is toward the end of our TV signal the tube was black more than it was powered. We also own somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 DVDs, 4 Blu-Rays (Mission Impossible 1-3, Talladega Nights), own two Xbox 360, a PS3, Nintendo Wii and many, many more gaming systems, so there is plenty to do using the TVs besides well, watching commercial-saturated TV.
We started seriously thinking about dropping TV service when we received a free six months of DirecTV due to class action lawsuit when we were DirecTV customers. We dropped our HD cable to switch to that but then the settlement only allowed for free DirecTV service on one of our six TVs in the living room. During the six months time, our TV watching habits changed and we re-analyzed whether we really needed TV that much at all.
Towards the beginning of the switch to the free cable TV:
“Lots of bloat in our cable channel diet.”
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20051202/2687/
October 12, 2006 (100 days without TV):
“you could go TV-less and get your signal over the air for free and pick from the variety of legal video services online … So many other things families can do besides watch TV. There are games, DVDs and plenty of videos on the internet.”
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20061012/3799/
Earlier this week January 3, 2007, see my response to db in the comments which indicates the content we did watch we can mostly get online (legally):
http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20070103/4101/#comment-378669
Not saying we’ll never get TV again but right now we can’t think of enough compelling reasons to do so. When we can get most the TV shows online we’re interested in from CBS, NBC, FOX or wait it out and get the whole season on DVD that makes TV less desirable. Also old syndicated shows sans commericals are on DVD. Sports? I’m the only one that interested in pro sports (NFL and MLB) and I listen to the Mariners on terrestrial radio and the NFL on Sirius satellite radio (we have two satellite radio subscriptions). News? Get that on the internet (RSS feeds mostly) or via radio.
It is possible for a family of five with three teenagers not to need or really want TV, we’re living proof
Hope this better answers your question, Wayne.
We also dropped our cell phone plans last month (that was another $125/month) and haven’t had residential phone service for a couple years. We used Vonage for awhile (VoIP, $50/month) and then switched to Skype last year. We pay $14.95 a year and get unlimited calls in the US/Canada.
And I guess my wife will give her side in a separate post.
Comment by TDavid — January 5, 2007 @ 11:25 pm PST
I think the main reason in my eyes was lack of use. The kids would be sitting there playing their XBox’s with the TV on and not even watching it. I rarely watched myself, usually if I was up late evenings doing laundry. The real test came when we were given a six month free subscription to Directv as part of a class action lawsuit and found that we hardly ever turned on the TV unless it was to watch a DVD or play a game. When the free subscription was up we opted to not renew because we figured if we weren’t going to watch it when it was free why pay for it. The boys all teenagers hardly mention it at all. I could and have found better things to spend that money on. When the boys were little we didn’t have TV service either by choice, we just aren’t much into TV. Give me a good movie any day of the week.
Comment by Kara — January 5, 2007 @ 11:39 pm PST
Thanks for clearing it up for me.
I suppose it depends on your family and tastes. I can’t stand watching things on my computer unless it is very short and if I take the time to watch a show then I want to watch it sooner than later.
I do wish that companies would offer an a la carte option, but I guess they would be constantly bombarded with requests to add/drop channels depending on programming.
Comment by Wayne — January 5, 2007 @ 11:46 pm PST
I agree that short videos are more tolerable on the computer and we don’t watch many TV shows or movies actually on the computer. The computer is merely the transfer device in many cases. e.g portable devices with TV-out, like we bought through iTunes Store Commander and Chief and watched through our TV via the iPod TV-out. We have this alarm clock where the iPod sits in as a cradle and the TV-out leads to the TV, thus we can watch any videos on the iPod on the TV. It’s a matter of syncing up with the iTunes store after buying/downloading the content.
Also the Xbox has TV shows and movies, some even in HD. So we probably aren’t that different from you in the respect that we prefer and do watch movies and TV shows on something other than the computer. Anything longer than say 10 minutes I’d rather watch on our TV.
Just curious, did you watch my video above (a couple minutes)? I agree that short vids on the computer is best and am striving to keep videos under 10 minutes, most under 5 minutes. Am curious if you’ve followed any of the short vids I’ve been making lately for the Hmmcast. All comments/feedback appreciated.
The cable/satellite companies say that if they offered a la carte the cost would be about the same. I don’t buy that. Who needs hundreds of channels with a handful that most people actually watch? Just means more available ad inventory.
Comment by TDavid — January 5, 2007 @ 11:59 pm PST
[…] I covered things to do without TV quite a bit last week and how we haven’t missed it that much, but must admit Live TV through the Xbox 360 with PVR could definitely bring us back. I’m almost embarassed admitting that we’ll seriously consider buying a third Xbox 360 for our bedroom and live account to go next to the PS3. If we did do that, it would be a first as we’ve never bought three console systems before. We bought three Nintendo DS portable systems. To increase the likelihood we’d buy a third Xbox 360 and pay again for a TV a few things would be needed. […]
Pingback by Live TV on the Xbox 360 an attractive proposition if priced sensibly » Make You Go Hmm — January 11, 2007 @ 6:41 pm PST