Going Cable-less

I called the cable company and asked to cancel my service.  It's really quite easy to do!

(That was 4 years ago, I have it back for the past year now but only basic service - $20 a month and about 20 channels.  I don't really watch a lot of TV but love football and Mad Men, so I keep it for that)

I got rid of my cable in 2006, I think. I use hulu and netflix. Keeps me plenty entertained and my queue is always full. For shows I can't get through them, I go to iTunes.

EPLS.

I bought a roku with the intention of getting rid of cable. I subscribed to Hulu+ and Netflix I was going to slowly weed out the cable. I am pretty disappointed in the roku. Some of the stuff that I want to watch is not on either Netflix or Hulu. So needless to say I decided to stick with cable.

About a year and a half ago I did exactly what you are proposing - ditched cable TV but kept the high-speed internet.  Even with paying for Netflix, Hulu Plus, and MLBtv, I'm still saving upwards of $60 a month compared to what I was paying before.

In addition to the savings, pros include being able to watch shows/movies/games whenever I want, and without commercials (except for Hulu but the commercials are short).  I do find that I spend less time watching TV than I used to, because you can't just mindlessly "flip channels" and since you have to pick what you want to watch, it's not as convenient to just have it on in the background.  This is not a bad thing, in my opinion.  I think we are plenty overstimulated without having to have the TV on ALL THE TIME.

The only drawback is that even with Netflix and Hulu, the selection is limited.  By this I mean you can't watch EVERY show you might want to watch, particularly current seasons.  There is still plenty of content though.  Also, you need a streaming device for each TV you want to use.  This is not a problem for us since we use just one of our 3 TVs 90% of the time anyway.  For this TV we have a Roku streaming device, and for another TV we have an XBox 360.

And of course if I feel the need to watch "regular" TV, I can still watch several broadcast channels on all 3 of my TVs.

No cable - just the antenna and converter box.

We have Netflix (streaming and 2 dvds), and I just cancelled hulu+ because I wasn't really using it.

The ONLY time I miss cable is on weekend mornings. All of the channels are either infomercials or god-awful weekend morning news.

Got rid of cable a few years ago and then actually got rid of the entire TV set a little over a year ago. Saved tons of money (plus that corner of the living room being dominated by that awful box).

I still have the Internets for other random brain numbing activities. Mostly getting rid of cable was about saving money, but I also work in TV news, so the last thing I want to do when I go home is stare at the screen some more.

THAT said, there are still a few shows I like to watch when I bike on the trainer in winter (Biggest Loser!). I watch that on Hulu -- don't even have the subscription, I just watch it when it pops up a week later. Anything else, I might find an old movie on DVD at the library occasionally, but generally life is much better without it.

You'll be surprised how LITTLE you actually miss your cable shows after skipping a few episodes. One day you're obsessed with what happens and then suddenly, the next you overhear your co-workers rehashing some show you've never even heard of and you just think, "...meh." It's quite liberating.

I've been tinkering with the same idea.  same situation as you.  right now I'm doing double duty to see if it's feasible.  From what I can tell, Hulu plus basically extends the "library" of shows for Hulu basic.  My kids are 3,5, & 9 and I couldn't really find anything on there that they were interested in.  No P&F.  Basically no Nick and no Disney.  There was some japanimation stuff, but I dont' really promote that for the kids.  Netflix however covers all the kids stuff we want and for what little bit they don't, we use iTunes for apple tv or various apple mobile products.

sports (specifically college football) is where I think I'm stuck with cable/satellite.

x2 what everyone else said.

Although I still haven't figured out how to just get local channels, ABC, NBC, Fox etc.  I'd really like to watch the Olympics this summer. 

you can get an antenna for your local channels right?

Another here with the digital antenna and netflix. 

I first gave up cable when i moved into my own place in 2006-ish - I realized I watched way too much tv and signed up for the mail out Netflix type deal and could get a few channels on the rabbit ears.  And it did help me not waste so much time in front of the tv but i could still get some channels that might or might not have what i wanted to watch so i had to be a little more creative on what to do with myself.  I realized how much I actually just turn on the tv out of boredom.

When i moved in with my now DH we invested in a tv with a digital tuner and got the antenna and it's really good! We get about 25 channels but not so many that we're always glued to it and now with Netflix streaming we have more options.  We have high speed internet and save the $ on cable - though, we've never really spent it anyway.

I think it would be tough if you were a real sports nut - i mean, the networks carry football on sundays and mostly weekend coverage of other sports but if you follow a team or certain sport religiously then you would probably want the specialty channels but that's the only thing.   It was great while Universal sports was available over the air ... but not any longer in my area

I didn't read all the responses, but I'm sure mine will mimic what most everyone has said. We cut our cable probably 2yrs ago and haven't looked back since. I don't miss it.

We still have the DSL internet coming in for the Xbox and the wireless router and that's all we need. From the xbox we have a subscription to netflix streaming and the xbox live membership. The xbox costs us $60/yr for the membership which comes out much much cheaper than the cable. The xbox allows us to aslo watch ESPN, ESPN360, and ESPN Highlights. So on most weekends when I want to watch football, that's not a problem.

In the attic, I installed a TERK HD antenna, spliced it into the existing home cable wiring and connected it to the tv. From that I get 8-10 local HD channels depending on the weather. Usually it's closer to 10. So, abc, cbs, CW, PBS, fox, nbc, CMT, 2 music channels, and a couple others come in pretty clear as well.

If I can't get it on the xbox or the tv, there's a strong chance I can get it from the free subscription to Hulu too.

So, yea, I'm much much cheaper than most people when it comes to the afternoon tv...

HD Antenna

I believe I've added something to the "To Do" list for tomorrow.

Ok, I'm in. 

However, I'm trying to figure out how to watch sports with the Netflix/HD antenna world. Not so worried about NFL, MLB, or NHL but seems like I'd be missing WGN, FoxSports Detroit (Tigers, Wings), any Premier League or F1 action. How does the non-cable world handle these?

You need a sister who is willing to Tivo and have a watch party. It helps if you offer to bring party platters.

I've already looked at the swim schedule. Can't wait! Can it top this moment?:

(phelps victory scream.jpg)

Not sure what you're streaming through, but my Roku has a million channels. I haven't explored them much, but I'm pretty sure there are a ton of sports channels that cover everything you might be interested in, although I'm not sure what they cost.