The Few Channels Are Gone

We are now without even a single incoming tv signal. The few channels that were bleeding through are now all off line. This has proven a little harder than I had planned on as we do not have a news show or the network coverage we have had almost all our lives. As always though we're getting through it and I have seen things via Netflix that I had never seen or in some cases even heard of before.

This week I even found Hotel Babylon available for streaming. This is huge to me as I've been a fan of the book and the entire Babylon series of books since I first found Air Babylon one day in Melbourne. Sadly though the first season is currently not available to play even though I have it in my queue. It says a couple of days so I am hopeful it comes soon as I'd like to watch the series from the beginning.

So for the first week without cable TV we survived. It has been different but not nearly as difficult as I would have thought. I am left with that "Why didn't we do this earlier" feeling. This will definitely be a lifestyle choice for us that I will not be in a hurry to undo.

First Long Weekend Without Cable

The Christmas long weekend just ended and was our first without cable TV.

We used Netflix a lot during this time watching all the streaming content of Dead Like Me which I was shocked to find did not include every episode of the seasons put up for streaming. For example Season 2 went from episode 1 to episode 6 saying 2-5 were only available on DVD. Really defeats the purpose of having it on streaming. Sure I know you want me to buy more than the one disc out at a time package, but streaming should include all of the episodes put up or not put them up.

This brings us to the next downside of Netflix streaming program. The content that is up there, won't always stay up there. They take content down and a lot of our instant queue will no longer be available after January 1. Sure this allows us access hopefully to new content, but I'm rather disappointed that the selection is being trimmed. If I am going to have to buy the content to be able to watch it whenever I want, I might as well do that and save the Netflix fees. Of course this is not going to be my course of action yet as this cable cutting is about cutting costs, but its something down the road that may happen.

As for not having 300+ channels of TV, I think we survived quite well.

Unintended Consequences of Cutting Cable TV

As I just wrote below today is our first full day without cable TV and already we are seeing some unintended consequences to our action.

There are no more commercials coming because we are watching DVDs and BlueRays and Netflix. I like this. No more feeling hungry in the evening when I'm watching TV and seeing commercials for a Whopper. I have to admit, I love the Whopper but for obvious reasons no longer eat them. This however doesn't stop me from craving them when I see it on TV. Well no more.

Another thing we didn't count on is the elimination of the clock in the bedroom from the DVR. We both were late getting out of bed this morning because we had no idea what time it was. Time for plan B and using a cell phone on a docking station.

And lastly, we expect the power bill to go down. The DVR was always an item we did not unplug or switch the power strip off in case we had something set to record. This is no longer the case as the PS3 gets power cut. No need for a DVR when you watch TV on demand only from Netflix. Same thing goes for the home phone charging stations. They are no longer needed and have been removed from the household power grid.

The Cable is Cut

So it is today that we woke up to day one without cable TV.

What had been an on going discussion is finally in action and I'm wondering how it will effect life. Will I really miss TV? Will not seeing Formula 1 devastate me? Will basic TV continue to flow even if we're not asking for it? Will Netflix cover the gaps?

These were all questions we had along the way. Of course, we knew we weren't the first ones to do this. For years I've known people without cable TV. But for me it always felt like a necessity and I'd keep paying huge amounts month after month after the bundle package price came and went.

No more! This had to stop. So after spending the evening at a friend's house who has no cable TV and relies on Netflix and also the internet we got to talking. This lead us to the call to the cable company yesterday to eliminate the pay TV and the home phone line. Funniest part was the front line customer service from the cable company. They argued with us about "what are you going to do?" and "You need to have cable." instead of coming up with a plan that would keep us as customers. But for truth in advertising, there wasn't anything they could have done. We wanted to cut our costs drastically. So off the TV signal went but they said the phone would take longer to disappear.

Well I am here to say we both survived the night. I played some WoW and she, wait for it, read a book.

Come this morning when I got out of bed and powered on the strip controlling our router and television I decided to see if any signal was coming through. Sure enough, there are a couple over the air stations to pick up and they don't cost us anything. Huge win here for us.

We did subscribe to Netflix as two of our closest friends without cable TV have done that and I went out and bought a Playstation 3 to stream it to the TV and also because Gran Turismo 5 is coming out in 2010 finally. So I wanted that anyway and now it'll double as helping get Netflix to the TV.

So we cut a $180 cable bill to $50 to continue to get the internet only and $9 for Netflix. That savings will pay for the hardware investment of the PS3 by the end of March. I am excited about this. She is too since I've told her the monthly savings are hers to do what she wants with.