How To: Live Without Cable TV, Part 2

This is the second in a series of three posts dedicated to life without cable television. Check out the first post here and the third installment here.

How are you watching TV? How, and what, you want to watch greatly impacts if you can make the move away from cable television. Yesterday, some astute readers raised the question raised, why, why should we move away from cable? We're not suggesting that at all, if it's not right for you. We're merely leading you through our process of discovery, and maybe you can find an alternative that applies to your lifestyle. Today we're tackling how and what you watch.

What do you watch? Are you watching your cable? We haven't been lately, and even when we did we weren't watching that many of the channels. Before you take the leap, you need to prioritize what channels and shows are important to you. If you can't live without HGTV, and you can't find a suitable substitute for your home fix, then maybe you can't give up cable. But just because something is on cable doesn't mean it's not available elsewhere. Plenty of shows are available on iTunes (Project Runway, for example), and if you can wait, it can be more enjoyable to watch a TV series DVD at your leisure, rather than being glued to the tube for weeks on end. We'll talk more about alternative sources for your favorite shows tomorrow.

How do you watch TV? With the advent of video on the internet, and it's popularization through podcasts and YouTube, we find ourselves digesting media in smaller chunks, and for more limited amounts of time. With the ability to purchase shows on demand, all the major networks and even MTV streaming their latest broadcasts, do we really need to be sitting in front of the television at 8pm, waiting for the latest episode?

Where do you watch TV?
Sure, when you watch a movie, you're going to want to be in a comfortable seat. But do you need to watch TV in your living room? Take a minute to think about your habits, and how you and your family watch television. Do you need to watch it the way you have been doing your whole life? You don't even need to be getting rid of cable to consider this. AT Reader, Wende reported that she watches HGTV recorded on her Slingbox and streamed to her laptop over her home network. Tailor your habits to your lifestyle, make your media work for you.

How much money are you spending?
Again, are you watching your money's worth? With cable, we'd love an ala carte network, for Turner Classic Movies alone. After you figure out what you're watching, decide if it's worth it. With free internet streaming, DVD rentals, and a digital antenna, you could be completely happy and your wallet will be too.

Tomorrow we'll tackle the plethora of sources for non-cable TV options, from DVD rentals to the Internet.

Thanks for your photos, Gerard Yates, Johan Koolwaaij, alykat, and texasgurl.

I don't own a TV. Given that, I watch a fair amount of it.

1. I watch Friday Night Lights, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock and (at least for an episode or two more) Grey's Anatomy. I occasionally watch Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, and Top Chef/Project Runway. I am still scheming how to watch The Wire when it comes back this winter - I just fell in love it with via Netflix.
2. I pretty much watch all of my TV via the network websites' streaming, although I have used Amazon unbox occasionally when they offer a free episode of something that looks interesting. I watch some sports and some HBO at my dad's house, which is probably how I will deal with The Wire. I would buy The Wire from ITunes or wherever if it was available; the others, not so much. I would also watch Project Runway/Top Chef if someone streamed it.
3. I watch the shows that I stream exclusively on my laptop, in bed, late at night before I go to sleep.
4. Cost - I refuse to pay for cable and am just entirely pissed off that you can't get decent reception without it these days - is my major motivation for not having a TV. I guess if I never streamed video, I'd get a slower broadband package, so maybe I should say I spend $5 a month on "TV".

My only regret is the occasional unreliability of the network streaming sites and the small size of a decent-resolution picture. If there was a reasonably low-cost way of a) setting up an old (analog) TV with a computer-based DVR or b) getting decent digital reception on my laptop (I've heard that this is very difficult???) I'd love to hear about it! But as I'm not willing to spring for cable DVR, and I'm also not willing to sit down and wait for a certain show to come on to watch it (other than The Wire) even if I had cable, all in all, I'm satisfied with the setup.

(I didn't have a TV before so much was available online, and just didn't really watch any TV.)

posted by nwu on October 4th 2007 at 8:46am
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I've been using my DVR more and more for actual shows. I almost never watch shows when they air anymore. I do watch Sportscenter live usually, sometimes I dvr it while I shower then I can fast forward thru nascar or whatever. I like to have espn on in the background while I clean.

I watch tv from my kitchen, on my sofa, most often from my bed. I just have to swivel it based on where I am.

Actually I go with satellite because it's much cheaper than cable I've noticed and also because Direct TV is the only provider of the NFL Sunday Ticket. I pay around $50 for all the channels offered, save the premium movie channels. I'm paying around $250 for NFL Sunday Ticket, but that's in $50 installments. Which I think is much cheaper than going to a sports bar every Sunday and totally worth it so I can keep up with my fantasy football players and see my Cowboys play here in NY. For some reason, they will rarely show another football game opposite the Jets or Giants games, very annoying.

posted by EastVillageAmy on October 4th 2007 at 9:23am
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I live in an area w/o a cable line and have not signed up for satellite, so I only have fuzzy broadcast TV. My broadband connection is also slow, so streaming is impossible.

I make do with downloading shows that I want to watch and waiting for DVDs to come out for other shows that I want to watch.

If I got it though, I would probably only watch things that were DVR'd. I wouldn't watchi t live unless I just happened to be there.

posted by theninthcloud on October 4th 2007 at 9:55am
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I got rid of my TV and I watch more TV than I have in years. I used to avoid television purposely. Now that I only watch TV on demand (DVD or streaming from network website) I don't feel as much need to avoid it. With my laptop, I can watch TV anywhere I want, in bed, on the couch, at a friend's house.

posted by J-fer Rose on October 4th 2007 at 1:15pm
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Wende reported that she watches HGTV recorded on her Slingbox and streamed to her laptop over her home network.

Uh, no. That's not what I say -- because that's not what Slingbox does.

Our Slingbox Tuner creates a real-time handshake between our cable connection and our wireless network. That enables us to watch TV on our laptops in real-time, not recorded, without having to have any physical television at all in our apartment.

The whole point of Slingbox for us is that we get the advantages of cable -- channel choices that are available only through the cable company -- without having to decorate around a television or replace our old analog TV with a digital set.

(And, as J-fer says, we get to watch where we want.)

posted by wende in the twin cities on October 5th 2007 at 6:48am
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