The "We don't need no stinkin' cable" experiment

Well, for the second time in my adult life I'm living without cable TV. The first time was for financial reasons when I was living in Ogdensburg, NY. This time it could be argued that I'm either very cutting edge, or still cheap. (No matter how many times my father corrects me, "It's not cheap, it's frugal!" I can still admit to being cheap.)

I dropped off the cable card from the Tivo to HTC yesterday, and a tech from HTC was by today to install the filter that removes all channels from our cable signal.

So what's so different about now compared to ten years ago when I decided to go without cable? First off, the great digital switchover is coming in February 2009. That will be a benefit because the digital signals should be clearer. I can already see this from the Fox affiliate we receive. The digital signal is much clearer than the analog signal. I've already ordered an HDTV compatible antenna that should arrive on Friday, and I hope to have it installed that afternoon. With basic rabbit ears we already get Fox, CW, and PBS. The antenna with incorporated booster supposedly has 5 times the range, so NBC, ABC, and CBS should be in the mix then.

Compared to 10 years ago, that's everything but CBS in - all Canadian stations out. (Moving from Ogdensburg, NY to Myrtle Beach, SC does tend to have a negative impact on the ability to pick up CBC, CTV, etc. over the air.)

...but the biggest difference between 1998 and 2008 is the availability of shows online. I don't even remember if YouTube was around in 1998, but no one was broadcasting complete shows online ten years ago. Today you can get almost everything you want to watch over the internet for free. The shows I love the most are The Office and My Name Is Earl. Both are available on NBC.com and hulu.com.

I also really like watching 3rd Rock From The Sun on TV Land. No problem - they're streaming as well from tvland.com.

So what did I watch regularly that I'm missing? So far two shows: Mythbusters and MASH. Neither are major losses to me.

This experiment is just beginning for us, but if anyone else is interested in making the switch from cable TV to a combination of broadcast TV and streaming video from the internet, here are some links to get you going:

http://abc.go.com/

http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Home/page_Home

http://www.adultswim.com/video/index.html

http://www.aetv.com/

http://www.bravotv.com/

http://www.cbs.com/

http://www.thedailyshow.com/

http://dsc.discovery.com/

http://www.fox.com/

http://www.fxnetworks.com/

http://www.history.com/

http://www.hulu.com/

http://www.joost.com/

http://makezine.tv/

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.nbc.com/

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

http://www.spike.com/network/spike

http://www.tbs.com/

http://www.tvland.com/

http://www.vh1.com/

It's important to note too that these are streaming on the viewer's schedule, not on some "I'VE GOT TO BE HOME AT 9:00 PM ON THURSDAY FOR THE OFFICE!" schedule. Very DVR-like, and very convenient.

I also must add that we've rejoined Netflix due in large part to their streaming of movies. While they may not have all the new releases streaming, their selection is very good and very much worth the $8.99 a month that we're paying. In my opinion, that's far more bang for the buck that anyone gets for their HBO / Cinemax monthly fee.

Stay tuned. I'll try to post a follow up in a month or so with how things are working out.