Is There Any Reason To Own Cable Anymore?

They never outgrow them. Next thing you know, your daughter will be watching Miley Cyrus and acting like a teenage hoor.

Between Hulu+ and Netflix? No. I've been doing without cable since ever.

I've noticed that there's been an explosion of children's programming lately. Back when I was a kid, one had to subscribe to the Disney channel, like it was HBO, and Nickelodeon and CN were just about the only thing for kids. Now, Nick and Disney both have enough programming to separate into pre-school, live-action and cartoon networks of their own, and Cartoon Network has become more than Hanna-Barbara re-runs.

Hulu, iTunes, and Redbox. Otherwise, everyone on the tube is just talking to themselves. I like VH1's top 20 to see what's current.

Must've been your cable system. Every cable or satellite package I've ever had included the Disney channel in the base price.

And don't tell me about "back when you were a kid". In the 70s, kids got Saturday morning cartoons and live action shows on the THREE networks and maybe some cartoons and syndicated reruns on the local channels in the afternoon after school.

Then again, seeing the stuff that runs on Disney and the others (with some exceptions), maybe we were better off.

Don't miss cable/satellite at all since I cut the cord back in 2010. I do own a Roku box. I have Amazon prime so I can stream tv/movies from there if I ever decide to even bother turning on the television.

Looking back on how much I hadn't paid for tv service reminds me of those stopped-smoking commercials. I've saved over $1500 since I quit cable.

Hey, anyone remember the Oxygen network still existed? Me, neither. But I guess they're really desperate for ratings if they bought this piece of shit show.

In addition to his ten (!) baby mammas, this guy also has a 19 year old girlfriend that's a year oldest than his oldest kid.
Just...

Man that's a trip.

Someone posted a link to that on Facebook. I opened up the comments and about 4 comments down, I saw a name and picture I thought looked familiar.

It hit me it was you when I read this. The thread had thousands of comments.

Small net, eh?

I got this from my mom's feed. She barely even knew what FB was a year ago, and now she's more active than I am.

Sounds like this network just needs to asphyxiate

Maybe he's a Mormon.

Now that I think about it, Oxygen is owned by Oprah Winfry, isn't is? If so, I'm surprised such a show--even a one-hour special--ever got a green-light. She left the Ricki Lake/Jenny Jones type of entertainment a long time ago.

She was a part-owner, but I don't know if she still is or not. She's probably focusing her attention on the network she does own, which is OprahWinfreyNetwork

Bumped again...and having spent the last three weeks at home, I got to watch cable for the first time in three years.

Seriously, what is up with these network and marathons? I think about a third of the cable networks had some marathon or another at any given time. And not like new shit like the Real Housewives of Bitchistan, but old stuff that been played to the hills, like the Golden Girls. What's up with that shit?

Oh, and Comcast's On Demand service now had commercials on the shows they air. And some networks like FX won't even allow you to fast-forward through them.

Just....fuck them. I hope the Arrest Development relaunch takes off and that people start switchign over the internet TV in droves, sooner rather than later.

i totally watched a golden girls marathon tonight.

down with the housewives of whatever! bring on betty white!

When I was a kid, it was all about the Transformers, GI Joe and Thundercats. Nickelodeon was around, but I only watched Nick at Night, the daytime shit was wack.

History Channel works like this:

Swamp People Swamp People Swamp People Big Rig Bounty Hunters Big Rig Bounty Hunters American Pickers American Pickers American Pickers American Pickers American Pickers American Pickers American Pickers Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars American Pickers... etc.

Tune to History Channel, and that's what you'll find 90% of the time. Almost every other channel is the same way. They play back to back to backs of so many shows, and most of the shows are reality shows. It's cheap and easy programming that pulls in lots of cash.

We've switched over to DirecTV since last time I posted, and it's a bit cheaper, and has way more movie channels, so there's that. Still, I love my Roku box, even though I had to switch to AT&T DSL (6 Mbps). Time Warner wanted $300 on one bill, and not even for anything we ordered. I forget what it was, but it was essentially two months worth of service, so we dropped them. The only thing I miss is RoadRunner. DSL is okay, but it doesn't touch cable in that department.

lol someone was just telling me over the phone they did the same! The dance marathon episode was on when I called, where betty white does the somersaults, haha.

I like Betty White, but Bea Arthur was my favorite. I got to hang out with her back in 2001 after her one woman show in San Francisco, and at one point she held me hand!!!! You know, in that same way that she would sometimes on the show....when the girls are in the kitchen trying to sort out their latest going on, and Dorothy would lean in and reach over and clutch Blanche or Rose or Sophia's hand, reassuringly. It was pretty awesome.

I also got to thank her then for what a wonderful strong presence she was for the gays, and how her work touched our lives. Back then, when the show was originally on air, some us of were kids and hadn't quite figured out for ourselves what gay was, but we knew we were different than traditional gender stereotypes, and seeing her thrive was such an inspiration to us. A great role model for gay kids during a time when there weren't many.

When she died, her biggest charity contribution from her estate was for a home for runaway gay youth in NYC. Bea was good to the gays till the very end.

Why'd this thread get moved to the Red Room?

If I wasn't getting it for free, I wouldn't have a TV package. I just finally hooked up U-Verse in my living room this week after having it disconnected since before the start of this year. It's not that I don't watch any shows, but those that I do I've just been pirating because I can never remember to watch them on time. Today was the first time I actually turned the thing on, and that was just to watch Archer.

I prefer ocular implants.

This is the issue. My kids used to watch a lot of on demand, but now almost all shows anybody in the family watches are via netflix. We have two reasons for cable, neither of which have much to do with offered programming.

1. It is the only high speed Internet option in Boston (Verizon can suck it with their suburbs only roll out of FIOS).
2. It is the only way I know of to get all 162 Redsox games.

1. If your local cable company won't sell you internet unless you buy their TV service, they need to eat a dick.
2. MLB.tv and a proxy or DNS service will fix this. My MLB package is about $125 for the season & my proxy (anonymous IP) is 3.99 a month.

That's about what I saved by just cutting my cable bill. In about 3 months I will have paid for my MLB.tv season sub, the Mohu Leaf antenna I ordered from Amazon, and the HTPC I bought to use as a DVR for the OTA TV. For the rest: Netflix, Hulu, and .

We also get phone in the package. They will sell us internet + phone only, but the savings on dropping TV from the package isn't big enough to make it worth jerry rigging the MLB.tv configuration.

That sucks. My cable (TV & Internet) bill went from $160/mo to $55/mo by dropping the TV. That was $160 for HDTV, DVR, no premiums, and 15 meg internet. The new price includes 30 meg speeds & a free modem with no contract.

Thank you for being a friend, travel down the road and back again. Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidante.

"You're" or "yore" is better than "your."

Pardon?

This: