Why there is so much good stuff on cable I hadly watch the Food Channel (too much long hair falling in their faces) and Hgtv They've changed their format and programming thaT IT OFFERS VERY LITTLE THAT i LIKE ANYMORE. (sorry about the caps didn't mean to yell)

When I shared house with another guy in the city, about 15 years ago, we had cable ... but I seldom watched the TV.

When he got interested in a widow lady and moved out - out went the cable, and I watched it even less.

Out here on the farm, about 13 miles from a local tower, I can get that free channel via rabbit ears - rather snowy. That tower also broadcasts several other (subscription) channels: also snowy, I expect.

Another tower, about equally distant, broadcasts a few free channels ... I don't know whether they carry other channels as well. I can get a couple of other channels from there, also snowy.

I seldom watch TV.

But I'm an addict of our national radio system, the radio portion of which operates with no comercials.

A lot of good stuff on there - and we draw our own pictures.

Plus ... I can pay some attention to it while I do other stuff - like right now, tuning in more strongly when something of interest comes on. Can't do that while involved with TV.

ole joyful

It depends on what you want to watch. I almost never watch the Food Channel, and as for HGTV, I agree with Minnie that it's gone down the drain. They have a new show hosted by a guy named Antonio, who, along with his crew, I would not allow on my property. Their 2010 "Dream House" is a disaster of missed opportunities, with horrible landscaping. I do like Bang for the Buck, because they discuss decorating details, what was done and why. But mainly HGTV is about either cheap fixes for selling, or buying a house.

There are many other channels that I enjoy, cable news, Cspan, the History Channel, e.g. I would keep my TV if only for The Office.

About the only show we watch on the Food Network is Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We've tried several places that Guy went to, and have never been disappointed with his recommendations. I also enjoy Ace of Cakes.

On HGTV, we like the 10 Best... where each episode shows 10 great bedrooms, or back yards, or master bathrooms, etc.; and I love House Hunters and International House Hunters. It's fun to see what you can get in various price ranges in different locations.

One of the best new shows this year is Men of a Certain Age, which is on TNT, and several of my coworkers are hooked on Sons of Anarchy, which is on FX. Just got the first season of Sons of Anarchy on DVD, and we're hooked (we've only seen the first half of the season so far).

For four years, I did not own a television - by choice. And I was really poor and watching every nickel, so I couldn't afford the cable bill of $12 a month (basic cable). After about two months, I grew to see that I preferred life without television.

If I ever live alone again, I'm throwing out the television. As Ann Landers says you have to ask yourself, "Am I better off with him or without him?"

For me, I'm far better off without television!

Before I changed to Verizon for my cable, internet etc...I used to watch Food Network a lot, and HGTV. Now I very seldom watch either one of those networks....The most dissapointing is HGTV.... small loss.

Like Rosemary, I'm better off without television. I do have have TV in the house (two of them), but the one in the bedroom isn't hooked up to function as a TV (I use it to watch DVDs occasionally), and the little one in the kitchen is almost never turned on.

Because we had no TV reception for years, I simply got out of the habit of watching it. I'm guessing that's what will happen to you. Once you get used to not being able to turn on the TV, it will disappear from your thinking. There are so many other things to do.

Having said that, I should add that when I had shingles in October and couldn't sleep, I got hooked on Hulu.com, which runs lots of TV shows as well as movies. It was the only thing that could distract me from the pain in the middle of the night. I don't think of it as TV, though.....I just added it to my existing computer addiction. :-)

At our house we get about 100 channels - this is due to the fact that when I worked as a Caretaker we got a very good deal on Cable/Internet. Of the 100 channels, there are about 10 that we watch on a regular basis.
Now that I am not working as a Caretaker anymore I don't qualify for the super deal - a fella is supposed to be coming any day now to switch us to basic cable, which will still be about 47 channels, including the 10 that we regularly watch.
As Alisande said, Hulu.com and other sites provide many old and new tv programs for anyone with Internet. No wonder the cable companies are whining about not making any money - they can likely see the next bump in the road where all shows are just broadcast on the Internet and the big box in the corner of the room has become a fishtank...lol.
Suzan J

I too am so disappointed in the new HGTV, I used to love it. We watch Iron Chef, Chopped and hubby loves Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. I cannot imagine no tv, we do watch it a lot, and what about DVDs? I'd really miss them.

Haven't had TV for many months. We aren't offered cable here and I had a Direct TV dish. Kept on going up. I felt like I could put that 70.00 each month to getting out of debt. I did join Netflix for 10.00 a month and can watch movies or TV shows at my leisure. I also have watched hulu for football games and such. I'm much better off without it. I was late paying my dish bill and they debited it out of my account without me knowing they were going to, so I decided to be rid of them.

I watch a lot of syndicated programs, PBS and in the morning I watch the news & weather. I haven't had cable or satellite for years and don't really miss it. With the digital conversion, our local PBS station has added some channels and they're good. I enjoy a football game occasionally too. I used to have a TV in the living room, bedroom, kitchen and garage. Since my living room TV died, I pulled the one from the bedroom. The kitchen one hasn't been watched since the digital change since I haven't hooked up the converter box to it yet.

When at a motel or friends and see the offerings of cable and satellite, I don't miss it, especially for the $50/mo or so that it costs. I was offered Dish for $24/mo and thought about it but just don't feel the need for it.

I justified spending more for DSL as an alternative to cable/satellite. Watch some things on there occasionally. Can still go rent some movies, or check them out from the library if I wanted to have something to watch. I still have boxes of tapes I haven't watched. Picked up some tapes for $1 each when the library sold them out.

Few people truly have no tv. Between watching tv on the internet, watching tapes/disks or the like they can hardly say there's no tv. I do know a couple people who do not have a tv in their house and don't watch tv on the computer, but that's very rare.

I wouldn't hesitate to suggest dumping cable. Often they'll give you a "come back" offer after a month or two and you could consider it if you really missed it that much. But if you have broadcast subchannels available, plus the regular broadcast has several things that I watch so you might find it perfectly fine for you. It's not an irreversible choice you have to make.

I like TV. I don't watch it much but I like to have it on for the noise. And I do listen to some shows. DH watches more than I do.

In the summer it's important to keep tabs on hurricanes and tropical storms so we can be prepared before the last minute. Then we usually have it on the weather channel or a local one. We have the TV on at night in our bedroom. I watch HDTV until I fall asleep. I should have sold real estate--I love looking in all those homes. I do think that Sandra ? gives first-time home buyers some bad advice, though. No wonder so many people got in trouble if she's the norm. I like listening to my soaps while I clean, too. Makes the time go faster!

I wish I could give up cable. I pay over twice what I paid for cable when I first moved here about 10 years ago (from $25 to about $55), for basically the same channels, almost all of which have advertising too. Ticks me off that we keep paying more and at this point we don't get more, only less. They occasionally make some channels only available with the more expensive digital plans. We are addicted but I can see there coming a point where I could tell the cable company to kiss off.

We watch TV for free on the computer...no cable, no satellite.

I wouldn't pay for TV even if cable was available here. You can watch a lot for free on the net.

'Scuse me, but HOW do you 'watch TV' on the computer? Do you connect the 'puter to the TV? (I don't think I'd like to watch TV on a small screen or have tinny sound.)

We have one medium-size TV and one 15-year-old 13-inch in the kitchen that is used for breakfast-time and dinner-time news. We use the larger one (with DVR) for longer programs and to watch DVDs. We almost never watch anything we haven't prerecorded.

We watch TV on my laptop, which has a nice big screen, and I have good speakers attached to the laptop, so it has very good sound. We also watch TV on my desktop computer sometimes, which also has a good-sized screen.

You can connect to the TV and watch it on the TV screen, but I've found it isn't necessary, at least for us, to do it that way...we just watch it on the laptop or on the desktop.

The networks have TV episodes posted on their websites, and there are a lot of sites like hulu.com where you can watch TV on your computer. We watch House, Fringe, 24, The Office, Parks & Recreation, Better Off Ted, V, the evening news and local news, PBS shows, shows from the History Channel, etc.

Lots of TV shows are available to watch online.

I think our cable is pretty good and they are very good fixing it if anything goes out. I love the PBS stations--Prairie Public as they show a great variety of programs. We do have a great choice on our reg cable, but do neet it due to winter/summer storms. First thing that goes on when a storm is in the area. Our local stations aren't so great, but then we usually don't have anything on during the day.

If it were just me..no problem...I could live without it...

There were a few years here and there growing up that my mom couldn't afford cable..and there were also times when she hawked the tv...

My husband and sons..can't LIVE WITHOUT it!..

I do not own a tv.Haven't had one for yeaars.I do see some shows at friend's houses and don't think I am missing much.I work too much, read as much as I have time for and get my news from the radio and pc.Not too many people believe I can "live" without a tv.LOL
Debbie

With supporting 2 homes until we sell the 'old' one, I refuse to pay 2 cable bills. So in the country, we virtually have no tv. It's in a fringe area, so even with a converter box and a big antenna, we get only 2 channels--one of them one of the very low-level PBS stations (the kind that runs the really, really old, low-budget shows). I rarely even bother to plug the TV in at all. Was just thinking this weekend how I really don't miss it at all.

I have seriously considered not even bothering to get cable once we make the move permanently.

I enjoy my TV. I do not pay for cable, and if I hear of a show I really want to watch, I can get it from Netflix. I find plenty of content on the major networks and PBS to keep me entertained out in my studio during the day. I don't watch all that much at night.

I have a tv but I don't watch very much. I didn't watch for about 9 mo. after it was switched to digital, because I didn't get a box for a long time. I watch mostly PBS, King of the Hill and Antiques Roadshow.

Wow, they pulled those stations already? So far mine haven't disappeared. I'm wondering about CableVision altogether. I can flick through almost 100 stations and not find anything worthwhile to watch. And a lot of repeats.

I just thought I'd mention that when my kids were growing up I limited their TV time and choice of shows. As adults, the youngest hardly ever watches TV, and my middle child watched more, but selectively. The oldest leaves the TV on all time, which drives me nuts when I'm at her house. :-)