It’s Time to Cut the Cable

Since a few years I am trying to get away from the Cable Providers a little bit at a time. Initially I started using MythTV to get ride of the Commercials but unfortunately it takes way too much time to keep up to date, MythTV dropped the support for my TV card and it did not accomplish my goal. When the new AppleTV started to be sold I decided to dump MythTV and use AppleTV instead. Then I moved ahead and signed up for Netflix.

As of now I still need a Cable Provider because my kids want to see their shows and my wife want to see the local news. That said I am hoping that Netflix can ramp up their streaming offerings where eventually I can cut the cable and fire my Cable Provider. It is not only the money but I don’t see what service they actually provide to me that justifies the amount I pay. I know they need to pay royalties but then they don’t pay anything to PBS stations. They intentionally create the packages so that I have to buy way more than I actually need and they don’t want to provide a la carte selection of channels. Soon, I hope, the time will come where I can tell them to go to hell and take their outdated, consumer unfriendly system with them.

Since my kids took over the TV I did rarely watch any TV. Not only did all the TV series I was somewhat interested in either die or got so unbelievable stupid that I found playing games way more interesting. I think our family can live without the local news but my kids and my wife need to be able to watch their shows and they should either be easier to access or they should cost no more in total than the cable company.

Netflix streaming is not there yet but I hope it will be soon. That said considering that streaming plus 3 DVD out at the same time costs only $20 per month it still would save us $60 per month if we would ditch the Cable Provider. That would mean I could either buy some movies from iTunes or an entire series season from iTunes per month.

Well, I guess that my Cable Provider’s future in our home is in serious jeopardy and might be cut short soon.

– Andy