I Don't Need 700 Cable Channels!!!

[pjo63]

Apple,

Now that Apple TV 2 will have HD Movie Rentals (I was thinking about
a Blu-Ray player but not any more) and HD Podcasts, if only I could get
access to the 10 or 12 HD TV channels (TLC, Discovery, ABC, NBC, CBS,
FOX, etc.) that I regulary watch then I would cancel my COX Cable
account in a flash and put an Apple TV in every room.

ONLY caveat is that it needs to cost me less each month then I am
now paying Cox and if that means including Advertisements in the TV
shows then so be it.

Come on Steve, if anyone can make this happen it's you!!!!

 

[WarMace]

I plan to use my EyeTV for this purpose. Right now I watch most of my TV on my iMac and only use my flat panel for movies but I would like a way to watch my recorded shows on the big TV. That's why I plan to get an AppleTV in the near future. The EyeTv software will reencode recordings for the AppleTV then send them to iTunes for syncing. Should work great if you're like me and only watch recorded TV.

It would be nice if we could plug a USB tuner directly into the AppleTV but I doubt Apple will ever give us this option.

 

[pjo63]

I plan to use my EyeTV for this purpose. Right now I watch most of my TV on my iMac and only use my flat panel for movies but I would like a way to watch my recorded shows on the big TV. That's why I plan to get an AppleTV in the near future. The EyeTv software will reencode recordings for the AppleTV then send them to iTunes for syncing. Should work great if you're like me and only watch recorded TV.

It would be nice if we could plug a USB tuner directly into the AppleTV but I doubt Apple will ever give us this option.

I think that a solution which is fully standalone (i.e. no syncing required)
and can allow me to drop my cable company would garner mass apeal for
the Apple TV. Most people only watch a few channels so a cost
effective alacarte model would be very appealing.

 

[Unspeaked]

I think that a solution which is fully standalone (i.e. no syncing required)
and can allow me to drop my cable company would garner mass apeal for
the Apple TV. Most people only watch a few channels so a cost
effective alacarte model would be very appealing.

No one wants alacarte more than the cable companies you want to ditch; it's the networks that force the bundles.

I remember John McCain was pushing some sort of alacarte plan in congress a couple of years ago, but I don't think it went anywhere.

 

[jaw04005]

No one wants alacarte more than the cable companies you want to ditch; it's the networks that force the bundles.

Where did you get that idea? The current FCC Chairman has been trying to push through new rules and regulations to require cable operators to provide a la carte channels.

The cable industry has vigorously opposed the idea arguing that the FCC has no such authority since cable hasn't reach 70 percent of American households (Bull crap).

http://www.news.com/New-FCC-report-advocates-a-la-carte-TV-pricing/2100-1034_3-5975559.html

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9824667-7.html

 

[ipedro]

I already cancelled my cable. I'm saving $100 a month now since my cable company raped me every month:

$40 cable pack
$25 HD-PVR
$38 in HD specialty channels

.... and I didn't watch 90% of what was on TV anyway.

I now have an AppleTV with most of my content being HD podcasts and shows like Seinfeld and Friends that I have on DVD which is being ripped to the AppleTV.

With those $100 per month that I'm saving, I can easily buy seasons passes to my favorite shows like Heroes and Journeyman. I'll probably spend $200 per year or less on these shows.

The only thing I thought I would miss was live news on CNN.... but that's all changing now that CNN got rid of their Pipeline service and now offer live video news feeds for free.


.... and if I'm really craving live tv, I can get over the air HD of all the local channels.

Cable companies won't see the inside of my wallet ever again.

 

[MikieMikie]

I already cancelled my cable. I'm saving $100 a month now since my cable company raped me every month:

$40 cable pack
$25 HD-PVR
$38 in HD specialty channels

.... and I didn't watch 90% of what was on TV anyway.

I now have an AppleTV with most of my content being HD podcasts and shows like Seinfeld and Friends that I have on DVD which is being ripped to the AppleTV.

With those $100 per month that I'm saving, I can easily buy seasons passes to my favorite shows like Heroes and Journeyman. I'll probably spend $200 per year or less on these shows.

The only thing I thought I would miss was live news on CNN.... but that's all changing now that CNN got rid of their Pipeline service and now offer live video news feeds for free.


.... and if I'm really craving live tv, I can get over the air HD of all the local channels.

Cable companies won't see the inside of my wallet ever again.

Do me a favor and post back in a month or two and let me know how your withdrawal is coming.

I'm thinking this isn't a bad idea...

 

[nando2323]

It is so great to read a post like this. I am so glad that I am not the only person that thinks like this. I think once I have all my favorite shows and movies ripped and streaming to my TV I will definitely give Comcast the boot. Maybe with the extra $100+ a month I can bump up my internet connection or buy myself some healing cream from all the ass reaming that Comcast has been doing to me in the past years.

 

[fivepoint]

I already cancelled my cable. I'm saving $100 a month now since my cable company raped me every month:

$40 cable pack
$25 HD-PVR
$38 in HD specialty channels

.... and I didn't watch 90% of what was on TV anyway.

I now have an AppleTV with most of my content being HD podcasts and shows like Seinfeld and Friends that I have on DVD which is being ripped to the AppleTV.

With those $100 per month that I'm saving, I can easily buy seasons passes to my favorite shows like Heroes and Journeyman. I'll probably spend $200 per year or less on these shows.

The only thing I thought I would miss was live news on CNN.... but that's all changing now that CNN got rid of their Pipeline service and now offer live video news feeds for free.


.... and if I'm really craving live tv, I can get over the air HD of all the local channels.

Cable companies won't see the inside of my wallet ever again.

I agree... I'd really like to see how this is going after a couple of months. You should be able to get over-the-air local programming, so the only channels I would really miss would be History, Discovery, TBS, TNT, TLC, etc. Other than that, I would also be intersted in an approach like this.

 

[imlucid]

Do me a favor and post back in a month or two and let me know how your withdrawal is coming.

I'm thinking this isn't a bad idea...

I basically did the same thing in October of 2006. I got rid of DISH network and only watched TV shows from iTunes and recorded OTA some others that weren't available via EyeTV, viewing all on my Apple TVs.

I calculated how much I spent on the iTunes store after one year and it turned out to be within $10 of what I would have spent on DISH (two tuners, $73 a month). After that year, I still had a couple of dozen unwatched episodes of various shows as well, all commercial free!

My biggest adjustment was sports. I couldn't get FOX OTA and my football team is NFC so basically I stopped watching them (not too painful considering it was the 49ers). More painful was not seeing any hockey since that is only on cable/satellite.

I never watched news anyway (other than the Daily Show :b), since I listen to podcasts of the news every morning on the ride into work.

So its definitely been worth it for me and my family, though obviously there are many deal breakers for most people.

Kevin

 

[evilyankeefan]

Just a couple of years ago I had DirecTV (3 DVRs) and Cox cable (1 DVR). Slowly weeded things down and in Sept '07 I really wasn't watching stuff on either all that much. Nov '07 I gave DirecTV the boot and I really don't watch cable that much as I only have the limited package just so I can get the major network stuff. I've put the NFL playoffs on as background noise. Everything else I can get off the internet.

So my little experiment of getting rid of cable/satellite is working. Actually, it's pretty liberating. I still watch DVDs own/Netflix, but digital distribution is the future. In fact, I'm about to go get my tv today.

 

[Unspeaked]

I realize the cable companies aren't necessarily chomping at the bit to go alacarte, but the root of the problem lies with the networks, who insist on producing 200+ channels worth of content when all the quality programming combined would fill a couple dozen channels at most.

Just look at how their pricing system works. Basic cable - which is around 20 channels - is under $10 for most areas. Standard cable - which is around 60 channels - suddenly jumps to $50+. From that point on, the price-per-channel goes down again. For $80, you can get hundreds of channels.

It's the specialty channels that are hurting the consumer, and those are channels the cable operators are forced to carry. If they want to show ESPN, they've got to buy the ten other ESPN channels. If they want to carry Comedy Central or MTV, they've got to pick up whatever new garbage channel Viacom is pimping, which no one will watch and most will program their remotes to skip.

I'm not saying the cable companies are innocent in this - they're out to make money just like the phone and satellite companies are - I'm just saying the heart of the issue is further up the chain.

 

[WarMace]

I've been living cable free for over two years and I love it. Over the air HD has plenty of useless television to watch and anything else I want to watch I can get on the internet or purchase. I spend about $40 more a month on DVDs and TV shows than I did when I had cable, less than half of what cable was costing. I now have a pretty decent library of movies and TV that I actually want to watch instead of trying to pick from 100 channels of not much. The only thing I do miss is sports (hockey really needs to get on broadcast TV.) Best thing is my kids watch nothing but PBS now and they don't mind because the Cartoon Network isn't playing on the next channel.

 

[pagansoul]

What service do you folks use for Internet service if not cable. I live in the southeast so it would be AT&T/Bell South for me. I've tried the Dish (didn't like it), Comcast TV/Phone/Net (still currently on my contract) and BellSouth (not as fast as cable).