2014's Internet Belongs To Cord Cutters

En toto since ~2005, here. Relented for a couple months in 2009, but it was more annoying than it was worth (TWC couldn't figure out cablecards).

Prime, H+, and Netflix are more than enough... now to find a network provider who won't pull peerage shenanigans.
 
on the verge of cutting. Still trying to get an HD digital antenna that will get all the local channels
 
As soon as my Dish contract is up in August, I'll be a cutter as well. I don't see the point of paying $110/mo for channels I will never watch.
 
Only because I don't have line of sight of the southwestern sky. I refuse to use cable TV but would do DirecTV if I could.
 
Basic slowest/cheapest internet here. Amazon prime, netflix dvd only. Not sure why I was paying so much $ for content I never used.

I figure this will last a couple of years and then the cost of internet alone will skyrocket to $200 per month. When that happens I will consider going back to dialup ;)
 
Cord Never here. Moved out of my parents in 2009. Got 100Mbps with comcast for 75 a month. They call me often trying to push 6 months free premium cable for no charge. I tell them I have no TV but I do have 3 Computers in a one bedroom apartment
 
I wish I was but I have two young children that watch gobs of Disney and Nick so I have a minimum DirecTV package of 35.00 a month. Otherwise it's XBMC and Amazon Prime. The wife may or may not use her brother's Hulu and Netflix streaming accounts but since they don't live with us.... ;)
 
I have FiOS Internet & TV, I like the TV for flipping around and sports.

I've had an HTPC for... 7 years I think? I download stuff that I've missed or rip DVDs/blu-rays. I have amazon prime that I never use for streaming. My TV's old (also probably from '07) but at least as of last year there was a quality difference that I didn't like.

I guess I should give amazon prime streaming stuff another shot at some point.
 
Cutting assumes I ever had it in the first place. My prior apartment had basic cable included, but, I never watched it. Current apartment is going on year three soon and never have bothered. I opted for higher internet speeds and still lower cost than cable (that I wouldn't watch) and internet.
 
Never got on the cable bandwagon - too many channels I wouldn't watch for too much $$$ (as many said before, if they offered a "pick your channels for $X/channel per month" I might have considered.)

As such I used Air Video and now Plex to watch my own rips (and FINALLY got fast enough home internet to let me stream on the road instead of carrying multiple USB sticks)
 
I would but the wife is addicted to the food network and a couple other cable chans. Honestly I could live without it.
 
If I didn't get it all for free I'd disco everything after basketball season is over.
 
I refuse to even take the free stuff they offer me. Thats right, I actually pay more for less out of principle alone. TV companies are going to have a big problem real soon once they realize that people arent just cutting because it's convenient or a better value, but because they absolutely hate your product. Look at what happened to the music industry. People loathed CD's and the only reason they bought them is because there was hands down no other way. The MP3 changed everything. Network broadcasters face a similar battle in the very near future if they dont realize that they can no longer force their will on people. If you dont give us options, we'll make them ourselves, and trust us, it wont be in your favor.
 
McFry said:
I refuse to even take the free stuff they offer me. Thats right, I actually pay more for less out of principle alone. TV companies are going to have a big problem real soon once they realize that people arent just cutting because it's convenient or a better value, but because they absolutely hate your product. Look at what happened to the music industry. People loathed CD's and the only reason they bought them is because there was hands down no other way. The MP3 changed everything. Network broadcasters face a similar battle in the very near future if they dont realize that they can no longer force their will on people. If you dont give us options, we'll make them ourselves, and trust us, it wont be in your favor.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. It's not so much the cable providers as it is the networks who cram those channels into their packages. Oh, so you want AMC? Well you have to buy all of our other channels as well!

That then gets passed down to the consumer.
 
Seriously thinking of cutting the cord now that the DirecTV and AT&T crap looks likely.
 
I hate these conversations.

I don't and never have watched TV. So natually, I have never had cable TV while I have been living on my own.
 
We cancelled cable last December. No problem so far. But if my cable co institutes a cap, our viewing habits will have to change dramatically. I'm burning around 450GB per month presently.

Eventually as people cut, internet prices will just increase to a point where it is more reasonable to get a TV package.
 
Last time I paid for cable was in probably 2004. Never had enough money to pay for the luxury when I was young and I've gone so long without it, I just don't care for it.
I work in an industry that has relations with with video production and journalism. I was surprised during a meeting when one of the senior guys on that team said that TV will be gone in 5 years. He was planning for the next big thing and treated TV like is already dead.
 
Been 4-5 years for me now, and for a few years before that I would only get cable for football season (cable co would regularly offer 3 months free...).
More telling is that my parents cut the cord about a year and a half ago when their prices went up again. Now they netflix.
 
McFry said:
TV companies are going to have a big problem real soon once they realize that people arent just cutting because it's convenient or a better value, but because they absolutely hate your product.
Click to expand...

You have summed up my position quite thoroughly. I despise television. Mostly because it's no longer even remotely engaging. I mean, FFS there is a show on "The Learning Channel" called "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo", and in addition to that insipid pile of visual and auditory excrement, you have the pleasure of watching it interspersed with advertising that, sadly, is probably more intellectually stimulating than the goddamned show they break up.
 
I'm on my way to being a cord cutter. My cable bill has nearly tripled in the last few years.
 
I did it in early April this year, and it hasn't been problem at all with my wife or kids.
 
I use a TV as a monitor. Other than that, I only have cable for the wife. I couldn't care less about TV shows and stuff. Not pirating either, just don't have the desire to watch.
 
Honestly, we consume most of our household media via Amazon Instant, but the cost difference between internet and cable + internet for us is so negligible I'd just assume have access to that content as well.

So nope, not a cord cutter, but not for any significant philosophical reason.
 
"File-sharing in general, thanks to ISP's continuing to act against file sharing services, is becoming less and less popular."

Does this guy really think ISPs suing a couple people is the reason for declining file sharing and piracy?

I think it's FAR more likely that more people are just switching to legal streaming/downloads as more and more shows become available that way. One of the main reasons people were pirating is because it was much easier than getting the content legally, but now it's as easy (in many cases) to get it legally as it is to pirate it.

The same thing happened with music, so it's hardly surprising to anyone who has been paying attention for the last decade.
 
I ditched cable tv 5 years ago. Netflix and Prime are most of my viewing now. I have an over-the-air antenna so that I can see the local stations when there's major weather storms in the area.
 
We currently have DirecTV but I am seriously considering cutting the cord the middle of next month, after GoT ends.
 
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