I cannot proof it, but I am almost certain that a red warning light comes on each and every time I call our TV provider. Perhaps there is even a picture of me, with little horns and a trident?
TV providers and politicians use the same principle. First, they bait us with promises and then, after we elected them, that’s when we often realize what a shitty deal we have made.
For the first year everything was alright, then we became a valued customer, and it went all south from there.
Every month they surprised us with miscellaneous charges. Surcharges left and right, fees and taxations for things we didn’t want, things we couldn’t understand. BROADCAST FEE. Really? Isn’t the whole damn bill something like a broadcast fee to begin with?
Last months, we decided to have a movie night and ordered a PPV movie. The film had gotten some awards and sounded interesting. We watched it for about 15 minutes; then we turned if of. It wasn’t our taste. No award from our house.
I dialed my favorite 1-800 number, and they assured me, they would credit us the movie back; sadly it would be credited back the following months -somehow their system doesn’t allow to just cancel an order. (Yeah right.)
A month later the red warning light blinked at a call center in India when I dialed my favorite 1-800 number again. Surely, they had just forgotten about the credit when they printed the new bill. A nice lady explained to me that there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t find anything in her records that would entitle us to get the money back.
Wrong answer! Sometimes it’s not about the money; it’s about principles.
We canceled our TV service the following day. Three days later -8:00 a.m. sharp- a rather unfriendly technician picked up the equipment and cut our cable. That was the final breakup; there was no going back.
The same day I consulted our 13-year old computer specialist, who happen to live just a few houses down, and he gave me a crash course in streaming. Of course, we had already tried services like Netflix and Hulu, but there was so much more. Live TV, premium channels even PPV’s. We carefully made the decisions and cut our TV bill by $80 a month.
All was good, but we missed our local channels.
“Buy an antenna,” the 13-year old said, and so we did. I didn’t know what to expect and felt surprised two days later, when I held a flat, paper-thin piece of plastic in my hands. What had happened to the rabbit ear antenna I grew up with?
I placed the sheet close to the window, behind a curtain, about 6 feet high and the TV started to install some channels. First 3, then 5, then 15…16…19…23, and finished the installation when it hit the number 37.
“Holy crap, we have 37 local TV stations on our TV.” I don’t want to be a valued customer anymore.
You’ve inspired me to see what options we have. We like Netflix. Kids like sports. CNBC and CNN. The rest of the channels are useless to me.
Direct TV stream covers your needs. Cost you $35 and then there is of course Netflix. 🙂
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
If we had better satellite reception available where we live, so we could still get internet with a speed greater than an actual snail, we would probably be completely cable-less, too. Now, when and if that grand and glorious day ever arrives, where we have access to a plethora of satellite service providers so we can purchase aforementioned service at a reasonable (even if only introductory cost), I will keep in mind that, should I ever want to drop the local channels from our satellite package, I may, again, depending on signal strength, remember the magic new way you are now receiving your local channels. Isn’t modern technology wonderful, sometimes?
We did have to get a better modem and bum up our internet service, that cost us $10 more a month and makes all the difference in the world.
Wow, I’m glad you are free of the chains. We have a different system here, I pay a small fee monthly and that’s it. It hasn’t changed in years. Our London daughter doesn’t bother with a TV at all, she watches what she wants on her (very old) computer, but she mostly listens to the radio.
We are investigating the same thing
Great post. Not sure I have the smarts to do it, but I would certainly like to give our Provider the boot.
Something I have been considering doing…. you make it sound pretty easy to do. Lovely post.
You and I are on the same page again … although you went all out and broke up with cable completely. I just changed service providers.
We’ve had the same service provider for the entire time we’ve lived here – 25 years. They provide both cable and internet, and I have felt anything but a *valued* customer.
With the new provider we switched to last week, our bill is now 1/2 the cost of what it used to be and we are getting much superior quality reception and internet speed.
I think the telcos today have the reputation that car salesmen had back in the 60s. It’s a sleazy con. There’s always a new ‘deal’ going on and if you ask 10 different people, you get 10 different prices that they pay for the same services.
Would I like to cut the cord on cable? You bet I would! But Gilles is addicted to his favourite TV channels. It was a HUGE step getting him to switch providers. It’s been such a great experience though, maybe he’ll be more receptive to eventually breaking free at some point in the future.
I think finding the right streaming package is the key. We stream 30 channels with Sling TV ($25). This way I can watch the news -if I can stomach it- and my husband can enjoy his sports events. We have Netflix and Hulu for $8.99 and $7.99. So far, so good!
I think our options are quite different from yours, but sooner or later he will come around … like with the home phone. Thankfully that little devil is finally gone!
🙂
We cut cable 8 years ago and have never looked back. The only problem is on our area local channels are hard to get consistently because we are out in the middle of nowhere. Miss a few big sports events but not worth the cable aggravation.
The only TV I have watched in years is the BBC Planet Earth!
WHATTTTTT? No Big Bang Theory?
Wow. Those 13 year-olds are amazing, aren’t they? Good for you for taking a stand and finding another way. Sounds like you ended up with something just as good!
I broke up with my television a year ago. Now I watch my security camera (no joke). But my husband… my husband is addicted to his shows. He’s starting to stream most of them, but he just can’t seem to break ties with the dish. Soon… I hope… soon.
Neither of us want to go without internet, so yeah.
Sounds great, but you live close to a city. Can’t do that were I live 🙁 But I can(and do) at my cottage! Welcome to TV freedom!
We live 35 miles away from the next radio tower.
Wow, that’s pretty good then. I live in a steep-sided valley and there is nothing – I’ve tried, but zip.
Apologies to Dr. King but “FREE AT LAST.. Good God Almighty FREE AT LAST”….I’m doing this next Tuesday (well something like it). Was the breakup really difficult to get over? 😉
I was not difficult, but it will take some time to get used to it. We do miss the DVR but have gained a lot due to an app that we installed. 🙂
I know what you mean. I have tons of trouble every time I call customer service. I just couldn’t understand a word they say. I’ve been watching antenna tv for about a decade, then suddenly, I had to upgrade to cable tv which wasn’t much better but it made my internet bill lower. In my opinion though, antenna is way better, at least picture-quality-wise.
I am stunned by the quality. We have an HD TV and the picture quality with antenna is just mind blowing.
I know right? I switched to cable last year and the picture was disappointing.
Love this blog post. I have not owned a TV in years. When I broke up with the cable company the TV went into the garbage. I get Netflix and YouTube on my computer. I’m saving money for my retirement as I have no interest in most television shows or watching the news.
There are some shows I really love. Like the CBS Sunday morning show. I love to watch BBC and I am a big fan of the food channel.
We got tired of the fees in the end. Now we pay less and have so much more.
I’ve been fortunate to find many of my favorite TV shows on YouTube. But since I spend so much time at work most of them are on the Watch Later YouTube option!! LOL!! I agree that those fees were hazardous to the bank account. Saving money is my main focus and game plan. Wise decision.
Free, at last!
I know exactly where you’re coming from. We cancelled cable, bought an HD antennae like the one you are describing, and added Sling TV(22 dollars a month)-you can watch HGTV, Food network, Lifetime, A&E, CNN, Disney and a few others. Unfortunately, they still have us for internet. We haven’t found a comparable replacement.