VGCollect Forum

General and Gaming => Off Topic => Topic started by: oldgamerz on August 01, 2018, 08:31:56 am

Title: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: oldgamerz on August 01, 2018, 08:31:56 am
I have been watching television lately. I just got Dish Network Satellite TV service installed in my game room and I have been enjoying it. For the longest time I was watching only Netflix and YouTube on my internet connection. satellite cable service maybe expensive but I got it anyway.

Now I am taking a break from my internet and video game collecting hobby. because I am sick from constant headaches and I can't focus on a video game anymore or at least right now in my life. Maybe I am too old for video games because the same thing happen to me when I was 19 years old and no longer held the  interest in toys. :( Or maybe I am just too depressed for video games I am only 29 years old. when I was a teen and growing up I used to play video games for sometimes 12 full hours or more when i didn't have school
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: 98dgreen on August 01, 2018, 08:55:14 am
Does Sling count?
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: Agozer on August 01, 2018, 09:23:18 am
I do. I don't subscribe to any streaming services.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: tripredacus on August 01, 2018, 09:30:17 am
OTA for TV, only for sporps games or local weather events.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: burningdoom on August 01, 2018, 09:51:35 am
Of course. Sci-fi, wrestling, and comic book shows for me.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: rayne315 on August 01, 2018, 12:37:41 pm
do you consider the internet some sort of cable service? I have always been staunchly against cable/satellite tv because the whole business plan never made sense to me. why would I want to pay $150 a month for 600 channels when I only watch a hand full of channels? on top of that they have been adding morew and more commercials over the years so they are making money on top of the money I am spending to see them.

if they want my money (especially now a days) then they can offer a package that you only pay for the channels you watch. I would be very happy to spend 1-3 bucks a channel a month and only get the channels I care about.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: betelgeuse on August 01, 2018, 01:49:14 pm
Ditched the cable service here. I was paying $160 a month because in order to view sports, you have to get the higher tiered package.
Got an antenna for local plus Netflix and Hulu on a fire stick. Most of the channels I use to watch on cable have an app I can view recent broadcasts with anyway. I still buy a lot of blu rays as well, so I’m not missing cable at all.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: seether on August 01, 2018, 02:26:08 pm
My unlimited internet comes with a cable service so that's the only reason I have it.

I watch Suits and Gotham each week at the moment and they are literally the only things I turn the TV on to watch.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: stealthrush on August 01, 2018, 04:50:43 pm
Been Cable (television) free since 2010. Only have basic channels for weather.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: aliensstudios on August 01, 2018, 08:27:51 pm
I do. I still watch Rockies baseball almost every day. Other than that I watch Better Call Saul but nothing really other than that.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: oldgamerz on August 01, 2018, 09:30:08 pm
Ditched the cable service here. I was paying $160 a month because in order to view sports, you have to get the higher tiered package.
Got an antenna for local plus Netflix and Hulu on a fire stick. Most of the channels I use to watch on cable have an app I can view recent broadcasts with anyway. I still buy a lot of blu rays as well, so I’m not missing cable at all.

ouch, what cable company charges $160 a month? were you getting 600+ channels? or were you ordering pay per view things?

 I pay $104 for
2 box rentals
250+ channels
I also pay for warranty to have free tech visits

I have DISH NETWORK
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: oldgamerz on August 01, 2018, 09:37:19 pm
My unlimited internet comes with a cable service so that's the only reason I have it.

I watch Suits and Gotham each week at the moment and they are literally the only things I turn the TV on to watch.

Are you on a contract Seether? usually bundles like that charge more after usually 1 year. My ISP used to bug me to sign up with cable and internet for less but the catch with Comcast is unless you cancel before the year or months are gone past they may hike up the price on you Seether

but if your on a contract with any company they you will get a large penalty for cancelling early
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: hoshichiri on August 02, 2018, 08:43:05 am
My unlimited internet comes with a cable service so that's the only reason I have it.

I watch Suits and Gotham each week at the moment and they are literally the only things I turn the TV on to watch.


This is where my household is too- between the internet and the landline, it's not that much more to just do the full bundle & get the cable too. Plus, my mom gets a couple more options for classic TV channels, like the Heroes and Icons channel. It's basically just Star Trek half the time- and she's a diehard trekkie, so that works out well.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: tripredacus on August 02, 2018, 10:16:49 am
do you consider the internet some sort of cable service? I have always been staunchly against cable/satellite tv because the whole business plan never made sense to me. why would I want to pay $150 a month for 600 channels when I only watch a hand full of channels?

Internet has no official cable alternate. While certain shows and events can be found online, streamed illegally from their original broadcast, there is no way to watch television channels online. Television networks create specially packaged content for their online services. For example, there are only 2 channels I would watch from a cable television service: MLB Network and MSG. Both of these networks (MLB and MSG) do offer online subscriptions. However:

MLB.tv does not offer the ability to stream MLB Network programming. It does allow you to watch all MLB games and special events, but blackout rules still apply. I have no interest in watching entire games, MLB Network channel does a great job at making a general purpose channel for baseball with some games, and a lot of other programming with highlights, history and live-look ins.

MSG's online offering also does not include their television offering, and is catered directly for the NYC market, even though the network supports other markets. So for example, there is no way to pay a service to watch Buffalo Sabres (NHL) games online. MSG's online product does not show those games, and the Sabres recommend interested parties to purchase the NHL's online service... which also includes blackout rules.

For those not aware of blackout rules. Each major sports team has a broadcast zone that is determined by the team, and the television company. This zone can be fit onto a map:
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3310263/NHL_TV_Markets.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MLB_Blackout_Areas.png
This means that specific areas have an exclusive TV deal. You can only watch the team on the exclusive network. If you can't get that network, too bad. If you can get another network that is showing that game specifically to people outside of the zone, but you are within the zone, the game will be blacked out. It is typically called a blackout, because even today, a lot of channel will simply just show a black screen when trying to watch a game like this, but some networks are set up to show alternate programming.

Being a former employee of both the cable and satellite TV industry, I can also talk about why the current subscription system is what it is, and why they don't offer a solution to the "why do i have to pay $120 for 2 channels" but I will post it later.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: Cartagia on August 02, 2018, 12:08:34 pm
I have the absolute basic package (ABC, NBC, etc) that is required as my bundle.  I got free HBO as well, but I rarely watch anything live on there - at least while I’ve had it.  Usually on HBO GO.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: burningdoom on August 02, 2018, 04:16:21 pm
I hate having to wait a year to watch my favorite shows on Netflix, especially being a comic fan and there being so many comic shows out there.

Hulu used to be great for that, and I used it. But this last year, they dropped a lot of network's shows from their line-up. And then many that are still there have limited runs, meaning you only have a few days to watch them then they disappear.

I feel like it's worth it having my cable and DVR. And I do a bundle deal, so I also pay for my internet and home phone (I know, home phone, but it's actually cheaper with the bundle deal to have it) in one price. Just under $100 for all 3, with the middle-tier cable package (Top 200 channels and local stations, I want to say) with DVR service.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: oldgamerz on August 02, 2018, 05:54:46 pm
do you consider the internet some sort of cable service? I have always been staunchly against cable/satellite tv because the whole business plan never made sense to me. why would I want to pay $150 a month for 600 channels when I only watch a hand full of channels? on top of that they have been adding morew and more commercials over the years so they are making money on top of the money I am spending to see them.

if they want my money (especially now a days) then they can offer a package that you only pay for the channels you watch. I would be very happy to spend 1-3 bucks a channel a month and only get the channels I care about.

There is a free cable service or at least it used to be free called "Rabbit TV" you used to basically buy a cheap USB device for your PC and such and it gives you internet television but according to my personal experience the USB thingy breaks easy and you can basically ruin your USB ports if you're not careful and according to amazon it has receive  poor reviews
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: betelgeuse on August 02, 2018, 08:06:59 pm
Ditched the cable service here. I was paying $160 a month because in order to view sports, you have to get the higher tiered package.
Got an antenna for local plus Netflix and Hulu on a fire stick. Most of the channels I use to watch on cable have an app I can view recent broadcasts with anyway. I still buy a lot of blu rays as well, so I’m not missing cable at all.

ouch, what cable company charges $160 a month? were you getting 600+ channels? or were you ordering pay per view things?

 I pay $104 for
2 box rentals
250+ channels
I also pay for warranty to have free tech visits

I have DISH NETWORK

I forget what the whole breakdown was. I was tier 2 for CSN and ESPN, something like 250 channels. I had 3 boxes. It was $10 per box + $5 extra per box if you wanted to watch in HD WooooHooooo!!!!! The best part was ordering pay per view. Even though you paid the monthly charge for an HD box, the HD fights were always $10 more (It's COMCASTIC!!!!). Got rid of it about 3 years ago along with the landline phone. Went wireless on the security system, so didn't need the home phone anymore either.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: kypherion on August 02, 2018, 08:43:08 pm
Nah, I dumped Dish. The only thing close now is streaming like Netflix and Crunchyroll and I hardly use those anyway.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: bikingjahuty on August 04, 2018, 12:16:54 pm
The last time I had cable TV was when I was still living at home back in 2010. Since moving out I've never had it once and I don't miss it at all. Going back home to my mom's house or going somewhere else that has cable, I'm reminded how crappy it is; you have hundreds of channels and on those channels you are lucky if there are 5 or 6 decent shows to watch. Given how expensive cable is I can't think of few bigger wastes of money.


I have been a subscriber of Netflix ever since they were DVD mailing service only and overall I've been happy with them all this time. I also have Prime, but admittedly I use it more for deals on Amazon purchases and free shipping more than it's streaming service.
Title: Re: How Many Still Watch TV Or Have Some Kind Of Cable Service?
Post by: sergreyjoy on August 14, 2018, 01:30:40 pm
Never had cable ever since I moved out of my mom's place. Prices are retarded.

Plus, I rarely ever watch anything and if I do it's mostly anime, so I always switch back and forth between netflix and crunchyroll.