Goodbye Cable TV

Specifically, peace out Comcast.

It has been a long time coming, but I finally cut my cable this morning. I’m just sick and tired of paying for something I really don’t use much. Actually, it is not even that…I’m tired of getting hustled and taken advantage of Comcast. Here’s why:

The cheapest cable package you can get at Comcast will run you about $11.oo a month and mainly consists of local TV stations (something you can get for free over the air). The next cheapest package is about $52.00 a month which gets you most of the channels you know and love: SciFi, Comdey Central, TNT, TBS, etc… Quite a jump isn’t it? In the words of the late Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!”

If you happen to be as lucky as I am and have a wife that lives and breathes college football in addition to a nice HD TV, then that’s going to cost you a little bit more. In order for us to watch ESPN HD (or any other game in HD), then I would have to do the following:

• Get the Digital Starter Package – $56.00 a month
• Add on the HD Package – $7.00 a month
• HD DVR – $16.00 a month (not required but might as well)

All that comes out to $79 a month! All that just so we can watch (mainly) college football in HD. Additionally, if you want to watch digital cable on another TV, add $10.00 a month for a seperate cable box.

What a racket! I didn’t even include the cost of internet either!

Now that old school TV has gone HD digital, I can purchase a digital TV antenna and install it for about the cost of one month of Comcast. That would give me all local stations in HD and access to most college games with the exception of those on ESPN. As for cable TV shows, we can watch then later on Netflix or on Hulu (cough cough or BitTorrent).

Hopefully I’ll get around to doing a follow-up post to let you know how things are going (i.e. withdrawals).