I dumped Direct TV and cable completely. I have Apple TV now and really just use it to download movies. My 60" LCD is normally a great big monitor hooked to my MacBook Pro, which (nicely) has a full HD output so anything I have on there displays magnificently.

TV programming is universally crapola. On the rare occasion there's something good/noteworthy I buy it "on demand" through Apple TV for a buck or two an episode and never watch a commercial.

I probably watch 5-10 hours a month total - tops. I don't miss it. Life is good.

My TV is my best friend. Next to my 4-legged children of course. :p

It's gonna be on TV!

I cut the cable and installed an antenna a year ago. Bought a TiVo as we had gotten used to managing our tv viewing and not letting it manage us. The over the air signal has better resolution to boot. Between what's available over the air and what's streamable, we still have more tv than we can watch. Don't miss cable a bit.

I unwind with a tv show or two almost every night.

For those of you with no tv at all I have a question. What do you do for the big events? During 9/11 did you hang at other peoples house or do you not care about any news at all? I had no tv when the shuttle first landed. I had to go to my parents house to see the launch and landing. That was enough to prod me back to having a tv. I am an geezer and I watch the news. I also have a newspaper delivered. There is no substitute for those sources that like to know what is going on in the world.

Hang out at the 7 Eleven.

We still have our TV as it's wrapped up in the stupid "bundle". I have evolved to not care whats on the TV and when the wife heads off to bed before me, I turn it off. Eventually, we'll not have it but now, my wife "needs" it for the local weather ( mostly wrong ) and the "news" ( all BS ).

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

The way to get your news is to READ it.

What do I do for big events? They're usually on one of the six thousand giant screens at the local sports bar. They have good food too.

Got rid of tbe dish 2yrs ago and bought rabbit ears from Radio Shack, saving $ 74 /month. The best things in life are free. I watch the Bay are Fox news on week ends.

Don't miss it, especially, the 20 minutes of commercials/hour.

Also, thinking about prepaid cell.

So if a local breaking story is happening you run down to the sports bar and find out about it at a bar?

I totally agree 95% of TV is crap and the commercials are endless. That is why I have a DVR, and I don't watch the crap. One of my favorite thinks to have on as I read a magazine or work on the computer is a show called how it's made. They have shown a Ferrari engine block being cast and machined as well as how food is made to fire hydrants. It is fascinating.

If a local breaking story is happening.....my life continues unaffected. Ignorance is indeed bliss.

Cell only and Time Warner Cable basic for $20-40 / month, depending on the current deal going. With cable internet, you could ad skype or other home line too.

And on the "big events", of course you can follow those on the internet. You may read about it, but every "big event" has a ticker on major news site.

For world championship soccer, I go to the next taqueria. Much more fun to watch than at home ...

G

The NBA finals are coming to Oklahoma City. Every sports bar in town will be packed to capacity. Even if we went to one it would be a pain to get through the traffic back home. Even if someone reserved the best table in the place and had free food & beer I would not go out to a sports bar on any game night.

The walk to the bedroom is quick & easy.

Other things happen in the bedroom at my house.

I don't watch any sports aside from world championship soccer. Again, I like to exercise and play sports rather than watch someone else do it. Which gets us back to the bedroom ... ;)

G

I sometimes watch the live english internet bradcast of Aljazera. Not bad at all. Top english speaking journalists with practically no agenda. It's good for foreign news coverage, often better than news casts in the US. Not much for domestic news there though.

I got rid of my TV about 8 months ago. Just wasn't watching it. My boys watch stuff on Hulu plus with the iPad. Me? I don't even turn on the TV in my hotel rooms. I forget that it's there. If I have free time, I would rather exercise or sleep. If anything big is happening, the Internet is my friend or I go to my friend's house. But even then, not interested enough to stop my life to watch. As someone mentioned, ignorance is bliss. Internet keeps me pretty up to date on most things. I have found watching TV as such a waste of my time. I love people who say they don't have time to work out, spend time with their spouse or kids, but they can tell you what order the stars got kicked off on Dancing with the Stars. I don't care if you watch TV, but don't complain you have no time.

Typically, the big events will seek you out. I was on an internet forum like this one when someone posted that a plane had hit the WTC. I switched to YahooNews, and within minutes I'd gotten calls from friends. I wouldn't be like the folks in the old SNL skit about Kennedy being shot...

Mostly, I prefer the papers anyway. When you watch a big news event live, you get almost nothing but speculation anyway ("Could this have been pilot error, Bob?" "I don't know, Jane. Let's go to our remote reporter Rob, who knows little more than we do but we can use the tragedy as a backdrop! Rob?" "Thanks, Bob. Authorities still aren't saying much...").

The papers are more comprehensive, as well. Typically, I read the entire paper except for the sports section, and I always seem way ahead of the people that just saw the 10 top stories on the news.

I've been without "TV" for almost 4 years now. Any shows that my fiancee and I want to watch we stream online (there are sources out there) same-day. There's also Netflix, but that is subscription service and we mostly watch movies and older series.

It's quite nice, hearing what some people pay for an all-inclusive "bundled" service for TV, internet, phone, etc. We pay one low rate of $39.99 per month for 15mbps cable with no cap, and it's awesome.

I have noticed that there are others who are tired of paying $X^3 for satellite TV with premo packages or cable with the streaming access. Services like Roku and Boxee are becoming more and more popular. Especially TVs that are "Smart TV", able to play most encoded mediums (DIVX, XVID, H.264, MPEG, streaming through Flash, etc.) A one-time price of $100 and you just have to hook it up to your network and you've got access to thousands of online streaming "channels".

The Internet!!
 

The Internet!!!