Posted on 10/30/2011 3:00:13 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
...advertising informing DirecTV customers that " 'soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,' even though our retransmission-consent agreement does not expire for over two months."So, what does a corporate officer with a fiduciary responsibility do? He lets everyone in the world know beforehand that he's screwing up the deal. Good move.
About a year ago we dropped DirecTV because they refused to address an equipment problem. (DVR Box constantly glitched not recording programs or when it did they would not playback.) They sent me two replacement boxes (refurbs) and they would have the same issues with even more problems (box would just shut off or freeze up).
I asked that my bill be reduced for the two months I had issues and until they addressed the problem. They said they couldn't do that so we dropped them for Time Warner.
When I talked with Time Warner I told them what package I had with DirecTV and wanted something the same with them. I got almost the same package for cheaper (though it would be 1080I instead of 1080P) When they quoted me the price I asked them 4 times if the price was an introductory offer. Every time they answered no this was the everyday price.
A few weeks ago we got a bill increase of 600 Bucks a year. When we asked why the girl told us our introductory offer was up. Well that did it. I've a friend who is converting old Sat dishes into HD antennas. He has about got mine ready (we are getting two) That will get us local channels and NFL football. We will use the Internet for anything else. We are done with paying out the nose for programming we don't watch.
We prefer to be able to watch on our TV. The picture is better, it is less strain on the eyes and it is just more relaxing.
If you mean that the computer can be hooked directly to the TV w/o the intervening streaming device, we looked into that. We aren’t techies and it seemed to need the computer still hooked up to both the TV and the modem via a cable, so instead of a dedicated computer, we opted for the $100 Roku.
Also, w/Roku we have access to a lot of different channels without downloading all sorts of plug-ins. I had attempted various sites using plug-ins and many of them would not play on my browsers.
Roku is great for us geezers, IMO. Very simple plug and play and less clutter. Roku II has been just about glitch free. In fact, last night we seemed to have no trouble with one of us online and the other watching TV. It may just have been that fewer folks in our area were using bandwidth, but it was quite nice.
We have friends who stream Netflix via their Wii.
We would go the streaming TV route, but a new set costs a lot more than the Roku or other streaming devices.
But, the bottom line is that the sat TV has a lot of competition. There is so little worth the price on sat TV, that we decided we didn’t need the subscription. We had really become TV addicts, especially in the winter and were surprised that we really don’t feel any withdrawals. Except for GBTV, it is all commercial-free, too. That and no more “FOX NEWS ALERT” have been wonderful for our peace of mind.
I'd miss TCM though.
Most of the classic films are on DVD or available streaming, from what I can tell.
I like some of the same channels your wife does, but I found they were getting so superficial, that I began searching out things I wanted to learn or do online. One site I found is called SmartFlix, where you can rent series of DIY tutorials. IIRC, you keep them as long as you need to. Not cheap, but it is a way to have intense How-To information right there to study and take notes from. I also found that a lot of the episodes on the DIY show are at You Tube.
Once upon a time, long ago, I was addicted to the women’s magazines. Then I noticed that they simply would recycle/rewrite the same or similar articles every few months or every season. Thinking back, I was attracted by the beautifully styled photos of whatever: a room. a dish, a cake, a garden. It was more of a fantasy experience than really doing something. It got boring and I became busier, so I stopped my subscriptions and now, I sort of smile when I see them at the checkout and they aren’t any different than they were 30 years ago, except the styles are modern. I think those how-to TV shows are similar.
Anyway, for now, everyone will do what makes them most comfortable. I didn’t pressure my husband nor did he pressure me. We just became aware how often we said “Seen it” or “There is nothing on”. At that point, we wondered why we were subscribing. The streaming option just means we have an alternative to the subscription.
I mentioned to Mrs. LVD, that possible we can reduce our DISH package and save a few $$.
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