Our area outside Chicago doesn't even offer "basic basic" anymore. If you want cable, it's digital or nothing. We cancelled our cable a year ago when Comcast hiked the monthly rates over $50.00 (after taxes are thrown in). Since then, they raised rates again in October. With all the crap out there, we were down to ESPN, FOXNews, and re-runs of "The Office". Oh, and we found ourselves getting glued to "Real World", which is a total assault on the brain.
We haven't missed it one bit. (okay, I miss ESPN...)
We get broadband through our cable line which also lets us use Vonage for phone service which saves us about $50/mo. on our phone bill. That and EWTN make it worth it. Plus we enjoy Fox, TCM, AMC, HGTV, some cartoons, etc. But you have to be very careful about what gets through.