[Kieri]

It’s been a year since our family pulled the plug on DirecTV. There are some things I miss, like Food Network, Discovery and HGTV, especially this time of year, but we don’t regret it one bit. We just got broadband the end of October and LOVE downloading “Once upon a Time” and youtube videos like “Simon’s Cat.”

Frankly, paid TV and most OTA scares the crap out of me. Even some of the commercials are just sick or stupid. I didn’t think I’d get more sensitive to all the garbage as I got older.

[trumandogz]

“It’s been a year since our family pulled the plug on DirecTV.”

Good for you. When my wife was pregnant with our eldest we were at a friend’s home who had a six month old child. My wife and I both were amazed at how that baby would just stare at the TV.

That night as soon as we got home, I unplugged the TV and took it out to the curb. That was 21 years ago and three kids later, we still have no TV in the house.

[Niuhuru]

I don’t even use the television except for the occasional movie and that is it. I don’t have paid cable either and really when you think about it, it’s a waste anyway. Popular culture used to be pretty cool and you knew where you stood, but now it’s going by too fast and going to end up crashing, just you wait.

[susannah59]

I have for years wished that there were some way of having cable or a Direct TV-type setup where you could order only the channels you want; nothing would be automatically included. You could get Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Weather Channel, and so forth (maybe a religious network, a sports network, a local channel, or whatever you chose) and only the channels you yourself wanted came into your home. You would in no way have to support the shows and networks you don't like.

One of the most appalling shows I've seen recently is Maury Povich. In my job, I call on people in their homes, and so I'm stuck with whatever is on the TV if it's on when I'm there (and no, lots of people don't turn the TV off or even turn the sound down). His show is lots of who's having sex with who, baby mama/daddy drama stuff. Ick.

[wintertime]

some of the commercials are just sick
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We haven't had cable for more than 20 years, except for about2 years when it was part of our condo fee and service where we were living at the time.

Now, it is a shock when we travel and have a chance to see cable in the hotel room. Just this week were traveling and I was astounded to see female masturbating devices advertised. Unbelievable!

[edzo4]

have you checked out hulu.com they have several food network shows and others that you can watch online for free, and by hooking up an hdmi from my laptop to the big screen I can even watch them on the big tv