Cutting Out Cable Television. My Alternatives.
Over 2 weeks have passed since I called up Cox Communications and told them to cancel my cable television service. You would think that this would be a hard transition for someone like me. Considering almost my whole life I have lived with cable tv. But it has been pretty easy and I am actually liking my entertainment options better. There are only 2 downsides to not having cable tv. I miss having TNT and ESPN to watch basketball. I also miss just channel surfing through over 100 channels. Yes I was one of those people who would change the channel all the time. During commercials or just because I was bored with what I was watching. So I don’t have the option to flip through channels anymore. So how am I keeping myself entertained these days? Here is how I am cutting out cable television.
On my first day without cable I decided to go out and buy an antenna. Thanks to AntennaWeb.org I was able to see that I would pick up a decent amount of local channels with just a cheap antenna. So the antenna takes care of local channels. It picks up FOX and MY45. Both channels show Family Guy. So I am a happy. The rest of my entertainment options come via the PS3.
Sony added flash 9 to the PS3 browser a few months ago. This lets me enjoy videos from the internet on my TV. So I am able to watch movies, sports games and video podcasts right on my TV by utilizing the PS3 browser. Another thing the PS3 does is it connects to media servers. I am then able to watch videos that I have stored on my computer.
My favorite alternative so far has got to be Netflix. Many of my friends use Netflix so I knew it was a good service. But what I didn’t expect was the amount of content they offered for you to watch instantly. Once I started browsing what you could watch instantly I immediately signed up for an account. I am using a program called PlayOn which lets me watch content from Netflix through the PS3. The program also lets you watch content from Hulu, Youtube, ESPN and much more.
If you have any other suggestions on alternatives please leave them in the comments.
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I’ve also thought about giving up cable which is a difficult decision for me because I love CNN. I know CNN has live streaming video, but I’m hooked on their talent on the TV as opposed to their internet talent. I know, dumb reason. I work from home… I should try turning off my TV and spend the day watching their online live content. Hmm…