I recently read an article on Yahoo! News that stated that up to 800,000 people cut the “cable cord” by the end of 2009. That is, they dumped their cable, satellite, or telco TV providers and switched to alternative methods such as web based video, down-loadable shows, by-mail subscription services (like Netflix), or even old fashioned antennas. I’d like to chime in and be counted as someone who cut the cable cord and never regretted that decision for a minute.

 I must say that when I considered giving up my cable it was a difficult decision. It was kind of frightening, actually, how much of a hold that ole boob tube had on me. I couldn’t imagine not having access to regular television and wondered how I would cope. But that was actually the turning point for me: when an entertainment reaches to a point when you start to think: “Oh, I couldn’t possibly bear to give THAT up!” you know it’s time to dump it, and dump it fast. It has moved beyond being a simple entertainment into something potentially much darker and more dangerous.

 But what got me thinking about getting rid of cable, to be honest, was not the addiction factor (at first), but rather a combination of the financial aspect and a growing disgust with the quality of regular television. It seemed on a yearly basis (though I may exaggerate) Comcast (my cable company) would increase my cable bill; and as there were a few “extended” channels I liked to watch beyond basic cable, I was paying more than just the base line price. And as my income was slowly dropping with the rocky economic times, I was having a harder and harder time justifying spending + a month for cable.  Read more...