Television Commercials - Day 3 of the New Year....

[IdaBriggs]

and I've seen about ten minutes worth total in the last week. We watched "The Big Bang Theory" live last night, and caught those ones.

Weird, huh?

A few months ago we "cut the cable" and got rid of our satellite. I went to the store, bought a "new fangled" super antenna for a hundred bucks, then spent ANOTHER hundred dollars finding someone to install it (hint for others: go to craigslist and find an installer *before* you buy the antenna, because I could have bought a different/cheaper one from the guy who knew what he was talking about instead of the kid in the retail store who didn't know anymore than I did), upgraded our internet with a special deal from the local phone company that saved money, then spent another $35 on a Google Chrome thing-y. Oh, and I spent $79 for a year of Amazon Prime which we watch on our 2008 television using the "Wii" game system we bought for the kids a couple of years ago. (I could have picked Netflix or Hulu, but Amazon was cheaper and gave me some bonuses with a discount for my reading addiction.)

Okay. We were ready for the great "cut the cable" experiment. Or in our case, the "cut the satellite" experiment. The "cheap" package we had was running about a hundred dollars a month - we had HBO, and love the programming they do with "True Blood" and "Game of Thrones" being absolutely favorite shows - and we used the "TIVO/DVR/record it" feature A LOT, which meant we were *always* behind on the shows we liked, because honestly, we don't get a lot of time to watch television with full time jobs and active six year old twins. And we were trying to "save some money" and the idea of paying over a thousand dollars of year for television *when we had no time to watch it* just seemed NUTS/was sending me into raging fits whenever we paid the bill.

So, in order to save that $100 a month, we put some money out - recapped:

$200 for antenna (could have been $125 if I had gone to craigslist first - just saying)
$79 for Amazon
$35 for Google Chrome (which puts your computer screen on your television)
===
$314 out of pocket up front / should have been about $239

INTERNET: Ended up being $20 LESS per month for faster internet (we got a better deal from the local phone company)

(Five months of cable at $100 = $500) - ($314 out of pocket) - ($100 in cheaper internet) = We've SAVED $286 so far!

YEAH!!!

The antenna picks up "local" television "live" -- hence the "Big Bang Theory" last night -- but like I said, we get busy A LOT. We end up using the "google chrome" thingy quite often to "cast" the shows we miss onto our television, and the price is we have to watch the commercials. (With the TIVO/DVR thing we used to just fast forward through them.) The Amazon Prime thing has been the best - NO COMMERCIALS - and the kids watch a lot of PBS and animated shows. We've been "binge watching" several series on the Amazon Prime we missed or never caught, and therefore haven't been watching commercials pretty much since Christmas, and love the fact the kids can watch something on one of the electronic devices while we are watching on the television (which is why we had to do the "faster streaming" due to multiple devices using the bandwidth).

Commercials come as a shock when you haven't been watching for a while. They are so completely...stupid. Seriously. STUPID. I can't recall one from last night that I thought was important or worth the time, and we muted the television so we could talk when they were on.

My husband is a "college football fan" and we were honestly questioning whether "cutting the cable" was going to work for us because the idea of missing his favorite team (GO BLUE!) was really upsetting to him, but it turns out there are ways to get around that for most sports, and it worked for us. The only bad part was he actually had to watch "live" instead of being able to catch the games at his convenience, and he did have to watch the commercials. His team had a disappointing year, so "not paying" to watch helped sooth his upset.

Will this continue to work? Well, financially it feels good not to have that monthly payment; instead of being a "necessity" we are seeing "cable/satellite" as a "luxury" that we just aren't willing to indulge right now. I think it happened about the time the bill inched up to the hundred dollar range, when all we really wanted were the basic stations, three or four cable stations, and HBO, but were paying for a hundred options we had no time to indulge.

My kids don't even know the difference.

And as I started this post, it occurred to me that I've only watched about ten minutes of commercials since the New Year started (and maybe even Christmas - most of our favorite shows are in reruns during the holidays).

It is weird. I grew up with free television and just a few channels. I don't feel deprived because I'm not paying the cable/satellite people.

Plus, we're busy people, so who has time?

Do you realize I'm saving money, not watching commercials encouraging me to buy things I don't need, and *still* being entertained at my convenience without giving someone an extra thousand dollars plus a year?

It is ... Neat. And both my mother and mother-in-law (both senior citizens) want me to get them fixed up on this plan, too. And it was EASY (if nerve wracking - seriously, do not send your spouse out to install the antenna - find someone on craigslist!) and CHEAP. (Adjust your viewing options on the Google Chrome thing - sometimes it stutters, which is annoying.)

But if HBO starts offering "on-line subscription services", I am THERE!

[gollygee]

1. We don't have "regular TV" either anymore

we have a smart TV on which we can watch Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube. We don't miss it and the kids were watching Netflix rather than anything else anyway.

[IdaBriggs]

8. Because we had the "2008" television, we weren't sure it was going to work for us -

but the Wii made it easy. And the Google Chrome thing is so simple! For $35, glad I spent the money (once I fixed the options so it didn't "stutter" all the time).

[jollyreaper2112]

2. hear, hear!

Agreed with you 100%. I'm not against television -- I enjoy a good show just like everyone else -- but I cannot abide by the relentless, mindless yammering of the damn commercials. It seriously impacts my quality of life. Was just at the dealership today getting a flat fixed and I was ready to murder the television. The Toady Show is on telling us all about the latest social media updates from around the world. Because we can't go a day without hearing the latest from the Cardassians or seeing commercials about bears shitting in the woods and which toilet tissue they prefer to "enjoy the go." What, are these bears German or something?

[pipi_k]

3. Commercials suck, but

they suck even more on the local stations, where the same lame ass commercials are often played five or six times in a row on some of the hour long newscasts.

And then the rest of the day, there are maybe three they keep showing over and over again. I can recite the damned things in my sleep. It's like brainwashing.

Anyway, we get DirecTV here. Some time ago there was some bullshit going on between local stations and satellite providers which I didn't fully understand except that it would seriously impact our ability to get so called local stations via satellite.

Someone somewhere deemed that since we fall within a certain zip code, we should be able to receive certain so called local channels and wouldn't need to have them via satellite. Nice thought, but the morons didn't know shit about geography. Meaning that even though we're in a certain zip code, we are also in a hollow between two rather large hills, effectively blocking any local signal at all. Not to mention a signal coming from 30+ miles away. So up went an antenna on the barn. A very tall antenna. It was like watching TV in the 50s again. IOW, not worth the trouble.

Things have changed since then, I don't know how and I don't know why, but now we get local channels via satellite.

And the commercials are all just as shitty as they've ever been. Loud. Obnoxious. Insulting.

I long for the days when commercials were only insulting without being loud on top of it.

[IdaBriggs]

7. MUTE! We actually jump for the MUTE button --

because they increase the volume on the commercials to near deafening levels on "live" television. Drives me crazy.



I was surprised that the antenna wasn't "tall" - the one we got is like a figure eight, but the installer guy told me we could have used the cheaper "box" one. We get a lot of signal and have about forty stations on "local" television - did you know you now get multiple stations on the "HDTV" links for each provider?

And it is the SAME commercials over and over again. When we watch on the internet, we've caught them playing the same NCIS commercial ten times during a half hour show. Fortunately, we live for MUTE. It is the only thing we miss about the "TIVO" experience - fast forwarding through commercials.

And don't get me started on the dancing logo crap in the bottom third of the screen -- grrrrr.

Bummer you are in the "hollow".

[Initech]

10. Most commercials do suck but DirecTV's "Don't" ads are hilarious.

When the cable goes out, you get frustrated.
When you get frustrated, you need to feel free.
When you need to feel free, you go hang gliding.
When you go hang gliding, you crash into things.
When you crash into things, the grid goes down.
When the grid goes down, crime goes up.
And when crime goes up, your dad gets punched over a can of soup.

Don't let your dad get punched over a can of soup.

Or:

When you pay too much for cable, you get dejected.
When you get dejected you need some comfort.
When you need some comfort, you make a surprise visit home.
When you make a surprise visit home, you learn new things about your parents.
When you learn new things about your parents, you drive off with tears in your eyes.
And when you drive off with tears in your eyes, you crash into a pizzeria that makes great baked ziti.

Don't crash into a pizzeria that makes great baked ziti.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Not only the commercials on tv

but the things they stick on the tv screen during the shows..
station ID's, flashing "what's on next" logos, etc.
And people pay for all that crap.!



We have no tv or radio, only the puter and internet, and have found so much to watch that we have a backlog.
No commercials...no logos, no screamingly loud commerical interruptions,no cable bill.
and since we have a slow inernet connection, no streaming, which I do not mind. I prefer to watch stuff in binges.
So no extra expense other than Dsl.

Tis grand.

[Shandris]

5. It sucked not being able to watch the ball drop...

...but missing one television program in just under a year since I turned all that junk off is pretty good results imo.

Of course, it's not always...easy...to find the few programs that are worth watching, but eventually I always do. Just a matter of time.

You'd think the cable companies would realize at some point that offering things people want to watch is how they're going to remain relevant, but instead they just keep trying to strangle harder. The newest one is the deal they cut with ABC, where you can't watch ABC on abc.com without signing in with your cable provider. Unbelievable. Do they think that's going to make me find fewer...'alternatives'...than I presently am?

I don't think so.

[IdaBriggs]

6. We watch ABC shows all the time without signing in.

Is this something that just changed? We've been binge watching "The West Wing" - early seasons are AWESOME and still relevent - and "Big Bang" is CBS....

[Shandris]

9. The website said it kicks in on the 6th, and...

...I -think- it's only for the Watch Live part. I only saw it because I thought I'd be able to watch the ball drop on it, what with it being a publicly-funded channel and all that.

For actual serial-show programs I use a different website.

[IdaBriggs]

11. Ah - we don't use the "watch live" feature.

Usually if we are using the website, it is because we missed it live.

To be fair, there are only a few shows we watch regularly, and the number has decreased since we "cut the cable". But if they want me to sign back up for cable, I'll cut ABC, too. None of their shows are worth a hundred bucks a month.