We turned off our cable last month. The day Comcast came by and got their HD/DVR box, we held a small farewell ceremony. Goodbye recorded TV shows. So long, fast-forwarding-through-the-commercials. We wore black and snacked alot that day.
We noticed over the years, our cable service had grown: first HBO, then On-Demand, then a DVR, then HD, then an HD-DVR. The feature list had evolved into one fat, slightly offish, monthly cable bill.
Our decision to cut came from a glance at our monthly household budget, which in turn made us think more critically about all of our services, and specifically our television watching habits. We kept up with some televisions shows regularly. While at other times it was more like a daily ritual. Television was just on during our mornings.
With an Apple TV we had gotten some time ago, we were more accustomed to downloaded shows & movies. Boxee brought Hulu to our media room. And then there was the modest DVD and Blu-ray collection. But none of these provided our local news.
The following day after the box was taken away, the look on Florrie's face was as if she had jumped in a cold lake. Mine too. It was not like the day we canceled Netflix at all. Instead it was a full-body, shock-to-the-system sort of shiver. Things would never be the same.
Until our saving grace appeared: A twenty dollar digital antenna. It picks up over-the-air channels, in HD mind you, all with no subscription cost. Evidently these "rabbit ears," as they call them, were quite popular back in the day. Atlanta's channel offering is quite great too. World News Tonight and the Today Show in 1080p? Sign us up!
