200,000 people stopped paying for TV last quarter, but why?

its the crappy programming, of course. I find myself watching crap i dont even want to watch just because theres nothing else on and im bored.
Netflix here i come!

I just dumped my $130/mo. satellite bill and went to Netflix streaming and local HD channels. I NEVER watch commercials. Everything I have watched for the last 7 years have been DVR'ed. I will miss that FWD button! Maybe I'll get a Tivo or two.

I live in a rural area with no OTA digital reception. Have dial up, going to DSL asap, Will a "slow: (cheaper) DSL connection be good enought to run Hulu, Netlix, etc? Also want to run a tablet off wireless with the DSL...if and when my model tablet gets support for Netflix- will that cut the bandwidth even more? Thanks

I have 1Mb service from Verizon. It isn't anywhere near optimal for internet TV and streaming movies. On a service such as Hulu, the stream lags, buffers, and pixelates fairly often.

The maximum expected bandwidth on 1 Mbs DSL is equal to 124KBS a second, it's not enough for heavy media usage.

You can forget multiple PCs running simultaneously. Trying to work on the PC while it is downloading a large file, is just asking for trouble. If the download stream is broken, the file can't be saved. A 1GB file takes about 3 hours to download with 1 Meg DSL.

Moving on, I haven't had cable in perhaps 17 years.

I'm fortunate that I live in a city where I have perfect reception of at least 20 OTA TV channels. That said, digital television came still 20 years too late. The RFI environment in a large city makes older analog TV unusable. I gave up on the lower end of the VHF TV band almost 20 years ago. I was unable to access channels 3 & 6. which are CBS and ABC respectively.

Anyhow, I enjoy the scripted dramas on network TV quite a bit. So, it's all too easy to piss away 3 hours a day, 5 days a week on those, not counting national news and "Jeopardy", which kills another hour. PBS is good too, only now the fund raising is constant, they just bounce it from sub channel to sub channel.

So, with my 1meg DSL for streaming in only dire emergencies, (locked in for life @ $17.95) 10 Redboxes within 5 miles of my house, and a willingness to buy DVD box sets of shows I really like, "I don't need no steenking cable".

Besides, I really loathe Comcast, just for the pure joy that hatred gives me!

Hey these guys claiming to be in a rural location and can't get an ota channel...Where the heck are you? In the wilds of Montana or Alaska. With a tall pole and a premium antenna I suspect you might approach 100 mile reception. Of course I can see the problem if you have a mountain range in the way.

As for paying for tv. I can't believe some of the prices being bandied about here. $130 for tv? Really? I used to live on a farm and still got all the channels I ever wanted ota. I thought back in the day when people payed $17.95 per month for 30 cable channels that it was a waste of money. But over $100? What is the word that is on the other side of ludicrous? I can't see any one regardless of income wanting to pay that kind of money for tv. I mean where is the value? A lot of people must have a world view that differs significantly from mine to pay for tv. And it's not a matter of money for me. I have the cash. I just don't think it's worth it.

There has been a trend in America to persuade people to pay money for things that used to be free. Tv, bottled water, subscription radio. Wake up folks. You should ask the people taking your money to give you a few kisses because you are certainly getting *ucked. Better yet. Just don't bend over.

Well, when the cable company drops the soap, some people believe it's only polite to pick it up for them.