Living without television: cut the cord on the boob tube and still enjoy quality entertainment
- Image by videocrab via Flickr
The Internet makes it relatively painless to go TV-free, and still get the entertainment and information you want from television programs. This post is an explanation of ways you can legally enjoy most TV products without paying for cable.
For most of the past two years, I have lived without a television. At first, this was out of necessity (I didn’t have one and couldn’t be bothered to shell out money for one). Later, after receiving a second-hand TV from my grandmother, the return to a tv-free lifestyle was one of choice – I couldn’t see shelling out $70/mo. for basic cable.
Since then, I’ve been able to watch most television shows and movies that I’ve wanted to through a variety of sources. Some cost money, others are “free” and advertiser-supported.
The main benefit to using the Internet to view these offerings is the combination of time- and place-shifting. Even though you can time-shift a program using a DVR (like Tivo), you still have to sit in front of the television to enjoy the program.
With a laptop computer and wireless Internet access, you can watch a program from anywhere in your house.
The drawback is that the screen on a computer is not nearly as large as a television screen, so if you’re trying to watch something with your family, you’re going to have a problem. But some newer televisions actually come with VGA connectors, so you could stream the video through your computer onto the tv screen (although the quality would likely suffer).
So how can you watch TV without owning a TV? Here are some services that I’ve used and recommend:
- Hulu – Hulu has a wide selection of TV shows and movies available for viewing, although the time limit for viewing can sometimes be very short (some of the dramas only have four weeks of back episodes available). They also have The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, usually available before 5 a.m. the morning after air. There are some classic sitcoms and dramas available: “Lou Grant,” for instance. The service is mainly advertising supported, but the ads are for a single sponsor, and usually higher-end advertisers, not the Sham-Wow guy.
- TV.com – TV.com is owned by CBS Interactive, and is therefore a competitor of sorts to Hulu, although it doesn’t have the movies to go along with the TV offerings. If you want your CSI:whatever fix, tv.com is the place to go.
- Amazon – Amazon has a streaming service that allows you to purchase TV episodes and movies. It streams well, but the costs are a little higher: about $2 per episode. But if you’re into watching old episodes of “the West Wing,” this is probably your best bet.
- Netflix – Netflix has a two-week trial subscription, with the monthly fee being about $9 after that. I haven’t used the DVD mail order portion yet, but the choices in the streaming video part of the site are pretty decent. Not a lot of recent movies, but some good documentaries and older fare there. I recently watched Bridge Over the River Kwai again.
Obviously, these aren’t the only places to find quality fair on the Internet. You can watch political shows on MSNBC.com, CNN.com, or foxnews.com, depending on your persuasion. There’s also CSPAN, and the assorted network sites. Some people find the advertisements annoying. I don’t. I find the advertising on Internet video sites much less annoying than the standard fare on TV (cough – ShamWow guy – cough).
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