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Cable (as in cable television service)

glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
edited 2011-10-26 00:47:50 in Media
Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
Why does anyone buy this service?

It's just got more of the same.  You can get your news online and you can get your TV shows online or in DVD releases anyway.

[flamebait].

Comments

  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    I use it to watch the 1994 Dracula film endlessly, which I hate. It's always on. Always.
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    Some people don't feel comfortable downloading their shows. And you get more variety as well as the possibility of watching niche programs and movies that tend to not be found in the internet. As well as sports (If you don't like streams)

    I personally believe that if you're watching TV by now, you're a chump, but hey, whatever works for you.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    edited 2011-10-26 01:09:44
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I probably wouldn't pay for it, given my own personal place but all my former roommates (and currently my father) insist on it. 
  • ClockworkUniverseClockworkUniverse
    OOOooooOoOoOOoo, I'm a ghoOooOooOOOost!
    My dad and I have been trying to get mom to let us stop having it, but she likes some weather program or something so much that she won't let us.
  • captainbrasscaptainbrass

    "She likes some weather program or something so much"


    INUH, your mother lives on the edge. I'm scared for her, frankly.

  • EvergreenEvergreen
    Because even if it's inherently some sort of scam, there are nice channels out there that aren't shows or news and certainly aren't on the internet?

    Because at home, we want to sit on a couch and chill when we watch our stuff, or be able to watch stuff lying in bed before going to sleep? (The latter refers entirely to my parents)

    Because when you have a 62-in HDTV and then a brand new 65-inch one, you want to get your absolute money's worth out of it and do more than just watch movies and play games?

    Because when you're downstairs working out and you want to have something as a distracting/amusing background thing, you want something that can just be left running where you don't even have to think about setting it up (like you would a movie or show specifically)?

    All these, and maybe more, are my family's case for why we retain a typical digital cable service at home. My parents watch TV far less than the "average American" and so do I... I don't even have a TV here at school, though every room does have a cable hookup. I wouldn't need a TV here, I only watch Fringe anyway. On Hulu.

    I've know basically two families who don't have cable. One is just kind of stingy, but they're great people. The other is a mother and her son, alone since the father went crazy and ran away (no, really) and so they gave up cable years ago, along with many other things.

    I say if you want to keep using it, go ahead...
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    The one thing i've noticed about broadcast and cable TV is the ability to browse, or more specifically, to channel surf in boredom, which has a greater ability to cause someone to come in contact with an entertainment work/franchise that they've never heard of before and would otherwise have no reason to go check out.  This is in contrast to the very interest- and relevance-based diffusion of media on the internet.
  • RedEyedAbyssRedEyedAbyss
    Definitely. You can just lazily watch and see what interests you.
  • EvergreenEvergreen
    edited 2011-10-26 10:57:19
    If not for the browsing circumstance/mentality...well, maybe my dad and I might never have discovered Lost. I'm not sure whether he stumbled upon it or sought it out on purpose. All I know is that we watched the second part of the pilot first somehow, then went back and caught a rebroadcast of the first part, and that became the first TV show I ever really watched in my life. (Watching the second and third seasons of Survivor with my parents rather devotedly doesn't count, that was more of a family activity, but I guess you could argue it started with that. But Lost was the first show I watched by choice and cared about and became a real fan of.)

    This is ironic because it was an ABC show, you didn't need cable to watch it. Just TV.

    I don't think we've ever come in contact with anything else worthwhile through browsing except for Firefly, which we started watching on Universal HD after I saw Serenity, having completely missed when it blew through in '01. I would have been too young for it anyway, and it's not like my dad was a Buffy fan or anything so we had no Whedon knowledge. But we stumbled across it when I was in high school and had absolutely loved Serenity. And that was a special cable channel.
  • GelzoGelzo
    Pony Sleuth
    I have a hard time finding places to stream or download Adventure Time and Regular Show in decent quality, and Hulu doesn't have rights to stream It's Always Sunny. That's not worth the cost of a TV service, but it makes it nice to be able to see those shows recorded when I visit family.
  • ShichibukaiShichibukai
    edited 2011-10-26 13:55:24
    Thane of rum-guzzling and necromancy

    Hmm, I agree.

    My family got rid of Sky TV years ago. We kept the box and can still access all the channels that would be available on freeview. No point paying for it. No point even watching most of the channels.

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