I think this is my most anticipated weblog, for me at least. When I did my Pirates Season Tickets, Baby blog in the Summer of 2012, I really enjoyed it and I know a few other people did as well. Since then I've realized that I should keep more weblogs for other activities I "get into." I tend to dabble in various hobbies or go through phases where I get into something for a little while and then move on -- bowling, NPR, sewing and other crafts, baking, Urban Eco Stewards, various exercise programs, etc. Some of things, though, I will keep coming back to and continue doing... For a hobby like cooking or DJing, keeping the blog is a way for me to document what I'm doing, explore principles that evolve and lessons learned, and plan ideas for the future.
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I'm still not entirely set on the name -- JoeSoHatesCommercials. I think I will settle on that. It's not entirely about going off the cable TV grid, although that's part of it. It's not just about the fact that you can get a lot of quality programming streaming online, although clearly that is a major part of the solution. It's not just about avoiding commercials, but that's a major part of it too. Maybe I should just call it JoeSoWatchesTV or something like that.
It's not so much about money. I don't mind spending some entertainment dollars on "TV" (used broadly to mean everything you watch) as long as I'm getting solid value. I wouldn't even mind paying for Comcast, but their product isn't worth it. Here's where commercials factor into it, for me at least.
This is where you have to "pay twice" to watch cable TV. You have to pay 100 dollars a month, or more -- well over a 1,000 dollars a year -- just to "get" some shows. Then, almost everything you watch has commercials, which means you're paying again. You have to pay two and a half minutes out of every ten. You're paying twice because the programming you're already paying 100 dollars a month for has commercials in it. DVR Fast forwarding got really old really fast.
When you get free TV over the air, with an antenna, that kind of TV is supposed to have commercials -- because you're not paying for it. Cable TV is a racket. If I were ever to care about a mainstream American presidential election, it would be because there is a consumer advocate type person running (sort of like Ralph Nader) who might care about this kind of issue. This is real life, day to day, American politics -- the amount of pure consumerist lifestyle driven advertising that we are forced to see and hear, especially on cable TV, which is a service we are paying a lot of money to have!
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I kept my internet service of course, for about 60 a month, and instantly had an extra hundred bucks in my pocket monthly. I was already someone who had a computer hooked up to the main living room TV. I was already using a computer to watch Netflix, ESPN3, and my own downloads, so I was ready for the transition. I had a mentor who was already off the grid ready to coach me through the process.
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So far I don't miss it at all. I'll go into detail about the various avenues I've pursued to replace cable TV with more affordable, mostly commercial free, options in more posts... but the main things I use are:
- the internet, duh
- Mac mini. wireless keyboard, magic trackpad
- 2 TB external hard drive
- Samsung 42" Plasma HDTV
- Lenovo Thinkpad T420, Kindle Fire, iPod Touch, Windows desktop
- pirate sites like demonoid and superseeds, both of which are now down!
- Plex media server
- Netflix
- Hulu
- NBA League Pass Broadband
- MLB.tv
- FirstRowSports live sports streaming
- ESPN3.com
- PBS online: Nova, Nature, American Experience
- YouTube subscriptions
- Pandora internet radio, etc
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