Posted on 07/12/2025 8:12:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Yes, thanks.
People join them based on some Emmy-winning piece of crap show, discover that literally no other content is of interest, and decide they don’t want to give up eating out once or twice a month to pay the subscription.
When I looked at all the crap that I was supporting because they were throw-ins with the Cable Networks, that is why my bill was over $100. I am so glad to get the chance to transition to streaming. There is nothing on Cable that I want that I can’t get on streaming.
I have the Roku Ultra, uh, the cheaper one (they appeared to have identical specs and ports) which is a nice slim box, best remote in the industry (although the addition of those shortcut buttons was unwise imho), and use that on the older flatscreen (40” Phillips, 4 HDMI ports, times have changed). I’ve got a 50” Roku TV in the bedroom, and the interface on that is quite similar to the box, and quite acceptable.
The 55” Roku (I’m not sure of the brand) has a terrible interface, incomprehensible menu system, and I plan to give the thing away to someone I know if they agree to help me with some stuff around here. There’s nothing wrong with it, other than, who the you-know-where thought this software makes any sense at all.
Oh, and I need to stop buying TVs.
Ooh, good call! I haven’t been there in five years, apart from using their john on a walk one time, and the annual booksale.
I’m thinking about having a booksale of my own, and just keeping the money. :^)
“I do not deserve to live.”
“I’ll kill ya later.”
Best part of that entire movie! 😁
Sam Kinison said something like it, but was much funnier when he did. :^)
Yeah, the bundling of cable channels was probably dreamed up by the cable content creators, and various greedheads on their boards of directors. At the end of my cable run I was watching Discovery Channel, and that’s about it. I used to love A&E Biography, but to hold viewers (so they thought) they stopped doing important historical figures (Ben Franklin, Patton, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, etc) and started telling us about entertainment industry nitwits like Madonna.
I still use a rooftop antenna. I refuse to pay for cable
I still see some of my old colleagues on the Discovery Channel. One of my Archaelogist friends was Daniel Patrick. I excavavated with him on a few Dead Sea Digs. He also was doing Herodian, to the South of Jerusalem. I wasn’t on that one, but I visited the site several times. It was good work!
The Ultra appears to be in just one model, and the lower price. Annnnnd, it still has the RJ-45 port.
https://www.roku.com/products/players
I only watch about 20-25 TV stations, but to get those stations Comcast makes me pay for 150 or 200 that I never watch. And my monthly bill for my TV and computer is now $260, and it seems to edge up every month.
Glad they have free streaming. Red Wings do stink, we have a rabid fan base that isn’t happy - it actually pushed me over the edge with cable.
Yep, I hear you. If they’d provided better a la carte options it would have been different. They’re behaving like Kodak, invent the digital camera but bury it because it’d threaten their film business.
Ow!
The mobile phone is a commodity biz now. The land-based network buildout has been sort of cooperative, and the speed upgrades offered by the phone maker and cell vendors have to be enabled by the land-based network. Lots of different companies, all on the same page, which is excellent because margins have shrunk due to competition, tech advances, and paying off the sunk costs.
Cable had to do the buildout. There were hundreds of companies including at least a few municipal or community-run ones. But the content was from elsewhere. What really should have kicked it up was the introduction of these big flatscreens we all take for granted. Projection TVs were pretty bad, really, but the picture was huge, making a sports-watching party (or sports bar) quite viable.
When the plasma sets came out, they were, uh, a little pricey, but the picture was great! Oddly, AFAIK, they were limited to 720P -- because of the distribution network speed (cable, satellite). 1080P and then 4K is what really put a bullet in the head of cable.
I've still got a CRT set around here somewhere (it has an 8-pin CGA port, can't be left high and dry y'know) but if it goes kablooey, absolutely nowhere to get it fixed. That happened fast.
The Ducks have the same service. You have to be within their service area to watch, though.
Overly large and pricey cable content bundles are the crux of the problem. Comcast and the other major cable providers decided that big bundles and exploitative customer service terms meant more profit than treating customers well and providing a reliable value proposition with flexible subscriptions. Now it is coming to tears for the major cable companies as free and cheap content undermines the appeal of their bloated and expensive offerings.
12 years now at least on my 50” Panasonic Plasma TV.
Still looks amazing.
The blacks,gray scale, vibrant color...
Hope it never dies...
Just buy a 25 dollar roku stick for the 55..
I have Spectrum cable 50 channels and and 150 repeat channels and some of them not in English.
I had a better selection with the old C-Band set up
25 satellites and 25 channels per satellite.
And a lot cheaper
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