Kill Your Television

Television has become one of the more extreme time sucks in my life.  I try to track my television viewing and have watched 1333 hours of television since July 2010.  That works out to about 40 hours per week.  The family has considered getting rid of cable and I have started contemplating the implications.

The cable bill works out to $85/month.  Adding Tivo, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime is another $45/month.  That works out to $1560 annually which is not a horrible number if that is how an individual or family chooses to spend their time.

I watch a lot of the “Scooby Doo” mystery shows including Criminal Minds, CSI:, CSI: NY, and Person of Interest (all on network television).  My favorite shows include Breaking Bad (AMC) and Sons of Anarchy (FX).  Recently I have also taken an interest in The Following (FOX) and The Americans (FX).  I also watch Modern Family and 60 Minutes (on network television).  There are another spattering of shows that I will watch on The History Channel and ESPN.  Nearly all of this content is available on Amazon Prime.  I can live without anything that is not available on Amazon Prime.

I would definitely save money and may also curb my television viewing.  I don’t watch sports or news and could get by just fine with HD television viewing via an antenna.  The dollar savings would be about $80/month which is significant.  We would most likely keep streaming services and incur some costs of purchasing television episodes.

Time shifting poses an interesting question.  I like the convenience of Tivo.  I am not sure if is worth the price of the subscription and the price of the cable bill.  I am often in front of a computer and could track episodes and viewing.  In a perfect world, I would escape from mindless television and do something more productive with my time.  In theory, I could record by time or channel with the Tivo hardware or even dust off the VCR.  VCR tapes are only $2 each anyway.