Comments on: The total cost of TV

By: Mutilate The Mortgage – Mutilate Your Mortgage With Tracking!

Mutilate The Mortgage – Mutilate Your Mortgage With Tracking! — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:30:38 +0000

[...] TV (just in case you can’t hear the sarcasm through the Interwebs I 110% agree with ERE that TV is evil!). Now when you forget about something it often ends up bad and it’s what large amounts of [...]

By: Bakari

Bakari — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:46:10 +0000

Old 27″ CRT TV that someone paid me to pick up: -$30

Old RePlayTV DVR with lifetime subscription included that someone paid me to pick up:
-$20

Digital converter box, subsidized by the government:
+$10

Amplified roof antenna: $80

Total cost of entertainment system: $40

Total ongoing cost: $0

Crisp digital picture, the ability to watch shows I actually like at any hour of the day, and automatic commercial skip: Priceless

By: FreeUrChains

FreeUrChains — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:52:25 +0000

I cut Cable TV from my life, but not the Internet or my TV. Online Game streaming is becoming very addictive.

My internet is connected mainly to my Xbox 360 and then to my PC.

I do have a 55″ Samsung LED TV that i got a deal online for, but it’s my highest used item that i own (and i don’t own to much). Both my Xbox 360 and PC are connected to it. A popular thing to do back in the 2000′s, but companies have intentionally controlled consumers to stay away from connecting their PCs to their Big screens, because they want your private information for using their “Apps” on their hardware as well as for you to not “pirate” or learn how to create your own databases of games/movies/ or heaven forbid websites.

I pay $29.99/ month for 15mps High speed interenet, but i use it for hours every single day.

I pay $3 / month for Xbox live and use it for hours every single day. (i always looks for cheapest 12 month subscription)

Xbox live allows me to chat for free with other Xbox live members (my best friends) in a Party while playing any hdd or console game Cooperatively with them, or via multiplayer against them, watching any movie via netflix, or now newly available NBC news videos, ESPN3, and soon and unfortunately TV channels this Christmas. As well as download some Game Demos, and occasionally Free DLC.

I budget about $10/month for 2 High Quality, Replayable and different Multiplayer Experiences every day, for only 2 games a year, but i use almost the same games every single day.

So even with no Cable, I still pay $50/month for having a tv, xbox 360, and pc for my distractional entertainment of gaming/streaming/surfing/playing with friends hobby that i dont’ own the rights too, but i do use every single day.

Modern Entertianment has influenced the average american to stay home, not make anything that they could start a business from, and upgrade his house to a bigger and bigger size, all the while buying everything to fill the space with, and to continually cater his friends!

If you watch NFL all day, every day, you would think you would invest in a football field by now and lease it out to your communities football teams as well as become a Referee!!!!!!!!!!!!! instead of giving the NFL and Cable Providers all your money, and wondering what you did with your life when you can’t throw a pass or run 100 yard sprints anymore!

I can’t say anything because i haven’t invested my time and money into creating a Video Game, or A gaming Website, or even my very own created gaming hardware console yet!!!
All of which i could easily do with $600 a year, and 3 hours per night/day Good thing i already invested in the Electrial Engineering/Computer Science Education to do this.

By: Ella

Ella — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:46:42 +0000

But I watch TV while cooking!

Honestly though, cooking by yourself can be dull, so I do fill in the quiet with some Daily Show or somesuch. I wonder if they ask people about multi-tasking when they gather those statistics? I bet at least some of those TV watching hours were spent on a treadmill at the gym.

By: sey

sey — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:12:20 +0000

Heh.. when my friends and I moved out for university, nobody bothered to take a tv at all. It didn’t even require thinking. But I’m not sure the net isn’t worse, even.. ^^

By: Karim

Karim — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:13:45 +0000

Internet has definitely become the next “screen” obsession. And pretty much all you said about TV can be said about internet. The Shallows was a good read about internet obsession. Once you go down that rabbit hole that is the internet, it’s sometimes tough to get out (as you hop from one site to another, reading complete garbage). Occasionally though the site (like this one) is actually educational.

By: Britz

Britz — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:07:29 +0000

I was TV-free until my wife inflicted me with it, and there were then a few years of daily pleasureless zombie-ing, or having an unused TV in the corner, depending on where we lived (living room geography seems to partly determine TV use…). For the last several of years, our TV has only been used to watch DVDs, or occasional stuff like the Olympics. Last year, the attenae cable broke, and we haven’t got around to fixing it… When around a TV that’s on, I’m amazed by how much of my attention gets grabbed by it, and how little enjoyment is bought from paying that attention; each time, I’m truly grateful to be off that drug.

By: Mizé

Mizé — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:00:49 +0000

I´ve been TV free since February 2009!
Now I spend a bit more time reading the news online. Wasted so much time watching TV…but now I don´t miss it a bit

By: deegee

deegee — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:46:53 +0000

Due to a goof by my local cable company, I pay only $15 a month but I get many extra channels. The cable guy did this on purpose and I have what he did in writing in case they ever come back to me. (This was done 14 years ago.)

I often am doing something else while I am watching TV so I don’t consider the time watching TV wasted. I tape programs I canwatch later so I can skip the commercials.

By: lisa

lisa — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 10:54:54 +0000

well, it’s Sept. 11, 2010 & I still pick up 10 channels without cable , using antennae from family dollar.

By: John

John — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 04:04:47 +0000

I like how you break out the numbers like you did, especially the opportunity costs. It really puts things in perspective.

By: blabber

blabber — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:43:47 +0000

I’m very selective in what I watch. Mainly I watch DVDs of quality TV shows, like Dexter, with my girlfriend. My roommate insists on getting basic cable, even though neither of us watches much TV. That’s OK because when I moved in with him, I cut my rent by a third.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:51:21 +0000

This is something my husband/son will not cut because of their love of all things sports, mainly NFL and football; I watch for approx an hour a day, but could easily watch these programmes online.

By: Carol@inthetrenches

Carol@inthetrenches — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:51:28 +0000

We had four people in the family and each got to pick their favorite show. That was 4 hours a week we watched. The rest of the time it was doing something else. TV is a very easy habit to get into and I do enjoy my shows. I think the best trick is to leave the TV off the rest of the time. So many use it for background noise and then end up back in front of it for hours.

By: Photoguy

Photoguy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:44:13 +0000

I haven’t had cables for years and I can’t say that I miss anything. If I want to watch a show/movie theres always netflix, hulu, etc. As a bonus, there’s no commercials so an hour long show is only 40min (there’s a few commercials on hulu but not nearly as many as broadcast tv).

By: SimplicityinKansas

SimplicityinKansas — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:48:29 +0000

I removed the TV three years ago and have never looked back. Learning, biking, engaging with friends, podcast (great programs out there) and good music have been the items inserted as the TV has been deselected. A nice change for sure and I would not have it any other way now. Also, a nice give back on C02 and it did get me off the coach and on the bike!

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:32:48 +0000

@ Dazy. I agree on the internet. I’ve started limiting my time on the ‘net. I’ve started saying “OK. I”m going to spend 30 minutes and that is all for this evening.” Otherwise I can be on all night.

By: mjukr

mjukr — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:02:13 +0000

@Rosie

Here is what I’m thinking. We just have the old rabbit ears right now (no way I’d pay for TV). Since these will no longer work come February, and I am far too cheap to pay for converter box, I will just let it “go dark” and see how I cope. I can bring myself to put it in the closet, but maybe a forcible blackout will help!

We’ll see how that experiment goes.

By: Alex K

Alex K — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:11:29 +0000

Like Jason said, the best benefit of no TV is much less desire for useless consumer crap. I was hooked on one show though: “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila”. Wow, just wow. It was on the DVR so no sitting through commercials.

By: doubleourmoney

doubleourmoney — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:31:33 +0000

Another clever way to save money. Besides dollars and cents of the frugal action, opportunity cost analysis is something most people do not analyze but should.