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http://news.yahoo.com/broadcasters-worr ... nance.html

I might have to re-evaluate my TV package. Tired of spending all this money on all these channels, yet the wife and I only watch 2 dozen or so.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills.

A growing number of them have stopped paying for cable and satellite TV service, and don't even use an antenna to get free signals over the air. These people are watching shows and movies on the Internet, sometimes via cellphone connections. Last month, the Nielsen Co. started labeling people in this group "Zero TV" households, because they fall outside the traditional definition of a TV home. There are 5 million of these residences in the U.S., up from 2 million in 2007.

Winning back the Zero TV crowd will be one of the many issues broadcasters discuss at their national meeting, called the NAB Show, taking place this week in Las Vegas.

This drove me to check my bill. Cox.. $58 a month. Internet Only. Get free basic cable with that. Download most all I watch.

Yup, we're a "Zero TV" household.. Dropped all of my cable TV about 2 months ago. Just using Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime (sharing the Amazon Prime with my Dad) and Plex Channel. Also watch some stuff on HBOGO which we get from my Father-in-law. Don't really miss the cable as anything we've wanted to watch has pretty much been available same day.. If we could get say 20 channels for $20 a month in HD I'd bite. But I want to pick those 20 channels. I don't need 3 shopping channels and 5 news channels. Let me decide what I want to watch and we'll go from there.

eGo

the a la carte tv channel era has been a long time in coming. i went zero a while ago and never missed it. streaming fills everything i need now. i would happily pay a fair price for channels i want, and only the channels i want.

The broadcasters will not get these people back. I expect the number to rise again. My Time Warner and Directv went up the year but you know what didn't go up? My salary. This will mark the first year in my 15 years of professional employment that I will be making less than the year before. I have my Time Warner for internet and can't choose not to have the cable that comes with it. I have Directv for the HD because Time Warner sucks t it in my area. However, I could live without TV and it will be the first to go if I decide I want to spend that money elsewhere. My lanline is on the chopping block and will be cut the minute we get good cell service at my house. Next is Directv because I watch about 5 channels out of the way too many they offer.

Traditional TV is dead. I foresee an on demand streaming setup where you buy seasons of programming. Similar to Netflix andPrime but would carry upcoming seasons. They could offer rates for commercial and non commercial programming.

i have been cable tv free for 2 years till friday -when comcast offer me internet and tv for the price I was paying . they tossed in HBO in the price. not got the new bill yet but if its more. when it arrives im dropping tv again its a no contract deal .they did up are cable speed at the same time.
we been using Ruko and happy .

I dropped cable TV when I lost my job and am glad I did. It was an endless struggle to get them back to a reasonable price every year after they hiked the prices without warning. I remember when cable was free if you only got the basic channels and had no commercials. Now it's $50!

eGoCeNTRoNiX wrote:Yup, we're a "Zero TV" household.. Dropped all of my cable TV about 2 months ago. Just using Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime (sharing the Amazon Prime with my Dad) and Plex Channel. Also watch some stuff on HBOGO which we get from my Father-in-law. Don't really miss the cable as anything we've wanted to watch has pretty much been available same day.. If we could get say 20 channels for $20 a month in HD I'd bite. But I want to pick those 20 channels. I don't need 3 shopping channels and 5 news channels. Let me decide what I want to watch and we'll go from there.

eGo

Well Said Sir! I'm on no TV too and doing pretty much what you are Ego.. The thing I miss the most is getting full 1080. This thing is evolving so we'll see..

I too would be a Zero tv person. just about everything I want to watch is on Netflix and downloadable via torrents.

I too, as well as many friens would love to see an Ala-carte system so that we could pick the 20 channels that we WANT and skip the rest of the bull. I remember when paying for "TV" meant no adds.

How do you 'zero tv' without baseball or NASCAR (input your live sport)?

I understand and do not watch anything live anymore with the exception of sports. DVR or internet stream sport reruns is no fun.

I have to have my Texas Rangers.

Duno, I don't follow sports. About the only thing I watch is F1. And I can get all that on torrents.

RubberDuckie wrote:How do you 'zero tv' without baseball or NASCAR (input your live sport)?

I understand and do not watch anything live anymore with the exception of sports. DVR or internet stream sport reruns is no fun.

I have to have my Texas Rangers.

You do without or go to the local sports bar. Sports are probably the only thing keeping many subscribers. I'd gladly pay per view a game or race if it was reasonable and didn't contain ads. They could sell packages where you could purchase your favorite team's season. Again, have two prices, one ad supported and one not.

This wouldn't be difficult but I doubt it will happen soon. Too many corporations actually own the major networks and want their products seen.

Sports is about the only thing I watch - esp. football, but they've junked it up so bad with ads it's painful. I record it and start watching about 1/2 hour into the game. When I lived in DC I could get Sonny Jergenson and Huff on the radio announcing the game, and they actually talked about football once ina while. the talking heads now just want pics of celebs in crowd. We've been thinking about tuning it off. I've go an old mast antenna on this house, but doubt that I could get anything.

I don't watch sports. If it wasn't for the wife I would have cut the cable a long time ago.

^^^^^ what FP said x 10...