Cutting cable
The question of the day on The Associated Press’ Facebook page: (http://www.facebook.com/APNews) deals with changing media habits:
"Have you abandoned your cable TV service recently, or are you considering doing so in the near future? If so, why?"
The answers run the gamut from dissatisfaction with service and channel selection to economics to simply doing away with television in the home. One common thread is that people like the television programming options online.
This was one of the many topics discussed Thursday when I spoke to the Sun City Anthem Computer Club. This tech-savvy group is very with it about finding content they want when and where they want it. Several hands shot up when I asked the group how many had dropped cable television service and their reasons mirrored those in today's AP informal polling.
Here's a sample reply in the comment portion of the AP Facebook page, from
D'Ann Bishop: "I got rid of cable about four months ago. We have every gaming system available and with Netflix and Internet, I was not willing to continue paying for it. Out of 200+ channels, I watched about five of them and that wasn't worth the $40 I was paying. I missed it on a superficial level for about a week, but I would never go back ... in particular since XBox now has ESPN3 and not getting my games was the biggest annoyance."
I know the folks at Cox Communications are working hard to stay ahead of the curve, offering the fastest Internet service in the valley. They also have many on-demand program features. Perhaps competition will get cable companies to rework the pricing options?
Maybe someday cable customers will be able to choose only the channels they're interested in watching. Until then, pay close attention to what's happening in Internet TV. Devices like the Boxee Box, Roku, Google TV and Apple TV, which pull together digital content from the Internet and home computing systems, may replace cable tuners in more and more homes.
Have you ditched cable? If so, please share your reasons below.
