Tivo, On-Demand, digital cable, fiber optic and high definition television are all the rage, but my wife and I have decided to switch to basic cable much to the disappointment of my teenage children for the following reasons: Cost, Quality (what they watch) and Quantity (how much they watch).
Cost: Cable, beyond the basic is rather expensive. The basic service cost $8.99 a month and get me about a dozen channels. I get two of each of the network channels and a couple news channels and a couple home shopping networks and TV Guide to show me what I am missing. Standard analog cable is $53 and digital packages start at $65 plus the set top box and remote you need for each television to decode the signal. New on-demand movies are $3.99 and are only available for 24 hours. Yes, there are free movies but most of them are ones you do not care to watch or have seen numerous times already. Add a premium channel and you're at $84 a month.
I have Internet access through my Cable company at $50 a month. The alternative is dial up or DSL. DSL cost about $40+ a month and is slower than the cable. As a network administrator and web master I need the Internet access and dial-up is just too slow.
I've looked at DirectTV and while it cost a little less, there is the issue of the local broadcast stations, quality of reception and the additional cost of the set top boxes which are required. At least with cable, the boxes are optional for now.
Quality: My teenage daughters are drawn to some shows I would rather not have them watch, such as, "I Love New York" on VH1 which features a rude, ill mannered loud-mouthed woman from the popular "Flavor of Love" series. This is not a woman you want your daughters to imitate. Another I do not like and they love is "My Sweet Sixteen" which is about ridiculous birthday parties for spoiled rich kids. Then there are the various dating shows that feature shallow narcistic individuals.
There are means of blocking shows on the cable set top box or built-in vchip, but that is somewhat haphazard. You can block by show title (if you know the title and new titles are always being created), channel or ratings. Some shows have no TV ratings and the rating system is inconsistent. If I'm going to block half the shows, why am I paying for them?
There are some good shows on. I love the Discovery channel, History channel, TLC and Animal Planet, but my kids seldom watch those unless they are watching them with me. I am also a big fan of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi channel. It has no real redeeming educational or social value, but it is a cool sci-fi action drama. However, a new show will not be available until 2008. If I can wait that long I can wait for the show to come out on DVD.
Quantity: My kids watch way too much television. I encourage them to read, write or do other hobbies, but they almost always gravitate to the television, the path of least resistance. I am not home in the afternoons when they are after school and cannot switch off the TV. Plus, they will watch the same shows over and over again. The Disney Channel constantly runs re-runs of their shows and they the reason they can do so is because kids will watch them over and over and over again. I would think they would get bored of watching Zack and Cody again and again, but they don't.
In lieu of total television deprivation we will retain basic cable which guarantees good reception and subscribing to Netflix with which we can be more selective and still be able to watch televisions series that have made it to DVD. I like the fact that there are no late fees and that there is a wide selection to easily choose from. There is almost every concieveable category of videos.
My avoidance of set-top boxes may change in February 2009 when analog tv may no longer be offered since that is the deadline for over-the-air analog signals to cease to exist and only digital signals will be broadcast. This is a move that is being subsidized by the federal government.
I am hoping that DVD will be around for a while or at least until Blueray or HD-DVD players come down in price to the same levels as DVD players.
As far as sports go, I am not a big sports fan. Actually I am not much of a sports fan at all. I tried to follow basketball, but to me it is hard to be loyal to a team that switches players all of the time which happens in any major league team sports today. Gone are the days when a person could spend their whole career on a single team. Could you imagine Larry Bird playing for anyone else besides the Celtics? My wife is a huge Bost Red Sox fan, but she is content to listen to the games on the radio or on the Internet.