Want to cut your cable bill in half? I just did. Here's how:

[Tuvok Obama]

I have Comcast, and before anyone starts, I know there are a number of reasons to dump it. All those reasons are valid, but I was too hooked on MSNBC to give it up.

The economy is what finally tipped the scales for me. I have radio and the Internet, and money is tight, so why keep paying $60.28 a month for cable?

I have basic cable, which is $55.75 a month plus $4.53 in taxes, surcharges, and fees. I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the bill until I started thinking about canceling. I just figured "basic" meant basic, as in, it's the very cheapest option they offered.

When I studied the bill this week, I saw that "basic" meant:

Limited: $13.65
Expanded: $42.10

subtotal: $55.75
extra fees: $4.53

TOTAL: $60.28

I decided to cut back instead of cancel it completely, and called today and told them I wanted to cancel the "expanded" portion, downgrading to "limited" for $13.65 (plus fees).

"Is there any way we can convince you to keep the package you currently have?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I replied.

"What if we cut the price in half for the next six months?" she asked.

I asked how that would work. Should I hold off on paying my current bill until an adjusted one arrives?

No. She told me to send in a check for 50% of the total, starting immediately, for the next six months. She approved the price cut on her end. This means I'll start paying $30.28 a month, starting right now, on the bill that's due this month, but I'll keep receiving the same channels I've received since I started my service with them.

So I'm passing it on. If you have basic cable through Comcast, try it. Call them and tell them you want to downgrade to limited cable, and see if the same thing happens.

[aquart]

1. My guess is it might work with all of them.

They are just as terrified as we are.

[Tuvok Obama]

4. Yes, not just with other Comcast plans, or other cable companies, but...

...other services that are not absolutely essential. See who blinks first. Call to cancel, and see what kind of counter-offer they already have planned.

[Merlot]

64. Worked with my internet service

got the monthy charge cut in half.

another good idea is to see what you're paying ,then go online and find if it's offered cheaper. Then call and they'll usually find a way to give you the cheaper rate.

[LisaL]

6. Maybe I should try that with my phone bill.

[Tuvok Obama]

14. Seriously

[SmileyRose]

17. it partly worked for me.

I have the dreaded ATT - was paying nearly $100 a month for 6m dsl, local and unlimited long distance. Comcast is running a local deal, 1 yr broadband, and unlimited phone $69 or with cable for $99. I got ATT to honor $69 plus junk for a year.

[uppityperson]

2. I have DirecTV and pay $1.00/month.

When I got it I got the "add on" of local channels only. No main package, just local channels. With PBS it cost $6.00/month. Then Qwest (only phone choice here) partnered with them and they now have this as part of their package, crediting me $5/month. So, I get abc nbc cbs fox, 2 pbs, another station, and one that varies ethnicity. And something else, basic channel.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. Your Comcast gives you MSNBC?

Mine does not. I'd switch companies, but they have a de facto monopoly where I live.

[Tuvok Obama]

11. If I had downgraded to "limited" I would have lost MSNBC and all the cable news networks

"Expanded" provides MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, HNN, etc., as well as stations like Spike, SciFi, TNN, TBS ... many more, but that's the general picture.

The very cheapest option ("limited") offers the local affiliates of the broadcast networks, plus PBS, CSPAN, etc.

[jasmeel]

38. Atlanta doesnt let limitted cable people get MSNBC- are they

repuke or something?

[Snotcicles]

42. I am stuck in the same boat you are in. nt

[Fla Dem]

61. Yep.... in NE Florida I had to upgrade to get MSNBC. eom

[Orwellian_Ghost]

5. Save your money and free your mind

[physioex]

9. I agree,,,,

99.999% is crap. But I do enjoy the Science, Disovery, and Health Channels. Oh and History Channel has gotten real good lately.

[rockymountaindem]

12. That's nice to hear, because the History Channel is usually frowned upon here

for focusing too much on the Nazis/WWII or promoting a right wing interpretation of history. But lately I've noticed an improvement too. I turn it on and I'm like "Vikings? The Byzantine Empire? Einstein? What happened to the 2 hour special on Martin Bormann?"

[physioex]

18. LOL....

I hear ya. Yea the shows on Einstein, Parallel Universe, Modern Marvels, etc.... Have been excellent.

[NashVegas]

50. Yeah, History Channel

I remember when that and A & E used to be fantastic. Then they became the War & Crime channels.

[Lorien]

23. Yep. I use mine for watching DVDs

and rare events like the election, but that's it. No cable-I hated having cable. I loathe all of the commercials and the insipid crap that passes for "programming". Good cable shows like "John Adams" show up at the library as a set of DVDs anyway, so who needs it? Also, I found that I was less anxious and less apt to buy stuff I didn't need once I stopped watching the boob tube.

[knixphan]

33. Cable-free for last 3 years...

Amazing how much I don't miss it anymore-

[tavalon]

63. It's gotten especially easier now that I can watch

Keith, Rachel, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report full episodes on the net.

I've been TV free for about a decade. It's bizarre when I'm in an airport and see TV. Did the commercials always assume we were total morons? I can't remember.

[Lorien]

65. I think the commercials ARE worse now

That's what I notice too when I'm at an airport, bar, or friend's home where network TV is on. They've reach a whole new level of stupid imho.

[tavalon]

71. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't they gotten a little obsessed with "reality shows"

if by reality, one means people desperately whoring for their 15 minutes of "fame".

[knixphan]

67. I think they did :)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

54. Yup, I cut back to basic-basic when I realized that I didn't turn the tube on

for days at a time.

Besides, I now have so much more time to watch DVDs. :-)

[snake in the grass]

24. That is the best advice...

...I've heard on this thread. I've gone without television for years and am happier for it. I currently have Time Warner for my internet and they keep calling me to sell me a cable package. These conversations are always amusing because I am polite but very direct when I tell them that under no circumstances do I want any mind-numbing programming in my flat. Every one of them is surprised that there is someone out there who doesn't watch tv. I think those who boycott their crap are considered almost subversive.

Quote from one of my favorite movies, Videodrome. It was perhaps laughed at at the time (1983) but it was spot on.

"The battle for the mind of North America will be fought in the video arena: the Videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore, whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality, and reality is less than television. "

[Tuvok Obama]

26. I've never seen Videodrome on TV; therefore,

I must conclude it doesn't exist.

:hide:

[snake in the grass]

28. It doesn't!

Long live the new flesh!

[Tuvok Obama]

57. Coincidentally, I just found it at the library today

on VHS format, no less

[snake in the grass]

70. While "Videodrome" has...

...some inconsistencies, its basic message is thought-provoking, if not downright prophetic. We weren't allowed to watch much when I was growing up so I never really missed it, I suppose. I am a hardcore Star Trek fan and there are some series I think are cool, but not enough to warrant a subscription. Thankfully, one can get it all on DVD nowadays.

Added: I pay $18/month for Netflix and am very happy. I can watch many good documentaries online and I always get great movies. Netflix makes cable absolutely superfluous.

[GoesTo11]

30. TV sucks your time as well as your mind

I have TV but no cable and poor reception, so just use DVDs or don't watch (once in a great while, my football team is on local TV and I can watch it, and I watched some election coverage, but that's it). I get DVD's from the library. Then I usually forget to watch them, and when I do, there goes the entire evening. It's amazing how much more time you have when you don't watch TV.

But then I waste that time on the internet. So, any advice for cutting internet and phone costs?

[snake in the grass]

31. I haven't been in the U.S. long enough...

...to know where to get the best deal on internet, but I can recommend a Skype subscription for phone service, assuming you have internet at home. For $2.95 a month you get unlimited calling to land lines and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada, for $9.95 that same service is available worldwide. I'm sure AT&T doesn't like it, which is all the more reason to check it out.

[WillieW]

47. RCN in this area. I love GolTV (soccer channel) too much to change anything.

[conscious evolution]

46. In some cities

when ATT and Cingular merged,it created some sort of monopoly situation.As a result,due to antitrust laws,the feds made them offer DSL for $10.00 a month.The only problem is they do not advertise it or anything(can you blame them?).You will have to go to the ATT website and search for it.

[tblue37]

43. I was offered a chance once to be a Nielsen family.

I got a postcard about it, and a couple of days later a woman called me to set things up. That's when I had to admit that I didn't even have a television in my apartment at the time, so they naturally lost interest.

Another time, when I actually did have a TV in my apartment, a company offered me a chance to earn some money by coming to a place to be part of a focus group for new TV programs. I was short on money at the time, so I said, sure. First, they said, they wanted to ask me some questions about my TV viewing preferences. After just a few questions, they rescinded the offer for me to participate in the focus group. The lady on the phone said, "Well, we are actually looking for people who watch a bit more TV than you do."

I have a TV now and watch a few shows a week, but I have to admit that it sucks up time I should spend doing other things. I just read that two of my favorite shows (Boston Legal and Eli Stone) will end this season. While I am sorry to see them go, I figure that's two hours a week freed up for more productive pursuits.

[Touchdown]

73. You obviously haven't seen True Blood yet.

;)

BTW: All of those TVs in the shape of your image will be killed Feb 1st.

Your campaign needs a new 16X9 widescreen "kill your TV" sign... in High Def too, since that is too blurry to take seriously anymore.:D

[Luminous Animal]

7. With my DSL...

everytime I see that there is a special for new subscribers, I get mine reduced. 10-12 years ago, the lowest price for DSL was $25, now I'm paying $8.

Oft times, you just need to ask.

[backscatter712]

10. I just switched to DSL.

Qwest has been rolling out new high-speed DSL lately - we got it set up in my apartment, and get a cool 12mbps.

[murielm99]

8. I am glad this is working for you.

I don't have cable at all. I have never had it, so I don't miss it.

I get my news by reading and browsing the Internet. I go to Youtube if someone mentions a good news story or commentary that has been placed there. Sometimes I bring up C-Span on my computer if there is a hearing I want to see, if I have the time. My husband and I seldom watch the network news. We do watch the local news and read the local newspapers, because these are the only ways to find out what is going on in our area.

I am not judging you for liking your cable. It is great that you found a way to save money.

[Tuvok Obama]

13. I know what you mean. I've been sitting in front of it lately, watching "nothing"

and disgusted that I pay for something I don't need or enjoy much anymore.

Canceling was something I thought would be a good idea once the elections were over. Now, I may not even keep it the full six months. I just took the 50% offer and figured I can still cancel part or all of it at any time.

[tabbycat31]

15. in my situation

I can't have the internet without cable. I have no landline phone so DSL and dialup are not an option for me.

I only wish the cable channels were available on an a-la-carte basis. There's about 10 channels tops that I watch, and i'd love to only pay for those 10 channels. Unfortunatley none of them are on Cablevision's "basic" option.

[Bill McBlueState]

41. I asked the cable company about a-la-carte one time

You might take this with a grain of salt since it came from the company, but their representative told me that a-la-carte might not save people much money. The reason is that nearly all of the cost of expanded basic is due to the ten or so channels that everyone wants -- ESPN and its variants, the cable news channels, and the Weather Channel, mainly. The rest of the channels would be free or almost free, so unless you just wanted home shopping channels, your bill would be about the same.

[elocs]

16. I gave up cable and satellite and get my tv channels for free over the air.

Saves me $60 a month.

[BigBearJohn]

19. I found another way to not miss MSNBC... go to Blinko TV online. It's free

Go here: http://www.blinkotv.com/

I can watch all the MSNBC I want for free.
It is live streaming.

[Tuvok Obama]

20. Thanks anyway, but I have an "unsupported operating system"

Besides, most streaming video won't work on my slow old DSL. I'd have to switch, ironically, to...

CABLE!!!
:spray:

[backscatter712]

32. Blinko TV works fine for me on my Linux box.

Dunno what OS you're using, but generally, it looks like you need a recent version of Flash (I'm running the 64-bit Linux alpha version of Flash 10, which works surprisingly very well). Bandwidth may be an issue - I've got a 12mbps DSL connection (not the old 1.5mbps DSL, I've got the new hotness.)

[crispini]

45. Wow, I have DSL and streaming video works fine for me.

You might want to look into that with your computer.

[undeterred]

21. Does everyone have cable?

I've never had it. So I guess you'll have to teach me how to cut zero in half.

[Tuvok Obama]

22. No

Everyone does not have cable. Only those who subscribe to it have cable.

If you are paying nothing and receiving nothing, and don't want that to change, my advice is to do nothing.

[undeterred]

44. Too bad there is no irony icon.

People who do not have cable KNOW that they haven't ordered it because they think its a waste of money in the first place.

[Tuvok Obama]

52. No need for an irony icon

Just matching dry humor with the same.

[dysfunctional press]

25. to get free cable tv- cancel your cable tv service, but keep comcast as your internet provider...

put a splitter in the line before your cable gets to the modem- run one cable from the splitter to your modem, run the other cable from the splitter to your tv. provided you have a cable-ready tv, you now have free basic cable tv.

[Tuvok Obama]

27. Thanks!

[5thGenDemocrat]

29. Exactly

I was going to post this little tidbit myself, but I see you beat me to it. Well done. Said splitter costs about four or five bucks.
John
Speaking hypothetically, of course.

[DS1]

39. when I canceled my television part of the service

they sent a guy out to shut off the tv from the telephone pole outside the house. If it was a lie, it was a big show with the bucket truck and all

[Tesha]

48. In our area, Comcast has solved that loophole.

Here in New Hampshire, Comcast charges you *MORE* for
bare cable broadband service than they charge you for cable
broadband + basic analog cable!

Go figure!

Tesha

[Mind_your_head]

34. Kill your teevee before it kills you?

I killed my teevee (mostly) about eight years ago.

Feb. 17, 2009 - it's gone for good! (I may change my mind, but I haven't bought "the box" or arranged for any satellite/cable service either....and am not planning on doing so).

[progressoid]

35. I've done that a couple times with COX. But recently they didn't offer me anything

Maybe I've done it too often? Or perhaps I just need to try again with a different CSR.

[Vinnie From Indy]

36. I gave up cable a few years ago and I do not miss it at all

I do the library DVD thing. For sporting events not on free TV, I watch with friends or at my local watering hole where I know everybody at the bar. I watch some snippets of the Daily Show and other shows on youtube.

I was wondering about the digital converter boxes that one will need to get local stations in '09. Will it be possible for someone to monitor what is being watched on every TV from now on?

[TheMightyFavog]

51. I really don't trust DVDs from the Library...

Most of them are scratched so badly they won't play in my imac.

[Kalyke]

37. The Comcast in your area carries MSNBC?

In the South, it doesn't (which, of course continues to reaffirm my suspicion that the only reason the South continues to vote Republican is that we're only "allowed" to have right-wing media down here).

[bunkerbuster1]

40. Most TeeVee/ISP/phone providers will negotiate

My better half never cuts our provider a break; we constantly see some bullshit add-on or unexpected "fee" added to our bill, and when she's on the phone she's ruthless. They usually manage to miraculously find us a new deal.

I suspect that their margins would be very nice if they charged about 20 bucks a month for TeeVee service and a similar amount for the other components, and all the rest is just gravy.

[southernyankeebelle]

49. Love it

Well I love TV. I love old, old movies, love educational shows, court TV shows, news shows, food channel, yep I love the TV. That is the only form of any entertainment we do in our home. We live in a small rural town. Not much to do here. I don't go to church often, I hate hunting. I don't do alot of shopping for cloths because am a home body. We are very content at home. In my younger years we moved around often and travelled the world. Now I love the peace and quite. Oh I love to read to also. We have 4 TVs. One for ea room. We save alot of money because we stay home. We don't waste gas going out to dinner or going to the movies. We pay $102.00. We are willing to give up alot of things. Right now we will hold on to our TVs. If it gets hard than may be we'll get rid of 2 TVs. I also go to the bookstore and buy used books and used DVDs. We have a great selection. I like to watch a movie more than once. So our movies don't go to waste. We have over 100 VCR tapes and DVD tapes. Great selection. We are never bored.

[ecstatic]

53. I'm nearing the end of 6 months of all the premium channels free

with DirecTV. Told them I was switching to comcast because their On Demand feature is so much better than what DTV offers. Don't know my next move. Hopefully free cable altogether :)

[Locrian]

55. they are hurting .... and ready to deal

I dont have DSL in my area, but I do have cable (comcast). I used to call them all the time to try and get high speed internet ONLY but they said I had to get cable (which put it at $60+ for cable(basic) and internet. And what they REALLY tried to sell was phone, internet, teevee.... I DONT WANT TV. Too bad...


Not anymore.... I have cable internet high speed, and I did get the phone too at $33 each. High speed internet, plus phone (unlimited long distance). I'm happy... and no freaking cable TEEVEE!!!

[guruoo]

56. Works with Charter too, BTDT. n/t

[Seldona]

58. Between Youtube, Hulu, and the network sights themselves,

there really is no need for cable. I've been keeping up on a few cable only shows (Daily show/Colbert, some Sci-Fi channel stuff, and a lot for the kids.) through the internet, free and legal, while watching about 1/10th the advertising I would see on tv. They really have been adding the content over at Hulu too. The movies themselves are worth it.

The only real problem I see with this is bandwidth 'overuse.' With a lot of companies setting limits, that is going to be a real problem in the future, especially if you have a fast enough connection to stream them in better quality. At least the choice is there.

If the FCC leaves the internet the hell alone, other than expansion, it could make the current cable model obsolete. It has for me.

[Touchdown]

74. I just can't do that. I'm a picture quality junkie.

The stop/start 12 frames a second, with badly compressed images and digital artifacting make watching YouTube and pretty much anything on the net worthless for me. If it doesn't have at least 9 gigs of information per 120 min., it's shit!

I have a Hi-Def package with Dish Network, and I don't even watch he old square channels anymore. Not to mention that a DVR takes care of those commercials with 4 clicks of the skip button.

[Captain Hilts]

59. thanks! I was going to call and see if RCN offered something like this...

when I called to cancel I told them it just isn't worth the money since I travel a lot.

They never offered something cheaper.

BUT, trying to get a signal that the HDTV translator is able to tune has been difficult. So, cheapo cable would probably do the trick.

[sweetroxie]

60. I've got Comcast Basic Video

I pay $5.00 plus $2.3(local franchise cost) and fees and I get all local stations (2-20) including 3 PBS channels for $7.64. I watch MSNBC over the internet.

[tavalon]

62. I don't have cable.

I'm thinking about switching to Verizon for a landline, cell phones and internet. I'll save quite a bit and get rid of AT&T and Comcast to boot.

[go west young man]

66. TV maybe wouldn't be so bad if we had A la carte programming.

A la carte cable television
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A la carte cable television is an idea for cable companies to allow suscribers to select to which channels they would like to have access. This is in opposition to the large package deals currently prevelant in American cable deals, which often result in consumers paying for additional channels irrelevant to their interests.

While a la carte cable is not a major function of U.S. cable deals, the idea of it has been a major subject of debate. In a 2006 USA Today article, Kevin Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, states his position that he is in support of users choosing their channels. However, as leading companies such as Disney, and cable providers such as Time Warner prohibit operators to sell channels which stand alone.<1>

Martin presented a report to Congress showing a potential increase in consumer savings by 13%, and with cable prices rising from 2% to 6% a year, the issue has risen in profile, and will continue to be considered. <2>

The downside of a la carte cable television is directly related to cable companies, who worry that viewers could watch less TV, and that advertising revenues could decline as certain channels fell in popularity. A mandated a la carte cable deal could inspire cable companies to increase overall prices.

Consumer issues
The cable industry spends millions of dollars annually on government relationships.<8><9><10><11> Regularly this industry employs the spouses, sons and daughters of influential mayors, councilmen, commissioners, and other officials to assure its continued local monopoly and preferred market allocations, many of which have been questioned as unethical.<12>

The monopoly on cable television has historically been enforced by local governments. Cable maintains thousands of such de facto monopolies. In order to provide service to individual homes, a cable provider must place its cable wiring along and across local streets or other rights-of-way. To do so, the provider must get permission from the local government(s) that own those streets via rights-of-way permits.

The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. (December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Operational permission comes in the form of a document called a local franchise agreement. Most of local government(s) chose to grant permission to only one company, however, recently states have developed broader franchising laws to drive more investment and competition. Changes in the federal law in 1992 had forced local governments to grant permission to other companies to provide service, however the U.S. Government found in 2006 that only 2% of U.S. households had a competitive choice. In some cases Comcast, with municipal government approval, had entered into market allocation schemes. By agreeing to not compete head to head, consumers thus are perpetually locked into a single monopoly cable provider with annual price escalations reaching 93% in the past decade.<13><14><15><16>

A recent third party survey of citizens found approximately 62% of the respondents were very dissatisfied (along with another 25% who were dissatisfied) with the cost of cable television service. A majority of the respondents were satisfied with the friendliness and courtesy of customer service personnel, however, approximately 30% of the respondents rated the cable company's performance as poor. With regard to open-ended comments, respondents felt that the cost of the cable service was too high, a need for cable competition existed and the desire for a basic cable package offering was desired. Although respondents cited these critical issues, the local monopoly structure preserves the status quo of poor customer service, limited product choices, no direct competition and uncontrollable annual cable TV price increases. Relief for consumers is being created by state level a multi jurisdictional franchise and service process that will spur investment and competition; thus driving economic development sought by state and local government leaders.<17>

The industry strongly lobbies against federal "family tier" and "a la carte cable television" bills that would give consumers the option to purchase individual channels rather than a broad tier of programming. These anti-consumer issues continue to garner attention from state governments, Congress and FCC Chairman Martin.<9>


And look at Romania compared to us. Loads of choices, healthy competition and cheaper and faster service. America is a dinosaur compared to Europe when it coes to TV/internet services.


Romania has very high penetration rates for cable television in Europe, with over 79% of all households watching television through a CATV network in 2007.<5> The market is extremely dynamic, and dominated by two giant companies - Romanian based RCS&RDS and U.S. based UPC-Astral. Both additionally offer IP telephony over coaxial cable and Internet services. The national CATV network is being improved, and most households are being migrated towards digital cable solutions. Digital DTH satellite service is available throughout the country, and accounts for an additional 10-15% of the market, with only about 5% being attributed to terrestrial analogue television. Digital satellite DTH is provided by a number of companies. It is possible that Romania will not migrate to digital terrestrial systems, but completely discontinue this service, since the said investments provide limited appeal.

The reasons for this appeal started in the early '90s. After the fall of the communist regime, in 1989, there was only one state owned TV channel available (see TVR), a second channel being closed in 1985 (see TVR2). Private TV channels were slow to appear, because of lack of experience and high start-up costs (most startups were radio stations or newspapers). Thus, for the first three years, over the air, one would get one or two state channels and one or two local, amateurish private channels, broadcasting only a few hours a day. In this environment, cable TV companies appeared and thrived, providing 15-20 foreign channels for a very low price (at the time 2 USD or less), some with Romanian translation, offering high quality news, entertainment and especially movies or cartoons (one of the ways cable companies advertised was the availability of a cartoon channel, Cartoon Network, appealing to children, which in turn would appeal to their parents). The first two companies to provide CATV were Multicanal in Bucharest and Timiş Cablu in Timişoara, both out of business today. Many small, startup firms gradually grew, and coverage increased (coverage wars were frequent in the early period, with many cable boxes smashed, and new cable networks offering "half off for twice the channels" and immediately wiring the building for any willing persons). However, this period soon ended, with consolidation around 1995-1996. Some large companies emerged: Kappa and RCS in Bucharest, Astral in Cluj, UPC in Timişoara, TourImex in Râmnicu Vâlcea. This consolidation came with gentlemen agreements over areas of control and pricing, with claims of monopoly abounding. This process of consolidation was completed around 2005-2006, when only two big suppliers of cable remained: UPC-Astral and RDS. Internet over coaxial cable has been available since around 2000, and IP telephony (over the CATV infrastructure) since the deregulation of the market in 2003. Currently, cable TV is available in most of the country, including most rural areas (where roughly 50% of the population live). Satellite digital TV appeared in 2004, providing coverage for the rest of the country, with both RCS&RDS and UPC-Astral having a stake in these companies. IPTV (over DSL) is also planned by Romtelecom through its TV service (Dolce), after offering Satellite digital DTH TV. However, IPTV will not be much of a competition, since the other two big ISPs are also the two biggest CATV providers.

Cable TV is very cheap for all standards, the standard/basic service, offering about 50 channels, is around 20-30 RON/month including VAT (about 7-10 €), with the most expensive service, offering 10-15 channels more, including some pay-per-view such as HBO or Cinemax, costing no more than 60-70 RON/month (around 20-23 €).

[GoneOffShore]

68. Here's another way to go - To Comcast say Verizon

And you could end up with digital cable and DVR for six months.

To Verizon say Comcast and the same could apply.

To DirecTV say Verzion or Comcast, etc, etc.

Play them off against each other - they will cut the bill and offer you premium channels and internet and phone.

[JanMichael]

69. We cut it by 100%. No cable period.

Netflix and rabbit ears (soon to be digital rabbit ears).

No need to pay to watch commercials.

[KharmaTrain]

72. You Get The "Must Carry" Channels...

It's a glorified antenna...you just get the local over-the-air TV signals...the ones the company is required to send.

Now that doesn't mean the other channels are there...you may want to look around for a cable converter or other box that will pull out those other channels. Now I don't recommend it, but you catch my drift...

:rofl: