We Cut the Cord

It was terrible.  We returned from France, settled in at the Mud Shack, turned on the Comcast tuner box/DVR and settled in for an evening of catching up with Don Draper and the denizens of Mad Men.  But the final three episodes had NOT been recorded!!!!  Oh well, guess we can get them online.....

So we opted for On-Demand, using our last rebate for a pay-to-view movie on Leonardo DiCaprio as J Edgar.  As the final scenes were approaching, the streaming cut out leaving only a green screen on the monitor.  The final straw........

Our only interaction with Comcast now is high-speed internet.  The customer service rep to whom we returned the box was very sympathetic when informed of the reason for the divorce.  She asserted that she would have quit the cable provider as well had she been deprived of the final episodes of Mad Men.  But she didn't offer us any discounts or refunds........

We have to admit that we miss some shows in real time---Chuck Todd on MSNBC, PBS Newshour, but, thanks to Google TV, we've discovered a REAL news outlet---Al-jazeera.  Their Newshour actually reports on events occuring all over the world----like the upcoming Mexican presidential elections, the continued strife in Syria, the deliberations of the election commission in Egypt---probably never hear about these on the American cable news channels.  Al-jazeera's coverage is in depth and nowhere near as biased as MSNBC or Fox.

We have reactivated our Netflix subscription and instituted a trial subscription to Hulu Plus for television shows.  Enjoying the original Dark Shadows.  We'll see how much content is really available and will continue to look for good sources of sports programming---but so far the savings over the cable charges have been significant and the delivery of content more reliable.

The internet has the capability to provide information and entertainment.  How much content is available and how reasonably it is priced could change the habits of tv viewers and strike low the mega corporations currently providing this service.  That would not be a bad thing.........