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Turning off cable and going with Internet video

By John Dodge | Aug 11, 2009 |

Videos have emerged as the main Internet activity and that carries big implications about we spend time and money.

Since 2006, video use has more than doubled, according to a research report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Sixty-two per cent of Internet users have watched online videos and fully a third have watched a TV show or movie online.

And Internet video is growing across all age groups although not surprisingly, penetration is deeper among younger folks. The enabler, high-speed broadband, is now used in 63 per cent of America’s homes.

Now, I look at my Comcast bill and see charges for BOTH Internet access AND cable TV. What if I hooked my computer up to my TV or hooked my TV directly to the Internet? Indeed, the Pew reports says 23 per cent of Internet TV show and movie watchers have hooked a computer up to their TV.

Or I could do what my kids do: watch TV shows on a laptop. That’s sort of solitary, but my wife’s viewing habits and mine are somewhat different meaning we often find ourselves in different rooms.

No doubt, going to the Internet for TV content requires adjustment, but many shows I get via cable can be found on Hulu.com or on their originating networks’ web sites. Full episodes of the latest Office and Daily Show episodes are online. So’s Conan and Letterman.  Sports might be a problem, but news certainly wouldn’t be. CSI has Internet episodes and American Idol has recaps.

Lordy, I must sound old. My college-aged kids have been watching online movies and TV shows since they became available on the web in a half dozen years ago. Strange that penny-pinching me hasn’t looked into this. Free online shows could push $137 in monthly cable charges right off the Comcast bill.

Of course, there are trade-offs. Comcast DVR allows me to fast forward through ads. Online makes me watch them. I can get full screen online, but I am not sure about HD (can’t get The Daily Show in HD any way). Will there be download latencies? Some Hulu broadcasts are herky jerky even with Comcast broadband.

My computer savvy son is arguing against jettisoning cable just yet. He fears load times and difficulty getting sports. Naturally, he wants both. He doesn’t pay for it.

I found a site that offers eight different ways to replace cable. Other sites say free Internet content could doom satellite, cable and DSL. Then there’s Internet broadcasting itself which offers original programming and TV content.

I would like to hear from anyone who’s unplugged cable and gone with the web for TV content.

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  •  
    1

    wekiva@...

    08/11/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turning off cable and going with Internet video

    I use Netflix, I have cable modem. My broadband speed is 1212.8 kbps on the Cnet bandwidth test meter. I am using a lower end pentium 4 with an upgraded video card AGP8x. I've never had any problems with throughput, no jitter, no stalls or pixelation. I've watched movies, old TV sitcoms did I say movies. The download ability is included with a Netflix account, $8.95/mo, cheap for what you get. I push the signal as it is in SD and set my TV to upscale it to 720P(42" Pioneer), a good picture, not blueray but it's free. The bandwidth I have seems more than adequate to deliver the content, You have Netflix software loaded in your computer as well as on their end and their system of delivery seems to work well. I have movies whener I want. I also use HULU, as well, YouTube, News on many sites. It's coming, I have many choices and for the most part it is free content, for now. It's working for me, I keep basic cable for local news, but it is not necessary. I'll be off the cable soon, as I explore more sites and add content, the cable will just be an extra bill to pay. Through my experience I can say I see it coming soon, or is it already here?

  •  
    2

    robert_rowe@...

    08/12/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turning off cable and going with Internet video

    My cable company (Suddenlink) charges a no-TV fee if you just get their cable modem service. The only thing that will happen if TV viewing shifts to the Internet is that your Internet bill will go up. They will still make as much money off of us as they can get away with.

  •  
    3

    cjg1979

    08/12/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turning off cable and going with Internet video

    I haven't had a television at all in my house for well over 3 years now. I use an inexpensive Acer connected to a nice LCD widescreen monitor and optical surround sound system. I tend to watch most of what I want on Netflix, and as the first poster said, their video quality is really good. Even shows like NCIS, CSI, etc are on Netflix the day after they are on TV, so there is really no reason to have a TV. There are some sites (ABC) that do not put their shows on Netflix, but full episodes are available in HD on their player. Matter of fact, I have yet to run across a show I wanted to watch that I couldn't find online. And sure, DVR you can fastforward through the commercials, but online there are only 30 seconds if any. (Netflix does not use commercial advertising, so all shows are commercial free.) I wouldn't have it any other way, and now have friends with HD tv's jealous of my setup. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

  •  
    4

    Barc777

    08/12/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turning off cable and going with Internet video

    I agree with Robert Rowe; Internet bills will go up as cable subscriptions go down, making the Internet more expensive for those of us who keep both. It's just like anything else: There are trade-offs. If your taxes go down in one area, they either go up in another, or some services are discontinued.

  •  
    5

    MichP

    08/14/09 | Report as spam

    Still Need a Connection

    If satellite, cable, and DSL are doomed, how am I supposed to access the Internet?

  •  
    6

    m00ndogg

    08/14/09 | Report as spam

    I kicked cable to the curb...

    TV should be free! It used to be... Nothing changed except that we forgot that we hold the power!
    Why pay for cable? Advertising dollars pay for it already!
    We are insane to PAY someone, and then GIVE them the privilidge of pumping their advertisments in every room of every home & office!
    200 channels commercials!! They should be paying us!!!
    Thats why TV used to be free in the first place!
    What if we all get rid of cable and then they'll have to give it to us for FREE! Face it, we can live without them, but they can't live without us! Forget what they make in monthly charges from all of us. Without viewers, no advertisers will pay crazy big money and they go under! They'll be begging us to watch FREE CABLE! The only rub is that we ALL have to stick together and thats gonna be tough. I'm in already, what'd ya say?
    That being said, I keep a laptop where my DVD player USED to be and thanks to a Bluetooth mouse, I can control everything from the sofa. Of course the laptop plays DVD's and I download movies and entire seasons of my favorite shows via Torrent sites. I love watching "The Daily Show" & 60 minutes, CBS Evening News on MY schedule. WAY fewer comercials. complete with pause, rewind & FF.

  •  
    7

    art_alcazar@...

    08/15/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turning off cable and going with Internet video

    I have not used cable TV for the last 10 years. I receive air-wave TV, use the internet for news, and Blockbuster for movie and documentary entertainment. Nirvana is mine.

  •  
    8

    tmsbrdrs

    08/16/09 | Report as spam

    tmsbrdrs

    I've been using Miro for months now. CBS, NBC and ABC all have the News freely available as downloads without commercials. There's also Boxee which has internet television so tightly integrated it's almost like just changing the channel as it is.

    Unfortunately, connection speeds for "high speed" in my town top out at around 6 Mbps unless you pay for cable as well.

    Even with that, I haven't touched my television more than once a week to watch anything. I get better quality online, can pause it to go to the bathroom, can skip to the good parts and I barely have commercials. It's a no brainer.

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John Dodge

John Dodge has answered the call of journalism for 33 years, most of the time covering technology, engineering and business. While he's run magazines, newsweeklies and web sites, reporting and writing always took up half his time. He has have plied his craft at the WSJ, Boston Globe, PC Week (now eWeek), EDN, Design News, Electronic Business, Bio-IT World, Health-IT World, the Lowell Sun, Haverhill Gazette and Newburyport Daily News. He would have like to have been around when Boston supported seven or more newspapers (1940s) and while steam locomotives still pulled trains, but that era was nearly over by the time he raced into the world. That said, he has been blogging and shooting and editing video, writing for web and other online contents tasks for years now.

He has won numerous journalism awards in the past two years, including two Eddie Golds, one Neal finalist and the IEEE Award for Distinguished Journalism all for his reporting and coverage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Besides his family and myriad hobbies, reporting and writing is why he gets up in the morning. His personal blog focuses on netbooks and is called The Dodge Retort.

John Dodge

John Dodge prides himself on completely independent journalism. His opinions, observations and reporting are not influenced by any financial holdings. He holds no shares in computer, electronics, software or Internet companies. He also has no business affiliations with organizations except with those for which he creates content as a freelancer.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for nearly 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the Interactive Age Daily for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age's "NetMarketing" supplement, and dozens of other publications over the years.

Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn has been a technology reporter since 1982, a business reporter since 1978, and a writer for as long as he can remember. His Schwab IRA has a few tech stocks in it, most notably some Intel and Applied Materials bought over 10 years ago. But the vast majority of his tiny fortune (emphasis on the word tiny) is invested in mutual funds. He presently writes for no one else but ZDNet, SmartPlanet and himself. But if you've got an opportunity let him know. If he takes the gig he"ll first add it to this disclosure page.
The Thinking Tech blog focuses on technologies such as virtualization, smart electric grids, enterprise 2.0, open source, data center management, green technology and the intersection between the innovation and application of these advancements.

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