I saw on Good Morning America the other day about the family who got rid of cable, etc and went totally online for their TV. They had to buy the HP media PC and converter (or whatever it was) and instead of channels you go to sites and view the shows or movies for free. It sounds great, especially since our cable bill went up another $12 a month. We do not want dish or direct tv so it's cable or trying the free stuff. I went to hulu and fancast and most of the shows we watch are there (hgtv, nbc). We don't watch too many things. My concern is my kids like some cartoon network shows and disney shows and I can't find a site that has those.

Anyone gone online only for TV? If so, do you like it? Besides hulu and fancast, any sites geared more for kids (ages 7-9)?

I would love to save nearly $1K a year in cable TV bills. I know the set up will cost about $650 or so but doesn't take long to break even with.

Here's the GMA story: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Economy/St...6764960&page=1

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

(just curious why no dish or directtv -- enquiring minds want to know)

I got rid of cable/TV last year. I never watched much TV to begin with. I read the news on the internet. If there is something I want to watch.. I go to youtube.. people are always uploading stuff there. Hulu.com had tv shows and movies if I feel like being entertained.
I love not having cable. Most of the stuff on tv is crap anyway.

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I don't think I would make it without TV! Especially during football season.......I do watch a few shows online, if more sports were available it might be a possibililty. Our directv doesn't really run us all that much though.

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Nicole

We got rid of cable 7 years ago.

We watch news and weather shows online. Some of the boys watch the current TV shows online. Everyone in the house either has a laptop or a desktop computer, so people can watch different things whenever they want.
We do buy alot of tv series and movies on dvd.

The boys have used his site to watch movies/TV shows
Fancast | Watch Full TV Shows and Movies Free Online

Here is one for some of the Disney shows
http://home.disney.go.com/tv/

We are seriously thinking about canceling our DirecTV. It is going up again in March. Our bill will be close to $100/month (and we don't even have Showtime, etc.). I did call them yesterday and got our bill reduced by $10.00/month. We realized we really don't watch a lot of the other channels. DH watches movies, but we realized we have most of them in our DVD collection. When we do watch, it's mostly our local stations. (Except for Fox News and I can get that online, too).

We have looked at Hulu. There's also Home - Joost and Sling - Watch full episodes, movies, and clips of your favorite TV and online shows . I watched a movie just the other week on Hulu on my computer while I was in the kitchen cooking.

Maybe it's time to revolt and tell these cable and directtv companies that we're not going to pay their outrageous fees anymore!!

thanks for the replies! In regards to direct or dish, it's more expensive for us to go either one of those over cable and cable is too high as it is. We have expanded cable (no special movie channels) and it's nearly $80 a month. We don't watch any of the "extras" that dish or direct try to lure you with. We also know people with dish and direct who have less than stellar service and customer service is almost non-existent if you have an issue. A friend had to "upgrade" her service to have a tech come out so she could watch TV again. No thanks

I appreciate the links. Almost all of the shows I watch I have found. It's just the few kids shows and I don't think I am willing to spend $80 a month so the kids can watch Total Drama Island LOL

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Thanks for the reply!! I didn't want to go off topic too early in the thread, LOL. We have Classic Bronze 100 on Dish Network (which includes Cartoon Network and Disney) plus we added local network channels and Fox Sports for under $50 a month. We've never had to call customer service -- we used to have to call all the time with DirecTV. Okay, back on topic!

To tell you the truth, I've never heard of what you are talking about. Do you have to watch TV on the computer screen? It sounds interesting but we watch a few TV shows every day in our house. It is one of very few forms of entertainment here! We love Food Network and HGTV! Plus I watch a few shows on TLC and E. Yikes, I need a life.

My experience has been the opposite, we had horrible trouble with Dish Network, and have had excellent service with directv, we pay under a hundred a month, with multiple DVR's and receiver's and all the movie channels.

I love reading these responses....I didn't realize there was so much available online

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Nicole

From what I understand, you use a media PC to run the online shows into your TV. So, instead of a remote control to switch "channels", you navigate the web to find your shows. We would have to do some re-wiring and find a home for the media PC (won't fit in the media nook). Keep the responses coming.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Another way is to have a large computer monitor (they are making huge ones now .. 46in and up) to set up as watching tv online. The quality of the picture is nicer this way. Some tvs do not have the right resolution so there is a difference.

Also some people are starting to use projectors that hook up to your computer and have a screen to display the shows.

Ah, I forgot you can use those huge monitor. We have a new TV so a monitor isn't in the budget (well...it's 3 years old and that's new to me).

thanks for the info everyone!

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

I know people who stream shows through an XBox 360 with net adapter, and I'd love to ditch the cable, but the husband's opposed. We have an older media PC I could put a new operating system or software on, and an XBox, but I still need to do more research. He's afraid of losing sports, mostly.

we have direct, tier 2 and 3 receivers and i pay... $65 a month. however i did read yesterday that htey are raising prices in march. I looked over Dish channels and I got more channels at direct so i went with them. I will have to look into watching tv online but i am not sure we would all like to crowd around our desktop computer and watch tv. but that is a cool feature of the net watching tv for free!

steph

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For the sports fans try goggling "watching sports live events online". I did not realize there are so many places to get live feed even international sports.

This link includes alot of information
Eazy Cheezy: 7 Free Sites to Watch Live & Streaming Sporting Events

For sports, the family on GMA uses Watch Live Sports Online, Sports Video Streaming - ESPN360.com

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

We have DirecTV and it's bundled with our Qwest services. We pay around $50 a month for everything but the movie channels.

I would never want to go without all my channels. I would feel so disconnected from the world! I love TV and I am not giving up until they pry it from my cold dead hands!

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