CUTTING THE CORD ON CABLE

By Barry Dutter

It finally happened. After more than 30 years, I cut the cord on cable.
It was not an easy decision to make. I am strongly resistant to new technology. Yet when Time Warner made their latest rate hike (from $95 a month to a whopping $126 a month -- with no movie channels and no additional services, I might add), I knew it was time to explore other options.
My decision was made easier when I stepped out on to my balcony one day and noticed that every single one of my neighbors had a satellite dish. My neighbors are not wealthy people. They are regular working stiffs, struggling to pay their bills. The fact that they all had satellite told me one thing: it had to be cheaper than cable.
I made two phone calls. The first was to Time Warner, to complain about their skyrocketing prices and to see if they were willing to offer me a better deal. The customer service rep on the phone offered to lower my monthly rate to $110. Still too high. I told him I would call Direct TV and see if they had a  better offer.
Sure enough, Direct TV had a much better offer -- 50 bucks a month, for essentially the exact same service offered by Time Warner. I was sold. I instantly made the appointment for them to come hook up my satellite. They came three days later. And just like that, my TV was no longer wired for cable.
After that, I made one more phone call, to let Time Warmer know my business with them was done. At this point, they made a last, desperate attempt to keep my business -- they offered to knock my monthly rate down to $92 for both cable and Internet -- which was actually a great deal. It would have been my lowest cable rate in years -- but it was too late.
I had already signed a contract with DirecTV. And now, for the first time in about 30 years, I do not have a cable box attached to my TV.
I still remember the first time I ever watched cable. It was at my Aunt Mary’s house. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Jimmy were pretty well off. They were the first people I ever knew to have one of those large-screen projection TVs --you know, those early, primitive ones, where the picture only looked good from head-on. And they were the first people I ever knew to have cable TV.
This was in the mid-1970s. I remember every time we went over Aunt Mary’s house that summer, we would sit and watch cable -- mostly HBO. They kept showing the same THREE MUSKETEERS movie over and over again -- the one with Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch.
My cousin, Maria, used to refer to HBO as “Home Box,” seemingly not aware of the fact that the appeal of the channel was that is was like having a “Box Office” in your home, not just a “Box” in your home.
Back then, there were many places that did not have cable yet. You had to wait till it came to your town. I don’t remember exactly when we first got cable at my house -- it must have been in the late 1970s or the early 1980s.
But I do remember watching every new movie that came on HBO every week. Back in those days, HBO was only on 12 hours a day, not 24. It was a big deal when they first went to 24 hours.
And I remember when MTV first came out, to much fanfare. When it first debuted in 1981, MTV was not available on my cable system. When  it finally came, it became something of an obsession for my siblings and I. I remember watching the new Bruce Springsteen of Michael Jackson videos, while my Dad just stared at the TV uncomprehendingly and asking, “Can’t we just watch Magnum PI?”
And I remember the Showtime Wednesday Night movie. It was my brother, Brian, who first pointed out to me that Showtime would show a soft-core porn movie every Wednesday night. We were horny high school kids at the time, and those movies, with titles such as Sex on the Run, She’s 19 and Ready, and The Sensuous Nurse -- provided hours of entertainment.
When you consider that for most of the 1970s, the closest thing you got to a naked woman on TV was when Charlie’s Angels would jump up and down in a bikini, the Showtime Wednesday night movie was a breath of fresh air. The movies were fairly tame by today’s standards -- mostly you saw some boobs and butts, and they had strict rules about never showing any penetration  -- but for a couple of curious teens growing up in the pre-Internet Age, they were more than enough.
When I think back on my formative years, major credit must go to Linda Blair’s movies about women in prison for helping me get through puberty!
In the 1970s and 80s, when you subscribed to cable, you didn’t use a traditional remote control like you do today. They would give a you a box -- connected to your TV by a cable -- that you would set in your lap or in your chair as you flipped around the channels. Sometimes when you were bored, you would sit there pressing button after button on the cable box, desperate to find something to watch. We used to call this “playing piano.”
These days, there are so many other options besides cable -- Netflix, Hulu, Xbox, etc. -- many of which do the same things cable does, only better. You would think cable providers would do everything possible to keep costs down for their customers. The fact that they just raised their rates -- and this is before their merger with Comcast -- and that  they only offer you a great deal when you threaten to cancel their service -- tells me they need to rethink their business model -- and fast. 
We live in a time now where people are growing increasingly accustomed to getting free entertainment. It’s possible to download music and movies for free… you can even download most of the shows that air on pay channels like HBO…
The cable companies had a good run of 20 or 30 years where they had no real competition. But now there are just so many other options.
I am still willing to pay for monthly TV service at this time. I just signed a two-year contract with DirecTV. But after that time is up, I may even cut the cord on satellite.
Back in the 1980s, cable TV was almost a necessity. It provided  real alternative to network TV. If you wanted to watch channels other than the big 3, you pretty much had to subscribe to cable. You had no other option. It gave you access to dozens of other channels. But now there are others providing that same service, and most of them seem to do it cheaper.
In  time, I wouldn’t be surprised to see cable TV going the way of newspapers, magazines, DVDs and CDs. It was a product of its time, and for many years, it was the primary source of entertainment for millions of  people. But those days may be numbered.
Satellite is not perfect -- there are some apartment buildings that do not allow satellites, and others where the service won’t work at all. But it is only one of the many alternatives to cable that are available.
A few years back, I canceled my home phone account, as I no longer needed it with the rise of cell phones. I later canceled my newspaper subscriptions, as I can now read them online for free. And now, I have walked away from cable TV, something that has been part of my life since at least 1975. (That’s about 40 years, for those of you scoring at home!)
I never thought I would give up cable, but if I can do it, anyone can. And if I still want to see Linda Blair in prison, those movies are easier than  ever to find online -- and I don't have to wait till Wednesday night at 10:00 P.M.!