Sunday, November 4, 2018

TV Viewing for What it's Worth

In January 2018, I decided to end my more than 25-year subscription to Comcast’s Xfinity cable TV. My wired phone and internet service are still intact. The main reason for dumping cable TV was Comcast's billing. While the bill was supposed to be $140 a month for the triple play option, it actually oscillated between $160 and $180 per month. After years of this kind of billing, I decided to explore my options for TV viewing.



Instead of Xfinity/Comcast, I chose Hulu Live TV and Netflix which was $49 and $15 respectively. The total was less than what I was paying for cable TV. Now 10 months after the switch I realize that I do not like television commercials. Between Hulu, which I watch for news and sports programs, and Netflix, which doesn’t have commercials, I find Netflix gets more of my viewing time and enjoyment. I now notice the commercials when watching CNN or sports programs. My observation is television commercials are mostly unintelligible nonsense. I realize I used to get snacks when they came on in years past and gained a lot of extra pounds I didn’t want or need.



I find Netflix to be most entertaining now and more interesting uninterrupted with commercials. I add two kinds of programs to my watch list, movies and TV programs broken into episodes and seasons. I watch a new movie every evening and have seen some really good films I would not otherwise have seen. Netflix has many documentaries and also award-winning films produced by Netflix. Movies I have discovered are too many to recount and I have witnessed a few bad ones too. I frequently add new ones to my watch list so I don’t have to spend time searching when I am ready to watch. The TV series programs have been surprisingly good. I am currently watching Person of Interest and many others have been better than I thought they would be.


For my money, I recommend Netflix and whatever streaming program you like to substitute for Xfinity and their abusive billing practices.