Doing Just Fine Without Cable

Back when I lived in Missoula I grew tired of my cable company. After another price hike for a very limited channel lineup, I called up the company and canceled my cable. I lasted maybe a week.

Bored to tears in my apartment with only a few grainy channels and no sports, I swallowed my pride and called back the cable company and resumed my service. Highway robbery or not, I knew in order to keep my sanity I would have to pay whatever outrageous fee they charged.

Now a few years later the situation couldn’t be more different.

As Sidney and I approach the two month countdown to our wedding, I am starting to cancel services at my apartment. Since I will be moving in with her, I have started the process of taking care of matters at my current residence. At the beginning of last week, I said “bye bye” to cable.

Despite arriving home at the end of the day and turning on the TV expecting to have hundreds of channels, the transition has been very smooth. The reason for this? Two words: Apple TV.

As I have mentioned before, Sidney gave me an Apple TV for my birthday. It took me a week or two to really embrace it but these days I can say I truly love it. Because of this amazing device, I am not pathetically running back to the cable company asking them to once again turn on my service.

For those of you who don’t know, Apple TV is a device that streams endless entertainment in the form of television shows, movies, broadcasts, youtube videos, etc., right through your TV. When you sit down, any genre of programming is at your thumb as you use it to make selections on the mini Apple TV remote.

To put it simply, I am all set with my Apple TV. I can choose from a couple different 24/7 news stations, view all the current Dateline and 20/20 episodes, watch documentaries until I drop, and curl up on the couch to enjoy a movie. With Netflix, major stations, video streaming services, and so much more included on Apple TV you don’t have to feel sorry for me.

In fact, I have actually asked myself a certain question a few different times over the past week…why didn’t I cut cable sooner?

Of course the one disadvantage to not having cable is missing out on live sports. While Apple TV offers many sports channels, the content isn’t live if you don’t have a cable subscription. So although this makes watching tonight’s NCAA Championship game and this week’s Masters tournament tough, I am managing just fine. After all, Sidney’s house is just a short drive away and my apartment complex is located within walking distance of a couple sports bars. Soon enough, it won’t even be an issue.

It feels good to save money and not have the feeling that you are suffering. Sidney, thank you very much for the Apple TV. Don’t Blink.