Alternatives to paying for cable TV

[Stilgar]

Does anyone know of any thing like iTunes, that is not iTunes, for TV programming? I'm looking specifically for HBO series, but other networks' shows would be a nice bonus. It seems like with HBO stuff your options are either a) paying for cable and HBO together, b) waiting for the DVDs to come out, c) download it illegally.

I'd prefer a legal means of seeing Entourage, etc., but Comcast is fucking ripping me off every month with a $65 cable bill... I hardly even watch TV.

I could live on iTunes alone for most things, but no HBO stuff sucks.

[TheCursedGatts]

wait a day then go to http://www.tv-links.co.uk or http://www.peekvid.org
or use torrents

[Devek]

They have these things called books.

[6souls]

They have these things called books.

on tape.

[Huggo]

I really wish I could just pay a "per-channel" price and just pay for the few channels I do watch. (Food TV, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, History Channel, National Geographic Channel) instead of shelling out almost 70 bucks for a ton of channels I don't even watch.

If tv was like that I could afford to pay for HBO and watch OMFGYAY ROME!!!!

[Correction]

Find a friend who has cable and watch it at their house?

Wait till it's out on DVD?

[6souls]

I really wish I could just pay a "per-channel" price and just pay for the few channels I do watch.

technically you can do that. the cable providers just never advertise it to the public, it would be a huge loss for them if everyone knew about it.

[Perfect Night]

They might not have what you're looking for buuuut.... http://www.joost.com/

[Everlasting]

Usenet, easynews or something like it.

[Drinhkinn]

I really wish I could just pay a "per-channel" price and just pay for the few channels I do watch.

technically you can do that. the cable providers just never advertise it to the public, it would be a huge loss for them if everyone knew about it.

True. I used to work at a cable company, we had 3 packages called the Pick 10, Pick 20, and Pick 30, where you choose 10-20-30 channels you want, and only get those channels + the very basic stuff.
It was pretty flexible, users can change themselves what channel they subscribe to once a month.

(That was for Videotron in Quebec, so I cant vouch for the US, but it'd be retarded of them not to offer such a service.)

[Arnwulf]

Such services do not exist in the US, you have to use one of their "packages" and pay for a bunch of channels you don't want. Congress just recently passed a bill requiring the cable companies to offer channels "a la carte", but as of yet it has not become a law / regulation that the companies are forced to implement.

Other than waiting for the DVD to come out or going to a friend's house with cable and DVR or Tivo, you pretty much will have to download them illegally for the time being. iTunes used to carry some network shows but I think the cost outweighed the profit on that so they stopped doing it.

[Stilgar]

They have these things called books.

I never learned to read.

[Priran]

They have these things called books.

I never learned to read.

kaboom

[Ikith]

They have these things called books.

I never learned to read.

kaboom

Budumptis (SP?)

[Elesirdur]

They have these things called books.

on tape.

Well played sir, well played.

[6souls]

They might not have what you're looking for buuuut.... http://www.joost.com/

http://static.joost.com/videos/joostvideo.mov

gave this a further look and it seems that this will be the "Stage6" version internet television. There is currently a sign-up for beta. So far the stations being streamed are;

Aardman Animations
Alliance Atlantis Sci-Fi
Bugeye Music
Comedy Central
Fifth Gear Shortcuts
Fight Network
Ginx TV
GONG
IndyCar Series
MTV
National Geographic
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit on Demand
The Soccer Channel
VH-1
Warner Bros. Records

Windows System requirements

Joost runs well on most modern PCs equipped with the latest updates to the Windows operating system. Recommended minimum specifications are as follows:

* Windows XP Service Pack 2 with DirectX 9.0c
* Pentium 4 processor, 1 GHz
* 512 MB or more RAM
* A modern video card with DirectX support and at least 32 MB of VRAM
* About 500 MB free disk space
* The Joost software is a 10 MB download, expanding to 30-35 MB on disk. The remainder is used as a cache

* Broadband/ADSL (1 Mbit/s downstream, 512 Kbit/s upstream recommended, although lower speeds may well work)
* 1 hour of viewing is 320 Megabytes downloaded and 105 Megabytes uploaded, which means that a 1 GB cap will be exhausted in about 10 hours

Mac OS X System requirements

Currently, Joost runs only on the latest Macintosh computers equipped with Intel processors. Recommended minimum specifications are as follows:

* Any Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.4
* 512 MB or more RAM
* About 500 MB free disk space
* The Joost software is a 13 MB download, expanding to 30-35 MB on disk. The remainder is used as a cache

* Broadband/ADSL (1 Mbit/s downstream, 512 Kbit/s upstream recommended, although lower speeds may well work)
* In 1 hour of viewing, 320 MB will be downloaded and 105 MB uploaded, which means that a 1 GB cap will be exhausted in about 10 hours

[6souls]

https://www.joost.com/download/EmM93Ko0 ... u52mw.html

lucky for all of you, found a download link so you don't have to wait for a beta invite.

[gt_killa]

https://www.joost.com/download/EmM93Ko0Plw9uzyThop3D999rAh-u52mw.html

lucky for all of you, found a download link so you don't have to wait for a beta invite.

they still gonna ask you to sign in when you start the program tho...

[Thoronas]

Try this. VBS.TV

It's free and has some really interesting reality shows that aren't about a bunch of fucking losers in a house.

[evilbau]

I would say to just stop watching TV. I don't and I love it but i'm afraid of turning into this guy: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694

so i will say no more.