We’ve just done a major TV cutback here in Casa Tres Gertlers. Oh, it’s not that we’re watching any less – since we’re taking care of the wee one in the living room, we’re probably actually watching a bit more. But we’ve cut back on the depth. We’ve dumped the digital portion of our cable service. It cuts severely back on the number of channels we get (down to a mere 98, oh the indignity!) as well as getting rid of digital music, pay per view, and other such things that we never used. What are we really losing? BBC America, with the British version of Faking It; The N, with its reruns of Daria (and I guess I’ll miss the upcoming Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes appearances on Degrassi); IFC and it’s Dinner for Five and the rare movie on that channel and Sundance.
What do we gain? Twenty bucks a month. (Which is more than enough to pay for a subscription to Netflix, which may well be the upshot; a couple videos per month would add up to more viewing time than we were getting out of those extra channels.)
So far,several hours into The Grand Deprivation, the biggest loss being felt is the loss of the clock on the now-removed digital cable box. Now we actually have to look at our watches!
