My husband has the capacity to sit and stare at the television for several hours a day. In the evening he prefers if I sit and stare at it as well to ‘keep him company’. Considering that we spend 24/7 with each other I don’t understand this.
Over a period of time I downgraded cable television from “everything on offer’ to basic cable to cable internet only but superfast speed to, just recently when my husband quit working, basic internet speed. And it still costs me $95 a month.
We’ve had Netflix for close to 20 years, from back when it was mailed DVD’s. Over the years we have added BritBox and Acorn. Then Hulu to substitute for live television that we used to get via cable.
Last year Hulu prices became insane and they stopped carrying our local news channels. I switched to Youtube TV so my husband could watch the local news and World News tonight with David Muir. Since his illness in January he started watching tv during the day and we needed local channels for that (because, you know, Let’s Make a Deal and The Price is Right is essential television viewing.)
Youtube TV was $15 a month less than Hulu Live plus it had our local channels. Yes we lost Disney and ESPN – boo-hoo, who cares, never watched them. Just this week Youtube TV increased its prices and I’d had enough. Spending $75 a month just to watch the news? I don’t think so.
Now we have Peacock TV and Paramount+ for a monthly total of $16. My husband has live tv but only CBS and NBC. ABC is only available via Hulu Live. Good-bye David Muir. (And I think one of the game shows, I’m not sure, I don’t care!)
All the ways my husband can rot his brain: Hulu-No Ads ($14.99), Netflix ($15.49), Britbox ($6.99), Acorn ($6.99), Peacock TV ($6.00), Paramount+ ($9.99), PBS Passport ($60 a year for a PBS membership), I get Apple TV for free from my mobile phone provider and then there is the Roku Channel that comes free with the device. Oh, I almost forgot – Prime Video as part of my Amazon membership.
That my friends is a boatload of crap. How much of any of this do I avail myself of? Pretty much none of it. If we didn’t have a television I wouldn’t miss it. If, by some chance, I actually wanted to passively sit and stare at a screen I could use my computer. As a matter of fact when I DO want to watch something I watch on my computer because my husband and I have different notions of what constitutes entertainment.
He always says “I’ll watch whatever you want” My response is “You don’t like what I do and you just fall asleep” He says “A nap is always good” sure a nap just before bed. And why should he not be able to watch what he wants? He has no interests or hobbies or anything to occupy his time. Let him watch what he wants, I say. Me? I don’t really give a rat’s ass. Plus – I have options.
To make up for him losing David Muir, I discovered I could give him a gift subscription to the New York Times, free, from my digital Times subscription. He is happy with that. He reads it on his iPad.
Hallelujah!
Subject to Change Without Notice 
You sound so much like us it’s uncanny. My husband isn’t a reader and can endlessly watch hours of television I have absolutely no interest in. And like your fella, he wants me in the same room. My solution is to read but every once in a while I’ll grab my cellphone magnifying screen and plug in to Apple TV, Paramount + or Amazon Prime to binge watch a series. Ted Lasso just returned for it’s third… yay!… and final.. boo!… season.
👍
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Actually he IS a reader. I have yet to convince him to use my Kindle Unlimited subscription. He has learned how to use the library ebook catalogue and he buys ebooks from Barnes & Noble but he finds the Amazon site unmanageable. He actually messed up the NYTimes site the first time he tried to use and I had logged him in and bookmarked the page! Computer literate he is not. The last job he had was using rather complicated computer programs – he learned them and that was that – he only learned what he needed to learn – he did his work by rote.
If I don’t want to watch what he is watching I just go to my “office” – sometimes I close the door, sometimes I ask him to put on headphones – I don’t even want to hear what he is watching!
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Again, my husband is the same. He knew the Federal Government’s programs and software and nothing else. He avoids computers like the plague now.
As for not hearing what he’s watching, I plug my earbuds into my phone and drown him out.
🤣
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That’s a lot of choices for watching shows! We only have not the basic cable but not the fully loaded option through Xfinity with internet and it’s $205 a month. That’s insanely high! J actually called them to do the what seems like annual negotiation on price and they ended up deleting our old plan which was $195/mo and couldn’t get us a lower cost so to get it back the way it was it’s now $205/mo. And we’re locked in for 2 years! I was so mad but let it slide because I asked him to call so guess it’s my fault.
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We have Xfinity(Comcast) too obviously their pricing is different across the country for $205 I could get super fast internet and ALL the channels plus even maybe an extra like HBO or Starz…It’s all those damn fees that I object to – if you have tv from Xfinity then you are paying crazy fees like the sports fee and a host of others – no tv, no fees! Too bad about the contract or you could dump the tv part altogether and pick up a streaming service or two for less money – I don’t know what networks the major sports are on where you live but here they are on the channels we now get via PEacock and Paramount so my husband’s football is safe.
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Wade and I never liked the same things on TV. He always watched in the cave and I would watch in the living room. After he passed away, I got rid of cable and only used the antenna for a while and a friend gave me a firestick. There are so many free streaming apps so it worked for my tight budget. Now I have Hulu but not the live version plus I also have a prime membership.
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Hulu Live is something like $85 a month and who needs that! Internet is all you really need nowadays and if you have antenna service you are lucky – we don’t or else I would definitely have been using that all these years.
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