Cutting the cable TV cord

EDITOR’S LETTER

I did it! After thinking about it – okay, overthinking – I finally got up the nerve to get rid of my cable television subscription. I realize in making this confession that I’m a little late to the party. Many of my friends and, no doubt, many of you have already made this move. I was worried that without my 300 channels, I would surely miss something. So far, that hasn’t been the case.

What finally pushed me into cutting the cord was the arrival of YouTube TV in Atlanta. For $35 a month I’ve got 40 channels (including all the local ones) and I can watch on my phone, laptop or cast it to my TV with the nifty little Google Chromecast dongle they sent me for free. I now use my smartphone as my remote control, which also controls Netflix and Amazon Prime. It’s just... well… cool!

Collin Kelley collin@atlantaintownpaper.com

Since YouTube TV offers an unlimited DVR, I’ve been binge watching “MASH” again (still a brilliant show), catching up on “Doctor Who” and the last season of “Star Wars: Rebels.” Getting rid of the cable box has freed up more room in my media cabinet for my ever-growing collection of DVDs. Yes, I still want the physical movie. If anyone knows of a 12-step program for Criterion Collection obsession, send me a note.

When I was a kid growing up south of the city, we didn’t have cable television. And by that I mean, we were so far south that cable wasn’t even available. We had to make due with whatever we could pick up over the air via the rabbit ears (look it up, millennials!). That meant no MTV (we had Channel 69, before it was The CW network, which aired music videos), no CNN and no HBO or Showtime. I didn’t know what I was missing. In hindsight, that’s not a bad thing.

I moved into my first apartment in 1991 and the first utility I had switched on was cable TV. I was finally part of the 20th century. I cancelled and restarted my subscription every time I moved, and the number of programs and channels continued to grow. I couldn’t seem to work up the courage to call and cancel even as my friends were singing the praises of Hulu and Netflix.

A few years ago, I went on a big de-cluttering binge at my apartment. I threw out and donated bags and boxes full of stuff I’d been carting around for 26 years. Cutting the cable cord felt like the final step in my big de-cluttering project.

Now that “Twin Peaks” has ended its summer-long run, I’m looking for something else to binge watch. Tell me, fellow cable cutters, what should I watch next?