Anyone else with no TV at home?

mikemac

So, do ya?

I don’t have a TV in my apartment and have no plans to ever get one.
Tried hooking up a portable but signal is so weak its unwatchable (Damn Croke Park blocking my signal)
People I say this to can’t seem to understand how I’d ever manage without TV but I don’t feel I’m missing anything.
I can always go the pub if there’s a match I want to see. I can’t justify paying NTL as I wouldn’t use it enough.

It all started in my final year of college we my housemates and I got busted for having not a TV License.
As we were moving out in 3 months and on our third warning from the not so friendly TV license inspector we moved the living room TV to one of the bedrooms.
I didn’t have a portable so as a result I went three months with no TV and have never realy watched TV since.

I’d happily listen to the talk radio or music in the evenings instead.
The Last Word on Today FM and Off the Ball on Newstalk being my favourites.

Tell me I’m not alone. Surely some other poster never watches TV?

Mossy Monk

i hardly ever watch traditional broadcast tv

eirebhoy

I don't know how you can live without it tbh.

:|

A friend of mine temporarily doesn't, and i spent all day accidently talking about tv programmes she should watch. woops

chrismon

dont really watch it myself,all i use it for is the xbox

Kintarō Hattori

I don't have the time to watch it to be honest. I might occasinally watch the Simpsons but that's about it.

Owen

Herself is in a house with 2 other Polish girls, and they're english isn't great - while hers is fine. So they've no TV. A bit counter-productive, having a TV would surely improve English somewhat.

Shifty

Conor Hayes, RTÉ's Chief Financial Officer, says 99% of homes in the country have a television set.

Ronan Coy, a technology expert said television can include anything that is made visually available to the consumer, including developments such as Internet-based television stations and video blogging.


The concept of a television licence fee may have to be changed to include such developments as mobile phone streaming and websites such as YouTube, an Oireachtas committee has been told. The Oireachtas Committee on Broadcasting is holding a public consultation process on forthcoming broadcasting legislation.

Dave!

We have 5 or 6 in the house, but I rarely watch it TBH. I spend my time vegetating in front of the computer instead of the TV.

Matthewthebig

We have a tv, only used for the xbox. I just watch all my tv shows on my computer ¬_¬

Ruu_Old

3 tellys in the house (use 2 for consoles and d'other for cable television) but mostly watch telly between the hours 5-11pm. Streaming telleh ftw.

Agent Smith

we have 5 in the house, 2 computers with tv cards yet i rarely watch tv,
watch a good bit of DVD's on the Big tv, but like moju, i watch any tv shows Online

Max_Damage

I myself wouldn't bother with a television, but I'd miss Top Gear.

Black Swan

Didn't have one for the longest time and did not miss it one bit. Flatmate got one in an after Christmas sale, but I rarely watch it. Besides, we won't pay for cable telly, and the commercials of non-cable take up about 20 percent of the air time (Yuk!).

BlitzKrieg

When I am at my family home, we have two nice big TVs with sky digital.

But whenever I am back at my own home, I have a TV but no tv channels, I use the tv only for vhs/dvd and games.

when one has the internet, why do you need tv?

free2fly

TBH I couldn't live without TV. When my digital cable with OnDemand goes down I lose my mind :eek:

nlgbbbblth

For some people, not owning a television seems to be a badge of honour, a source of pride, a mark of coolness and superiority.

I own a television but watch very few shows broadcast.

I mostly use it for watching DVDs or videos.

Watching films on a PC / laptop screen sucks.

Hobbes

Doesn't matter if you own a computer you have will soon have to pay a TV license. Although the actual bill was reviewed today would like to see if they got away with it.

rediguana

I have no TV either. They suck. I'm not being smug and superior though, as I fritter away half my life on the internet. At least it's not as passive though, and there's endless variety.

Xavi6

micmclo wrote:

I don’t have a TV in my apartment and have no plans to ever get one.

What does your furniture point at??!! :eek:

Fighting Irish

I watch everything on my PC

kizzyr

I have one tv in my house which in itself many people I know find weird that I don't have on in my kitchen, dining room and bedroom too. :rolleyes: I don't watch a particularly large amount of tv but like to have the option all the same. When I was a kid my parents were very strict about the amount of tv myself and my brother and sisters were allowed to watch and so we all turned out to be much bigger readers than tv viewers.
My boss at work refused to have a tv in his house for the first 25 years of his marriage (he is married 32 years) and is so proud of that fact. To be honest he annoys me a lot with his superior attitude to those of us who do watch tv.

Talliesin

No. I have a life.

Sofaspud

ned78 wrote:

they're english isn't great

(sorry)

Mossy Monk

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Watching films on a PC / laptop screen sucks.

not when you have a 32" screen connected to the PC

Rb

I once went a month without watching tv, didn't really feel I was missing anything. Could definately live without one but they're great to have.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Don't watch TV much at all... the odd episode of Friends, Scrubs, Dragons Den and Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares... that's about it really.

Shifty wrote:

The concept of a television licence fee may have to be changed to include such developments as mobile phone streaming and websites such as YouTube, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

And how much of our license fee would go to American teenagers singing into hairbrushes exactly?
I thought the whole idea of having a TV license was to fund homegrown content creation and the running of our national broadcaster.
tbh I don't see where the likes of youtube come into this at all.
Last time I looked, youtube was bankrolled by google and my ISP wasn't state subsidised, so where do they get off imposing this fee and where is my money going?
More pointless horseshít from people trying to justify their bloated pay cheques.

Angus MacGyver

I had no tv for a couple of months because someone poured a can of beer down the back of it. I was livin in the inner city at the time so we would get up early to get a seat at the window to stare out all day. needless to say we were all unemployed. It was great, we used to see cars gettin robbed and everything

Pigman II

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694

constitutionus

weve three in our house but to be honest i can kinda sympathise with the OP. somewhere half way thorough 06 i realised i was spending more time on the net than watching telly, and i used to be addicted to it. i dont know when exactly but TVs gone down the ****ter lately. we've never had so many channels but i honestly dont think we've ever had worse choice. i think the saturation of reality ****e tipped it over the edge for me. i got the one in my bedroom on at the moment but to be honest its just backround noise, i could slap on the radio and have the same effect.
sad thing is most of the stuff i end up watching are repeats on paramount, discovery (about the only decent station left) and current affairs on the rest of em.

i'll be honest the only thing keeping me comming back is the TG4 weather girls and good old sharon on six one news (sporting a particularly slappery top tonight too which she tried to cover up with a jacket at the last moment! )

Owen

Sofaspud wrote:

(sorry)

Yeah, I see what I did there I wrote :
They're English isn't great

When I meant to say :
Their english isn't great.

This is what happenes when you rush. You'd never think I wrote the odd few articles for different magazines every now and again, would you?

Takeshi_Kovacs

Haven't watched tv in the last 3 years, anything i want to see is available on the inter web, and picture quality is so much better on my pc monitor than my old Sony gathering dust in the corner of the room...

Sofaspud

ned78 wrote:

Yeah, I see what I did there I wrote :
They're English isn't great

When I meant to say :
Their english isn't great.

This is what happenes when you rush. You'd never think I wrote the odd few articles for different magazines every now and again, would you?

Nownow, I was only jesting! I found it a wee bit ironic, is all.

OliviaM

You're not alone! I don't have tv and i don't mind. saves me lots of precious time.

Morrigan

Talliesin wrote:

No. I have a life.

Me neither. But I still don't have a life.

Bob the Builder

5 tv's in the house atm. Barely ever watch it tbh, seeming i have no interest in Sport. Maybe to catch an odd episode of the Simpsons, Comedy on RTE2 on Monday's and maybe the Midweek Movie on Wednesday...Or play the good old Xbox360 once in a while

I'd be more attracted to the computer, and if need be, I go to peekVid.com and watch whatever series I wish to see with popcorn in hand...

...there are many arguments for and against Tv's and their uses, I'm typically neutral on ths issue though...

nlgbbbblth

Talliesin wrote:

No. I have a life.

That's the sort of smug and superior attitude I was referring to in my earlier post.

wow sierra

The only TV I watched tonight was a great documentary on TG4 about Donegal peoples experience of emigration to Glasgow back when we couldnt afford TV - I'm not quite sure how that shows that I dont have a life? Other nights I might watch endless episodes of CSI/Law and Order. Mostly I have the TV for News/Current Affairs and Sport - couldn't survive without it for those (well I could but why would I?) And people who say they don't watch TV they use the internet instead - isnt that the same thing? if you are watching movies/sport/video images on the internet?

ARGINITE

Went most of third year in college without a tv, once you get used to it you wont miss it. Their is sfa on tv these days anyways.

cue

I would be stuck to a tv if I had one but I haven't watched it since the early 90's because it does my head in. I find that I am the sort of idiot that will sit in front of crap like a zombie. I would not watch nature documentaries that I might enjoy. Instead i would sit there flicking through the ads scowling. Have not had one where i live for about 15 years until kids came along so we got them a dvd combi for the movies. Work with a lot of telly addicts over the years so I still know all the storylines of the soaps and Big Brother gossip and all the new series (Prison Break etc). I like the radio and I read a lot so I do not miss it. Nearly everyone I know complains about watching it.

Red Hand

Boards.ie would be the closest thing to TV for me to be honest. Don't watch that much TV.

thelordofcheese

I've owned a TV set of my own for most of my time at Uni, but i don't think i once even tried to tune it in [i'd lost the remote so i didn't bother], it was used for gaming and that was it.

Never had a license either, not sure of the legality of it, but i didn't get a warning or any such thing from the inspectors so i let it be. It's not as if i watched any broadcasted programs on the damn thing.

Oddly enough, i've gotten two letters from the TV inspector since i moved to scotland four months ago, made doubly odd by the fact i don't have a TV over here.

E@gle.

since i have got broadband i hardly ever watch tv anymore. with the exception of Dvd's that is

Rabies

Jeremiah 16:1 wrote:

Boards.ie would be the closest thing to TV for me to be honest. Don't watch that much TV.

Wow, you have have only been here since April '06, you have loads of re runs to get through then.

When I moved in to my apartment back in Nov, there was no tv. Flat mate had one in her room but thats it. First thing I did was go and buy one.
Almost regretting it now. NZ tv is one of the worst around after Oz tv.

Lust4Life

There are two in the house, but I personally watch them very rarely.
And it's rerun season any way.:rolleyes:

eirebhoy

Can I ask what people do instead? You get home from work at about 5.30-6.00. You have your dinner. Maybe go to the gym or something. What do you do then? It's 8pm and you've nothing to do. I'd find that terribly boring without a TV. Imagne going a year without even watching the news.

rediguana

eirebhoy wrote:

Can I ask what people do instead? You get home from work at about 5.30-6.00. You have your dinner. Maybe go to the gym or something. What do you do then? It's 8pm and you've nothing to do. I'd find that terribly boring without a TV. Imagne going a year without even watching the news.

I DO go to the gym! After that I normally browse the net, read or sometimes talk to my girlfriend (I live with her).

Face it - TV is toast.

I'm coming round to your house, EireBoy, and I'm going to blow your TV away

rediguana

And the news? People dying on the roads??? Shootings in wherever? Wars?? Why would that interest me? I tailor my news to my interests with the net.

NextSteps

We have an untuned TV upstairs for games and watching DVDs, and I'm glad it's not in the sitting room.

TVs have a way of dominating the room. I have a few friends who turn their set on whenever they're at home, even if they have visitors, even if there's nothing in particular on, and I find it really disconcerting and difficult to have a coherent conversation. The background noise bothers me and everyone's eyes get drawn to the screen. Perhaps I'm just not used to it.

KTRIC

I watch 2 shows actively on tv every week , the rest of the time I just have it on for some ambient sound.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Dont really watch TV normally, usually although I have just bought an Xbox360...I will be moving into a new flat soon enough and wont have a TV then, but i'm not too bothered!