Is anyone else telly-free?

Kadeeae

meanmarie wrote: »

My chances of being TV free are slim to none....OH turns it on full blast (he is deaf in spite of two hearing aids ?) as soon as he gets up and spends the day flipping around the stations....we have Sky including sports as he couldn't miss any sports going on.......

Marie- Same here, well not the hearing troubles I would happily get rid of Sky but BH keeps it just for sports and I've not been able to talk him out of it . . . yet:(

irishwexford wrote: »

I have radio norfolk on during the day and in the car as well.

Ooo! Yer in Norfolk! :j I have radio Norfolk on loads too . . . love Treasure Quest on Sundays, lol. Not sure it is the same radio Norfolk in all areas, seems to me we heard a different version when we were up near Huntstanton ......

We do enjoy some TV, and have the Sky because of BH & sports, but I would be most happy with freeview as 99% of what we watch with Sky are channels that are on freeview. That said, I could do without it completely if needs be - there would be a bit of withdrawl from my soaps, but sure I'd survive!

I listen to loads of radio, with fav's being R4, Radio Norfolk, Heart (Norfolk) and 5 Live (on the non-sport programs). I like a lot of talk radio and there isn't much of that for the UK sadly. Also have subscribed to quite a few podcasts.

We have a DAB set in the lounge and it is hooked up to a cheapie tv aerial which improved our signal greatly. Our other set is a Tangent Quattro Wifi Internet radio which also does AM/FM and it is easy to program for favourite stations when used through the website Reciva. This would require broadband tho

The biggest 'boon' to our radio listening was attaching the DAB to the outdoor aerial . . . .

downshifter

Sorry to drag this back up again, and maybe by now it should be in a techy forum, though it does continue the early discussion. My query is that a friend has broadband with no limits as part of his deal (maybe they all do that?) between midnight and 8 am. He has kindly offered to download for me any programmes I would like every now and then which is brilliant. However I'm a bit confused - it seems iplayer only let you download programmes for the previous one week, and then as far as I understand, they have some sort of key on them, which means you can't view them after a period of time anyway. Have I got this right? I was kind of hoping I could ask my friend to download things then I could watch them whenever I wanted, keep them for ever if I liked them so much. Is this a bit ridiculous to expect for free?

Thanks for any advice.

DS

I'm now trying to think of what else I can use his free broadband for!!! Poor guy.

Trinny

Hello All

I am not telly free as OH loves his 100 free channels on FreeSat. But i dont tend to turn the TV on unless there is something i want to see. It harks back to

1. Growing up in the sticks and being outside racing around most of the day
2. Having parents who only allowed a set time for watching TV. Dad would ask - what we planned to do with the rest of the day, if we were slouching inside watching Tiswas for too long.

I prefer the radio - agree Radio 4 can be brilliant, or reading or just doing stuff in the peace and quiet,

Need to compromise due to OH though.

Trin

wit40iwtwan

Thank you all... I think I may have a chat with OH and the kids and suggest we try go telly free for 6 months. Reading that you do not need a TV license for iPlayer or simply because you have a TV in the house is encouraging and I will tot up what our savings would be for the 6 months and present that to the family! I am fairly sure we could go on a lovely holiday instead of watching drivel on the TV!

Justamum

wit40iwtwan wrote: »

Thank you all... I think I may have a chat with OH and the kids and suggest we try go telly free for 6 months. Reading that you do not need a TV license for iPlayer or simply because you have a TV in the house is encouraging and I will tot up what our savings would be for the 6 months and present that to the family! I am fairly sure we could go on a lovely holiday instead of watching drivel on the TV!

I tried the 6 months abstinence with my family, but I was ganged up on after 4 months :eek:

I don't pay for the licence on DD any more as you end up paying for 6 months ahead. What I'm doing is putting money aside each week so I can pay cash from the day I need it, then if we do decide not to renew (fat chance of that though ) I won't have to chase up the licensing people for my overpayment.

Sassers

I gave my small portable TV away in 2004 - and haven't had one since.....
...well that was until my OH moved in and brought with him..yep a small portable telly - the last four weeks/month ago.
It's been fab watching the Six Nations and all the football as it happens - however, tomorrrow the telly's going to the great TVland in the sky due to the Welsh digital switchover.
I've done so much without the telly over the years - me and OH decided to have a months trial then buy a tv licence but we've decided not to - once we'd kept the telly, that would have been it for probably the rest of our lives! Life with the box. No more fun with it really.....And I know it was naughty having a TV for a month without a licence but if we'd gone ahead with it and kept it, like I said it would have never left the house and we'd have TV forever. Do you see what I mean?
Without it, we laugh more, dance, talk, and generally do more things together like swimming than being slouched in front of the box - we listen to Five live - both being news and sports junkies and watch Iplayer and 4OD through the 'puter. Another good un is Spotify, which is like an online jukebox. I love that and my IPOD. Goodbye to TV tomorrow when I take it to the tip for recycling
Oh and I really enjoy and look forward to the annual fist-fight that ensues between myself and TV licensing every year. They are utter bullies and convinced I have a telly stuffed into every room in the house and have threatened forced entry many times to check. I wrote back to them one year threatening them with a harrassment charge and a meeting of minds on the doorstep with me armed with my trusty (marble) rolling pin just like that Liverpool MP bessie Braddock lol

Fire_Fox

I cancelled the TV license in October when the ex-Mr. Fire Fox left. I got my six months overpayment back very promptly, and some minor harassment from TV licensing until I wrote them a sharp letter. I have watched TV once since, tho I absolutely could not live without broadband! I have the £6 per month connection with PlusNet which means unlimited downloads overnight, but debating upgrading to the faster/ unlimited connection so I can watch iPlayer as I really miss BBC stuff.

My friend's techie boyfriend bought her an aerial booster which got her a much better digital TV service. Might be useful for those who can't receive broadband?

Reverbe

My free Freeview box finally turned up last week and I am bafflied by the post I read on MSe about it being full of great things to watch. I have what is described as the full compliment of channels and once you take away the shopping channels, the kids, the news, Russia Today and the ones that dont seem to ever actually be switched on like community and teachers you are left with ones that show things you already watched 20 and 30 years ago..

patchwork_cat

duncan303 wrote: »

I did explain that one of the biggest hurdles is trying to make those licencing idiots in bristol understand that not every household has to have a telly or be a criminal. After some very heated exchanges and a little correspondance they eventually left us alone, havn't heard from them for about a dozen years.




..

My brother had exactly the same problem when he went TV free for about a year. He said they couldn't believe he didn't have a TV, so he said right bring your van around.

My only comment is if you are watching programmes on line check your broadband usage (if your co. actually monitor it.) as the few programmes we have watched are quite heavy usage.

Justamum

Reverbe wrote: »

My free Freeview box finally turned up last week and I am bafflied by the post I read on MSe about it being full of great things to watch. I have what is described as the full compliment of channels and once you take away the shopping channels, the kids, the news, Russia Today and the ones that dont seem to ever actually be switched on like community and teachers you are left with ones that show things you already watched 20 and 30 years ago..

Freeview witih shopping channels, Russia Today?! You're positively spoiled. On our freeview we get the 5 terrestrial channels, BBC 3 and 4, CBBC and CBeebies, ITV 2 and 3, a couple of dating channels (Rabbit and Gay Rabbit - and who's interested in those?) and that's it. There are quite a few freeview channels which we don't get - apparently the Manx government only signed up for the bare minimum for over here.

Mind you, that's far too much for me - it's CBBC and CBeebies all the time so I end up spending most of my time in the kitchen with the radio on. Which reminds me, the Archers is just about to start!!!! (Larkrise tonight - about the only thing worth watching these days.)