[Closed] Does anybody here not watch TV?

I don't have a TV but I do occasionally watch some stuff on iPlayer. Don't really feel the need to get one.

Typically, averages out at an hour per week.

Think I just got out of the habit - Usual preference is sat on the battered settee in the kitchen, book in one hand, radio on in the background.
That's my preference, but the other half always looks at this as being unproductive & likes to try and find things for me to do 😉
Feels like Last of the summer wine at times - It's a battle that's been going on for nearly 25 years....& she still hasn't won ! !

Chris

The wife and I are considering getting rid of the tv licence. It really doesn't seem to offer value for money for us.

Don't have one at home, nor at uni.

iPlayer/4oD/BBC news site does me fine. Probably helped by the fact I don't really bother with watching sports.

I have one but maybe only watch 1 hour a week, 2 if Mrs iDave is here.

Nothing really interests me on the box so I tend to avoid it. Mrs Cyclebiker loves her reality carp...I prefer either my computer, book or music (usually a mixture of two of them).
If we do sit down for some "quality" time, it usually results in a film going on from the collection.

No TV here but watch Iplayer/4od if there is something that tickles our fancy.

don't watch very much at all. (haven't watched any this week)
don't watch any live broadcast BBC, don't pay for a license

I don't watch any TV itself but I download quite a bit of television (mostly stuff shown in the states before here) like Dexter and Game of Thrones

Don't really watch anything .

We have a 6 tvs in this house and i only put mine on to go to sleep 😕

I haven't had a TV for a few years. If I stay in a hotel overnight with work and put the TV on I get pi$$ed of very quickly with either the banality of most programming or the adverts. I'll struggle not to get a TV this summer though for the Olympics. Other than that, glad I got shot of it.

ever since xbox got that new UI with 4OD and BBC iPlayer etc haven't watched much broadcast telly at all.

TV is brilliant.

I decided recently that the little that I wanted to watch wasn't worth £150 for a TV license. 4od and the others get used about once a week, total. And it feels good that none of my money goes to that nice Mr Clarkson or that nice Mr Linekar.

I have been without a tv for about 6 months now and I love it. I have iPlayer if I want to watch something, and I spend more time reading and listening to music as well as indulging other interests. With a tv my evenings would vanish as I sat watching stuff I didn't really want to watch.

Its either my age (mid-30s...) or TV has gone incredibly crap since Big Brother kicked off the dreadful concept of Reality TV, followed by the invention of digital TV

Ever since we all started receiving 50+ channels, the TV producers have been scrabbling to generate anything which they can put on TV.

There is so many shows that the producers need to make it incredibly cheap, so they invent utter shit like airport, how clean is your house, my husband is a woman....some shite where they pay the stars next to nothing

I watch a bit of the news, Question Time, Shameless and now the F1 highlights. I might catch the odd good repeat like Alan Patridge, Peepshow or Father Ted. 2 or 3 hours a week

However, i'd still pay the license fee as the BBC news and webpage is incredible and very balanced compared to the rest of the British press.

You realise how good it is if you log-in overseas and you get bombarded with adverts

Conclusion - TV is now utter shite. Books, music and the web are much better

Don't watch much, but wouldn't want to be without one. There are moments when the best thing in the world is to slump on the sofa, Ted Bundy style...

Conclusion - TV is now utter shite. Books, music and the web are much better

It was always crap, think back 25-35 years and you're back in the world of Terry and June, Hale and Pace, endless crap gameshows etc. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing!

I've never watched a single second of tv I sit in my Eco cave and look at my bikes for entertainment.

Very occasionally. Maybe if I'm doing the ironing I'll flick it on to see something distracting. I might watch the evening news on it.

boltonjon - Member
the BBC news and webpage is incredible and very balanced compared to the rest of the British press.

Druidh

Please explain where you obtain your balanced and fair news - without being bombarded with constant adverts?

Ignore the advert bit if you like, but that annoys me a lot

Is watching iplayer not just watching the telly with a different name?

The less I watch, the happier I am.

If I remember I try to catch stuff I like - Harry Hill, Apprentice...

Is watching iplayer not just watching the telly with a different name?

Yeah I suppose, for me its behaviorally different. Watching something on iPlayer means watching one program. Sitting in front of the tv usually means flicking backwards and forwards, or not turning off to do something else because I am already doing something. Even if deep down I know I don't actually want to watch what I'm watching.

Watch a couple of programs a week on i-player and record road races and moto gp but thats all these days.

Don't watch any these days really. Although I more than make up for mindless telly watching with mindless tinternetting. License fee goes towards Cbeebies - gets plenty of airtime chez Lager.

Barely watch any; never really have.

I'd gladly ditch the TV, however I'd get howls of protest from the rest of the tribe.

I can always find something that needs doing or some study to do.

Haven't had an operational tv for knocking on two years. A year of that was with an Internet 3G dongle so not even iplayer.

The last 9-10 months I've had an iPad/broadband and watched some stuff on iplayer. Mostly factual stuff. I've liked the bbc4 music stuff I guess. Cnba staying up to watch it though...

At the work canteen there is a tv. I deliberately sit with my back too it as I find it too distracting.

I'm just as likely to watch a DVD these days. Or maybe YouTube.

I managed for about 4 years, only missed it very occasionally. What I did find was I missed out on a lot of TV related conversations, half the time I had no idea what people/friends were talking about.
It all came to an end when I inherited a brand new flat screen with all the trimmings, but to be honest, I still hardly ever turn it on, maybe for the odd film or sporting events.

Hardly ever do... Well, I tend to put Pointless on when I get in from work but just as a background. Anything else I want to see, I watch on the internet or DVD.

I do watch a bit, mostly 'cos we have little kids and don't get out much in the evenings.
However if I had to choose - TV or Web the telly would be gone in a instant, and i doubt I'd miss it.

Hardly anything but 10 o Clock news and Newsnight. Spend more time in web or reading or out drinking. I just think its a complete waste of someone's life watching telly. Reality crap, property $hite, fly on wall guff, all total bobbins. Sometimes I think I'd like to get satellite so I can watch the cycling but most times I would rather be out riding.

but most times I would rather be out riding.

To right

So, the Discovery Channel, programes like Earthflight, Blue Planet & Planet Earth are a waste of life?

Add to that sporting events - a plethora available, just choose which you are into, factual programmes, comedy programmes, educational prgrammes - hell, even mindless junk if you want to zone out occassionally. Of course there's plenty of total crap on it as well.

TV is great - I don't watch that much of it to be honest, but the blinkered approach of those that seem to have some grievance with it amuses me. The iPlayer fad amuses me too - guess what; with a Sky box, you can actually record whatever you want to watch on absolutely any channel, rather than what the BBC choose to stick on iPlayer. I'd much prefer to watch something interesting on a 40" tv than a 15" laptop too.

I have done without broadcast TV for about 18 months, I get the BBC natural history stuff on blue-ray (which is far better quality than hidef broadast), download or buy dvd's of the good American TV series and download the odd bit of sport and watch the odd film on dvd nothing much else interests me really.

The downside is missing some programs or films that might actually be quite good, but doesn't capture my interest from the description or trailers. But I think the upside of not just getting home and turning the box on, having it just suck away time, far outweighs the downside.

My wife would explode if she couldn't watch soaps and reality crap pretty much every day.

I like watching films that I deliberately record and funny programs. I watch F1 on my computer and very occassionally will watch cycle racing. That's about it.

I couldn't manage without Family Guy and Lois's dirty laugh.

don't have a TV at home. german broadcasting is worse than that in the UK and the license fee is something like 20€ a month.

unfortunately iplayer & 4oD aren't available here (i don't know why they don't just charge a small fee for each programme downloaded), but i'll watch the odd nature prog on the web.

don't miss having a TV and feel superior to those that do.

don't miss having a TV and [b]feel superior to those that do[/b].

This is what amuses me - I don't know if that was said tongue in cheek, but that's the general impression I get from anyone who doesn't have a TV.

TV = Stupid 😉

only so i can complain about Top Gear

T-in-C....... 🙂

Me, i like my brain and ideas to be Mine for as much as poss!

You make your own news/drama/comedy/documentaries/ up then ?

Not a bad idea as it happens - specially the news. I've got some brilliant ideas concerning what should be in the news.

Cut the end off my coaxial lead about 6 years ago when I realised it was just background noise sucking the life out of me. Gives you more time to read, listen to music, find other creative things to entertain yourself with. Watch the occasional show on catchup services like iplayer/4od.

When you send off the form to the licensing people it stops them harassing you for a bit, but then they'll come back with a vengeance. They'll try and bluff their way into your home. I heartily recommend when they come knocking at your door you state you've got no aerial as the programming is so bad nowadays it's getting in the way of family life, then ask the inspector to pre-sign an agreement to pay you the exact cost of the licensing fee as compensation to 'intrude upon your privacy and enter your home to examine your equipment.' The more who do this, the less they'll attempt to use powers they don't legally have.

I hear they are looking to make access to iplayer just through licensing (login) because viewing habits have changed in recent times.

I read somewhere that the BBC fired their previous license operators after numbers of complaints and took on a new outfit. Has anyone noticed a change?

Didn't used to have a telly & used to get loads more shit done, but very nearly managed to go to work on a Monday some years ago without knowing that Lady Di had copped it :oops:, wouldn't be the same now with tinternet & that

Smug TV-less household here 🙂

I hardly ever watch TV. Bear Grylls, Top Gear for me, thats about it.

Probably about an hour a month. Interwebz has all the good stuff.

Why watch the pap on tv, when you can watch stuff like mad men, breaking bad and the walking dead.

When they bring out a cheap freeview recorder I may start watching tv again. Normally, there is about an hours worth of tv a week that is worth watching, and I miss it most of the time.

Probably about an hour a month. Interwebz has all the good stuff.

Why watch the pap on tv, when you can watch stuff like mad men, breaking bad and the walking dead.

At an hour a month it must have taken you bloomin ages to work your way through those series.

kudos100 - you do actually realise that these programmes are made for tv and not specifically for the internet?????

Exactly, watching TV programs on the internet counts as watching TV

Why watch the pap on tv, when you can watch stuff like mad men, breaking bad and the walking dead

Funny, I just watched the Walking Dead season finale on, now what's that big black slab called? oh yeah, a TV. I don't think it counts as "not watching TV" by watching TV on a computer

I watch a lot of programs and movies, but haven't owned a TV for quite a few years. In the future (probably not very distant the way things are going), people will find it odd that we once used to sit and let someone else decide what we would be watching on TV that evening. Scheduled broadcasting is on it's last legs. 🙂

And why would you listen to the radio when you can just enjoy your own playlists? Or maybe it isn't as simple as that...

People who claim not to watch TV but still watch 'the odd' programmes and the must-see cool series on the internet are like veggies who 'have a bit of fish' now and then. If you all hate TV so much then don't watch any at all . . . on any device!

😉

people will find it odd that we once used to sit and let someone else decide what we would be watching on TV that evening.

We're there already really with the likes of V+ and Sky + and on-demand services.

Never owned a TV.
I've watched two programmes via the internet in the last couple of months though.
I keep thinking I ought to watch some of these nature and science series that everyone else watches, but I never get around to it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/26/news-corp-ondigital-paytv-panorama Going back to ITV Digital, looks like Murdoch's money may have had a hand in pirating their viewing cards to collapse their subscription model. If Sky finally loses its license for being run by that unethical bar steward, I wonder what scheduled programming will look like?

Was the countdown to CH4 worth it? Was having to get a technician in to adjust our VCR units worth CH5?

We're there already really with the likes of V+ and Sky + and on-demand services.

Would quite happily cancel the Sky and TV license if it was just me but the Mrs watches tons of [s]rubbish[/s] stuff.

I hear they are looking to make access to iplayer just through licensing (login) because viewing habits have changed in recent times.

It'll happen some time.

There'll come a tipping point at which the BBC's licence fee revenue drops so much that they need to charge for iPlayer access.

Unless they drastically change the way programmes are funded.

I rarely watch TV, probably a couple of hours a week.. try to avoid anything from the BBC at all costs though as it's attempt to be 'pc' always puts up my blood pressure.

If it wasnt for the missus I wouldnt have one.

Very rarely because even though we have three TVs the mrs or the kids are usually watching something - they sometimes watch the same program in different rooms 🙂

I simply don't know what's on TV

Haven't watched TV for about 25 years. I find R4 much more cerebral and it allows me to do other things at the same time. I might get one for the odd good programme but the cost-benefit analysis would discourage it.

I find R4 much more cerebral

What is going on in The Archers at the moment?

It's at that point it goes off. Quite like Steve Hewlett and Laurie Taylor and 'Analysis'. There's good stuff on the telly but it just seems to me to be an incredibly small proportion of it.

Those that don't watch TV, really need to get hold of some of the BBC natural history stuff (yellowstone, frozen planet etc) and watch it on a decent hi def big screen.

There is no way the wonder of the planet can be revealed to you in any better way, books and lectures just can't reveal nature in the same way that they can now do with these series. And when you view the "how we did it" bits at the end, you realise the time and effort actually put into capturing each moment means that even if you were lucky enough to visit these locations you just wouldn't see anything but a small fraction that is shown in these series.

Gladly pay my license fee even though I don't watch more than an hour a week because Radio 4 is worth every penny of it on its own.
Stop funding the BBC and we'll end up watching a loop video of CSI 'insert name of city' and kev ball. I know it's not without considerable problems in some areas but the BBC is the envy of the world and getting around paying for it by using the iPlayer is wrong.

getting around paying for it by using the iPlayer is wrong.

Don't know why they don't just make it so you need log on with your licence number to watch iPlayer.

I watch next to nothing live, but I'm happy to pay the licence fee for iPlayer and CBeebies. Oh, and Radio 4,5 and 6.

Gunz is right - watch what passes for public TV in the rest of Europe, and ITV seems high brow.

Replaced my massive TV with a massive aquarium 🙂 Watch some stuff on Iplayer, sometimes films from lovefilm or piratebay on the computer or ipad. Might have to go round my friend's house to watch The Apprentice though, I'm addicted and can't wait a few hours for it to become available online.

iPlayer and the occasional bit of 4OD is about the sum of my TV-watching. I'd gladly pay the licence fee any day.
The rest of it is all sh1t, basically. Anything on ITV, anything American which doesn't feature either Homer Simpson or Stewie Griffin...utter dross.

joao3v16 - Member

[i]"I hear they are looking to make access to iplayer just through licensing (login) because viewing habits have changed in recent times.

It'll happen some time".[/i]

There'll come a tipping point at which the BBC's licence fee revenue drops so much that they need to charge for iPlayer access.

Unless they drastically change the way programmes are funded.

Maybe a slightly skewed cross section of the UK on here IMO

I could pretty much stake my life on every single person (60 odd) who works on our site owning at least on TV.

The rest of it is all sh1t, basically. Anything on ITV, anything American which doesn't feature either Homer Simpson or Stewie Griffin...utter dross.

West Wing
The sopranos
The wire
Game of thrones
deadwood
breaking bad
the shield
sons of anarchy
dexter
homeland
etc
etc....

To be honest, apart from the natural history stuff, american TV has been blowing britsh TV away for some time. Thankfully they seem to have relied quite heavily on British writing and acting talent.

[i]West Wing
The sopranos
The wire
Game of thrones
deadwood
breaking bad
the shield
sons of anarchy
dexter
homeland
etc
etc....[/i]
I've tried all of those other than Game of Thrones. And I can confirm, they're all shite.

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