Given the state of the economy, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to save on non-discretionary expenses. Lucky for us, The Digerati Life offers some useful thoughts on how to cut back on TV services without turning off media completely. Their five suggestions include:
television
From The Archive: DTV Transition Flowchart For Those Of You Who Are Still Confused
By 6.12.09
Back in December we posted this easy to follow flowchart that should help to eliminate any remaining confusion about today’s DTV transition. Enjoy.
Comcast Programming Guides Won't Display Porn Next To Kid's Shows Anymore
By 6.7.09
Sorry kids, your days of catching enticingly named porn listed next to your cuddly family shows on Comcast’s programming guide are over. Comcast will now place “blocks of dummy channels” to keep family programs away from the racy pay per view channels.
Hulu May Start Charging For Content
By 6.6.09
Just when free tv on the internet was starting to get good, Hulu board member Jon Miller had to go and talk about subscription fees. Miller, an AOL refugee who’s now squeezing cash out of consumers for News Corp, said last week of subscription fees: “in my opinion the answer could be yes. I don’t see why that shouldn’t happen over time… it seems to me that over time that could be a logical thing.” Charging for content isn’t his only big idea…
Three Million People Are "Totally Unprepared" For The Digital Transition
By 6.6.09
We all know the switch to digital transition is next Friday, June 12. Most of us already have cable, or satellite, or digital converters. But not three million Americans, who according to Nielsen, are still “totally unprepared for the transition and will lose their reception.”
"Without A Trace," Other Shows, Gone Without A Trace
By 5.20.09
Some bad news if you love the show Without a Trace. Not only do you have poor taste in entertainment, but there will be a gaping hole in your life come September when your drama, which has given up the ghost, will only be viewable via seance like other departed shows such as Alf, Cop Rock, and Grounded for Life.
By 4.16.09
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All the outrage over Sling Media’s iPhone app—which would have only worked with the latest Slingbox models—may have been moot. Boy Genius Report says they’ve received a tip that AT&T asked Apple to kill the app due to concerns about potential bandwidth drain. Update: JosephFinn points out that the tip is likely fake, as the IP address came from a prison. [IntoMobile]
Bad Idea: Confessing To Your $100,000 A Year Shoplifting Habit On National TV
By 4.2.09
All the clever shoplifting tricks in the world won’t save you from yourself if you decide to reveal your secrets on Dr. Phil. Last week a fraud task force raided the home of Laura and Matthew Eaton, who appeared on an episode in November to show the audience how they did it and to say they were going straight.
What Is Wrong With Quiznos?
By 3.27.09
Seriously, what’s up with them? Their new ad features an oven that begs a Quiznos employee to “put it in me, Scott,” as the camera pans over what it calls a Toasty Torpedo. There’s also a subliminal flash of a periscope jutting up from the flames at one point, as our eagle-eyed reader Bbender pointed out.
DirecTV Demands Nearly $500 For Canceled Service You Couldn't Use
By 3.21.09
DirecTV agreed to let Anthony cancel his service without an early termination fee because his signal would randomly fade away without explanation. What DirecTV really meant though was that they would let Anthony cancel if he paid a final bill of $446.69. After speaking with two agents who agreed that the fee should have been waived, DirecTV reduced Anthony’s bill to $445.42. A third agent told Anthony that he would need to negotiate any further deductions in writing with the dispute department…
Suze Orman’s Life Story, Condensed
By 3.21.09
Women’s Wear Daily has published a short biography of Suze Orman, 57-year-old CNBC personality, Oprah repeat-guester, and aggressive promoter of financial advice and self. Her father’s poultry shop burned down when she was a child (“Daddy was a failed man.”). At age 30, she lost $50,000 of borrowed money in oil futures, which led her to give up her dream of opening a restaurant and instead enter a training program at Merrill Lynch to pay back the money. Her second book agent—the one who helped shoot her to the top—told her she had to lose 30 pounds to be marketable. And so on: seeing how someone aggressively pursues media stardom is a sausage-making experience. (That same agent says, “I just thought, ‘Great. Finally an author who knows she can’t write.'”)
2 Hrs, 25 Min On Hold Just To Get A Busted DTV Converter
By 2.26.09
All told, reader Sam sat on hold with the Fuai Corporation for 2 hours and 25 minutes only to end up with a DTV box with a busted-up face that didn’t even have the analog pass-through feature he paid for. That could be a problem if he still wants to watch his local PBS affiliate station…
Cancel Cable Without Losing Your Favorite Shows
By 2.21.09
Cable is one of the first things you should cut to keep expenses down, but that doesn’t mean you should ditch your favorite shows. J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly cut his cable bill from $65.82 to $11.30 without missing a single harrowing plot twist. Here’s how he did it…
DTV Converter Box's "Easy Install Instructions" Anything But
By 2.3.09
“Good luck” shouts the instructions that came with Marc’s aunt’s Sansonic DTV converter box. No, really, it says right there in all caps, “GOOD LUCK,” as in, “you have 50/50 chance your old antenna will not work well.” Yes, that’s another quote from the manual. “In her case, her luck was limited,” writes Marc, “Great reception for everything except the local PBS station, which is about the only thing she watches.” Full “Easy Install Instructions” inside…
By 1.30.09
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After failing to get the required two-third majority on Wednesday, the House is expected next week to pass legislation delaying the digital television transition to June 12, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The Senate has already voted to extend the deadline, and President Obama has indicated he will sign the bill.
TV And Radio Stations Sell Restaurant Gift Certificates For 50% Off
By 1.24.09
If you’re in the market for 50% off a restaurant gift certificate, consider checking out your local television or radio station. Yes, really. Many stations receive restaurant gift certificates in exchange for air time. They then turn around and sell the certificates to the public at a steep discount. Yeah, it sounds strange to us too, but here’s how it works…
The DTV Coupon Program Is Running Out Of Money
By 1.5.09
Well, it seems like there are a lot of people with analog tvs that watch programming using an antenna— because the DTV coupon program says it’s nearing the program’s $1.34 billion funding limit.
If You Can't Find That DVD Set Anywhere Else, Maybe It's Pirated
By 1.2.09
Phil found out that you don’t order DVDs from websites that look like this, or that offer sets that aren’t for sale elsehwere. Now his wife is the proud owner of some homemade discs with low-quality TV footage of the series and a “TBS” bug in the corner.
