[sophacles]

I like my push TV service (i.e. cable) for the following things:

1. sports -- there is no viable alternative at the moment.

2. Sometimes I just want to veg and channel surf (be passively entertained). There is no good way to do this with online services or recorded stuff.

3. Sometimes I need push infotainment because I don't know about the existence of something to actively pursue interest in it. While HN and Reddit (and so on) are rapidly replacing this niche, there are some things they just don't do well, somethings are just more interesting when presented as a video first, rather than as a link (cooking stuff comes to mind...).

That being said, having the TV on in the background is different than "still watch TV", and I agree, it is a bit annoying and sad.