Cable TV gives you what? 200 channels of crap... rehashed "reality" TV and other mindless pap. Can you honestly find a channel in the 200+ available that has anything intelligent to offer? The History Channel? Nope, not anymore... Discovery? Nope... what about the regular networks.. ABC, NBC, CBC (if you're in Canada)... nope... more shouting and low IQ programming.
I have cable because it's included in the rent where I live. I've watched it probably no more than... about 30 minutes in 6 months.
My entertainment solution... internet :-) Sources like Hulu, Netflicks, BBC iPlayer, etc are great for legal streams of movies and TV shows. You can pick and choose what you watch. Can't get Hulu because you're not in the US? No problem... just use a VPN service like OverPlay.net and no more problems... you can get BBCiPlayer, Hulu.. any stream you want. Sports? use MyP2P.eu and problem solved. Anything I missed? :-)
I've got a computer hooked up to my TV... one of those mini PCs that is the size of a small book. It's running Linux... Boxee for the movies on my network drives, and just a Firefox browser for things like Hulu and BBC iPlayer. This route seems so much more... useful to me. You can watch the stuff you find entertaining on your schedule instead of the networks... on-demand is so much better than cable.
I suppose... you can't surf the channels like you used to if you go this route :-) but... small price to pay. Ha ha ha.