We've been cruising along with the
HBO and
Showtime movie channels for our Cable TV since we moved last year. But after I called up and complained about the cable going out for the second or third time a couple months ago, our Cable company said they'd toss in
Cinemax for 3 free months to compensate us for the hassle, which I of course gladly accepted. Our free
Cinemax is going to expire in a few weeks here, but I'm thinking about keeping it, and dumping
HBO instead.
HBO's become like MTV now (which rarely shows music videos anymore), where it seems to rarely be showing stuff that the channel was originally based on - Movies. Instead, they've got all this specialty programming stuff, like their various TV series (Sopranos, Sex and the City, etc.), talk shows (Bob Costas), comedy specials, uninteresting sports (no-name boxing), etc., etc. Even though there's 8 or 9 different
HBO channels to browse through, it seems like barely half of them even have any movies, which is why I have "movie channels" in the first place... I know a lot of people enjoy the various series on
HBO, but in recent years I've personally tried to steer clear of getting involved with any new TV series for the most part, just 'cause they're too addicting, time consuming, and a hassle to make sure I never miss an episode. Just show me the movies and I'm happy...
Seems that
Cinemax is pretty much just ALL movies, all the time, which is what I'm looking for. Plus, they're affiliated with
HBO, so it appears to me that they generally get the same movies
HBO has, but just a month or so later, which is fine by me. Plus,
Cinemax obviously has a lot more of those great late night T & A flicks!
We're happy with
Showtime, so no complaints there. Just think we'll be swapping
Cinemax for
HBO soon. I actually called our Cable company last week to double check on when the free
Cinemax was ending, and the operator surprisingly offered us a free 3-month trial of another movie channel -
STARRZ, just out of the blue for no reason whatsoever. Of course I accepted, so for the next three weeks we've got all 4 of these movie channels, which is actually more like 32 channels in all, since there's like 8 or 9 of each one.
Not terribly impressed with
Starrz so far though, so that's going back where it came from in a few months.
But I've definitely learned that it's worth talking to your cable company from time to time, either to complain about something, or just ask some random questions, 'cause they seem to be all too willing to toss those freebies out there hoping to lure you in with 'em.
Only main channel we've yet to preview so far is
The Movie Channel, but since it's "only" got 4 total channels, forget that. And before any of you pervs chimes in with "Get the
Playboy channel!", I'll just say that I'd get my ass kicked by a certain Mrs. that roams these parts if I did that. Certainly an excellent choice in programming though.
Showtime and
Cinemax for us, when all is said and done. Only $15 for the both of them each month, so not too bad considering what freaking movie rentals go for nowadays...
So what movie channels do you folks get, and which do you enjoy the most?
