I bought a High Definition TV antenna from Radio Shack for under $100, add another $50 for the mast and $30 for a roll of cable. So for under $200 and some work setting it up I get free tv... I've had this set up for about 14 years now and have saved a fortune...you do the math.

I got mad at the cable company for lousy service and then found out if I didn't pay my bill on time they could ding my credit rating....Ding my credit rating for cable and lousy service ??? No way was I gonna put up with that.

I don't watch tv too much anyhow...I get all the news and weather I want from the internet. Saturday Night Live and football games is about all I watch.

 

Did the same about 7 years ago. We have Netflix as well. Wish i could pick just 5 cable channels, but until that becomes an affordable option, I'm fine. TV is for lack of a better word, stoopid, anyways.

 

I cut the cord almost a year ago and it's been great. We did keep our high speed internet but no cable TV. We use a digital antenna to get free HD quality broadcasts of a few local stations. We bought a Roku for each of our TV's to stream online content. I subscribe to Netlix and Hulu-plus.

Both Roku and Hulu-plus are $7.99 a month and the high speed internet is $48 a month. So we spend about $64 a month on media. We were spending close to $200 a month. I feel like I am getting my monies worth since I use the internet constantly and the streaming media I subscribe to I actually want to watch and it's all on my terms with no contracts.

There are much cheaper ways and I have friends who don't pay for any online media and you can find just about anything streaming online for free at sites like potlucker.com but I don't mind paying for the convenience of things I like to see and it keeps the wife and kids happy since all the shows they enjoy are streaming right into our TV's.

If you'd like more info on how we set it all up send me a PM I'd be more than happy to help.

 

I get pretty much the same as you, but my internet is only $20/ mo. Got to get a better antenna system this spring, but I've got all the hardware to get it 40' up the side of the house, and figure by doing that I'll get a few more channels added when I do because of my location (between three mid-sized cities in my state).
I'll still add a rotor system like my dad used back in the 70's to pull in fringe stations at a distance by turning the antenna to face strait on the station's signal path.
Pixelation sucks, but better antenna and height should do away with 99% of what I'm getting right now.

 

We went with the over the air antenna years ago, right after they switched it to digital - it was the perfect move. Get tons of channels and all for free. I spent about $300 on the antenna, cable and other equipment. Spent a few hours of my time testing it out and installing, paid for itself in about 6 months ($70 per month for Dir3ct TV at that time).

Never any issues or problems and we're out in the a little bit of the boonies.

Just remember to point that antenna in the CORRECT direction!

 

I still have sattelite on the main floor, in the country no such thing as cable or internet

but in he bedroom, I just have an old pair of rabbit ears on a tube tv. I pull in something like 20 stations. before they went digital I only got 2 or 3, but with a converter box, there are tons more stations out there than there were believe it or not...

I'm sure with a real antenae (you can make your own, from wire, lookup DIY digital antennae) I could get even more. Unfortunately you can't buy the converer boxes anymore so I look for them at yard sales.

Or I guess the new disposable tv's have digtal converters built in.

 

I am also one of those people who hasn't had cable/satellite for years and only use Netflix over the internet. I don't miss cable TV at all. I haven't installed an antenna because of the cost associated with it so I go without. I can find just about anything I want online. I refuse to pay $100 a month for something I use only rarely, that provides 3 out of 200 channels I actually have any interest in watching. All the TV shows I want to watch eventually come to Netflix, and then I can watch them all in one go, without waiting or dealing with commercials.

 

X2
& all that aside I just put an offer on a house on 80 acres & if it all goes well, I'll trade my tv for pile of targets printed on paper!

 

We cut cable a few years ago and it has been awesome for our wallet. We have an HD antenna to watch local channels for emergencies, but overall we have more time in our day not sitting in front of the TV and are happier for it. Financially, we went from paying 135 dollars a month for internet and cable to paying 45 dollars a month for internet. It was worth it as I'm sure it's all gone up now. We still pay around 45 dollars for internet and that's it.

 

Sure wish I could drop Direct TV and go with something else but I'm too far out in the mountains to get any reception. Everything here (Internet, TV, etc) is going to be satellite or nothing.

 

We knew that we wanted Internet service so when we got DSL through the phone company, we bought a ROKU for $92 (one time purchase) and are able to watch our big screen tv over the Internet. You can't use dial up or dish, it has to high speed DSL type service. Now we pay $7.99 a month for Netflix as well as Hulu Plus. There are lots of free channels as well but those two give us most of the things we watch. We do have the bill from the phone company of about $69 a month that gives us a home phone line which we didn't want but...
The downfall is not being able to flip through the channels so fast and not getting local news. People that love watching sports may be disappointed too. We don't miss that. I think it's great that we can watch back to back series of shows stopping and starting whenever we want as well as fast forwarding. The only thing we can't get is Walking Dead. I can buy each episode for $ 1.99 when we didn't catch it elsewhere. You can also have an antenna (All antennas work as long as your tv is digital or you use a converter for the tv). Having a signal booster helps for weak signals. Go online to see what channels you should be getting. An antenna may be all you need and at the cost of two cable bills you are done paying.

 

We haven't had any type of TV for many years since our last antenna got torn up in a storm. Don't miss it at all.

Sardog has discovered many places on the net where you can watch current movies (ones in theaters), current TV shows, news and many other types of programming on your computer. Costs nothing more than the price of your internet.

If you want to watch on a larger screen you can get a cable to go from the computer to a newer digital TV. We don't have the TV, but still watch many programs on the computer.

 

I'm A Little Slow, But You've All Got Me Thinking....

I watch hardly any TV but pay a fortune in case others want to watch.

I should look into some of these solutions you have come up with. Some of it sounds like a foreign language...but I'm reasonably handy and pretty good at foreign languages!

 

I watch hardly any TV but pay a fortune in case others want to watch.

I should look into some of these solutions you have come up with. Some of it sounds like a foreign language...but I'm reasonably handy and pretty good at foreign languages!

Trust me. .. roku box + Netflix = happy family

It's easy... Internet to roku to tv, done.

 

We cut the cable about 6 years ago. We watch a few minutes of TV when we're staying in hotels and we get nearly instant confirmation that we aren't missing a thing without cable.

It might be too kind to state that 98% of TV is nothing more than brain dead distractions and propaganda.

 

Ive experienced the same. And everytime in hotels i keep flipping throygh channels and its usyally just junk.

Where ive lived last 6 years theres no regular digiral tv service. If i care to see a show i watch on their websites via internet.

And cable use to be cool! Parents got it since late 70's.... for many years now it turned into junk for most part.

 

Don't bother with an antenna. .. unless you like live sports. We have a good signal, but only watch NFL on antenna.

Otherwise, we've been so happy with our roku box and Netflix, that I won't bother watching anything else. I refuse to deal with tv commercials. Netflix has spoiled me that I'd simply rather have no TV than commercials.

 

We haven't had cable in a few years. We have netflix and that's all we would watch but we moved back in November and have yet to get the internet hooked up. Luckily my father in law is a movie/tv show buff so we just run over to his house and get stuff from him. It's been really nice not having anything really. Makes you step back and realize all the wasted time spent starring at a tv screen.

 

We're in NJ, & we bought a Roku & subscribe to a Netflix & Hulu. We don't miss that $100/no DirectTV expense at_all!

 

I ditched cable 2 yrs ago. I pay $60 for high speed internet. One thing I did was invest in my own cable modem and really decent router. I've never had any issues streaming anything.

 

I ditched cable a couple of years ago until I got married and the wife wanted it back. I just had the internet and Netflix. The one thing that I found out when I got cable back or when talking to people, I didn't know what was going on in the news. It was both good and bad. I didn't hear all that stuff pushed down on me, but I also got more of the world news from the internet, then what cable news only told me. Friends used to looks at me funny when I didn't know what they were talking about sometimes and told me it was in the news for weeks.

 

...but...but...how else are you gonna get TV news on which XXXXXXXXXX country needs to be invaded by our western corporate armies..opps I mean western country armies to 'free' their people from their 'dictator' (who used to be our friend when he was murdering the right people for us but now he is bad now that he upped royalty resource rates on our corporations).

I guess you'll leave them no choice but to consolidate the internet in order to maintain control over everyone..

----------

Letter: Keep internet free and open to all
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/letter_keep_internet_free_and_open_to_all.html

 

No cable here

Hi
I went with free to air satellite about 10 years ago.
Ota doesn't work here and nearest cable is over 10 miles away.
Have choice of many channels and no monthly bills at all.:thumb:

 

We got rid of the cable part of our service and just stayed with cable internet. We went from a 170 dollar bill to a 55 dollar bill. We hooked a hrm cable from the computer to the tv and stream whatever we want.

 

We do not have any cable company in my town.

We used to be able to receive one TV channel, before the FCC cut the transmission power to 10%, in the conversion from hi-power analog to lo-power digital. No more TV for us.

Some homes here went to satellite dishes, just another bill though.

We went to Netflix for a few years. Just turned it off last month.

Right now there is a lot of stuff online for free.

 

Get a Roku, or Netflix, or an HDMI cable so you can stream off the Internet.

Better yet, just cut the damn thing. Cable TV makes me want to bang my head on a wall.

Many many years ago, in the middle of an argument about all the things I wouldn't let us have, I told my husband that I wasn't just a Puritanical miser. I just didn't think it was good judgment to spend $150 a month on cable when I had only $200 to spend on groceries and we $140K in debt with a house practically falling down around us.

If we ever got out of debt, I said, I would subscribe to cable/dish/whatever service he deemed appropriate, and smile.

We paid off the student loans, sold the house, moved halfway (back) across the country, and paid cash for the new domicile. Out of debt.

Kept my word.

My kids learn bad manners from cartoon shows. My teenager watches people do dumb**** stuff on MTV. My hubby wants the kids to shut up so he can hear XXXX program.

I used to be grateful there was only ONE TV. Then my MIL moved into her side of the duplex for the hot part of the year. With a TV. And her own cable box. Reasonable.

When she wasn't here, we promised ourselves, we wouldn't use her living room or watch her TV.

Wanna guess how long THAT lasted?!?!?!

I wish I had never made that stupid promise. I HATE CABLE!!!!!

Cut the cord, and don't replace it. It will be the best thing you ever did for yourself.

 

We cut the cord three years ago. While I installed a digital OTA antenna in the attic of my garage, you can actually pull local channels over the internet now. There's an online service that runs $2-$4/month for local channel subscription over the internet. We also pay for Netflix and Hulu plus. All in all we went from $140/month to $35 for internet service and another $16 for Netflix and HuluPlus for a total of $51/month.

I thought my wife would miss Fox News and HGTV and that the kids would miss the Disney channel, but I haven't had any complaints. Just about everything they want is either OTA or via the internet. I'd never go back to paying the cable companies for their services.

 

When the nation went digital my free TV options skyrocketed.

In the analog days I got around 15 stations over the air and 5 of those were Spanish.

Now I get about 50 over the air, though about half are either Spanish, Vietnamese, or religious.

But I went from about 10 usable stations to 25 in about a year. Several of them are decent movie channels. About the only things I don't get are brand new movies and the cable network's premium TV series. I can wait a couple years on the movies to show up or go to the movies or hit the Redbox. The cable shows end up on the computer pretty soon in numerous places.

 

We have never had cable TV. We live in the country and there is none. We live between Topeka & Kansas City. We get 38 channels and sub channels, the major networks are duplications. The treasure is in the sub channels. We get two movie channels, two METV channels, 5 christian channels, and two channels that sell stuff. We do have medium speed internet, good enough for streaming video, home phone, and two wireless phones. All that costs us about $ 150 a month. We have a 40' tower with three TV antennas. One for KC, and two for Topeka.

 

... All that costs us about $ 150 a month. We have a 40' tower with three TV antennas.

Wow

Cut the cable quick !

 

If you are still using internet, I would recommend getting the digital antenna and a digital tuner if your TV doesn't have one and see if you can live with that. If not, try adding Netflix and HULU. If you still want more options, add Sling TV. By then you should still be under $100/mo total and you should have quite a few choices.