Cutting the Satellite TV cable

[Art Mann]

I cut the cable TV a couple of years ago. We have all the network broadcast affiliates nearby and I can receive them on my home made wood and copper wire antenna. I very seldom do so because I watch commercial free Netflix and VUDU and simply can't stand the 18 minutes of advertising for each 42 minutes of broadcast programming. We do have a Red Box machine close by and I watch rented movies fairly often. I have not regretted the change.

[Larry Browning]

I cut the cable TV a couple of years ago. We have all the network broadcast affiliates nearby and I can receive them on my home made wood and copper wire antenna. I very seldom do so because I watch commercial free Netflix and VUDU and simply can't stand the 18 minutes of advertising for each 42 minutes of broadcast programming. We do have a Red Box machine close by and I watch rented movies fairly often. I have not regretted the change.

I am still saddled by the desire to watch live sports on ESPN and the like. I think if I didn't have that, it would be a lot easier to cut the cable.

[John A langley]

Larry are Direct TV the bill used to be $ $210 One Saturday morning about six months ago my wife got on the phone with them after about 45 minutes or Bill is now 157.50. Good season tickets for KU basketball can run 10 gran I figure I'm saving 8 grand, go to a Rangers game and go to Field level See what that cost , point being whats the trade-off

[Jerry Thompson]

I could do without cable but my wife has a couple of programs she likes. I would love to dump the TV and phone. I may try an antenna to pick up the local fare. Then see if it sits well with the spouse. I have not seen any movies offered that remotely interest me. I have Roku but dropped Netflix as it is was a waste of money due to the movies offered that did not interest me.

[Jim Koepke]

If your contract is up you can usually get lower pricing out of them to stick around. But sounds like price isn't your only motivation.

One of the Direct TV sales people told me to get the discounts for new subscribers it has to be under a different name. The same name can not have been used in the last 6 months.

Currently our service is in my wife's name. If we wanted the "new subscriber discount" we need to restart service with my name.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

The reason I won't get Sling TV is it appears there is no DVR option. If I can't record shows and play them back when I want then the TV service is of no use to me.

[Jamie Buxton]

I have a package from Dish that sounds very much like you're getting from Direct -- the usual networks, the local stations, several ESPN channels, a local sports channel (Warriors and Giants), a bunch of other stuff, but not HBO or Showtime. It costs me $76/month.

[Myk Rian]

I have found a dvr that will work with a digital antenna for local channels.

No such thing as a Digital antenna. One from the 70s, with a VHF yagi and UHF bowtie is all you need.
When HD came out on OTA TV, antenna manufacturers renamed all their products to be Digital, or HD compliant. They didn't change a thing. Just the package.

[Brian Elfert]

I am currently paying $99 plus taxes and fees ($112 total) for Comcast cable plus Internet. Not terrible considering Comcast Internet alone would cost nearly $60 a month I understand.

[David Masters]

I cut the cord with Direct TV three years ago. The very next day after I cancelled my service, I received a call offering me the same package for $35 a month with no contract. I declined. This evening I received an offer for $20 a month for a year (two year contract) and a $150 Visa gift card. It's sitting in the trash. I found that the broadcast channels plus a Tivo was all I needed. I only get about an hour or so a night to watch TV. I can alway buy a series off Amazon or iTunes if there is something off the cable channels I want to watch.

Dave

[Curt Harms]

I am still saddled by the desire to watch live sports on ESPN and the like. I think if I didn't have that, it would be a lot easier to cut the cable.

It might be worth a look at Roku. We just got one to experiment with after reducing our TV lineup. We're thinking Huluplus for $7.99/month which appear to carry most of the cable TV channels we watch. ESPN is available on Roku though I haven't investigated it yet. I do know ESPN got more than a little annoyed at Verizon for offering TV packages that don't include ESPN. If this spreads, watch Pro Athletes' salaries drop. Poor babies. There is one downside to streaming vs. cable/satellite; a subscription to a streaming service i.e. Huluplus is only good for one streaming device. As I understand it, if we wanted to watch non-free progamming on more than one Roku (for example) we'd need a subscription for each box. I could be wrong on this but that's my understanding.

[Pat Barry]

I am still saddled by the desire to watch live sports on ESPN and the like. I think if I didn't have that, it would be a lot easier to cut the cable.

I agree - this is a problem that needs to be solved. ESPNs, Fox 1, Fox 2, Fox Sports North, CBSSN, NDCSN, etc. How do I get those without Directv/Cable?

[Pat Barry]

No such thing as a Digital antenna. One from the 70s, with a VHF yagi and UHF bowtie is all you need.
When HD came out on OTA TV, antenna manufacturers renamed all their products to be Digital, or HD compliant. They didn't change a thing. Just the package.

Not sure what that VHF Yagi is doing for you Myk, aren't all the digital signals UHF? Also, the digital signal is not like the old analog signal.. You really need a good antenna or you will not capture / have signal drop out - not just a snowy picture like you were used to

[Phil Thien]

Someone was just in the shop yesterday showing me some fractal antennas he had made, they apparently had been working wonderfully for him at picking up far-away stations. Just make using some online instructions, copper wire, and a piece of hardboard.

[Phil Thien]

I agree - this is a problem that needs to be solved. ESPNs, Fox 1, Fox 2, Fox Sports North, CBSSN, NDCSN, etc. How do I get those without Directv/Cable?

With the Sling packages I got the base package ($20) and the "Sports Extra" ($5) packages, so sports is pretty well covered. They don't have Fox-1 or Fox-2, though. They only have Bloomberg and CNN for news. I never watch network news, though.

https://www.sling.com/package

So I have Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu (paid Hulu, I guess they're dropping the "Plus" naming), and Sling.

Some of this is easy to justify because I can use it all from other locations, it is all very portable.

Even easier to justify because someone else is paying for my SlingTV.