Anyone switch from Cable TV to Broadcast TV?

Bugkiller99

Bugkiller99

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Are you a cord cutter?

I'm giving serious consideration to it. I've started by testing a "fly saucer" type antenna that I have on the floor by my TV. Picked up a few channels, so I'm going to mount it on my chimney and see how that goes.

What's your experience? Suggestions as to equipment?

My hurdles are my SEC football games, most of which are on cable. And DVR. Love my DVR. But if I can get enough over the air channels, maybe I can come up some work a rounds.

I don't want this to be a rant about cable TV. That's for another day. Just want some advise and thoughts from those who have gotten rid of cable/satellite TV.
 
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Tried it and don't get enough channels. And the ones you can get are sometimes iffy depending on the weather. Sticking with cable and Tivo.
 
I did it for couple months while I was working on a house in Moore Haven Fl. Had a saucer style antenna with a small electric power amplifier mounted on a 20 ft pole. Pulled in ota stations from both coasts in high definition. Used Netflix and Amazon prime and had more tv programming than I cared about watching.
 
I terminated my TV relationship with TWC over a year ago, and haven't regretted it one minute. I downloaded a broadcast map from 'Antennaweb.com', to see what direction the transmitters in my area were, what the signal strength would be at my house, and how many stations I could get. Then I bought an indoor- outdoor amplified antenna off of Ebay, mounted it outside under my roofline, and oriented it to the 2 major broadcast directions shown on my map. I connected it to the TV's antenna input, changed the input selection to 'antenna' and set the TV to Channel Scan to pick out what it could 'see'. 32 channels were available, and I selected 27 that I would watch. It has been great ever since.
What you don't see when you have cable is that most TV stations broadcast more than 1 channel. Some stations I get 2, some 3, and some 4. And each channel is different. It makes for a wide variety of selections. The signal is in HD 1080p, so it is sharper and clearer than cable, and, best of all, the cost is $0.00. I save $98.36/month not having TWC cable, and I didn't have the premium packages.
I miss some sports programs that are only on cable, but my life has not come to an end because of it, and I find myself doing more activities outdoors when I might have been sitting inside, watching the tube before. I do get a lot of old movies, some new movies, lots of reruns from the 60s, 70s and 80s, like I Love Lucy, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Wanted:Dead or Alive, The Brady Bunch, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Hill Steet Blues, Night Court, Gilligan's Island, Sanford and Son, and too many more to name. There is always something to watch, if I'm in the mood.
Why not spend $30 on an antenna and give it a try before you cancel your cable? That way you will find out if it is acceptable to you. I like it a lot, but YMMV.
 
I've gone back and forth between cable and broadcast TV, depending on where I live and what is included in the fees I am forced to pay. My preferred option is free broadcast TV plus high-speed broadband Internet service for streaming. I do not watch much TV, and when I am forced to pay for cable I find little more worth watching than what is broadcast for free. Right now I have broadcast and Internet streaming. I am a fan of Texas A&M football, and only have limited access to their games via broadcast. If watching SEC football were worth big money to me I'm sure TAMU would oblige me with a streaming pass to their games for a price. What do you watch and how much is it worth to you?
 
I pulled the plug on cable/dish last October. Fed up with it. I get about 25 or so over the air channels. We're not always happy with it, but we don't watch all that much tv either. My only regret was college bowl games being mostly cable channels.
 
I never heard of Broadcast TV,I'm not with cable either,I use DirecTV,and happy with it till it rain or get's to cloudy. Other then that,i'm happy.
 
With the exception of Big Bang Theory and Law & Order: SVU, I watch virtually no broadcast TV. Almost everything I watch is science and history shows, and vintage movies available only via cable.
 
I got fed up with comcast, 190 channels in 3 languages and nothing worth watching. Bought 2 $10 antennas from walmart and mounted one outside for the living room and the bedroom one next to the window. Gives me enough to watch for free and netflix and chromecast from my Chromebook and I can catch up on most shows I miss although usually a week late, have to let the commercials pay for themselves I guess. Also just finished watching the first 2 seasons of vikings on dvd from the library for free. Got breaking bad to go through next.
 
I'm doing it now. Amazon Firestick (if your data package will allow it), Youtube, Netflix, local channels with an indoor antenna. Between all of these we're surviving AND sticking it to the cable provider(s) I hope. We got sick and tired of the unwanted channels and increasing cost for things we didn't want. Happy so far!
 
a roku costs $60.
there are no monthly charges unless you want premium channels.
my wifi give me all the movies i could possibly want for free.
it just plugs into your tv n you get everything from the net.
 
there are packages you can buy for sports.
personally, i don't believe in paying for tv.
 
I am going to try it soon. Moving June 30th and have not lived within range of cable for 10 years. We will rent for 6 months or so and try to wean my wife from Direct /Dish TV. I can get by but we will see what happens.
 
Even though I live in an area with lots of TV stations, I can get only a couple of them using the antenna. I have the most basic Dish Network setup with only the local channels and lots of other worthless channels no one watches - religious, hispanic, home shopping, infomercials, etc. It does include The History Channel. But it costs me only $17.95/month, with no DVR.
 
You can buy a TV tuner card for a PC and use window media center software and use your hard drive or an external hard drive as a DVR and connect it to your TV with HDMI cable. You can download TV schedules that will display much like satellite and cable does.

Only problem now is Windows 10 does not support Media center, so it may short lived from now on.
 
Got to have some sort of "enhanced TV" (Cable or satellite) way up here in the boonies. Very little of OTA signals make it here and the picture quality is horrible.

Its like cell service, which is not within 5 miles of us in any direction.
 
TV??? :confused: TV??? :confused: What is this thing you call TV??? ;)

Oh, I remember what it is now! It's that thing upstairs that the good wife uses to watch some ridiculous thing called "Dancing with The Stars"! :D

Yep! :) Now I remember! :p
 
I'm on high land around here so I get good digital reception. The picture quality of some of the HD programming is actually better than Comcast. I can get something like 40 channels. Unfortunately, there isn't much on ABC, CBS or NBC I'm interested in, and a lot of the others are religious, Spanish and paid programming that I'm not much interested in watching either.

So.... If I was to cut the cable I would't be watching over the air either.

I wish there was a way I could just pay for the few channels I watch on cable for a reduced price. I've got something like 500 channels but watch about three.
 
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My TV and my laptop both have HDMI ports. I can play directly from the laptop to the TV using only an HDMI cable using an internet connection. I think all of the networks have websites for delayed viewing of their shows, also can use HULU, Netflix, etc. the same way. I don't do it very much, but it can be done. Playing DVDs from the laptop to the TV can be done the same way.

There are lots of old movies to be found on YouTube.
 
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I dropped Comcast when "basic cable" jumped to $60 a month about 2 yrs. ago. I live in Indiana about 30 miles from the Sears tower in downtown Chicago. (where HD OTA is broadcast fro). I get about 55-65 OTA channels. 65 when weather is clear, 55 when it rains hard. I use a flat 10X12" indoor antenna that I found I get best reception on when its mounted in a window and angled towards Chicago. My laymans theory is my house has pipes, thinwall, and anything else grounded that attenuates the signal unless the antenna is in the window. I currently have Netflix, Trial Amazon Prime, and Hulu+. I'm gonna drop Hulu and start paying for prime.
 
I just dropped dish network this past Friday. I had it for over 16 years but I was fed up with the rate increases. I've also had a high quality channel master rooftop antenna for about 35 years that I barely used during the time I had dish but now that's my tv source. I get 30-35 channels but there's nothing worth watching 95% of the time. I suppose i'll make it through the summer with just the roof antenna but i'll probably go with cable or direct tv when football season starts if I can find a reasonable package.
 
We dropped ATT and their Triple Play and went to Comcast for phone and internet. Paying $60/mo for that now compared to $250 for ATT. I also subscribe to SlingTV for $27/mo and MLB.tv for $10/mo. Mom does not watch TV much at all and using the ESPN app with SlingTV as my provider gives me all the sports I need. I still watch golf and some other sports on OTA television. About the only thing I miss is racing and I get a fix now and then on regular tv.
 
susieqz said:
a roku costs $60.
there are no monthly charges unless you want premium channels.
my wifi give me all the movies i could possibly want for free.
it just plugs into your tv n you get everything from the net.
Click to expand...

How do you get Wi-Fi? Don't you still need a WiFi router from your cable provider to feed the Roku?
 
Gone

Got rid of the dish three years ago. Have a roof mounted antennae and a Roku. I'm paying for high speed internet either way so made sense to me. Dropped the $115 per month Direct TV bill and pay about $25 for Netflix and Amazon Prime. During SEC football I get Sling for 19.99 and get 4-5 college FB channels. Then I cancel it after the Super Bowl. Watching less TV and saving $$
 
If you are lucky, in some areas you can get free "hot spot" wireless internet service. While I don't use them as my primary service, I can access two other services from my location free, and have been able to for years. I don't know their source, but the signals are not as strong. I think one is from a nearby McDonald's. Not sure about the other, possibly a pizza restaurant. For about 5 years years I piggybacked on a neighbor's wireless internet service. He didn't mind, as he seldom used it for anything other than email with his kids. He died several years ago. I miss him.

I have read that Austin TX is so full of free wireless "hot spots" that there is no place in town that you can't access at least one of them.
 
Thought I would jump in with an update.

Put up the antenna and got the 5 major network stations, along with various other channels. Spent a month noting what we watch, and discovered 90%+ was on of the 5 networks.

So we cut the cord. Ramped up our internet service, got a Roku box, and a Sling subscription to watch football. Got an over the air DVR.

Been three weeks, and haven't missed the 300 plus channels and big dollar bills at all!
 
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