cable TV alternatives...

[amazingflapjack]

I am in North Central Florida-Ocala-on Cox cable currently, and I am looking for suggestions regarding other ways to receive TV-Our current TV cost, apart from phone and Internet, is 144.00 + a month. Just too much, especially given the "quality" of what is available. All suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Flapjack.

 

[Onomea]

Get a good air TV antenna, for your roof or attic. That’ll give you a lot to watch. Then get Amazon Prime or Netflix or both, and watch movies, etc., over internet. At my Oregon place, that is my set up. My internet connection is $45 a month, Netflix and Amazon Prime work out to about $10 a month so, say, I am paying about $65 a month for way more programming than I watch.

And Amazon orders ship free.

My set up is not good for sports, though, if that is something you like.

 

[gunnails]

What Onomea said, plus 1.

 

[susieqz]

yup.
my smart tv connects to the net. i get more free movies than i can ever watch.
got an antenna i the window for local channels.
since i have to pay for internet anyway, my movies are all free.

 

[Rudi]

Try radio.

 

[loknload]

We had Direct Tv and gave it up, got to expensive. So now we stream our tv via a Roku stick. Now we subscribe to PlayStation Vue for $60 per. month and we get all the national channels plus extras. We also subscribe to Netflix for another $12. Per month. so we get a lot of television for less then what we were paying for Direct.
So far so good and since it’s comong in via internet there have been no outages.

 

[kwselke]

I just got through setting up a new smart TV to act that also acts a a second monitor for my new desktop computer.

The 24" Class LG smart TV cost me $127 delivered. It is attached to a simple flat panel HDTV antenna, which is situated behind a sofa, chich is close to a window. Here in Houston I normally receive ~120 over the air broadcast HDTV channels. Excluding foreign language, religious, and shopping channels I recieve a good 30 channels of interest to me. The TV also connects to my Wi-Fi and can directly stream program information from a multi of free and pay sites on the Internet. It also connects wirelessly with my computer, so anything I can play or stream on my computer can be played on the TV. This includes DVDs, because the computer has a DVD player/burner with movie playing software.

If you do not want to buy a new smart TV, various devices like Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast will attach to an HDMI port on your old TV. If your TV does not have and HDMI port, I'm not sure what you need.

With taxes my Internet only service sets me back $65 per month, I have no pay services on top of it. I do not have The Weather Channel or CNN, but if there is a breaking news story that is not covered on the OTA stations I receive, I search online for a TV station close to the hurricane or event and usually find they are streaming the event live online.

 

[Bugkiller99]

You can get the major networks with an outdoor antenna. That will also give you MeTV, The CW network, old movies, and other "minor" channels.

If you are a big sports fan, you can get Sling Tv on a streaming device like a Roku, or other brand. Sling TV does not have a contract, and can be cancelled anytime. Or watch it on your tablet or computer.

There are usually other internet providers available, depending on where you live. I kept Cox just for the internet.

 

[italiansport]

The only thing I regularly watch is FOX TV( Carlson, Hannity etc.). Will I still be able to get this?
Jim

 

[kwselke]

The only thing I regularly watch is FOX TV( Carlson, Hannity etc.). Will I still be able to get this?
Jim

Here in Houston I receive KRIV 26.1 over the air. It is owned by FOX TV and is part of the Fox Network. I believe what you are looking for is the FOX News cable network. As far a I know you need some sort of pay system like cable, satellite, U-verse, etc to get the Fox News network. KRIV 26.1 has it's own local news programs and includes national and international news from FOX News, but they do not play the shows you refer to.

Some networks will allow you to directly stream their programing to your devices for a fee, as do many college sports teams. I just hate to pay for watching TV, when most of my watching is just for background noise.

There is plenty of junk to watch free. In my mind, if you are paying $100 a month and get junk plus one channel you want, you are effectively paying $100 a month for that one channel.

 

[dougb1946]

Dish, on an introductory offer. Fill the DVD with movies (you can download 7 at a time), then cut back to minimum service and enjoy the movies. Libraries lend CDs and books.

 

[oneounceload]

I am in North Central Florida-Ocala-on Cox cable currently, and I am looking for suggestions regarding other ways to receive TV-Our current TV cost, apart from phone and Internet, is 144.00 + a month. Just too much, especially given the "quality" of what is available. All suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Flapjack.

I used to live in Ocala; I used satellites; either Dish or Direct TV. They always ran low priced specials and when they wanted to raise the rates after a year, we threatened to go to their competitor and they would relent.

 

[carpriver]

we left cable TV for Netflex and Hulu and Amazon prime, there is more movies and recent TV programs then you can watch in a life time. where I live there is a lot of iron in the ground and in the hills that surround us that over the air tv is not possible. we are saving some money

 

[Sistema1927]

In addition to what has already been named, look at DirecTVNOW. It is the streaming service from AT&T, and includes Fox News in the basic package for $40 per month.

 

[Bozz10mm]

A good digital antenna, a smart TV, and Netflix. You get all the national affiliates, ABC, Fox, NBC, CBS, PBS, plus a lot of movies to watch.

 

[kwselke]

Until I got an email from them today I forgot aout streaming PBS to my computer, smartphone, and Chromecast attached to an older digital TV.


http://app.public.pbs.org/e/es.aspx?s=2143&e=1601526&elq=ba4524c8b85741e78e412efb112e863e

 

[Wee Hooker]

Get a $25 HDTV antenna and don't look back ( Mine came from THEbay and is the style with rotor and amp). I'm getting 56 channels ( from as far out as 65 miles) and the picture is better than when we had cable. ( Read: Visitors remark on how good the picture is.)
I splurged and added netflicks and along with my other free ROKU internet channels, rarely get bored.