The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
Read The Wonder of Tech in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer!
*************************************************************
If you’re looking for ways to save on next year’s budget while shopping for gifts for your significant other, combine your two goals by canceling your cable service and setting up your home for optimal TV viewing without cable.
The good news is that your viewing choices have grown tremendously over the past few years, making life without cable seem less of a sacrifice. By setting up your home to be cable-free, you can save on costly monthly cable bills while having copious quantities of content to enjoy.
What Can You Watch?
Without cable service, you can watch local stations for free, often in HD. Check out titantv.com to see the listings of over-the-air broadcasts in your area. In Philadelphia, Channels 6, 10 and 17 broadcast three separate streams of shows each, including streams that aren’t aired on cable. On Saturdays these streams offer sporting events like college football games, figure skating and children’s programs for every member of your family.
If you’re reluctant to give up your favorite cable shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and others, no worries, you can still watch them without cable. Subscription services Netflix and Hulu+ charge $8/month each for streaming, much less than cable, with thousands of movies and TV shows, including cable shows.
You can also get cable shows on Apple’s iTunes, either individual episodes or a season subscription. Shows are usually available on iTunes and Hulu+ the day after they’re broadcast, or the following season on Netflix.
YouTube, Crackle, and Amazon Instant Video also offer plenty of free and paid choices for your viewing pleasure.
TV Antennas
To receive an over-the-air TV signal for your local stations, you’ll need an antenna. You can either get a whole-house antenna, residing on your roof or in your attic, or one for each TV in your home. Prices range from a few dollars for your classic set-top rabbit ears to a little over a hundred dollars for a roof-top antenna.
You need to learn the distance from your home to your local TV station towers to know how powerful your antenna should be. Antennaweb.org will calculate the exact distance from your house to TV station towers and the compass direction to point your antenna for each station.
Connecting Your TV to the Internet
To watch shows from services such as Netflix, Hulu+, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon Instant Video, etc. you need to connect your TV to the Internet. If you’re buying a new TV for your loved one this holiday season, get one that connects directly to the Internet.
But you don’t need to buy a new TV to get Internet content. Many set-top boxes can connect you to the Internet at a fraction of the cost of a new TV. You may already have an Internet connection through a Blu-Ray DVD player or a video game console, such as PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360.
For prices ranging from $50 – $98 you can get a Roku player that will stream Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, CNBC, Fox News, NHL Game Center, and many more channels. Spring for the higher end model and you can even play Angry Birds on your Roku.
If you want to record your shows, get a DVR to record shows from your local stations as well as pause, fast forward and rewind live shows.
The TiVo Premiere, currently $79 at Amazon, can record shows from local TV stations as well as stream services such as Netflix, Hulu+, YouTube, Blockbuster On Demand, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora and others. With the TiVo app, you can use your iPhone or iPad to program your TiVo to record, view the channel guide and manage your recordings. TiVo charges $20/month or $499/lifetime for the program guide.
Apple TV, $90 from Amazon, will play content from iTunes, including tv shows, movies, music videos and video podcasts, as well as Netflix, MLB TV, NBA TV and YouTube. Apple TV can also transform your TV into a large digital picture frame by displaying your photos on your TV screen.
Some Blu-Ray DVD players also stream Netflix, Hulu+ and other Internet content. If you’re giving a Blu-Ray player as a gift, make sure to get one with the ability to stream Internet programs.
With all of the selections for content available from local stations and on the Internet, you may not miss cable at all!
Have you considered cutting the cable for your TV? Do you watch mostly local stations? Do you watch Internet content such as Netflix on your TV? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* Scissors image by My Tears Fell
Thanks, Carolyn!
I’m saving this to review. When we move in two weeks it’ll be the perfect time to start again, and save some money..
Betsy
Hi Betsy, I hope that you’re able to save money on expenses for your tv viewing. You can check with Antennaweb.org before you move to see how far your new home is from your local TV station towers.
Good luck with your move, Betsy! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I don’t have cable. I have Freeview and a digital video recorder. I thought about a new one because the hard drive doesn’t work sometimes. I’ve had it 7 years and so it has done good. I record to a USB flash drive on my new TV in my bedroom and so that is good enough. The programs are garbage. I watched 2 episodes of the mentalist last night in bed! I can download YouTube video and I want to see if it plays through the flash drive of the TV. I make my own videos in WMV too and will check to see if they play. I put those on Facebook, but the copyright on the music could be a problem so I don;t put them on Youtube. DVD is another option too, I’m thinking of DVD for something to keep me amused over Christmas. I like the idea of Smart TV’s that can talk to us. I saw someone on TV with an Iphone and she asked if she needed her umbrella today and the phone said no rain. Not that smart, I check the weather forecast every morning on my laptop, but a more friendly and personal system would catch on.
Hi Mike, I tried Freeview when I lived in the UK, but my DVR only picked up four channels. That wasn’t enough for us so we signed up with Sky TV. But I know others who were able to get 32 channels on Freeview.
Yes, Siri can tell me if I need an umbrella or a coat. There are rumors in the tech world that Siri will be coming to TV, “Siri, play the most recent episode of The Mentalist.” That would be cool! 🙂
I can see where this would be a big savings for a lot of people but I’m sure you already know why this wouldn’t be the best route for me. 🙂
First off, I live in a condo and our cable is included in our fees so even if I canceled my cable I would still be paying for it. I only get basic cable anyway with no additions accept the cable box which isn’t much. My savings wouldn’t be huge.
The second thing is that I would have to sit at this desk even longer then I already do because you know I only have this one PC. I also can’t stand watching commercials and even though they may just be 30 sec., I still don’t like them.
The third thing would be the closed caption which I’m sure they will eventually incorporate if more people go this route. A lot of it I can’t hear so I’d just rather miss the show then try to figure out what they are saying.
These are just my thoughts on this route at the moment but I know one day Carolyn I will move up in the tech world and actually get a laptop or iPad and probably about that time, they will have incorporated into their service some of the things I would need in order to enjoy viewing them on the computer.
Thanks for sharing Carolyn, this will really be great for a lot of people.
~Adrienne
HI Adrienne, You’re right, if you are already getting cable service through your condo association, there’s no need to cut it. You may as well watch it since you’re paying for it anyway!
I had free cable in my first apartment and it had cable service included. It was the first time I had seen cable and I was so excited, except I was in law school which really wasn’t the time to be watching a lot of TV. So I just recorded a lot of shows and movies to watch when I had the time. Except I never did watch them.
I am on the lookout for tech that will help you with your hearing issues, Adrienne. I will let you know when I come up with something, I promise. 🙂
I think this is a real eye-opener for several people who blindly subscribe to the nearest cable company without a second thought. These cable operating companies are enjoying their monopoly in their service areas and as Adrienne has rightly mentioned, they have even gone to the extent of tying up with home and apartment communities to mandate the sign-up.
We really need to make this happen where every one of us will enjoy free and uninterrupted broadcast of their favorite shows without having to enter into this cable subscriptions.
These are really some very good tips for all of us and I am sure most of us will end up thinking twice before paying our next month’s cable bill 🙂
Hi Praveen, You’re right, people should really consider whether their cable bill is worth it. Many people sign up for a great deal for the first few months and then the price goes up and they stay with the service even though the price is higher than they would be willing to pay initially.
It’s important to know that there are alternatives to cable that offer a wide choice of programming at a fraction of the cost!
I think about this periodically but thus far the options I need just haven’t been there. But I suspect that in the not so distant future cable will be banished from my home.
Hello Jack, What sorts of options are you looking for? There are more and more options for TV viewing all of the time.
Hi Carolyn,
We are looking into some streaming options right now to see what is available, so will check into your suggestions. I would love to let go of cable, as I find I’m not watching as much TV these days. Some of your choices sound interesting, so thanks for sharing the information.
Hi Cathy, Yes, it’s important to explore your options to see if you can save money without giving up a whole lot! Good luck with your decision. 🙂
If you’re with Comcast, you don’t have to get rid of cable completely. I have Comcast Internet and I downgraded my Cable to Basic. Its $11 a month for Basic Cable and $12 discount on my Internet service for having cable, so basically I’m saving a dollar. Basic only gets you the local channels, but I do most of my viewing on the web anyway. If you’re using another service for both cable and internet you’ll want to check for a similar deal.
I don’t use TV anymore, only Netflix, youtube and basically the internet in general. I am my personal TV station. I don’t sit around watching what someone else thinks I should watch. I watch only what want. The internet – this is the future of TV and I’m starting to see more and more people thinking same as me.
Hi Cristian, Great point! That’s another benefit of cutting the cable. By watching internet content, viewers take a more active role in their viewing choices. Instead of mindlessly watching what’s on TV, viewers can select programs in their areas of interest.
Nice post Carolyn!
I did this two years ago, I cut the cable just for holidays. However during that time I realized I don’t need cable at all, so I haven’t had cable since. xD
Hi Allen, That’s great to hear! It’s funny, I bet you were concerned you would miss cable TV. So glad to hear you didn’t miss it a bit!
This is a really great information and I really like to reduce my dependence on Cable TV, but because of my location the options are very limited limited.
Hi Amanda, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I imagine it you live far from a major urban area your options would be limited. Connecting your tv to the Internet through one of these devices gives you many more options. Good luck with your decision!
Cutting the cable surely saves a lot of money. Also, I installed a USB TV tuner to watch local channels on my laptop, since I seldom use the TV nowadays, except that when my friends visits my house and watch TV on a wider screen; it’s also one of the cost-effective ways to watch TV locally.
Hi Emman, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! That’s another way to save money on your television viewing. When you connect your laptop to your TV, your laptop acts as the antenna. Brilliant. 🙂