Cutting the cable cord....

[snoopy5386]

Our family got an HDTV and wireless blu ray player for Christmas and now have the ability to stream netflix, hulu plus, amazon prime, etc. and we are seriously considering cancelling our direct tv subscription. For those who have done this, what do you miss? We don't watch sports so that isn't an issue, but how do you watch things like the nightly news, special events like the Ball Drop in Times Square on NYE, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, Disney Christmas Parade, news coverage after major world events like Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook, Snowmageddon, presidential debates, etc.? Normally I'd watch CNN for this stuff, but that won't be an option. I've never not had cable or satellite tv in my entire life so this will take some adjusting, but the savings seems worth it!

 

[HouseofMinnie]

Now that TV is digital you should be able to pick up your local channels. You may or may not need an antenna to help with reception. Everything you listed can be watched on regular TV. I don't have cable and I love it. I stream Netflix and other services. When I'm at my sisters house who has cable, there is never anything on TV worth watching. I am able to pick up 15-20 channels on my regular TV.

 

[DawnM]

You can put your Directv subscription on hold for up to 6 months per year. Put it on hold and see how you do without it. That is what we did.

 

[jentifred]

Yep, just see what you get with your TV's built-in antenna or an external. We watched the Olympics like that this year, as well as the presidential debates. I think the Macy's and Rose Bowl parades are on broadcast stations.

 

[Alesia]

but how do you watch things like the nightly news, special events like the Ball Drop in Times Square on NYE, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, Disney Christmas Parade, news coverage after major world events like Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook, Snowmageddon, presidential debates, etc.? Normally I'd watch CNN for this stuff, but that won't be an option.

All of those things are on network TV.

 

[snoopy5386]

I tried the built in and an external antenna and got nothing. Built in was literally nothing, external antenna was a few PBS stations, no broadcast networks.

 

[jentifred]

You must be in a valley or something!

Check with your local cable company for a super-basic package, then. Our cable company calls it "Limited Basic" and it's about $25/month.

 

[snoopy5386]

That's the weird thing, I'm not! I'm on the top of a hill and only 30 miles or so from Baltimore!

 

[clm10308]

That's the weird thing, I'm not! I'm on the top of a hill and only 30 miles or so from Baltimore!

Have you tried the antenna in different locations of the room to see if it makes a difference? We just bought an antenna and are getting ready to drop our DirectTV. We tried the antenna in several different spots to get more channels. Now we get 7 channels, but two are in Spanish.

 

[Kbella's mom]

We went cable free 5 years ago and don't miss it at all! You might need a better external antenna. We have two different ones. If we move the TV to a different spot, our original antenna won't work. We sometimes have to do several program scans while tweaking the antenna. We don't get NBC at all, but we do get other great channels. (We live in a rural area).
It sounds like a pain in the neck, but the savings pay for our yearly vacation!

 

[Planogirl]

We're odd because we love our satellite TV! It's one of our few luxuries and I can't see giving it up. I am reading this thread with interest though because I just can't imagine.

 

[usnuzuloose]

There is nothing I miss. I love my roku box for netflix and Hulu plus.

 

[Tree]

we went down to basic cable this past year l and got hulu and netflix instead. We have an order tv so we need the cable boxes to ge the local channels. I don't miss all the extra tv that I watched.

 

[vacationer1954]

That's the weird thing, I'm not! I'm on the top of a hill and only 30 miles or so from Baltimore!

There's a member here who posted a really great link to see what you should be able to receive where you live: tvfool.com. Just enter your address and it'll show you a colorful list of stations. You should receive the ones in green very strongly. If you don't then it is probably something wrong with the antenna or the antenna jack in your television.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

We went NO CABLE a few months ago. We have an external antenna -$100. We got Apple TV to efficiently stream Netflix and HULU + -$100. We already had a TIVO to record shows and it works fine with the antenna (you can buy one w/o too much difficulty).

So after an initial $200 investment we now have $15 Netflix/Hulu bill per month and we are going to cancel HULU because the TIVO is enough to manage our network TV needs. There are 2 cable shows that we love so we order those over Apple TV for <$35 per season.

We will now spend $7.99(Netflix) instead $100 per month for TV. The only thing I miss is HGTV.

 

[momof3ds]

You might need an outdoor antenna.

 

[720L]

We still have satellite, but only basic channels. I REALLY miss all the "reality shows"...all the good ones are on TLC, Bravo, etc.

 

[DawnM]

As for an antenna, none of our indoor antennas work well, and certainly not a "regular" antenna. We are in a valley surrounded by a lot of tall trees and we are 25 miles from most of the broadcast station.

This one works, but not indoors unless it is a North Facing-in the window-location.

http://www.amazon.com/Winegard-FV-H...UTF8&colid=2PEI3E41N5Y8G&coliid=IFDPBERNERAKR

There are so many antennas out there and some just simply will NOT work for people outside of the city.

AntennaWeb.org and TVFool.com should be of some help.

Dawn

 

[wgeo]

We cut cable, but couldn't get local channels with antennas, we tried a few different ones. So we do have the basic cable $20/month just for locals. Then we have netflix/hulu. The only thing we miss is Espn for my DH. We've been like this for a year now and couldn't be happier!

 

[Trish.Glenn]

How much do you all spend on Internet? I would love to cancel cable but here we bundle and the Internet only price seems so high.