Those of you who don't have cable

[wendow]

I actually thought it was federal law that they were required to offer basic service, and it is, in fact. I don't think I can post links but it's on the fcc's website.

Well then our cable company is operating illegally. That service, at least at a cheap price, was removed from us many years ago. We moved this past summer and we actually called the cable company and asked about that type of package. They do not offer a cheap basic package. Their cheapest is $25 or 30 plus a bunch of taxes. We had that package for years prior to 2001 and only gave it up b/c it was taken away from us.

 

[wendow]

I just looked ours up...they offer a 'limited basic' which includes local channels (including gov't and education). I believe that is $17.95. Their 'basic' cable includes all the above plus 30-50 other channels and is $29.95.

 

[MillauFr]

I just looked ours up...they offer a 'limited basic' which includes local channels (including gov't and education). I believe that is $17.95. Their 'basic' cable includes all the above plus 30-50 other channels and is $29.95.

They don't make a point of advertising the limited basic cable. I had that until Comcast required us to get a set top box and said no thanks. Just cancel my cable. That was two years ago and I don't miss it. In fact I don't think I could go back to watching TV that has commercials.

 

[wendow]

They don't make a point of advertising the limited basic cable. I had that until Comcast required us to get a set top box and said no thanks. Just cancel my cable. That was two years ago and I don't miss it. In fact I don't think I could go back to watching TV that has commercials.

Well, in our case, we actually called and asked for their lowest basic package. The 'limited basic' is what we were offered and considering it is only local channels, pbs and local gov't channels, I can't imagine there is anything less than that.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I get my weather online.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We don't have cable, but we do have Redbox Instant that comes with 4 Redbox kiosk movies a month for $8 per month. We just have internet since we both work from home. I don't watch TV, but my husband "has" to have something to fall asleep to (we access the Redbox Instant through our Playstation 3). He also has a smartphone (through Walmart's Straight Talk service) for work. We pay about $45 a month just for internet, but I'm currently researching other companies that would be cheaper and still be efficient.

ETA: I check the weather every morning on weather.com to know how to dress, or what to expect, for the day.

 

[Robbi]

During hurricane season, I don't use tv as my go to source. Hardcoreweather.com has up to the minute posts and they're more reliable too. For example, that site said several days before Katrina struck that it was coming for New Orleans. The tv people were still up in the air at the time.

 

[crisi]

The internet and sirens - if anything is happening that you have to know about now, the sirens go off.

 

[pat fan]

Over-the-air TV has weather stations too.

Not everyone can get over-the-air channels. We live in the country, in a valley and there is no cable or over-the-air. It's a satellite dish or nothing.

We plan on suspending our DTV for a few months after the Olympics to see how it goes. We piggy-backed Hulu and Netflix off our son to see if that will work for us.The news amd sports are the two things we really don't want to do without, but I hate spending all that money for a couple channels, especially when DTV adds channels I hate.

 

[JoyG]

I don't live in tornado country, but my local news station live streams its broadcast on the internet, so I can get local news by turning on my computer.

Also I've found Facebook a surprisingly quick source of local info. If something big is happening, somebody has already posted about it.

 

[DawnM]

I have a rooftop antenna and get all the local channels for free. I even get a weather channel.

 

[lizbaby007]

I live in a pretty rural area that has one option for cable to my house. They unfortunately take advantage of that and charge an arm and a leg....even for basic cable service. I dropped them back in OCT.

I do still have cable internet (no dsl or uverse or anything else like that here) which costs about $20 a month. The local channels come in free by plugging the cable into my TV and doing a scan. They are crystal clear and in HD!! There are about 20 different ones plus a 24/7 weather channel. Thank goodness for that because short of a rooftop antenna I did not get squat to come through before.

Now with Netflix and Huluplus I have just about everything I need for much cheaper than my old $150 a month bill

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We don't have any cable, Sat or air TV at all. We just stream from our computers or use apple TV. Sometimes we splurge with buying a movie on Itunes.

I do have netflix on my computer and can hook it up to a TV.

Generally I find the news depressing and reality TV too stupid. We do miss some shows but find them streaming.

 

[ceemys]

Haven't had cable for over a year. The TV still had the weather icons in the corner of the screen. I actually pay for basic cable to get the $30 a month discount rate for the next year. But the box is in my closet. Lol. I like my antenna channels better than the cable channels. . Hulu and Netflix are definitely our best friends.

 

[DisneyFamily2015]

I spent $40 on something called the Mohu Leaf.... off of Amazon. It's a plastic antenna that gets about 20 of the basic channels. Works great! And I still get the weather alerts, amber alerts..... the only problem I have with it is that I'm close to a major airline and when the planes fly over it blacks out for a second or two but well worth the money. I haven't had cable in 3 years and I don't miss it at all!

 

[starwatcher]

we have a roku and downloaded aereo for 8 bucks a month all local channels for the dfw area

 

[pat fan]

we have a roku and downloaded aereo for 8 bucks a month all local channels for the dfw area

What is that? We have a Roku too. Are there locals for other areas? Where is there info on aereo?

Never mind. Went to their website and there is no coverage in our area. Somehow I am not surprised.

 

[tvguy]

Just buy a weather radio at Radio Shack, or if you have a scanner put in the National Weather Service frequency, 162.4 MHZ.

Your local broadcasters that you can receive with an antenna for free are required to put out weather alerts.

If you think you can't get local channels with antenna, make sure you have your antenna in the right place. Check with your local stations to see where their transmitters are in relationship to your house. I can not tell you how many times we have sent someone out to someone's house and move their rabbit ears like a foot, and they get a perfect signal. Digital is funny that way. No fuzzy signal, it is either there or it isn't

 

[pat fan]

If you think you can't get local channels with antenna, make sure you have your antenna in the right place. Check with your local stations to see where their transmitters are in relationship to your house. I can not tell you how many times we have sent someone out to someone's house and move their rabbit ears like a foot,

This is what antenna web said for my address:

No Stations were predicted for this address

Due to factors such as terrain and distance to broadcasting towers, signal strength calculations have predicted no television stations may be reliably received at this location.

Verify the correct ZIP Code and address have been entered.

Alternatively, you may also manually move the location pointer on the map below. Click and hold the pointer, drag it to another spot and release it. Signal strength calculations for the new location will be performed. If any signals are predicted to be strong enough at that location, the recommended antenna types to receive them are displayed.

 

[DawnM]

How far do you live from a location that broadcasts signal?

We are about 25 miles away from the signals, and we live in a bit of a valley surrounded by 70 foot tall trees. I thought we could never get signal. We certainly could NOT with an indoor antenna.

However, once we got a very good quality antenna, with an amplifier, we were able to get all the channels we needed. It had to be mounted on the roof though. Anything lower got signals that went in and out.

Dawn

This is what antenna web said for my address:

No Stations were predicted for this address

Due to factors such as terrain and distance to broadcasting towers, signal strength calculations have predicted no television stations may be reliably received at this location.

Verify the correct ZIP Code and address have been entered.

Alternatively, you may also manually move the location pointer on the map below. Click and hold the pointer, drag it to another spot and release it. Signal strength calculations for the new location will be performed. If any signals are predicted to be strong enough at that location, the recommended antenna types to receive them are displayed.