Without cable tv, what stations do you get?

[dfchelbay]

We're toying with the idea of canceling cable tv or, cutting it way back, beginning in September. If we cancelled it, what stations would we be able to get? I know last year everyone had to get those converter boxes if they weren't cable subscribers. If you have a newer tv, are they automatically digital? If so, what channels do you get. Way back before cable, we got the local stations and a few PBS stations. What do you get for "free" tv these days?

We have Comcast currently, and I cannot find any information about just basic cable. Digital starter seems to be the cheapest cable service they provide and it's $60 per month. Is there such a thing as basic cable anymore? If so, about how much does that cost. Anyone that currently has Comcast, and just basic cable, how much does that cost per month? The Comcast website won't allow me to look at the channel line ups for the different packages they offer. It just says:

""We are currently working to provide channel lineup information for your area".

Can someone copy and paste the channel line up here, if they can get it from the website. Thanks, and sorry for being such an anchor.

 

[RMAMom]

Not sure about the stations but Comcast has a basic package that they don't advertise that is around $13 to $15 a month. I was told this last year by Comcast when I called. I was trying to figure out what I would need before the conversion. They may not offer it right away just be sure to ask for the lowest plan they offer and when they explain it you can ask them again is that the lowest? I think it is for anyone that didn't want to get the converter box for digital.

 

[snoble]

^^^^^^^^this. Even with the converter box the reception was awful most of the time. they also cost like $60

 

[pixiewings71]

We have the very basic Comcast, with high speed internet. We will be paying about $50 a month for both, which saves us about $100. We get the basic channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PSB, our local government station and we get Discovery as well. We do not have any type of box so our cable is not digital, we have the cable plugged into our desktop computer and we watch TV via our Windows Media Center, we just watch Live TV thru that. It works great for us, we don't have many channels but we do have the ones we watched the most. If something is missing from our line up we go to the website of the TV station (TNT.com, Fox.com, etc etc) and watch full episodes via the internet. So far so good and we really needed the extra $100 a month.

 

[Mom_Rides]

We have never had cable in our house. It was just an extra expense that we never found necessary. I think our basic cable around here runs for like $15 a month and offers the basic channels plus a few extras and like CSpan or something crazy like that.

We have the digital converter boxes (one in our bedroom, one in the livingroom) with an antenna and it works for us just fine. Our local networks each have at least one extra station attached to it. One of the channels runs like weather and headlines on their extra channel. The other runs repeats of Entertainment Tonight and Extra plus home cooking and fashion shows. One has older TV shows on it (Bonanza and such). PBS has the regular PBS station plus PBS kids (BONUS!!!) and PBS Creates.

We recently got Netflix through our Wii and we love it. We can get the shows everyone is talking about without having to pay through the nose for them!

 

[Disneyforus]

We recently got Netflix through our Wii and we love it. We can get the shows everyone is talking about without having to pay through the nose for them!

Can you tell me more about how you do this?

 

[usnuzuloose]

Can you tell me more about how you do this?

You sign up with netflix and they send you a disc for the wii, and put it in the wii and it gives you instructions on how to connect. For 9.00 a month I save alot of money. You can also hook up to hulu.com. Free

 

[IndayMichelle]

We got rid of cable last January. I thought it would be really hard because I love my reality tv, but it's gone really well! We also use netflix. We pay about $12 a month (which we did before we canceled the cable) and got a streaming disc for our PS3. We can stream movies and tv shows. We also watch a lot of our shows on hulu.

I had to give up a few of my shows, but I'm catching up on some new ones on netflix. Also, my bathrooms stay cleaner without me glued to the tv......

 

[SandrA9810]

I've been discovering the joys of netflix lately. A lot of the shows I watched on cable, had the seasons on netflix, some for instant play too. And because I only had cable for one year... there's a ton of seasons and episodes I have yet to see.

There's talk of Hulu charging a premium for shows that are just broadcasted. Like now if a show airs on Sunday, you can watch it on monday. In the future, they're thinking of making you pay for that. If you don't pay, then you have to wait like 14-30 days till you can watch that episode. But still a whole lot cheaper to have netflix and hulu rather than cable.

There's also rumors of internet providers trying to cap how many gigs you can use a month. Kinda like what AT&T has done with their data plan. Cable companies are getting upset by the amount of dropped costumers do to people going the much cheaper route. Although there will probably be enough of a fight back to prevent it from happening.

 

[buzz5985]

But how are you connecting to the internet?? Isn't it through your cable company??? Believe me - I wouldn't miss cable. I already watch most of the shows online, but DH would miss the sports stations.

.

 

[sam_gordon]

We're toying with the idea of canceling cable tv or, cutting it way back, beginning in September. If we cancelled it, what stations would we be able to get?

The answer is "it depends". It depends on what local stations (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, plus maybe CW, RTV, among others) you can pick up. You might be able to get all the local stations by putting 'rabbit ear' antennas with your TV, you might need to put an antenna in your attic, you might have to put an antenna outside your house (and contrary to what HOA might tell you, they can't stop you from putting an antenna outside the house). If you get good enough reception, after you've bought the equipment, your monthly charge is $0.

As far as equipment, at minimum, you'll need an antenna, a receiver (maybe built into the TV... look for TVs that say they have ATSC tuners), and a TV. You may need an splitter, amplifier, or rotator. Not counting the TV, you're looking at about $100-$200 depending on how strong of an antenna you need.

Two websites you can look at are http://www.tvfool.com and http://www.antennaweb.org. Both can help you pick out an antenna based on your address and correctly point it. TVfool is slightly more technical but gives you more information (IMO). Either one should tell you which stations you can pick up over the air (OTA).

 

[jksgrammy]

Gave up cable 2 yrs. ago and have never regretted it. Finding out we read more and spend more time outside.

 

[lucas43068]

weve been with out cable for almost 3 years now, when we had it the only things we ever watched were NBC, CBS and FOX anyway. i do honestly miss discovery, but with the internet and netflix there really no need.
we do on the other hand have a pretty massive movie collection.

 

[Alexander]

ABC
CBS
NBC
Fox
PBS
and 2 more, but I don't know what they are!

 

[Alexander]

But how are you connecting to the internet?? Isn't it through your cable company??? Believe me - I wouldn't miss cable. I already watch most of the shows online, but DH would miss the sports stations.

.

Alot of people don't have access to internet through their cable providers because they live where there is no cable access.

We have satellite TV because there is no cable access where we live. Our internet has beem dial-up, satellite, and now we have DSL (we had to fight for this because they didn't go as far as our house, but we found someone we knew who put in a booster at the corner).

 

[n2mm]

Not sure about the stations but Comcast has a basic package that they don't advertise that is around $13 to $15 a month. I was told this last year by Comcast when I called. I was trying to figure out what I would need before the conversion. They may not offer it right away just be sure to ask for the lowest plan they offer and when they explain it you can ask them again is that the lowest? I think it is for anyone that didn't want to get the converter box for digital.

Thanks for the info. I've been toying with this also. We have to have at least basic or we would get no reception (no atenna). I was planing to call comcast this week and ask about the limited service. My cable bill is too high for what we get. I've also toyed with getting my internet through comcast as right now it's through my phone service. I also don't have a converter box.

 

[swilshire]

We actually gained some channels when we bought the digital converter boxes, but we also had to buy an expensive indoor antennae to get anything much in our family room. We get the major networks along with Fox, three PBS channels (we only got one before) and one more. More than enough for us.

The signal is generally pretty reliable, but sometimes gets flakey in bad weather. One of the networks, in particular, is often hard to watch.

Sheila

 

[Colleen27]

It depends on where you live. Where I'm at, without cable or a rooftop antenna you get nothing. For us, though, the bigger issue is internet; DSL + a home phone vs cable internet + TV is about the same cost, and for us cable is more of a benefit than a land line. The only thing I'd miss about cable is that the Tigers are never televised on the networks any more, but I'd go crazy without my internet connection!

 

[*Seanaci*]

We live with my parents...they have cable downstairs...we don't have it upstairs (mainly a safety issue with how/where they would have to run the new cable wires for up here). So, we have the converter box. We get the standard channels, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX, CW2. We also get Qubo (a kids station, which is great as it gives my son something to watch other than PBS). Overall, we get 20 channels, but only have about a dozen or so on our "favourites" button.

 

[JCMHutch]

We dropped our "cable" this past Spring. Because we live in an area that has no reception what so ever, we have a $12 a month Comcast that gives us our local channels, NECN Cable news and a few NH channels.

We now use Netflix on our television. We don't have a Wii so we bought a Roku box that allows us to stream Netflix to our tv wirelessly (we have inexpensive DSL from Verizon). This has been great. We love Netflix. DH and I don't miss our cable at all. We also like the $50 a month we are not spending on cable tv.