Even though I’m not a Cablevision customer and didn’t risk missing the Oscars because of the cable company’s squabble with ABC, I was inspired to explore alternatives to my cable TV service and the ever-higher bills.
So I made an antenna out of a couple of pieces of wire cut from an old telephone extension cord and a bit of cable coax with an RF plug attached. Hooked it up to the back of the set and let it scan the over-the-air channels, and hey, I’ve got free, crystal-clear, high-definition signals from ABC, CBS, NBC, CPTV, Fox and a couple of independent channels. There’s also a digital program guide and lots of digital extras like 24-hour weather, an NBC sports feed and, saints preserve us, QVC and its incessant Dooney & Bourke shilling.
OK, now the nearly $100 per month I’m paying for cable TV includes a wonderful whole-house DVR, lots of Law & Order reruns and some cable-only programming that I watch. But I’m having a really hard time justifying the cost when I never even look at 90-plus percent of the service I am buying.
I’m seriously considering cutting the cable and saving myself $1,000 bucks a year. Any advice from those who’ve already switched back to good old antenna-based — make that new improved over-the-air digital — TV would be most welcome.
My college offers cable. However, I watch episodes of popular shows online at sites like Hulu and Fancast. I think that these sites and sites that stream video in general may be a good alternative to people that do not wish to subscribe to cable. However, one loses local news and the episodes are available online a few days after they aired on TV.
The N.Y. Times has written stories about people who have switched from cable to their computers for video media. The latest story appears to be “The Mouse That Roared…” @ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/garden/11tv.html.