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Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 6:45 am
by Spike
Well, my sat tv company has raised my rate for the final time. I have cancelled my service, so now... I need a decent alternative for local channels, national news channel and certain movie channels.

What have those of you that cut the satellite/cable cord been using? Any suggestions?

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:05 am
by mickey
We cut that cable back in 1998 & your options today are vastly superior to what they were back then.
There are plenty of streaming services available today, some better than others depending on your tastes.
My only recommendation on them is don't just pick one (say NetFlix as an example as it is the biggest)
But try first one and another. Most of my local TV can be had off Roku, for example.

My personal favorite isn't streaming at all. Instead, the old UseNet Newsgroups.
There you will find an excellent selection of TV from all over the world.
But if you don't remember UseNet, don't bother as it is easier to use the streaming services. :)

I disremembered, check to see what are built in to your TV. Most (all?) TV's today have several streaming services
built in, as well as the ability to connect WiFi to your LAN. Have fun playing with it. :)

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:09 am
by Tonray's Ghost
You could :

1) install a powered Aerial for local free channels.
2) get an Android box connected to your Internet connection and have countless options both free and pay for movies, et .

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:08 am
by tonebender
I use an antenna and I subscribe to Sling. I also still hang onto the $12 a month (2) disks at a time deal with Netflix. I may be the only customer still doing that lol, but it works for me. In the end I am getting everything I want our of TV for $45/mo. I got rid of cable and the sat dish in the early 90's.

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:26 am
by Tiga
Cut the cable/satellite over 10 years ago. It warms my heart to think of how much money I have saved in that time. I use antenna's for local stations (which many are in High Definition and 5.1 audio), and stream Netflix (with DVD's), Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus (package that has hulu and espn) through Roku devices. Far more content than I have the time to watch.

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:58 am
by Tsukiyomi
We cut the cord about 4 years ago now. It was a wrench for me since I'm one of those who likes to browse and stumble upon progs, but honestly I was watching no more than 8 channels on a regular basis and the bills were getting stupid.

After dabbling with Kodi since the days when you'd have to create your own layouts & sources, I stuck with it for a while, finally installing full builds. These days though we have a small HD antenna and a Fire Stick in every room with several 'unofficial' apps (LiveNet TV, Mobdro and TVTap are the most useful for live channels while TV Zion & Cinema Free are great for movies & binge-watching TV series) and Prime & YouTube for certain shows & documentaries. A lot of what I stream is live English TV, especially footie when it's on and to be honest streaming can occasionally be hit or miss depending on the source, but every time I get frustrated I remember that we're not forking out $180 per month to Dish Network. 8-)

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:53 am
by LightWingStudios
Just remember to stream MOST TV/Movies/etc you still need an Internet Connection and that cost doesn't go away when you cut the cord from Cable or Dish.

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:49 am
by Milkman
I cut the cord about 15 years ago.

Now, I don’t usually watch anything, but I do have Netflix.

I also built an antenna (and hung it in my attic) from these plans from Popular Mechanics, which has been giving me a bunch of high-def local channels over the air, problem free all this time:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cultur ... v-antenna/

Re: Giving Up Satellite TV

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:42 pm
by uwmcscott
I have not had any form of satellite or cable for many years. Like others above, we have a residential broadband connection for things like netflix and prime video, and a powered antenna for regular Over the Air TV. I"m in a pretty small market where there's just one of each national affiliate ( ABC/CBS/NBC and PBS ) but we still get about 20 channels - each network has 3-5 sub channels.

Honestly, if I ever have time to just "watch" something it's usually on YouTube watching old music videos anyway.