We cut the cable/satellite connection years ago. We use OTA for local channels, plus Amazon Prime, HULU (which we're about to dump because we rarely watch anything on it), Sling, and Acorn. Will add Netflix before Gilmore Girls returns in November.

I'm not a cable cutter, I'm a cable never!

I've never had cable or satellite, I've always used internet for streaming shows. Before it was common, we just didn't watch TV.

No cable available, too many trees for satellite dish, no high speed internet - so I suffer with what I am able to stream on a dsl line. I did have a hughesnet dish for internet only that could be sited with the trees, but it was VERY expensive and about as fast as the dsl line...i had to sign a contract to try it out, but let it lapse the minute it ran out. Some days my dsl is so slow I can't even open a web page, let alone stream something. Other days it's okay.

We get 23 channels with our antenna. With the antenna booster we get 27. I get free movie rentals from the library. Right now I have free movie codes for Redbox that I got out of Jiffy popcorn boxes. :0)......but Redbox is only $1.50 a movie to rent.

edited to say: our TV's are smart & we have blueray

Like ldstarr, we ditched our television (9 years ago.) I've never had cable in my life. We read our news and stream things on Amazon Prime for entertainment. There isn't anything we've needed or wanted to see that we haven't been able to find online.

When we moved up here in the Santa Cruz Mts 30 years ago there wasn't any cable. We first had a 40 ft roof antenna, then in a couple of years we got a big satellite dish. In the early to mid 1990's we switched to DISH Network then later to DirecTV. Just this last year we got Netflix, HULU and Amazon Prime. All that and we still can't find anything we want to watch.

I got rid of cable and got an outdoor antenna and bought a DVR so no more monthly bills. I get about 35 channels but realistically watch only 6 or 7. Works for me.

We had DirecTV for decades. Early this year I found that the only fast internet I could get was from Comcast, so we signed up for a year of Xfinity. We stream Amazon Prime through a Blu-ray, and the Xfinity has some offerings we've enjoyed. Without the cable's DVR, we can't record the many PBS Masterpiece shows we enjoy. We've also seen many movies and TV series free on DVD's from our library.

This Comcast Xfinity with one DVR and one remote box is $129/mo. (Ten dollars of that is rental on the modem/router; we'll buy one if we continue to like Xfinity.) Amazon Prime is $99/yr. I can't remember the last time we went to a movie theater, and the only commercial TV we watch is the news.

Cable and streaming. I live on the wrong side of the hills to get OTA service. I keep saying that I'm going to drop the television part of my cable, but I never do because my father likes to watch the financial channels when he's visiting.

We watch very little TV, mostly just for sports, and use Dish. They have a great smartphone app, most handy for when you're away from home and remember you forgot to set something up to record. We also make good use of the Sling feature, which allows watching what's on live or the DVR on an internet connected "thing" (PC, tablet, or smartphone) anywhere in the world, and those things can be connected to a TV. The Sling allows my kids who live at the four corners of the map to save money by not having TV service and watch "our TV" (through Sling) instead. I also use it when traveling to watch games I've recorded, when the speed of the internet service I can connect to will allow. We also use it within the house, it makes any tablet or PC a TV you can watch Dish on.

Because of the heavy use of Sling, I need a high capacity internet connection and I have that through Comcast. The download has ridiculous capacity that no one would ever use (>120Mbps) but I have it for the upload tier which is in the 10-12 Mbps range. I also have Comcast TV service but it's unconnected - getting it reduced my internet bill by $10 per month.

We also have Amazon Prime and Netflix streaming, neither of which is used more than a few times a month except when family is visiting. I can afford to have it available for light use.

Time Warner Turbo Internet

Smart TV with OTA HD Frequency Antenna. 19 crystal clear channels.

Roku for streaming Netflix and Amazon.

Cancelled Hulu Plus since Amazon Prime offers everything plus free shipping, Amazon Music and Video.

So, instead of matching my neighbors invoice of over $150 a month, we enjoy all we ever want for $488 a year, which includes internet.

We're considering the TiVo Roamio OTA DVR.

Cable for tv and internet. And yes, it costs way too much. The amount just seems to creep upwards (TV) until one day you really look at the bill and see how much television is costing. I watch maybe 45-60 minutes max, after I've gone to bed at night. But DH has sports on my office television almost constantly, has additional sports channels he would miss if I dropped them.

I also keep saying that we'll cut the tv cable portion from our bundle, but haven't. Also stream a lot through Roku.

I have wondered how much we could get through an antenna.

Our TV is through the air via conventional indoor antenna. We live about 20 miles from the broadcast antennas and get stations carrying ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS ans\d an independent. Since stations converted to HD digital, reception is not good on all channels. A couple of channels are location sensitive within the house. (A lot of aluminum siding does not help.)

Internet and phone is by ATT's Uverse running over a pair of phone lines. The installer had to use two phone circuits to get the speed up. Its about 1/2 of the advertised speed, but is adequate for our use. Having Uverse's wireless in the house has been a bonus. That part works well. After the introductory period expires, the cost is not cheap and is more than expected : $100 per month for phone and internet. The alternative is DSL and reverting to analog phone, and I am not certain that DSL is available anymore in our town. ATT has been pushing hard on UVerse while phasing out other services.

We have DishNetwork, plus Netflix, Blockbuster, and Amazon Prime. Spending way too much, but I enjoy my TV.

Imstillcholecat - please tell me more about sling. I've been hearing a lot about that lately. Also wondering about acorn.

mimi,

Visit the page below and enter your zip code or street address.

Antennaweb

And take a look at a very good HD antenna.

HD Frequency

I was lucky, that antenna tv worked fine in my apartments, and then my house. I hope to use the same, when I find a new to me house.

Moni

Workoutlady - Sling lets us get CNN, ESPN, TBS, HGTV and lots of other channels. https://www.sling.com/  It's $20/month.

Acorn is a streaming service with TONS of British shows: http://signup.acorn.tv/  $5/month.

We rarely watch live TV, other than local news, but when some serious $h!t is going down, we're glad to have CNN available.

I've never had anything but an antenna. Current one is mounted high above the house, and pulls in 14 stations. Usually they don't all work at once, depending on the atmospheric conditions, but sometimes they do.

I gave up Netflix when I got Amazon Prime. I keep thinking I should watch more TV to take advantage of Prime plus all the unopened DVDs I possess, but most of the time I don't.

I was just at the library and started talking to these 9 year old kids. They use 123movies. He pulled up the movie BFG and started showing me his favorite scene......it's just been released in July and showing at local theatres. I just pulled it up...it's free!

netflix and the local over-air tv station for local news.

123movies is an illegal source.

I watch broadcast and use the internet. Dropped cable probably 15 years ago now

I've had them all! Comcast was just too damn expensive. Directtv raised their rates too often! Have had Dish for the past 10 years. Have the hopper dvr too. In those 10 years my bill hasn't increased at all. I'll stay with them.

Peer to peer file "sharing" for free copies via BitTorrent and with sites like Pirate Bay and Napster in the early days destroyed the recorded music business. It mostly doesn't exist anymore. The movie biz has been trying very hard to avoid the same fate.

Other than very old ones, feature films aren't legally free to watch or obtain.

We have Verizon Fios in the package which is high speed internet, landline phones and 100's of TV channels

We have had cable since it was invented many many years ago, after we moved to our house in 2009, we decide it wasn't worth the $65 a month anymore since we almost never watched anything but the local and national news, occasionally I would watch HGTV but even that was getting lame! My husband loves to collect dvds so instead of wasting money on cable, we bought an antenna and he just buys dvds at garage sales and flea markets or gets really good deals at Amazon or Walmart on the must have block busters. We spend maybe average $10 a month buying movies. So we just watch hard copies of movies and tv series.

While in Windsor this past weekend we sorted through 1,000 DVD's and hundreds of 8 track tapes left behind by family member. There's also about 500 vinyl records to sort through. We're discovering some very interesting films and music.

Those pirate sites are a breeding ground for malware so there is a price to pay.

Thanks for the "illegal" confirmation on 123movies. I wondered how "Tarzan", "Pete's Dragon", "Superman VS Batman".....are ALL available NOW. :0) I suspected FREE was not intentional on the movie industry's part.

When I was in Hawaii, there was a vender on every corner selling cd's and Dvd's that were new releases. It's not a new "illegal" industry...but streaming them is new-to-me.

We watch tv shows via the internet. We don't download, just watch. YouTube has tv series, as do many websites.

You can also buy an Android box which is loaded with programs to watch tv shows and movies. Kodi, etc.

I had to cut the cable also. I now use an HD antenna outside that has a 150 mile range. I get 19 channels but only about 10 are good.

Heres mine.

We use cable. I'm going to change my cable service (but not my cable provider) this weekend, I think. They have a new offer which is less expensive, much faster and has a ton more gigs to watch video and listen to music. Mind you, I'll have to sign a 2 year contract (this provider has never had contracts), but it's worth it.

After hating cable and a terrible experience with Directv, we went with Dish several years ago. We just got a cheap 27.00 package that's not even offered anymore. Unlike the wireless companies that force you to upgrade, Dish has never raised the rate or forced us to change it. We also have Netflix and Prime on Roku. We don't watch much tv and prefer the local channels anyways, so I think 35.00 / month is pretty reasonable.

We like to record Masterpiece Theater programs (PBS) in HD. We currently have Comcast internet and Xfinity with an HD-DVR. Is there a less expensive way to get our PBS recordings? (Internet and cable TV is $122/mo. through April 2017.)

We use a Blu-Ray to stream Amazon Prime and watch DVDs from the library. We want to watch on the big screen, not computer or tablet.

I also don't want to watch on my laptop or tablet. I know I could save $$$, but my large tvs and surround sound are a different experience entirely.

Few people watch the actual shows on their laptop, Mimi. We run an HDMI cable from the laptop to the tv and watch on the tv.

You can hook a computer up to your TV and surround sound. That's what our setup is.

Ah-hah! I guess the key factor is the internet speed.

I think I need to start another thread about 'next generation' TV's...so I will!

PBS is mostly on-demand from their website. No need to "record" anything to watch it... Just stream it! :) These are the PBS shows available on Prime: Ugh - the link didn't work - just search "PBS" at Amazon and see what's available. And you can also stream from your laptop (just plug it into your TV). :)

Antennae. Get about 80 stations. I watch very little tv.

wow, 122.00 for internet and tv is a lot. We have Comcast internet at the fastest speed available for 67.00/mo (including taxes).

I'm a huge fan of the Master Piece programming as well. It's not a premium channel though and is usually offered with the basic plan. Our basic 27.00/mo Dish Network option has it. Take a look on the programming available on the plans/company your interested in switching to, all the providers have their programming available online.

If you price what you actually need out individually, you will find that those bundle packages are nothing more than a huge rip off. For Telephone, Internet and TV services including Netflix, we pay just under a 100.00 p/month AND we have the fastest data speeds availble where as with the bundles, the speeds are much slower.. We also love Roku which is free after you buy the device and it offers a lot of programming too. The only thing we use upstairs is the Roku (mostly for news and music on Pandora)

I wish I could get cable service for $122. I pay $136 for internet, tv (2) and a landline. I have Verizon. I watch maybe six channels regularly. I need to find another way. I also pay $10 a month for Netflix, and $99 a year for Amazon Prime. Crazy.

I have Direct TV, but am seriously considering making some changes in the not too distant future. Grandkids gave me a flat screen HD TV for Christmas of 2015, so I upgraded my Direct TV for the HD and to be able to record programs. Had to sign a 2 year contract to do that. Now I find myself feeing like I have to watch more TV because of what I'm paying for it. And there just really isn't that much that I really like. With an antenna, there are only the 3 network channels and the PBS channel available. Pretty slim pickings.

I'm learning quite a lot from this thread, thanks for asking this question, two25acres!

Rusty

murraysmom Zone 6a OH:
A MILLION thank yous!!!!!

I never knew there was a DVR for an OTA digital
antenna! I bought one online and it
arrived yesterday. This is absolutely amazing. I will admit, it’s nowhere near advanced as
the DVR’s offered by cable companies, but hey, it records my TV show’s when I’m
asleep or not home.

Here’s what I got.

Satellite for tv

Dedtired, the secret is to avoid the bundles and instead go with the minimum offered by these companies. You then supplement your programing or phone use by using other less expensive resources which don't demand contracts and allow you to have control over the programming you want.

I wanted to keep our landline but the cost didn't justify the means; someone here, I don't remember who, suggested Ooma and I have to say, it was wonderful advise. The device has dropped in price and is now available on Amazon for 83.00 - Once it's set up, you pay only the taxes ($3-4/mo) to use it and they offer very low international rates as well. It's Voip, but it's clear and easy to use with our cable. You can learn more about it at www.ooma.com

Roku and other streaming devices are extremely affordable and have lots of free programming options as well. We only have one dish box in the living room for our local channels and use Roku exclusively in the bedroom, we never miss having the box. If one actually uses the abundance of channels in these packages that's great, but I get really irked seeing how much the cable and satillite companies charge for their programming when 70% of the channels in their lineups are useless. The way they nickle dime their customers is financial rape. Why people pay for the top programming packages when there are so many other cheap and viewer friendly options available, I'll never understand.

While house hunting last decade, my husband wouldn't buy a house unless Verizon fios was available. After too many years of rural living, dependent on Direct TV (which we hated), and only dial-up internet, he insisted on high-speed data and communications. I don't advocate any one service over another...the more services available, the greater the competition, the more pressure for these services to work hard to earn their customers' loyalty. I applaud the use of streaming services...cable bundling has been ripping off consumers for too long and too much. We use Apple TV to access streaming services.

I use OTA (over the air with antenna) to keep up with the news. However, the majority of the time, I watch Chinese and Korean drama series in addition to Korean variety shows (with English subtitles). (Hee-hee-hee, I'm actually quite addicted to these drama series).

I have a Smart TV and Blue Ray players that provide streaming. These drama series are readily available for free viewing through streaming apps and some on YouTube.

As far as I know, cable and satellite networks do not provide what I want to watch so, they're redundant to me. Plus, I don't see the reason to pay for watching TV when I can watch it for free.