Why not just use an antenna (outdoor is best) and Amazon or Netflix? We use both of those and I pay $5 a month for Acorn as I like the British/Australian shows. We never have had cable.

We tried no cable at our weekend place for awhile. Even with Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu we still missed having our cable. Our antenna did not pick up every major free network, sometimes NBC was iffy (depending on the day).

We are ‘clickers’ and like the ease of quickly scrolling channels and going back and forth between shows. And really missed our cable news and sports programs. We bit the bullet and now have cable at both residences.

Disconnected since 2013 from Direct TV. Don't miss it. There's not enough time in our busy retired lives to pay to miss what's on 220 duplicate channels.

We're located close to Columbus and there's 20+ channels which is plenty of network news. More than we need to watch.

Edited to add: 4K Ultra HD TV is scarce on cable.

We got directv NOW and a roku box thing. One for each room with a TV. It's still kinda pricey but much cheaper than direct TV satellite. We were paying 135 dollars JUST for the TV. Now its 70, with way more channels including Starz. It took some getting used to, as there are no numerical channels to punch in. You have to go to the guide and find what you want. But there is also a LOT of on demand stuff, so you dont have to record anything. You just search for it and it usually has all the latest episodes available to watch. (SO likes Street Outlaws and I like Dr. Pol.)

I like it. I don't see us going back to regular satellite/cable. Plus with the roku box SO can watch all his YouTube videos that he loves so much and I can watch my Amazon prime.

I don't know if the antenna would work where we are - we live way out in the boonies. If it did work, I would consider cutting the satellite. I do like to watch cable news and the History channel and National Geographic, once in awhile the Turner Classic Movies. So the rest of the time it's either the local news or PBS and DH watches Netflix. So I don't know if I would be sorry or not, we did step down on the channel package about a year ago and we managed to tolerate that pretty well. I suppose I could buy one antenna and try it and see how it goes, are they expensive?? I don't want one that has to be installed on the roof or outside, though.

For those who have second homes or weekend homes, many TV services offer customers access to TV programming by accessing the provider's website over the internet. That works if you have reasonable internet bandwidth at the second home. With DISH, there's access not only to the current programs (as if you were home) but also access to your DVR.

The transport from the internet to the TV requires either an HDMI socket out on a PC, or using a Chromecast dongle to "cast" (like a Bluetooth connection) the content from a tablet or PC to the TV.

I have an indoor antenna. My city is lousy picking up over the air channels so I get 4, which is enough. At least I can watch local news. The antenna is in HD. A g/f was over and she couldn't believe the quality of it watching her football.

Everything else I stream, using an HDMI cable to the tv.

Even our usual CTV shows repeated shows of Big Bang Theory and other such crap, back to back shows. I'd never pay for cable. We loathe reality shows and comedies.

I disconnected my satellite dish in 2009 and have no TV; cable isn't available here, but I'd get it for internet connection if I could, as I have slow, low bandwidth service, which sometimes restricts my ability to stream. I have netflix and hulu and sometimes stream things (like Colbert) on youtube, since CBS doesn't let you stream their channel without paying. Not sure why it's on youtube for free?

I agree about duplicate channels. Sometimes I feel excited about having a tv in a hotel room, but then find there is NOTHING on all evening that I want to watch.

I wouldn't go back to cable even if it were free. Our newest TV is a Roku but we also cut cable to our other TVs. I think that we get about 20 free channels via the little leaf antennas, including anything broadcast locally. Reception is perfect with the little (indoor) antennas. They cost about $25.00, as I recall.

We also subscribe to playstation vue, netflix, Amazon, and some free network (can't remember) that has all kinds of programming.

There's a small learning period where we had to get used to how each network worked but it only took a couple of days, really.

I LOVE HG TV....but....after an hour....I'm tired of watching. I have great respect for those that film it all while remodeling a house. :0)

We rent a LOT of movies.

I cut 2 years ago. My bill was $279 a month. I literally watched hg tv only while cleaning. My kids only watch streaming things on Netflix and prime. My internet is $80 a month for the highest speed and I just switched from Hulu to YouTube TV ($40/month) because YouTube is all 4K according to my tech friend. I would have prime anyway and Netflix is $15 a month so I guess I am saving almost $160 a month and more because I get rid of the Hulu/YouTube when football And basketball are over.

Youtube TV reminds me more of having cable than Hulu as far as seeing the live lineup.

We cut the Direct TV cord at Christmastime. We were paying $169 (plus $40 more during football season). We have Hulu now. DH likes it, and he's the main TV watcher.

I watch very little, but was disappointed to learn that we'd have to donate to PBS to be able to have Antiques Roadshow (one of the very few shows I watch). We did donate - it was only $60/year. I figure I'm saving enough now to afford it. :)

P.S. Direct TV is trying very hard to lure us back with both emails and phone calls. If they'd tried half that hard when we were still there, we wouldn't have left.

I got rid of Dish years ago and don't miss it at all. I subscribe right now to HBO, Netflix and Acorn tv. All of these are less than half of what Dish charged me for their basic package and it would go out when the wind blew or it rained. It also constantly went up.

Thank you for all the feedback. We have only two TV's in use, living room and son's room. We have Cox Cable, with internet and a landline which we don't use but I think we have to have it for some reason..I don't remember why, but it's only $9.99 but still. Son doesn't watch much tv, both kids usually are on youtube or will use Netflix, daughter on her laptop and son using his playstation or xbox. So I think I'm the biggest tv sloth of us all. Total is around $230./mo

If they'd tried half that hard when we were still there, we wouldn't have left.

Ain't that the truth. I had directv for 20 yrs and had no major problems. they were agreeable and quick to fix any problem. when AT &T took it over, it went downhill fast!. my remote died and they wanted to charge me 60.00 to send a new one. It was maybe my 3rd one in 20 yrs. didn't have to pay for the others and I refused to pay for a new one. I had already been checking out Roku and other options because of the price. it'd slowly gone up to about 100.00 a month. More than I wanted to pay. I bought the Roku for 100.00 (remote has voice option for finding a movie, program or actor) and no other charges. I had it hooked up and went with Hulu Live (that includes live shows on major networks). Then I also added RFDTV (not included with Hulu live). I have plenty to keep me watching more than I should! Hulu just upped its charge from about 40.00 to 45.00, but I still only pay around 55.00 for the 2 a month vs 100.00. I think it's a great savings.

There are a few channels I used to watch that I don't get now, but so many more I do get that I didn't have before. It works out ok. I do miss Animal Planet, I did watch a series on it about Vets and one on Alaskan frontier life, but sometime I can add it for a month and catch up if I want to.

I find YouTube very frustrating. So many things I want to watch, they charge for. When did it become such a pay-for-view channel?

Just saw a notice that AT&T is changing direct tv now. Cutting out many channels yet raising prices. Supposedly if you already have direct tv now you can keep your package as is but any new subscribers will only be able to get the new package and price.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/13/18263839/att-directv-now-2019-channel-changes-hbo-plan-price

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/03/13/directv-now-price-increases-at-t-revamps-hbo-fewer-channels/3150546002/

always, I never got any pay tv after my divorce. I am lucky, and get about 20 channels via my indoor antenna. There is no way I would pay to watch anything that is available for pay. The savings are tremendous!

Moni

I wonder if AT&T's strategy is to funnel customers to its land-based services?

We just recently got rid of our Direct TV... I do miss the dvr! We now have Roku and only use the free channels so far. We pay for HULU and their dvr - not as easy to use as the old one but good enough for the cost savings. I haven't gotten our first bill yet but it's supposed to be about $44 I believe.

We tried an antenna and even the Geek Squad guy couldn't get it to pick up any channels. With HULU we can get all of our local TV stations.

So far we're happy with it. AT&T is still our internet provider and supposedly their bill will be about $30/month. Our previous package deal with them jumped from $100 to $185 a month and we said no thanks.

When my husband called to cancel he asked if there were any deals we could get. He was told no. About 2 weeks later I got an email from them wanting us to remain as customers and giving us a deal. Too late. We had already set everything else up. Still baffled as to why they didn't offer it to us when we called to cancel.

AT&T used to be fabulous if you called to cancel anything, always spoke to their best customer service reps who did their best to retain you. Those days are gone apparently.

My internet bill started at $30. a month. Now after 5 years it is $79. per month. It is that high with AT&T also once you get past their promotional rate. I still will not go back.

We cut cable a year or so ago. Went from a dish to try Direct TV- and Direct TV was terrible service and 2/3 of the internet/tv bill. For a couple months, we stopped actively using that and started watching other streaming. Then finally dropped AT&T and it's Direct TV in favor of another internet service that was faster and cheaper and now we do all streaming.

I'm still satisfied with 30 mps internet ($35/mo), PBS ($60/year) and PlayStation Vue ($45/mo +tax). I need to look around to see if any of the other streaming services would be a better fit -- not because I am dissatisfied, though. I haven't missed any particular channel or show, but I wasn't and still am not in the habit of regularly following any particular shows. Acorn and Britbox sound interesting but I don't really want to add any more paid subscriptions. Except perhaps NBCSportsGold cycling.

I cut cable 17 yeas ago and don't miss it. I get 32 over the air stations with my cheap antenna and what I can't get on tv I watch Youtube videos. All the cooking videos, gardening, travel and do it yourself videos you will ever need. I watch a lot of documentaries on Youtube. I didn't have unlimited internet until recently and never went over my usage but now that there are 2 of us here I had to get unlimited with Bell. With a discount I am actually paying less on my bill when I switched to Bell Fibre for home phone and unlimited internet. No commercials on Youtube because Ad Block takes care of them. I have an android box but we haven't really used it except for watching Youtube on the big tv other than that I watch everything on my laptop/

Hi - here's my story:

We cut our cable around the end of last year, after Spectrum "upgraded" their customers to new equipment, channel lineups, and we discovered that most of our favorite channels had become subscription only, which would cost extra over the already jacked up price for basic service, which had been reduced to only 21 channels for about $95/month.

We have 1 Roku TV(a couple of years old now), and bought 2 Roku Express devices ($30 ea.) for the other 2 TVs in the house. We also have Netflix(already subscribed) and Hulu, and we're really enjoying all the new viewing we have access to now.

Compared to the cable devices, Roku is a breeze. Their tiny remote has only around a dozen buttons, while the new remotes Spectrum sent had what looked like 100. And the Roku hookup was a breeze too, compared to all the wires and size of the cable boxes they sent, along with the need to purchase adaptor cables. Roku has 1 tiny box the size of a large pack of gum that plugs into the TV and the power outlet and you're done.

FWIW, the cable co. had sent us 3 large boxes containing all the paraphernalia, which I packed up and returned to them. The whole turnover thing was a nightmare for a lot of people, and I believe they lost a lot of customers. When I first tried to return the boxes, I went to the offices, and there were lines of people out the door, with a tent set up as a waiting area in the parking lot, and I waited about 20 minutes to be told I was in the wrong place and this was just for tech support, and I needed to ship the boxes back, so please take them to the nearest FedEx office. I was given wrong directions too. At least the shipping was free when I finally found the place.

We now have internet only service, with our own wifi router, and get hundreds of streaming channels for free, along with saving about $25/month on our Spectrum bill. Hubby and I both wonder why we didn't do it sooner.

P.S. I also became a Passport member on PBS for $5/month, so I can watch my fave shows on there as well.