Cable/dish alternatives?

[boilermakermom]

Our two year DirectTV contract ended a few months ago. We have never been happy with them, and in light of the current Viacom situation, we are considering canceling altogether.

We stream Netflix, have an Amazon Prime account and have an Apple TV. We mainly watch kids shows-Peppa Pig, Bubble Guppies, Little Einsteins, etc. I watch The Today Show and local news. We also watch sports and a few prime time shows in the winter.

Anyone gotten rid of cable/dish? How did you do it? Can I use the AppleTv for any of this? I am still not sure what the thing does. Ha!

[okinawama]

We've never had cable/dish before, so I can't say what it's like transitioning from having it to going without. For us, we use a traditional TV antenna to get as many channels as we can (we get ABC, CBS and NBS...but we live in a small town and our channels come from a city over 3hrs away), Netflix and hulu. Through those avenues we get a decent amount of kids shows, but not the ones you've listed. I do however utilize our local public library for kids shows, and have been very happy with availability. I watch Good morning America, the local news and some prime time TV as well.

Like I said, we've never had cable, so I don't really have anything to miss, but I do feel like I have plenty of TV options and don't really wish for cable.

[jjordan]

Your antenna options are really going to depend on your location. It might be a totally viable option to get the main networks (and maybe a few "extras"). If it's not really an option for you (it isn't for us), then ask a cable company about getting a "broadcast cable" package, or something like that. Different companies call it different names. It is basically the lowest level of cable that you can get, and they never advertise it, so you have to know to ask for it. It's usually $10-$15/month, and gets you the networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, etc) and usually some other random cable channels. The random channels might occasionally change. Some of the ones we've gotten are the golf channel and animal planet. Right now I think we get Disney, although the picture is a little fuzzy. Don't quite know what is going on there.

[urquie]

We've never had cable/dish before, so I can't say what it's like transitioning from having it to going without. For us, we use a traditional TV antenna to get as many channels as we can (we get ABC, CBS and NBS...but we live in a small town and our channels come from a city over 3hrs away), Netflix and hulu.

Like I said, we've never had cable, so I don't really have anything to miss, but I do feel like I have plenty of TV options and don't really wish for cable.

but we're near a major city and get tons of stations, including 9-12 PBS channels. We get great reception with the HD signals. Ours is an older model of this...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...32189_Antennas

[brittone2]

We also use an antenna with a newer TV (no digital converter box needed). My parents do the same in a different state. We are both happy overall with the # of channels we get. DH and I also use hulu and amazon Prime.

Dh and I grew up without cable. We've had cable at a few points in our adult lives but we've also spent a good bit of time without it.

WHen we want to watch a series that is on cable we rent it from the library once it is out on DVD, or we pay to stream it from sites like amazon.

[dogmom]

I just got rid of my cable/Fios. I got this with little expectations because it was $8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

I get great reception and I'm an hour outside of Boston. I have channels I didn't know existed including all 5 networks. I also get 5 public TV channels. The picture is great.

[AnnieW625]

I grew up without cable. I first had it in college when it came with our apartment. I moved back home and didn't have it for a year. I moved out and splurged and got it because there was zero tv reception in my area without it. DH's family were probably one of the first people to ever get cable. DH can't live without it....ever. As close as we probably could have gotten was if Hulu, Hulu Plus, Netflix Streaming, Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Streaming and what not were available when we got married in 2003 that maybe he would have had a different take on it, but now that all of that is out we still have cable. I have looked into cancelling it and getting some of the options above (I already have Netflix, and AP Streaming), but I am too cheap to pay for anything else. I don't like paying for stuff like shows on AP Streaming that shouldn't cost more than what I pay for cable.

I hate to say it but cable is our entertainment and for $40 or so a month with two kids under 6 yrs. old it is nice to be able to come home and veg. in front of the tv vs. going out without kids and having to pay for a baby sitter. I consider it cheap entertainment.

[okinawama]

I hate to say it but cable is our entertainment and for $40 or so a month with two kids under 6 yrs. old it is nice to be able to come home and veg. in front of the tv vs. going out without kids and having to pay for a baby sitter. I consider it cheap entertainment.

I don't know if it's the area I live in, or what, but we could never get cable or dish for anything near that price. Well, I take that back, they quoted me a price near that for the first year, but after the first year it at least doubles in price.

[AnnieW625]

I don't know if it's the area I live in, or what, but we could never get cable or dish for anything near that price. Well, I take that back, they quoted me a price near that for the first year, but after the first year it at least doubles in price.

We bundle with phone and internet and including taxes and a DVR our total bill is $140-$145 so it definitely pays to bundle.

We have Time Warner Cable. Sorry OP for the hijack, but I was just trying to get across the point that after renogiating the terms (I called and said I could switch to Fios for $20 less per month, and they gave me free DVR for 3 months and close to the current promo. pricing) and such and pricing out other services I didn't find that I would have been saving that much more money than keeping the cable since we need internet and would prefer to keep our land line phone for emergencies.

[Penny's Pappa]

We dumped our cable service around 3 years ago and haven't looked back. It just wasn't worth it. The majority of our viewing was on the broadcast networks anyway, and when we did watch cable, we only watched a handful of channels.

With our antenna we get all the local broadcast stations (ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox, NBC, CW) and we have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime to augment our selections. The only thing I really wish I had cable for would be the Big Ten Network so I could catch some OSU Buckeye games during the fall.

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go to the bar to watch the game. Darn...