If you find yourself still paying for cable TV but never actually watching most of the channels and mostly just staying with the cable company out of inertia or not wanting to go back to over-the-air picture quality, you should consider Clear QAM. The cable company is required to provide you with your local channels (and sometimes more) unscrambled at cable TV quality for free or at a low cost (such as $10). Naturally the cable companies don't want you to know about this and will often pretend it doesn't exist. Depending on your cable company, you may have to call them and ask for a ClearQAM account, and expects them to hang up on you a few times. I was able to access it simply by plugging in the cable (I still pay for cable Internet) directly into the back of my TV set. No set top box required. My only regret is not doing this sooner
Hmm. I pay for my internet but I cut out the cable t.v. a few years back. I felt that I could not afford both. I have to say I have never heard of ClearQAM. I am in Canada and so I do not know if it is even up here. But it sounds interesting. Ryder13
This is definitely something to consider one day. I've getting sick and tired of Paying for Cable. I am still dreaming of the day I can pay a much lower subscription tv service through internet but with live television.
Not sure where you are currently located, but here in the US I believe it was a requirement by law that all TVs from 2005 going forward had to have a digital TV tuner/antenna in them. You should be able to get your local OTA channels in HD with just your TV (though as you mentioned most people don't know that). If not, you would just need a simple antenna. I have an antenna hooked up to my computer, and the video quality is exactly like cable - it is crystal clear and in HD. I'm amazed they can do that over the air, but it works beautifully. It's nothing like the signal we used to get with the old antennas back in the 70's.
I am one of those frugal people who refuses to let go of something until it has disintegrated so my television is much older than from 2005. So HD is not even an option for my sets. I am very interest in this ClearQAM though. Does this get put on the television like the regular cable does, and does it only let you have basic channels like NBC, CBS, and such?
I no longer pay for cable TV. There are some shows that I miss, but the cable bill was just crazy. I watch Netflix and Hulu to watch most of my favorite shows. I still have get Internet service. I can't live without the Internet.
I still pay for cable TV. Outside of the US (even where Netflix/Hulu are available) it isn't really practical not to pay for TV since 1. It's incredibly cheap and 2. Local news channels don't have great websites or online coverage
I am inclined to agree with broknkyboard, I pay for cable TV and they offer good service and good quality contents, apart from that there are no real alternatives to watching TV. So in the US you have Netflix/Hulu, what is that?
We have cable, and the monthly fee is quite cheap at around $14, so I think that's a small fee to pay for a whole lot of channels. I don't really like to watch tv, but the other people in here do, so I guess what they're paying is worth it.
If you are not really close to a major tv market you may need to pay a few hundred dollars for a good antenna system, but you will be able to get really good HD tv/ get a streaming box such as roku and pay for netflix and Hulu+ and you wll have all the tv you can use.
I watch basic tv and use Hulu, Netflix and youtube to look at other movies online. I do miss some of the other shows but I really don't look at that much tv to make paying for cable a good choice.
I am still paying for cable TV, but I am open to cheaper possibilities with the same level of service. In my country currently there aren't many alternatives, cable companies aren't menaced just yet.
In my country, we have what are called FreeView boxes, where you can get a number of channels free of charge. I have one of these now, and am able to pause, rewind and record things on it, which is great for me because I very rarely watch TV live. I have found that I can save a heck of a lot of money by doing this, so I don't think that I would ever want to pay for television again really. It is just money that doesn't need to be paid in my opinion. I think that if you like things like sports or movies then possibly it would be worth it to pay for your television, but I'm not really into those types of things, so it isn't worth it for me.
I still pay for cable TV, although to be honest I wish I didn't. My brothers whom I live with refuse to get rid of cable TV because of some of the networks that are on Cable TV. Unless one of these services like Clear QAM start offering channels like ESPN I don't see us getting rid of cable at least not in the near future. I am hoping that when we are finally able to swtich over to high speed Internet from DSL that we will be able to access these channels better through a streaming player which will finally convince them to let go of the cable subscrption. Cable is way too expensive and to me is becoming obsolete because so much of those channels that is offers are now offered online, with high speed Internet along with a streaming player such subscriptions to cable aren't really needed when we stop to think about it.
Cable it's expensive, but my cable supplier also supplies me internet and phone, so the package is convenient at least comparing with what's available in the market. Sure, it's a big expense, but I really don't have alternatives.
My cable supplier does my Internet too. I actually tried getting rid of my cable only to find that I'd have to pay more for my Internet in order to do so. Unfortunately, they're the only Internet supplier around so I have cable now that I hardly ever watch.
I'm definitely planning to cut the cord, but am still in the planning stages. I just finished paying the cable bill, and am never happy to see how high it is. I will look into the best way to receive the basic local channels and weather information prior to cancelling the service, since I live in a hurricane zone. When I cut my cable, I'll also have to pay more than I'm currently paying for internet, because I'll be charged an unbundling fee monthly. It goes against my grain to pay it, but, I can't live without internet, and I'll still be saving more if I get both HuluPlus and Netflix, even with the higher internet cost, so that's what I will eventually do, once I get everything sorted out.
I found cable to be one of the biggest rippoffs of all time and disconnected from it years ago. I had signed up with my local cable company and was asked to pay $300.00 in advance for their basic package. This included their installation team to check the wiring of my home and to set up my first television, they do not let you do it on your own. Fine, I paid the $300.00 and to my surprise, on my first bill which came about 45 days later I OWED THEM $42.23!?! I checked the bill and sure enough, I got my $29 basic package and fees for absolutely everything you can think of that I didn't want or need. I felt ripped off. I immediately canceled my account, it just wasn't worth it to me to deal with a company that has no problems with gouging me since I don't watch much TV. That's when I found out that you get cable even when it's disconnected! You get the "over the air" channels for your area, for free, when you have no cable account at all. Sometimes they will cap the cable coming into the home so you get nothing but by law they are supposed to leave it connected and disabled so that you can get these channels. You get some good shows, including kids shows on the weekends and afternoons, and the money you save more than pays for your netflix or hulu account. Never again will I pay into the cable gouging machine, never.
