I went TV-less from 1992-2007. The previous tenant of the apartment I moved into in 2007 had some wiring skills and I had free cable until 2018 on my new used TV. My cable bill keeps going up and I have no desire to get satellite or pay for internet as I am trying to save money. I was wondering if anyone else has given up on cable/satellite TV. When I went TV-less for 15 years I never really thought about TV. I will keep my TV and DVD player just cut the $125 monthly (80 channel) bill. I don’t even want to pay $50 for the most basic cable. I live alone and TV is like 80% background noise 20% actually watching. It feels like an unecessary waste of money. Any thoughts?
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I don’t have cable, Amazon Prime, Netflix or any of the subscription services. The content quality seems to be steadily dropping so I lost interest. It also irks me a bit that services like Cable charge a premium price and STILL bombard you with ads just like free TV broadcasting.
Meanwhile I’ve been finding tons of interesting channels on YouTube such as Applied Science, AvE, Garage 54, Project Farm and a host of others in addition to YouTube’s free movie library. I’ve got a free adblocker installed so I never have to see an ad.
It’s insane how much great content is available for free! For my favorite TV shows such as Venture Brothers or Kimba, I buy the DVD set. Same with movies I really like, it’s still way cheaper than relying on a subscription service.
So yeah, I agree that you’re not missing much by cutting out cable!
Ivan
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Bout all I watch anymore. Cancelled prime, hbo, etc.
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At one point, I only wanted internet but for whatever reason they charged less of you bundled it with tv so I paid $10/month for a basic local package. If I really wanted to watch something I either downloaded or streamed it. I still don’t really care about most TV, but my family does so we’re stuck paying for it.
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I suggest picking up an “HDTV antenna”. They cost around $30-$100 and should be pretty available in any tv / electronics department. The one I have picks up around 50 or so channels. It can depend on your area how many channels yours will pickup. They are designed to pickup tv broadcasts that are transmitted over the air. For me it’s perfect though. No subscription fees, free channels. Hard to beat that.
I do also pay for an internet subscription and some tv streaming services like netflix and hulu. It sounds like in your case though you wouldn’t really need any of these, just an antenna should do the trick for you.
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I tried the HDTV antenna but since I live in a valley surrounded by mountains all it picks up is static.
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i also just watch on streaming platforms sometimes but im actally not using that much media
I’ve cancelled all of them, as the adds and content these days isn’t what it use to be. It depends on your TV hardware, is it WiFi? The newer TVs all have some apps on them now and Pluto is a free TV app that you can also get on your phone. The newer TVs also allow you to mirror from a cell phone to the TV screen.
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I just bought one of those tiny office computers off Craiglist for cheap and installed Ubuntu on it. I use a wireless keyboard/mouse so I can browse YT or my hard drive of movies without getting up.
Just another cheap option to turn any TV into a smart TV.
Ivan
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Nah, I have an old Magnavox TV and no desire to buy a new smart one.
Absolutely how it is in my house. The TV is almost the equally evil twin of the smart phone(social media).
When I use any service on there, it’s generally to access music or performance arts.
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Not free, but a way to connect a smartphone to an old TV for free TV and cellular streaming
These converters can be found on Amazon and maybe even Walmart
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I grew up never having satellite/cable. We had 7 channels to choose from (assuming you could position the antenna properly to reduce static) and if there was nothing good on, well then too bad.
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7? Lucky you! I think we had 5 but you and I never thought: “Only 7 channels? Life stinks!” Looking at some type of screen for huge amounts of time every day seems to be norm for almost everyone.
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It’s nearly unavoidable lol. I’m looking at a screen right now as I type this and I have two computer screens in front of me for work. When I’m done working I’ll usually take a break and just throw or do some other screenless activity, but I’ll inevitably get tired and sit in front of a TV. Ah, such is life.
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I haven’t watched normal TV in at least 10 years.
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We cut cable TV but still have cable internet. We have Roku and the free stuff that comes with that. We also have an Amazon Prime account that provides some stuff. We get free streaming videos from our public library and my adult age son that lives with us has a Netflix account. That’s it.
I haven’t watched TV in years. Very poor content and not anywhere near worth it’s cost.
At least in the old days you could get over the air TV but since digital that doesn’t work very well.
I read a lot! (and play with my Yoyos 
)
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Way back in another time and place cable TV was commercial free in the early days. That was a selling point at the time. Then the providers got greedy.
We’ve never had cable or satellite TV, broadcast only. Have two DVRs. Mostly watch local PBS station.
It mostly works here (Mpls), but in heavy rain or snow it pixilates. High winds too. I think that’s due to the trees in the yard swaying.
I have a 12 ft mast on my roof with two antennas, one for each TV.
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Can’t make it full screen? But it should be! 
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When I first moved into my apartment 12+ years ago I was getting every single channel my cable company provided including all the movie channels. Free. It was glorious!
After about a month, they finally caught on and cut me off.
Haven’t had cable tv since. Don’t miss it a bit! I have Amazon Prime and there’s plenty of other ways online to enjoy movies and television.
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