Broadcast TV

[Night Sailor]

I was thinking about what TV was like when I was young. I remember CBS, NBC, and ABC. Then channel five came along with reruns of Hogan 's Hero's. Then there was the old black and white movie channels. A few fuzzy duplicate stations.

For grins I did something different today. I hooked up a TV antenna on the roof to see what was available on broadcast TV. I am located halfway between Hartford and New York City. As the TV was scanning I counted 72 channels. I was eager to see what had changed and also to compare it to old time TV.

Here is what I found. The big three networks, Hogan's Hero's, a B&W classic movie channel--It's a Beautiful Life was playing which sequed into Mr Smith Goes to Washington.

What else? Spanish TV, Korean, Chinese, Home Shopping, more Spanish TV, and lots of duplicates stations, and more duplicate Spanish TV. If I were to go through and delete the duplicates, shopping and foreign language channels I would dial things back to 1969--about five channels, and only watch Hogan's Hero's.

[Night Sailor]

I have to ask myself if it is worth putting up an antenna for Hogan 's Hero's.

[padlin00]

Broadcast TV and Netflix is all we have at home. Was paying $100 a month for 200 channels that I didn't like. If I deleted all the Spanish, Music, Religious, Infomercials, Hogan's Heroes, and dupes, we had about a half dozen worth having, same as now. I do miss the Golf channel, that's about it.

[steve dunham]

I put up a standard TV antenna on a 40 ft pole and get 23 to 29 free channels of worthless programming but for just $59 more per month I could get 127 channels of worthless programming. Does't seem like much of a bargain to me but to my neighbors it's a necessity .

[hariph creek]

We've always just had an antennae on the roof. I haven't paid for TV since I was...wait...nope, never. I don't know if it's because I'm cheap or TV is such a waste of time?
After filtering out the; Spanish, Religious, and Spanish-Religious channels, we get about a dozen channels. Since everything went digital it's much better.
We also do the steaming version of Netflix. This seems like a market that is about to have some substantial changes, hopefully good.
For other cheapskates, like myself, I highly recommend Google Chromecast. Just a one time $35, and you can easily view content from your mobile device, on your TV.

[Timber Wolf]

I ditched the cable company a few years back in a favor of a couple of digital antennas in the house near the TVs (televisions, not tow vehicles). I missed a couple of things back then but not now, nor do I miss the $75 a month I was paying. The kid also had some withdrawal but now we both watch the same shows together. She particularly likes Gilligan’s Island and Wonder Woman. And you know what? Ginger, Mary Ann, and Linda Carter are just as pretty as I remember from the old days!

[Art VanDelay]

In and around a big city, rabit ears is enough to get the networks.

[Night Sailor]

Tim, you deleted Hogan 's Hero's? I still get a laugh out of Hogan skipping to get Shultz out of step as the March across the compound.

[Night Sailor]

I should ditch the Cable TV also if I could. I watch Netflix bit I could ditch that also and rent a movie from Red Box once a month. I'd like to ditch the cable Internet also and just be wireless.

[Briantb]

Broadcast TV over the air is also netter quality due to no or lower compression of the signal compared to cable or satellite. Of course this is somewhat debatable because the local station probably receives the program via satellite

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Noreen Bradshaw]

I have never paid for cable, either. I agree, most tv programs are a waste of time and seem to get worse every year. I have over-the-air channels so I still get the daily news. And I have at least 3 different PTV channels which usually have some interesting programs. Of course I'm not into sports or music so maybe that's one reason over-the-air works for me.