Alternatives to Cable and Sattelite
 

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but besides Cable and satellite tv are there any other options for reception? I doubt I can get rabbit ears to pick up anything.

I'm beyond pissed at Cox, but my apartment doesn't face the correct direction to put up a dish.

Blah.

Reading, biking, DVDs, humanitary work, sex, picking fights with the neighbors...

Haha. I meant TV wise.

Can you get Verizon FiOS in your area?

Nope :(

I think Cox has a strangle hold on the area.

It won't replace cable exactly, but one of the digital set top boxes should help you pull in the brodacast stations.

I have an HD version paired with a cheap antenna from Radio Shack that feeds into my main screen for PIP (and just in case the cable goes down....)

AT&T U-Verse is TV-over-IP.

Dude, you haven't seen the latest about AT&T, have you?

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/10/att-customer-ca.html

No FIOS, no uVerse. Looks like it's Cox or nothing. Antenna's won't reach within my building :(

You might want to check that (if you have not already). The Digital broadcasts do much better than the old analog broadcasts.

Antanna Web can help you pick one.

Oh, is that true? I didn't realize the digital signals carried better.

That's the problem with services that have a monopoly. No customer care at all. If they know they have you by the balls, then they don't have to care or help.

I'm glad I live in an area that I have plenty of choices. In fact I was just thinking of changing over to AT&T from Time Warner.

I haven't had tv since the move and I don't really miss it. I have access to a few episodes of the shows I watch most and that does it for me. I don't think I have any options out here except Time Warner.

We have TWC and have no complaints.

surfthechannel.com

I rely on www.hulu.com for most of my TV watching needs. (No rabbit ear signal, and I am not willing to pay for cable channels.) Hulu has a pretty good variety of shows and a few full length feature films, easily enough to keep me entertained when there's nothing else going on. They just put up Richard Linklater's Slacker. Free. Whee!

In addition to Hulu, there's also Joost. And on the take-your-chances-with-the-law side there's bittorrent.

Netflix is also a great entertainment resource. Lots of TV on DVD that you may have missed.

As much as I despise them, I will be staying with Cox, at least until FIOS shows up in my area.

I'm not into watching TV on my computer (I need my computer to do homework and I have a baby-laptop 13in laptop) and I am very much a TV as background noise person.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm in the equivalent of the dark ages as far as televison is concerned. I have a small combination radio/TV in my kitchen that's sometimes the one I watch the most (I turn it on while I'm cooking or cleaning up). And did I mention it's black and white? (Ask your grandparents what that is...) Then there's the television in the living room which is probably 15 years old. The rabbit ears get a pretty good picture for ABC but I'm used to "watching" CBS through snow. I bought a fancier indoor antenna a while back hoping it would help but it didn't.

I've been trying to decide what to do about the switch to digital next year. I don't really want cable. I don't want a huge TV because I don't watch that much. Maybe I should just give up on TV altogether.

Then I decided I want/need a TV in my sewing room so I bought the cheapest set I could find at Best Buy yesterday, hooked it up to the indoor antenna that didn't help the old TV, and powered it up. And discovered I can get the digital versions of the local channels and they look wonderful.

TV is not obsolete in my house.:snap:

Ludite

EVERY time I see this thread, I always answer the question in my mind with GD's dead-on post early in the thread:

You're welcome.