When cable came out, viewers were in television watching bliss.  There were so many new options available compared to what we were used to.  We could sit mesmerized for hours and laugh, cry, get educated, learn about new travel destinations, watch animals in the wild….doing wild things;  we were exposed to so many new adventures.    We couldn’t get enough, we could choose between basic cable or the prime packages where we could binge watch television an entire weekend and never even shower or leave the house.  We wanted more, more, more.  

The cable companies caught on to what we wanted, they knew we were hooked and dragged us into their trap.  Now we are paying more, more, more and getting the same amount of channels but less content.  I’m sure you have noticed that packaged into your channel count, you now have 5 different channels selling jewelry, 10 different channels selling gadgets you have to have now but will never use and 20 different channels that you can’t watch without subtitles because they are in a different language.  Enough with more, more, more!  The average US household's cable bill is $123.00. This means you can save over $1,400 a year simply by ditching your cable provider. Let’s get back to basics and keep more money in our own pockets.

In fact let’s finally cut the cord to cable and go back to Over-The-Air TV.  And I don’t mean getting rabbit ears for your tv, that require you to stand on one foot and hold the right rabbit ear backwards on nights that it is raining.  In 2008, just after the housing crash, my family cancelled cable and went to Over-The-Air broadcasting. We purchased an outside antenna from Denny’s Antenna Service, which my husband installed on our roof, aimed the antenna toward Chicago and attached to the coax cable already in our home from cable. Within in a couple of hours we were up and running watching tv, just like when we were kids, minus the rabbit ears. So, I am saying you can cut the cord to cable also. All of the major networks are now broadcasting in HD digital.

But before you spend a ton money on different antennas, you need to do some investigating on what’s available to you.  You need to find out what networks are digitally broadcasting in your area, and perhaps most importantly how far away the transmitter is.  You also want to know which way to point your antenna and how strong of a signal you are going to get.

A couple of places to start are :

So are you ready to cut the cord? Not sure, I one of the answers I have received so here are some facts to comfort you. At AntennaTV they provide you the need to know information, such as:

You already have a digital tuner in your TV if it was manufactured:

If your TV does not fit those criteria, you will need one of the following:

You are all set up and ready to cut the cord but WAIT! My current cable service package has a DVR, what should I do about that….Well T.G. Consultants has the information and solution, but you need to wait for the next blog installment of Cutting the Cable Cord. Are you a little nervous and want us to walk you through it?  We are here to help you save your money and break free from the chains from cable.