Have seen a lot of threads about people leaving whatever cable/TV provider they've had, and going to an Over-The-Air (OTA) solution of one type or another - attic-mount, roof-mount, eave/side of house mount, etc. Some have put in directional antennas, some the omni-directional type. I get all the physics and engineering of this option (OTA) and what goes into getting the signals to your house.

Here's what I'd like someone in TV who has done this successfully list for me - a simple list - of all the channels they are receiving OTA. If it's too large to put in a post, then attach a .pdf or .doc file, or maybe a link to a website. I've seen claims of 58, 65, 88, and on and on. I am not interested in "duplicate" channels with the same programming (i.e., 4 NBC feeds in different languages). If the only difference is SD vs HD signals, that's ok. It's just that I'm really curious what everyone is dumping cable/sat tv service to watch. I also know many combine other services like AppleTV or ChromeCast USB sticks, and subscriptions to ESPN, HBO, etc., to stream to their TV, so that's not a big deal.

So that's the net out: What are all those channels coming in OTA? And how many are truly worthwhile/different?

You will lose many satellite channels: entertainment, news, sports, movies if you want them. Is it worth saving a few dollars?

If you are addicted to TV then perhaps it is not worth the savings. If you don't watch much TV then why pay for channels you never watch. To each his own.

I believe the ones that matter are the ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates out of Orlando. I occasionally watch METV.

That's what my neighbor's resembles. I don't know if it's the right one or not for TV reception. For all I know the reason it looks like the Starship Enterprise is because that's who he is communicating with. :smiley:

Holy cow! So you put up an OTA antenna to get the 5 major networks, and whatever METV is, once in a while? What happened to the other 50+ channels everyone seems to be pulling in via OTA?

I only needed the major networks. We pull in a bunch of stuff I don't watch but at least I don't pay for stuff I don't watch.

Roof Top Antennas
 

Since location is important here, I will tell you that we are near the Savannah Center. Below is an out-of-order summary of the stations we get with the attic antenna Tom put in:
12 Spanish
8 Religious
NBC (Tom will tell you that this one is iffy, but we get it fine)
ABC
CBS
PBS
PBS Create (cooking, home repair, crafts, travel)
PBS World
FOX
CW
ME-TV (classic TV)
THIS (classic TV and movies)
LAFF (comedy)
HEARTLAND (country)
GRIT (westerns)
ESCAPE (true crime and movies)
MOVIES! (classic movies)
COZI (classic TV)
GET TV (oldies)
MY 65 (oldies and judge shows)
TV 27 (classic TV)
ANTEN (oldies)
BOUNCE (comedy, movies, talk shows, game shows)
BUZZR (classic game shows)
PBS ARTS
NASA
FLORIDA GOVERNMENT

You can find program information for most of these if you go to the TV Guide website, select "what's on", then "TV listings" then, next to "provider", select "change", then put in the zip code and select "antenna". The channels listed are not exactly the same , but there is about an 80% overlap. What I don't get, for example, are the Daytona PBS stations (I get Orlando and Cocoa Beach), ION, QVC and others.

This gives us what we need for network shows. We also are enjoying the old movies. In addition, we get Netflix, HuluPlus and Amazon Prime, which total less than $25 per month. If we are feeling spendy, we may put in Sling TV at another $20 per month, which will give us ESPN, ESPN2, TBS and a bunch of other channels, like HGTV and History. We are on the fence about it currently. We do have a Roku box that unites and searches across all these extra services, which simplifies things. We also have fast internet through Comcast.

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Great info, PBK!! Thanks! That's the sort of stuff I was looking for, to try and decide if OTA was going to provide enough of the "critical mass" of programming for free (less the antenna & install), then just add, as you have, the other add-on's to round out the total pkg. I need to learn more about the Roku box and it's capabilities, too. Sounds like that might be a good option. Sling will likely be a must for us with sports, etc. Again, thks for all the good info!

Do you think one can have a pole that is for an antenna, lighting rod, and flag pole all in one?

I agree
 

I AGREE..... :beer3:

In addition to an over-the-air antenna, we have a couple of Roku3 boxes (roku.com). There are several thousand "channels" available but the most common ones are Netflix and Hulu+, and probably Amazon. The boxes need about 3-5 Mbits/sec internet download bandwidth (each) for Hi-Def on Netflix. There are a bunch of similar boxes out there.

I'm a cable cutter. I have Roku too. My go to channels are netflix, pbs, cbs news, twit, pandora for music, history
I have tried a few others but they don't hold my interest very long.
I also connect my laptop to the tv and watch Conan on youtube and tutorials as I need them to fix things, for recipes or learn something new.

I'd like to hear from other roku users who have found interesting channels they enjoy.