Tips to Save Money: Ditch the dish or cut the cable for free TV service

As you may have noticed, the cost of satellite or cable television is a joke. Considering we are just getting into 2014 and people most likely have a resolutions to cut expenses, here are some great tips to save money on your pricey TV service bill.

If you want to keep it super cheap, an indoor HDTV antenna is the ideal solution to replace satellite or cable television service. Programming is completely dependent on your location and unobstructed communication paths with programming antennas, but a majority of you will be able to receive dozens of crystal clear channels. I recently switched to an HDTV antenna with my HDTV ready TV and will never go back. It’s embarrassing how much I’ve paid for HD cable service when a majority of my most watched channels were available in HD for free with a $40 antenna. I suggest shopping around for the the digital antenna that is right for your location and television.

If you really want to get the most out of free entertainment, we highly suggest purchasing Apple TV. Apple TV is the future of TV entertainment. This little $100 black box will allow you to stream from Netflix, iTunes, HBOGo, MLB-TV, and much more (services most likely require paid subscriptions)! Oh, did we mention you can project you Mac, iPad, or iPhone screen to your TV with AirPlay? So essentially, you will be able to view every movie, TV show, video game, or anything else you bring up on your Apple device, right to your TV screen. The following are Airplay-enabled products:

  • iMac (Mid 2011 or newer)
  • Mac Mini (Mid 2011 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer)
  • Apple TV (2nd generation or newer)
  • iPhone (4S or newer)
  • iPad (2 or newer)
  • iPad Mini (1 or newer)
  • iPod Touch (5th generation)

That about wraps it up. If there is specific programming like sports or other live events you don’t want to miss out on, I have some basic solutions as well. Feel free to ask me any questions or concerns on Twitter @AllanBlocker. Also, if you have any requests on tips to save money in a certain area, I’d love to hear them and hopefully provide some resolutions for you guys.

Cheers!

6 Comments

  1. willrob2
    January 7, 2014

    “This little $100 black box will allow you to stream from Netflix, iTunes, HBOGo, MLB-TV, and much more!”

    Except for iTunes, you have to pay for these services, and in the case of HBOGo you also have to be a subscriber to their cable network. Even iTunes requires you to pay for content.

      • earlthesquirrel
        January 7, 2014

        If you add it all up, it can be a bunch more expensive. https://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/10/hbo-go-comcast/ shows the minimal for HBO (and you still have to pay for cable for internet) I’ve been trying to figure out how to get there (with it being at “least” same price). But you have to have internet connection (and biggest pipe you can get is Cable…) and a minimal cable package. And SyFy Discovery, HGTV (to name a few ) don’t have “channels” on the Apple TV, so forget those on the “basic” tier. If you think about adding MLB (not cheap) NFL (not cheap) it doesn’t add up yet… esp with missing channels. But we’re heading in the right direction…

  2. Dave Finkelstein
    January 8, 2014

    The Apple TV is one of the most crippled boxes out there. You cannot play your own media on it easily without hacking it. If you rip your Blu Rays into mkv files, it will not play them. A much better solution is a Roku along with Plex. It will scan your entire hard drive gathering metadata for all your movies and tv shows and display it for you in coverflow just like netflix. Then you install the app on the Roku and you are ready to watch through your network in 1080p. You can also listen to music from iTunes and obviously stream netflix, HBOgo etc. You also have the option with the Roku 3 to play media off a usb hard drive or flash drive. Much better than the Apple TV.

    • January 8, 2014

      Completely understand there are more advanced options out there. This is more for basic users that want a simple alternative than traditional TV services to shave some funds. I would say I’m an above average when it comes to tech and went with ATV over Roku for the ease of use.

  3. January 20, 2014

    Today, there are loads of alternatives has been increased for cable and dish as many digital broadcasters and tech companies are coming to the Internet TV industry.

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