Explore Your Options

There have been some interesting developments in the last little while, and you should explore your options when it comes to paying for television services. Recently, we made mention of the new CRTC mandated “skinny” packages for cable and satellite providers. Generally, consumers are finding out that they aren’t quite the relief to the average cable bill that they thought.

Cable-based channels are premium services which come with a premium cost. The only viable way that the providers could manage a profit was to group these selections into packages. Now that the packages are being reduced to individual selections, it’s not a very attractive solution.

With the availability of online content though, this is very good news. We recommend that you try one of two possible routes to greatly diminish your cable/satellite bill.

Option 1

Reduce your cable/satellite package to the minimum. Whereas prior to March 1st 2016, this meant lowering it to approximately $40.00/month, now you can reduce it to $25.00/month. Of course you will still need to rent or purchase the cable boxes to view this content (and that’s NOT included in the $25 fee) plus taxes. To get all of the additional programming you would find on movie channels, super stations and premium cable stations like HBO, you can stream the content for free. (see our website)

Option 2

Bypass the cable/satellite alternative completely and get a HD antenna. The programming offered OTA (Over The Air) from local stations is high quality digital feeds in 1080i resolution. This is a sharper picture than standard cable transmission because there is no signal compression. And of course, it’s completely free. The downside is, you will likely not get many stations via OTA broadcasting, but so what? Remember, if you are backing up your system with streaming content, you are still going to get all of the premium content that you could possibly want. Now you have your local broadcasting, including local news, daytime television shows etc. AND all of the premium programming including first run movies. And now you do not have ANY monthly fees apart from internet.

Explore Your Options

Best Approach for HD Antenna

In many cases, a simple indoor HD antenna will more than suffice to receive basic local broadcasting. Remembering that this is just for the basic channels, keep it simple. Stores like Best Buy have a no-questions-asked return policy so you can try a lower price antenna and if that doesn’t work, try the next model up. It may take some time to find the right fit for your own unique situation, but the payoff will reward you for years!

There are a number of indoor HD antennas that perform perfectly well. If you need a better quality antenna, don’t just jump to the biggest most expensive one. Also experiment with positioning. Keep in mind that OTA transmissions travel through glass, wood and standard building materials with ease. When these same signals need to pass through metal, brick, concrete or stone; however, they are greatly reduced. Where possible, consider placing a HD antenna in an attic. Most roofs are only wood and shingle which allows a good signal to get through.

Research is the best answer and it’s amazing how much reward can come from simple changes. If you’re one of the millions of people suffering from high cable/satellite bills, know that in many cases there are solutions.