Wednesday 14 October 2009

Good Value Television

By Gretchen Holmes

There was a time when television programming was free. The biggest expense was the purchase prices of the television its self. To receive programming, the television was attached to rabbit ears or for rural areas, an outdoor television antenna. Then came cable television. Today, in many areas basic cable costs about 30 dollars per month. Extended basic plus the premium movie channels can easily cost over 100 dollars per month. That means over 1200 dollars per year for a service that you may not need. Here is some good news. If you want the absolute cheapest TV programming, cut the cable.

When all televisions were analog sets, cable grew in popularity because reception was often bad. Pictures often had shadows or snow and in some cases were not viewable. Recently all television was changed to digital broadcasting. Television stations still send out their feed through the airwaves, they are at different frequencies than before. The good news about digital television is that pictures are always clear if there is any reception at all.

By attaching your set to an antenna you will still have access to most of your favorite shows whether the broadcast in the day or at night. The cost to you is absolutely nothing. In addition you will be able to see some sports and local and national news.

If you are addicted to movies, then a less expensive option is to join an online movie rental. The fee is in proportion to the number of movies you wish to check out at one time, but begins at only 5 dollars per month. Within two days of sending one movie in, you will have another in your home. You can watch the movies at your convenience, mail the back and get the next movie in you cue.

Even if you have missed favorite shows, they can be downloaded on the internet and view at another time. Your movie rental club may allow you to download older movies for immediate viewing and this not count against the number of movies you have checked out.

Many families find that they are watching less television than ever. If you are among the many families that watch two to four hours of television per month, then why spend even thirty dollars per month on television cable. That works out to 7. 50 dollars per hour. The price seems very expensive for something that you may not use that often.

Once you begin using free local television, the cheapest TV of all, think of what you can do with all the money you save. If you are a real television fan, you may save enough money to buy the big screen television that you have always wanted. Many of the new flat screen televisions can be wall mounted and take up very little space.

What if you pull the plug on cable and there is one evening when you cannot find anything to watch. Here is some great news, there is always another option for television. It is called the off button. Turn off the TV, and visit with your family. Get to know your children or spouse. Have a family game night. If the weather is agreeable, go to the park and spend time together, without television, video games or iPods.

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