So I lost my cable TV last year.....

[Pharaoh]

Not on purpose, but I needed to cut bills and it was an obvious hit. I do not watch much TV, but some news shows, 60 minutes, some documentary's and science shows always interest me. But when I grew up, in the 60's and 70's it was a different era. TV was primarily free through the airwaves. No bills just to watch. And the Packers, Badgers ,Brewers were always broadcast statewide......"for Free!!!

Now, I have to buy, a full cable package and perhaps the Big Ten channel if I want to watch my home town team. I was pretty pissed earlier in the day.

But! I am a bit of a computer geek, and don't mind spending the money I save on TV and put it into high speed internet.

Any way, my brother, who lives 20 miles away(might as well be half a planet away as the effects of the internet are the same) does have cable and the correct corporate channels they would like you to purchase. And we both have a free service called skype :party:

And we are wacthing the game in cyberspace together as we speak.

Let me tell you, technology is amazing these days! And we can actually chat with each other while watching the game. We are watching a football game virtually, free over the internet! Awesome!Some screen shots from an hour ago..............



















It is technology that Big Brother is just coming to understand, as with The Arab Spring, OWS and other grass roots organizations, that will totally and utterly expose them to the light of truth and the light of day!......................Oh! Now!, must get back to the game !! O8) O8) O8)

[snacker]

1. VERY clever...

I'm impressed. We don't have cable either...never had it, probably never will.
Enjoy the game. GO Badgers!!!

[gateley]

2. Good for you guys! nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. Awesome! nt

[Warpy]

4. There weren't as many work arounds 5 years ago

when I inherited not only enough to live on (as long as I don't join the jet set or get sick) but for a few extras, so I got a paid service for the first time in my life. The first 2 years, I was a complete vidiot, catching up on a lot of old shows I'd missed for years. Now I'm very selective and often have it off while I listen to net radio. In fact, I'm downright jaded and weeks of Halloween horror movies and associated garbage have me about ready to toss the whole business into the trash.

I'll keep it for a while longer. I'm almost done, though.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I haven't had cable in many years.

I use and my antennae and digital converter boxes and pick up several channels. If there's a program I want to watch on a channel I don't receive, I can often find it free on the internet. I realized long ago that it doesn't matter how many stations I get, I always have a hard time finding something to watch. If I need mindless entertainment, the few channels I get will have to be enough to satisfy me.

[phylny]

6. Funny, we just discussed this today.

Our DirecTv costs us $109/month (and we have NO premium movie channels) and my husband said he was tired of paying it. Add that to the fact that he's a big Sons of Anarchy fan and DTV will not be carrying it after 10/31. We do have three receivers and HDTV with DVR, which I do love. We're not all that tech savvy, but I do have itunes, and I have Internet and a telephone.

I went to DTV's site earlier today and saw that we had a "Classic Plus" and could downgrade to "Classic." I did that online, but thought, hmm, maybe I could save more.

I called DTV and asked if there were other, less expensive packages available. Sure enough, there is a "Select" package that is much less expensive. It doesn't have "FX" (they're not covering it soon anyway) and it won't carry OWN (I do like Rosie O'Donnell, but I can live without her show) and really had everything we wanted. The woman on the line was very polite, and in addition to the package savings, cut $5 more per month off our bill for six months.

My husband and I figured that there would come a time when the traditional cable/satellite model will be gone - greed and technology will kill them. So, I will download Sons of Anarchy from Itunes and he can finish out the season, and we'll keep learning on ways to spend less money for a majority of channels we don't even watch.

[Lucinda]

14. I suspect you will be able to find Rosies show online with some hunting

and Cuevana and Hulu are great places to pick up a lot of tv shows and movies.

I checked. Cuevana has Sons of Anarchy:
http://www.cuevana.tv/

[phylny]

23. Thank you, Lucinda! n/t

[Booster]

17. I have Dish and yesterday TV#1 just went to snow. I called and

got somebody in another country who I could barely understand. He admitted he didn't know anymore than I do but he would ask his "coach". After about 30 mins of messing around with this guy he said "we will have to send a technician out to move your dish and it will cost $65". I told him nothing had changed; weather was beautiful, etc., and then I said it sounded like a scam to me. I went in the bedroom & turned on TV#2 and it worked, so I asked him "how could that be if the dish needs to be moved". He said "I don't know". He apologized profusely & transferred me to a guy in the U.S. who told me to push a button on my remote & that fixed it. You have to wonder how many people just say "ok" when they say they need to send someone out. A total waste of my time and his.

[pacalo]

18. That's actually a cute story. I know it was frustrating at the time, though.

[Booster]

26. Actually it embarrasses me to death because I can't understand

what they are saying. I know it's just as frustrating to him because I keep saying "what?" and he probably is saying under his breath "stupid old woman". He could say that out loud and I would say "what?". If big corporations would at least ACT patriotic and bring these jobs back to the US it would save both of us time, which still equals money in my book.

[Tx4obama]

7. Here's some live stream links for folks that might not already have them

Tons of all kinds of channels all over the world including the USA
http://www.tvpc.com/ChannelList.php

Sports channels
http://www.tvpc.tv/SportsList.php

Cable news channels - several links towards the top of the page
http://www.rentadrone.tv/msnbc-live-rockinroosters/

[pacalo]

19. Thank you for these links!

You know that :yourock: , don't you?

:toast:

[Electric Monk]

8. "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience.

Any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent, is prohibited."


You might as well start a thread about how you love downloading hollywood movies with bit torrent.

/just sayin...

[Pharaoh]

9. yeah

If anyone has a direct link I can click on and get the game I would be happy to click.

But it never seems to work that way for me.

[Pharaoh]

10. On the other hand

Skype works just fine and it was kind of a weird fun way to interact with my brother:toast:

[tkmorris]

20. Justin.tv

Next time there's a big game on, try that.

[Occulus]

12. Yeah, the only legal way I know of to pull this particular trick off is Slingbox

and you still need to buy their box.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Except it's College Football

and not the NFL.

[Rick Myers]

11. Go Buckeyes!!!

[qanda]

13. It's a good game.

Enjoy! I love Skype... :)

[Lucinda]

15. Technology rocks doesn't it?

Great pics too!

[pinboy3niner]

21. Pretty cool

We didn't dream of this in the '60s when we were just getting away from having party lines on our phones (where you had to wait until your neighbor got off the phone to make a call).

Of course, we also thought transistor radios were pretty amazing. :)

Congrats on your workaround, and on you and your brother being able to share the experience. :toast:

[Enthusiast]

22. We remain united in our opposition to Walker and Kasich.

[mdmc]

24. thanks for the OP

[sammytko]

25. Regular TV is still free. Did you get a free converter box?

You can also buy an HD antenna and pick up some channels -even ones that others have to pay for. That signal is out there - not sent down a wire to the stations that broadcast it. It is all sent by satellite.

I bought a small one to hook up to built in TV tuner in my PC in case my satellite dish goes down for some reason. I can pick up several local stations.

http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/index.php