I watched an instructional video on youtube about getting the most from an indoor TV antenna. I've been dying to cut the cord ever since the abolition of analog led me, since my set wasn't digital, to purchase a cable package. I opted for the minimum, which cost, until recently, $25. It wasn't worth it at that price and it certainly isn't now that it is $45, especially since the picture and sound are faulty. Once I had a digital TV, I was able to explore options. I was ready to cut the cord six months ago, but the Cablevision rep lowered my rate to $64, so I stayed with it despite the lousy picture and sound - dumb mistake. The gentleman who posted the video said that one has to experiment with the placement of the antenna. I found a spot that brings in 28 stations. Of those, ten are useful, two are maybes. The picture and sound are infinitely better than what was coming out of the box. That alone makes it worth it to cut the cord. There are drawbacks, of course. MIA are FOX, ABC and the CW. Surprisingly, Decades, Cozi and Heroes & Icons are accessible without cable. The latter provides my ace in the hole at nine PM,
Star Trek Next Generation, of which I've seen less than half of its episodes. Currently, I'm not watching anything on ABC. I watch
Gotham on FOX. Since I'm on the fence about that violent series, I won't miss not being able to access it. I always tuned to
Seinfeld at eleven PM on the CW, and fell asleep to it. I've seen the episodes umpteen times, so that will not be a big loss despite the lost comfort factor. The GET channel will provide westerns on Saturday and Johnny Cash and Sonny and Cher back to back at ten on Sunday. Having never seen either show, I look forward to tuning in. BOUNCE airs movies at eleven, so it will be included in my favorites rotation. I will miss
Svengoolie on MeTV, the Movies! channel, although it airs the same flicks over and over in prime time; and THIS, although it chops films to pieces. The pluses outweigh the minuses, especially since I will no longer be paying to watch commercials, which always bugged the frugal Sicilian in me. And I have a subscription to Netflix by mail, in case I want to try any TV shows I will not have access to. I called Cablevision this morning. Upon return of the cable box, my bill will go down to $59, a savings of $30 per month. Like the cell phone, most folks need more services than I do. Anyone who's thinking about cutting the cord should look into getting an indoor antenna, especially those who live on a high floor in an apartment building or those in a private house. There are websites that evaluate the best of them. I paid either $30 or $40, which I will earn back in two months. As for the internet, I've been tracking NYC Mesh, hoping its network expands to all of Brooklyn. That will also require the purchase of an antenna, but, according to the site, users name their own price for connection. Yes, it seems too good to be true, but it's worth a look. I just glanced at their coverage map and saw a dot in Brighton, the only one in this half of Brooklyn. It wasn't there a couple of months ago. I doubt that would provide enough juice for us in nearby Sheepshead Bay, but I'll send them an email and see what they have to say.
My thanks to the Frenchman, who purchased a book by his film-making countryman,
The Art of Cinema by Jean Cocteau and Robin Buss, and to the gentleman who purchased a collection of the plays of George Bernard Shaw. I had to suppress a laugh when he pulled out his wallet, which was more packed than George Costanza's.
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