Television Options in the Digital Age

A while back I wrote about my homemade television antenna and how I had given up on it. Well it has made a comeback. Across Canada recently, television signals switched from analog to digital to free up bandwidth across the airwaves. When that happened, the local station that used to come in slightly snowy stopped coming in at all.

I initially tried the store bought antenna that was supposed to be able to pick up the new digital signals with no luck. Then I decided to try the homemade antenna (pictured to the right) and was happily surprised when it worked like a charm. The local channel come in with 95% signal strength much better than it did when the signal was analog. Plus I was able to get another channel come in crystal clear which was TVO. (Which by the way has some pretty cool programming, check it out.)

This inexpensive solution helps support our decision a long time ago to cut the cord on our cable service. Of late a lot of people I know have also cut the cord on their traditional television subscription. Often the argument is "Why am I paying for all these channels that I don't even watch?"

Now with more TV programming services showing up on the internet and television sets becoming smarter and able to able to access that content, I am not surprised by the trends we're all seeing. This infographic at http://dailyinfographic.com/cutting-the-cable illustrates what I'm talking about.

Personally, I am waiting until Netflix offers Canadians more current programming but the price point is exactly the amount I want to pay. Plus I just learned that I can now get AirMiles through that service. I would need to upgrade some hardware to connect the internet to my TV, but I never find that task a hardship. (This is what I would buy.)

Until then I will continue to enjoy my two channels; CKCO and TVO. You won't hear me complaining about how much I've spent since it was very minimal and it was a one time expense.

How do current Netflix users find the service? What will the cable and satellite TV companies have to do to compete with online services? Do you want instructions on how to make your own antenna?