riverkwai

Hi

I have just moved to USA and would like to know about the TV service in USA. My TV is due to arrive in a few days and I would like to know what is Freeview's equivalent in USA? And failing that (I don't think I see a TV aerial outlet in my apartment), what's the cheapest paid TV service (I have heard Comcast, DirectTV and Dish Network). I was hoping to spend $20 a month for some basic TV channels (basically some kids channels). I did a search on Comcast and they don't quote the TV packages outright (I think they just quote $99 for all 3 services but I am only looking for TV). For only TV package you need to add to shopping basket and customise... blah blah blah....

Thanks.

fatbrit

Thanks for the laugh!

Poppy girl

Please don't tell us the TV was shipped from another country!

riverkwai

Of course not. I bought a 47" LCD TV through an online retailer. Don't get me started on the US cellphone contract. How could a $60 monthly contract ended up more like $80+?

ChocolateBabz

Comcast when we first arrived - couldn't wait to get rid of them - was on the triple play deal thingy. Service was not good although they blamed the cabling in our apartment.

Now we are with Direct TV - good service. When we first signed up we were $60 for everything except sports including DVR and an extra 2 receivers. Now that all the special offers are up we are up to $112 (after dropping 1 of the movie channels).

Thinking of moving to AT&T U-verse as whole package is $126 for HD & DVR & 2 extra receivers but would still need to add the 101 taxes tacked on to everything.

What can I say we like our telly and its cheaper than going out !

Poppy girl

Oh many have lol

Thats the beauty of the US nothing is quite as it seems, because the damn tax is not added until the check out or final bill

Duncan Roberts

If you're TV is HD and you want some kids channels then you will have to suck it up and pay. Not much equivalent to freeview here, you can get a local channel package for maybe $10 from a cable company but it will only be a few channels and not HD. You can get a digital antenna but the same will be true. Right now we have DirecTV and our bills are cheap (just paid $37 or something), but that's only temporary. Once all our credits run out we will be on $80 a month (tax included) for their second highest package, DVR, HD, no premiums and an extra receiver. When I got a quote for cable they wanted $117 for pretty much the same TV and internet.

mexibrit

We have a bunch of free digital channels here some of which are broadcast in HD format. Just stick an aerial in the back and see what you pick up.

The Horticulturalist

Being a cheapskate myself and realising that 1) My kids were watching far too much TV and 2) I wasn't prepared to pay the increased cable fees after the initial 6 month deal was up, I got an antenna and now get all of the main network TV channels (digital) for free. Your new TV should have a digital tuner built in, ours does.

My husband and a friend fixed it on the roof, the picture quality is great. I also have an HDMI and sound cable so that I can hook up the laptop to the TV so that we can watch shows available on the internet.

If you want a ton of channels then you've no option but to sign up for TV with a cable or sattelite provider.

Alan17

Your other alternative is to pick up a new-ish PC and get most of your shows from Hulu or one of the other online providers. That, combined with a decent ATSC antenna, should give you 95% of the channels you'd ever want to watch.

Look at www.antennaweb.org to see what sort of free TV reception you can get with an antenna on the roof.

canada_better

We have timewarnercable and its only because our apartment community allow them (only timewarnercable). Timewarnercable is extremely expensive and patetic channels.No international channels.All the residents are locked so cannot do anything.....

hobbes79

To get down to that sort of money, I'd go with an antenna.

Or, if your place has cable installed, many providers now don't encrypt locals.

I have Verizon Fios but plugged in one TV without a cable box... I get about 50 channels.

I get all the locals in HD and PBS Kids. Okay, then a bunch shopping and religious channels, but the raw number sounds good :-)

Though I haven't used it myself, I'd recommend a hundred buck Rocku box and subscribe to Netflix for $8.99/month - I've heard great things. That'll get you lots of extra on-demand programming and movies.

thechazman

Never realised that having so many channels would actually make it harder to find something to watch!
Comcast have done me well enough so far.

Kind of off the subject, but what I have started to realise is quite how much I miss my old British TV, especially being a young man in Naples where the average age is 150 years old, and having very little to do, I begin to wonder whats going on on Albert Square and such!

depressing thought really, but there you go.

Does anyone know of anywhere I might be able to get a connect to English channels? BBC, ITV etc?

Might start another post on this as its a bit off subject!

Chaz

cranston

Chaz

we use Adtelly on my laptop to get BBC & ITV iplayer (we love Corrie). I think it cost around $8 per month - just google them and you will find their details.

As someone said above if you have a HDMI connection on your PC and TV you get a very decent picture.

Bob

What service to get, that really depends on where you live, you might not have a choice if there's only one provider servicing your area...