Free cable?
 

Here in England if you take your broadband/landline phone from Virgin Media you get their medium cable TV package free. It has all the Freeview (TV via the antenna) channels plus radio & you get guest channels for a few weeks at Christmas, these are to try & get you to upgrade to their large, extra large, sports & movie channel packages, they also phone you every few months to try & get you to upgrade. (In other words give them more money) Does any phone company in USA offer free cable TV?

I know of a cable company that offers phone and internet. Time Warner Cable provides us with all 3, and all 3 come through coax. The Phone and net come from the same cable modem.
IIRC in Chicago in the early 2000's AT&T had a cable service we were on.

We have more than basic cable since OTA reception is good here, and I don't particularly like much* of anything that is OTA.
*The only things I like are the old classic shows that fall into that "there just ain't enough hours in a day to watch this" category. Most days I only watch 0-0.5 hours of TV.

My phone company offers cable and broadband internet and phone, but not for free. It's called Windstream and they bought out the local telco, an independent company that already had a good cable TV option covering about half of the county, so they continued it.

I switched to their cable a year ago, from having Time-Warner cable for 25 years, and haven't regretted it one bit. These people know how to do it and it's much better in every way than Time-Warner cable. They still offer analog cable with digital local channels including the sub-channels. No box required and it works with my old TVs.

I didn't opt for the cable modem phone line since it didn't work in a power outage and also probably wouldn't work with rotary phones, which I still use. I kept my POTS line. I told someone I got the "grampaw" package.

What they did do for free was install it, including burying a new line from the pole to the back of my house. My picture is much better and more reliable than Time-Warner and they have enough sense not to put the digital channels on the same channel number as over the air. With Time-Warner, the channels fought and sometimes I had TWO channels with the same number.

The title of this thread is misleading, IMHO. There is no free lunch, as the expression goes. I don't care what cable service you have, you're going to pay for that service even if you have basic cable (broadcast channels only), as Time Warner refers to its lowest tier of cable TV service. No payment, no cable. It's as simple as that.

I have TW basic cable, phone and Internet, and like it a lot. I'm not using the cable, as I have a Roku player with the TWC TV app. This means, of course, I am watching TV via streaming video, not over the cable. The only reason I have cable on my account at all is so the TWC TV app will receive my area's local channels (this is, as I understand it, a quirk in the cable operator's billing system--at least Starter TV service [broadcast channels only] is required if you want local TV channels through your Roku as well as other streaming services; I seriously doubt, however, if this policy will change any time soon). There is absolutely no way to legally circumvent this requirement; it is impossible, as access (or lack thereof) to any cable channel is controlled at the headend and also dictated by the service package you currently subscribe to. This means Roku's claim that the player can receive 200 or more channels (with the TWC TV app if local channels are desired) is valid only if you have a subscription to a video package which offers this many channels. This also means many of the streaming channels in Roku's "channel store" will not work unless you have a video package which carries those channels; in other words, don't try to add, for example, the National Geographic channel from the channel store if your cable service is Starter TV--it won't work. The channel will be added to your Roku's home screen, but any attempt to set it up will fail immediately (you will get a window on your TV screen asking you to contact your cable operator to upgrade your service) and the channel, of course, will not work until or unless your cable service is upgraded to a package which has this channel in its lineup. The cable system is set up such that, again, there is no way to legally get around this, so please, don't even try--you will get nowhere fast and, at worst, you could lose your cable service or even face charges of cable theft if you somehow manage to receive cable channels for which you are not paying.

I missed the 'free' part of the title...No part of TWC is free.

You are lucky to still have analog cable. TWC killed that here this summer, and I believe they were the last analog TV holdout in my area.

Service is pretty good, but the digital changeover instituted some things that don't sit well with me.

Surprisingly the cable modem/phone service box works great with rotary dial phones. Me and a friend, have the same service with different model phone modems, and both support rotary dialing and have the oomph to drive at least 3 ringers easily.

My modem has a connector for a rechargeable back up battery, but no battery, so my solution to outages is to connect the modem power cord to the same cheap Uninteruptable-Power-Supply (battery powered AC backup system) the main computer is powered through. If the computer is on I have 30 minutes of modem operation, MUCH more if the computer is off.

Having a cell phone (essential for road emergencies/leaving home IMO) makes a %100 reliable landline unnecessary anyway.

Time Warner will eliminate analog cable in my area, 30 miles east of Cleveland, by the end of this year. I got a letter from them yesterday stating that two channels would be moved to digital tiers next month, being watchable only with a digital transfer adapter (DTA) or a TWC-issued cable box ahead of the TV. The letter did not go into any further detail as to when the remaining analog channels will be moved to digital.

If, like myself, you are using a Roku player ahead of your television instead of a TWC-issued cable box, however, you may notice two sets of channels on the channel listing which shows on the left side of your TV screen, which is used to change channels using the up/down buttons on the remote control. (There is also an on-screen channel guide, accessed from the Roku home screen and operated via the remote.) TWC tech support says the lower numbered channels (2, 3, 4...etc.) are standard definition channels, whereas the second set of channels are the HD ones, and are numbered starting with 1001. Both sets of channels will be available even after TWC eliminates analog cable, although older TVs will only show the SD (standard definition) channels.

Note that Time Warner Cable is the last cable operator in the US which still has analog channels on its systems. Since they are transitioning to all-digital service (have been for some time), however, the removal of analog channels is a logical step toward this goal, as most people now have flat screen TVs these days. The exceptions are antique/classic TV collectors who may be able, if they are TW Cable subscribers, to use their treasured old sets with the SD service without the use of a cable box.

If you have cable service with Comcast (parent company of NBC Universal) or most other US cable operators, however, you will need a cable box ahead of your TV to get anything at all. Canadian cable operators still have analog service in some areas; however, I do not know if they have plans to eventually convert every cable system in the country to DTV, as American cable operators did years ago.

BTW: Tom C. (VK member Electronic M), you are absolutely correct. As I mentioned in the first sentence of my post, there is no free lunch and, of course, no free service on Time Warner Cable or any other US or Canadian cable company. If you want free TV, hook up your old classic set(s) to a DTV converter box and an antenna. DTV converter boxes are still available on eBay and probably CL as I write this, although since most average TV viewers now have flat screens and have almost certainly junked or otherwise disposed of their old CRT televisions, I honestly don't know how much longer converter boxes will be available, even on the used market.

Interesting replies, thanks. There are lots of Telco's who do broadband/landline cheaper for the first year or so, but you have to have a live British Telecom line installed, we have a BT socket in the house but it's dead. They want 100's of pounds to make the line live again & this would wipe out any savings I'd make by changing Telco. I'm considering having the landline disconnected so saving a few pounds a month as we have 3 cell phones & hardly ever use the landline. BTW forgot to mention: with the cable TV you get BBC i-player, ITV Hub, channels 4 & 5 catch up services & You Tube thrown in as well...

After seeing the thread title.I'll say yes years ago but not now to get free cable.I remember those old Radio Electronics articles on how those descramblers work.See the old RE Mag on American Radio History website.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/...IDX/search.cgi

Even with all the disclaimers in the articles .I'm still surprised they got away printing those articles.Freedom of the press is it .Analog has been gone from here since December 2012

The nearest thing to free might be when they have "package discounts", which is what you have (pay for data and phone, get TV "for free"). Such packages are often available here, but I never saw one where any of the parts was "free".

When I wanted to replace my DSL data circuit with AT&T's U-verse service (which is really just high-rate DSL itself), they essentially paid me US$250 to take their TV service for two months. Free installation, which would have cost $150 for Internet-only service, plus $250 worth of gift debit cards, minus the $75 per month the TV service cost. After the two-month period, I had received the gift cards and cancelled the TV service. This was in 2010.

When the virgin media statement comes it charges for the medium TV package, then at the end it refunds the exact same amount. When the guy turned up to install the broadband: after it was all set up & the modem was running OK he said "where do you want this?" I said "what is it?" He said "the cable TV box!" I said "I didn't order cable TV!" he said "it's FREE!" I said "put it over there near the TV please!" Well you don't refuse something that's free do you? Lol. If they ever start charging me for the cable TV then it's out pronto, I'll just go back to OTA Freeview TV through the antenna....

Is there still a "viewing tax" per tv set levied in England? I remember reading years ago that "video sniffer" vans randomly drove through neighborhoods, monitoring tv usage, so that people that were not paying the tax could be fined.

jr

I'm only paying, US $35 bucks here for basic 25 cable channels with Comcast.I would not pay them anymore.Meantime I can watch most of other stuff via Youtube and other free video websites.

Yes; they call it a TV licence but it's a tax in all but name, it covers unlimited TV's in a home (I've got 5 TV's) & pays for the BBC. It's 146 pounds a years. (about 175 dollars)

The cable TV part of the bill is 15 pounds, but that is refunded so it's in effect free. I would never pay for it as Freeview (OTA antenna TV) is free + I watch You Tube & other free video streaming websites..

Yes .You guys have the TV licence over there.in the last few years our cable companies had to tack on a a $5.00 dollar broadcast fee to our cable bills every month to recoup the rebroadcast rights fee that the station charge to have them on the cable line up.I think its BS since the station are already making money with their adverts with better coverage.I say the stations are corrupt.

I turned down a basic package like that from Cox - 33 channels for 35 dollars/mo - 11 of the channels were OTA clear here (I can receive 32 channels OTA), and 3 were preview channels for OnDemand video, and still no ESPN for SEC games.

I got Sling TV instead, and pay less for the channels, but I still pay Cox for internet....:thumbsdn:

I don't really watch the locals, and I think they should be a-la-carte. If I don't watch it why should I pay for it? Those stations would get a nice slice of humble pie if only the users that wanted them enough to pay that $5 actually paid them...

You are lucky to receive the OTA locals there.Not a sports fan here so I save bucks with the fat ESPN and other sports channel subscriber fees.I can do without the dishonest bias news outlets since I can get better news coverage online. Documentary shows from the History channel,Discovery channel and other channels are all on Youtube so I dont have to watch all the filler reality shows between them.


I agree with a-la-carte. Yes if they go a-la-carte .All the weak cable channels will close up shop as I read this years ago in the trade mags.I dont need the sports channels,Different language channels,Reality crap show channels,Shopping channels.

They dont seem to be as greedy as US companies..... I DONT KNOW OF ANY US CABLE OUTLET THAT OFFERS ANYTHING FREE!!

I think the last analog station here to disappear was the weather network. To me it was one of the more entertaining channels. ;)

I recently cut TWC out of my life, and have zero regrets. Mounted a nice tall HDTV antenna on a mast sunk into the ground, and along with my Roku box and Netflix I get everything I could want on TV....except Fox News and CNN (Roku has this CNN Go app, but it's not a live feed) along with a couple other channels.

To get the other channels, I simply used the VGA port on my TV and hooked up a small but powerful PC up to the set and have it run with a wireless keyboard/touchpad. From there, I just turn on the computer and pull up my Firefox favorites where I have streams set up for everything I want to watch that I can't get by other means. Expand to full screen on the feed and done.

Sure, the video quality isn't HD, but it beats the hell out of paying $200 per month for the same crap I paid $89.95 for 3 or 4 years ago. Ever since, I get flooded with mailers from TWC now wanting me back at the 89.95 rate when they refused to discount it below $198 when I was a subscriber. Screw TWC.

If that PC is pre-windows 10 and supports an external video card then you should be able to find a card for it that has NTSC S-video out so you can also drive your older sets with it....I try to keep such a rig running at all times.....Granted yesterday both of my regular use machines media (which was the backup for the normal media rig that is waiting on a cap change) and otherwise crapped out leaving me with one crappy spare, and a a junker....I bought the junker to build up, but it was dead, yet it came back to life on Halloween. :screwy::bat:

You probably feel the same way I do about HD :)

A DVD player coupled to an RF modulator is as HD as I care to get. :thmbsp: When I switched our daily watcher to one without A/V inputs I was a little bugged by the slight loss of definition, but I'm now used to it and am not looking back. :)

HD is awesome, truth be told.

And when you watch OTA TV you realize that the expanded channel listings now available with OTA TV....the switchover did have its advantages. To be honest with the way I have my transmitter setup I have access to far more programming than I ever would with standard broadcast.

I can source from OTA TV through a converter, VHS, DVD, and as well I can cast to an analog channel 9 also with my tablet linked to a Chromecast.

Sure, it'd be nice to be able to watch TV without it, but with the very limited channel selection that we lost it doesn't bother me a bit.

All the main channels here in UK (BBC1,2,4,BBC News24, ITV1, CH4 & ch5) are in 1080i HD on Freeview & Free Cable. There are dozens more channels in 576i SD (used to be analog 625) & new ones come & go seemingly at random, e.g. channel 20 was FTN, now it's Drama channel, I struggle to keep track of them...

What you get for free in the UK with Freeview drastically surpasses what a Yankee viewer gets with an antenna (er....aerial). In some areas here, especially very rural areas, one is not even assured of seeing all the national networks.

The more populated in area in the USA is, the more channels you can expect to see. However, all of the DTV (also called OTA) channels, other than the major networks are dominated by religious broadcasters and "classic TV" channels with reruns of old series (locally, on 24.3, for example- Dr. Who, but episodes so old that one can clearly tell they were 405 line monochrome!). One exception is a subchannel network called "Bounce", which, while mostly reruns, is having new programming made for their prime time (evening) schedule. Bounce has programming targeted to the African-American audience, though is in the clear to anyone in its coverage area. I've watched several movies on Bounce myself, though I'm "not the target audience".

Sports programming is particularly scarce on free TV in the US, though we still have the World Series (baseball) and Super Bowl (Gridiron Football) in the clear. Oddly, if you want to see you local college Gridiron Football teams on TV, you'll pay out the nose for it, but a viewer in Michigan may be able to watch Idaho State vs. Utah for free.

Cable TV in the US has something of a "fiscal cliff effect", with nearly all cable-only channels demanding that cable systems carry ALL of their channels to ALL of the cable company's subscribers and charging a per-subscriber fee for ALL the customers. Right now, the Monthly bill for cable or satellite TV services is around $120 USD (£96), and keeps rising faster than wages.

One good thing about free TV in the US is that the major networks are usually in superb HD.

I just my Comcast bill today and as always they will be jacking up their rates.For me only the The BS broadcast TV fees went up $2 bucks to $7 from $5.00.Thanks to the greed from local TV stations for that.They should be thankful for the cable coverage especially digital signals dont go anywhere like analog did in the past.The cable companies have to charge the subscribers this fee to pay the local stations for their rebroadcast rights in order to keep them in the cable channel lineup.I say let the cable companies drop the channels and have the viewers flood the channels Face Book ,Twitter,email,phone in saying stop the greed or we will boycott your channel.Maybe its time to jack up the advertising rates at the stations and the networks.

Yes the full amount of Freeview channels are available over most of the country, a few very low power relay transmitters carry Freeview lite, it has all the main channels (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & 5 etc) but not ones like QVC & the selling channels, mind you most people don't watch them anyway. There is also Freesat & Freesat from SKY for those who want more channels who live in the few Freeview lite areas. I have some friends who live in Ireland & every single one of them has Freesat & watch British TV a lot, they have to put a British postcode in on setup & some have put mine, lol..

One hack way that some have used to get free cable is simply having cable internet and connecting an analog set or clear QAM box to a spliter on the line.

Analog is nearly gone on domestic cable, and many cable providers are encrypting QAM...Mine killed their analog in the last year. The jerks have encrypted the QAM so I can't tune anything (aside from the crap I can get with an antenna) with any hardware NOT rented from them...As soon as the free period on the boxes is over I'm going to look into other options.

The closest I'll ever get to "high definition" is holding a dictionary over my head. :D

I once thought like that (and still hate flat-pannel sets), then I started watching newer shows that have things that don't look right in SD...Once you get where I am I'll have 2 words for you HD-CRT.

More and more now I'm watching TV shows , movies and news online especially old movies and shows so its getting to a point to cut the cable cord and save $35 bucks.You Tube is great for complete old shows and movies.They cant keep up on deleting content and accounts so at times you find complete series on there.Sooner or later the cable companies will loose all of their subscribers because of the internet.We are fed up with their fees and BS hammer charges.

Virgin media wanted to put my broadband, phone & so called free cable TV up to £149-99 a month. I phoned them up to ask why it had almost doubled in price? He said he didn't know. I said "well if you can't do it cheaper I'll go somewhere else, they have laid a fibre optic cable on my street 3 years ago so I'll go with one of them". As soon as I mentioned 'fibre optic cable' he said "oh, er, I'll see what can do". He offered to up the broadband to 1000 gigs, I told him I'm happy with the 350 I have now, unlimited international calls, no don't do international calls, sports & films on TV. I said "you're wasting my time, put me through to disconnections, I'll go on fibre". He went quiet for a bit then offered £90 a month, I said "no, not cheap enough". Then he came to £77 a month & free Netflix, so I went with that.

Since I've had Netflix I haven't watched any live TV so let the TV licence lapse, had 2 threatening letters that an enforcement officer will visit my house, but no ones turned up so far. Loads of videos on you tube on what to do if they do come knocking....