Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

Pros and Cons of Going OTA

339K views 705 replies 233 participants last post by  jsebean 
#1 · (Edited)
If I could I would drop my BEV subscription and go 100% OTA and save the monthly fee. We seldom watch specialty channels anymore, and about the only thing I'd miss would be the time shifting DVR capability on HD channels and the CFL in HD when TSN starts their promised coverage. By going 100% OTA my gear (I'd have to buy an OTA tuner since I use my BEV 6100 for that) would pay for itself in about a year.

Are you ready to go 100% OTA? What are your reasons, for and against?
 
#469 ·
The only reason I mentioned this is that there was a minor change in the OTA sports landscape that has just been announced. CBC has been carrying Toronto Raptors games but that will no longer be the case in the new season. The only OTA NBA basketball games in 2010-11 will be the games carried by ABC.
 
#470 ·
True, I have little interest in sports. I remember years ago there was always sports of some sort available OTA on the weekends. It seems there was more variety of weekend programming OTA even though there were fewer channels.

But, in contrast, remember when MASH was on everyday from 3pm-7pm, broadcast OTA by different networks? That era sucked because there wasn't enough variety in what they broadcast daily. Now, we have the same problem with lousy talk shows all morning and again late at night. Or crappy paid programming which all but disappeared for awhile.

It got me thinking though about the future.

The networks (ABC/FOX/CBC et al.) are doomed. Look at Itunes for an example of how a company with no experience in a certain field become the delivery agent for another industry. Before you argue that in-depth knowledge of the tv industry is necessary to deliver TV programming look at Apple. They know nothing about sourcing or producing music yet they're one of the biggest delivery agents for music. Someone, if not Apple, will become the dominant delivery agent for TV of all stripes, including live sports, series, news and movies.

When the networks are killed off, and I believe they will be, OTA as we know it is dead for good. Who will pay for the OTA equipment? I doubt very much any government will step in to save OTA when they can make money auctioning off the spectrum.
 
#475 ·
PRO: there's still tons of good stuff on OTA Network TV. You may be surprised!

Another one of the pros to OTA is that there is still some very good entertainment value on the big networks and enough sports to keep a mainstream fan (i.e. not addict) happy. OTA still has broad (although not specialized) appeal which for most viewers in enough.

I did an experiment: I reviewed the timers set on our family PVR and realized that all but 3 shows came from non-network sources. (Holmes on Homes for myself and 2 MTV series for my kids). The remaining 95% (Vampire Diaries, Glee, Big Brother, Survivor, 90210, CSI, Simpsons , Family Guy, Dr. Oz, Ellen, Bachelor(ette), Flashpoint, Heartland, Saturday Night Live, Letterman and many more) were all on network TV channels that I could get OTA.

In the end, I looked at my monthly BEV bill of $42 and figured it wasn’t worth it for just 3 series and perhaps the occasional blip we find when changing channels… my kids have already figured out ways to watch their series online for free and I could buy the whole Holmes on Homes season DVD set to watch ad nauseum for less than one month’s bill. Once Canadian networks go HDTV, my plan is to get a Channel Master PVR and bye-bye BEV.


I recommend this study as a good exercise for anyone who wants to make the switch. I had some of my friends do this and some were very surprised with the results. Really makes you question your cable bill and if you really do need those specialized channels at that extra price. I already had one of my buddies come over to get info about my OTA setup!
 
#476 ·
This is precisely what's going on...you're paying $50+ monthly for a couple of channels...eg ethnic, specialty sports, lifestyle, etc.

For satellite and digital cable you watch one channel per box so it is very much exactly what's going on.

OTA does change viewing behavior, I'd say most times it is for the better. No channel is worthy of $50/month:)
 
#477 ·
Well to further add to my past post this home has now gone to cheapest cable plan no hd.
It has been a month now and we notice a couple of things, we do plan our OTA HD viewing more carefully as not to miss a good HD program. We have been doing more idle time things together more than before the change. We do each miss the On Demand movie access but are doing better than I first thought we would, will it continue not sure yet?
We each love the idea we are getting great hd for free :)
 
#478 ·
If it were not for one particular specialty channel my parents can't get via OTA, they would have been rid of their Bell TV long ago. From their location, they get Montreal local stations, plus all the U.S. networks except ABC.
As for myself, I am a news/documentary junkie. That's the only reason I'm still paying for Shaw Cable — so that I can get PBS, news channels and CPAC. (And even then, I don't watch them all the time.) That said, I switch to antenna for local OTA digital TV. No high-def cable box for me, thank you very much.
 
#479 ·
life without cable....

well it's been not even a week and the family is in uproar heheheh, and I am loving every minute of it.
They are so cabelized that they are oblivious to OTA and how it works. Honestly, it's been almost two years now since I have dabbled with OTA and you would think they had some kind of grasp of how it works.
I had an intervention and cleared the myth's and went over channel orientation, and placement.
I found TvZapit, an online tv guide and customized it for our local OTA broadcast and book marked it to assist my wife cope with the lost of her precious Roger guide.
I have some neat tip's for customizing TvZapit but i'll post that later.
It is so nice to see the kid's playing outside alot more now that MUCH and TeleToon are gone. I said "hey there is TVO and PBS" and I get these dirty looks like what are those channels?
I gave it three months, gezz I hope I last three weeks.
More to come later.
 
#483 ·
Choosing better shows to watch...

We have been exclusively OTA since June 2010 - about three months.

Personally, I have rediscoved PBS. I haven't really watched that channel since childhood when, even with cable, we only had about fifteen channels. Now I'm choosing to watch Nova, Nature, Sherlock Holmes, documentaries, etc.

Also no more HORRENDOUS American cable news channels. Those cable channels shouldn't be allowed to call themselves news channels. It's all opinion and weak journalism, in my opinion.

I've always considered myself to be a news junkie and/or political junkie. I miss CBC News Network and CTV Newsnet, but I can live without them. Much of their best stuff is online anyway.

Now in my house it's like the good old days. I will sit with my family and watch the supper-hour news and talk about what is going on in Toronto, Canada, and the world. My kids are going to be knoweldgeable. It was so easy with cable to just watch tempting junk at any time of the day.

I get over thirty channels in my location (20 HD and 10 SD approx). We get qubo (like Treehouse) so I guess I'm pretty lucky. We get all the OTA Canadian and US networks so we get all the good shows.

I thought I would miss Mantracker (OLN) and Surivorman, but I found them legally for free on CityTV's web site. Plugged in my computer to the TV and watched them on the larger screen.

With cable we subscribed to a Korean TV channel for $15+tax each month for my wife. We can find all the Korean TV shows and movies online for free -- hooked up to the TV it looks great. More choice - no cost. I might send a Slingbox to Korea so she can have real Korean TV on our computer/PVR.

Anyway, we've found our old cable shows online. We get all the networks. We're watching better quality shows. Our kids are going to watch better stuff. My kids are watching me make better choices for myself in terms of TV shows.

It's all good.

NO regrets about cancelling Rogers TV (and home phone - Magic Jack).

Thank you Rogers for contacting me last winter informing me I would have to commit to a two-year contract if I wanted to keep my bundles discount. I said forget the discount - I'm going to research my options. Now I'm ahead $150/month or more and our quality of life is better.
 
#484 ·
The new era of OTA DTV & Internet & Mobile

The past few posts sum up what others (including myself) have also identified: today's consumer can pay for an Internet connection and/or a Mobile smartphone's Internet plan and thus legally download a great deal of TV programming while getting real time, top quality DTV free of direct cost OTA rather than paying a monthly fee for a BDU's offerings.

Tomorrow's consumer will find that as Mobile DTV broadcasting is rolled out even more viewing options will be available.
 
#485 ·
Why pay for TV when it's free?

I don't know how you feel about TV these days but it's gotten extremely complicated and competitive. And the thing is, we can now chose to keep it simple like it used to be in the good ol' days. Remember the days of analog and rabbit ears? It's so simple now with the switch to digital back in 2/2008. Those crooked pay-tv-co.s want to keep this secret so they can continue taking advantage of viewers ignorance or lack of knowledge. This new digital tv (DTV) is superfragilisticexpealidocious ... as hard as it may be to believe - - disbelievers - it's better than anything you can pay for. It's no joke, people. I get many, many digital hd channels with just a roof antenna, a rotor (so I can turn my antenna), and a converter box (which converts the new digital signal coming ota to an analog signal so that my old tv can recognize it).

'Couldn't be simpler or more stressfree and without the cost and hassle of a monthly bill. Wake up and smell the free - it's crazy in this depression esp. to pay when it's this good for free.! Today's football game is a great example of how great it is. I'll be watching the Ravens vs. Redskins game at 7:30p on D.C.'s NBC channel 4. Is that incredible or what? I'm at the beach in Delaware and this antenna of mine is receiving channels from far, far away. I can even pick-up NYC and Philly and Jersey. Too sweet. Everyone around here is paying for cable or satellite to watch this game, but not me. Pass it on because it's tooo good to keep secret.
 
#487 ·
Free tv....hardly!

The way I see it is that even with your so-called free tv, your still paying. You see everytime you go to the store and buy something, your paying for the commercials that air on free tv, which then goes to the broadcasters. I guess if more and more people start switching to free tv then all those items at the store will be going up to pay for your so-called free tv due to a lack of subscribers paying the bdu's thus costing the broadcasters more and more. So, in the end is it really free...nope! In the end it just ends up costing more money for everyone, free or not.
 
#488 ·
I'm in Winnipeg. While I live at home with my parents we watch OTA until I was in university in the late '90s. My grandparents had cable TV from Greater Winnipeg Cablevision or its successor (Shaw) and I enjoyed the choice when I visited them. But I would not go back to OTA unless the following conditions are met: all of Winnipeg's six OTA channels go HD (not happening before Fall 2012); more channels are offered than six; or if I move to somewhere else with better OTA choices.
 
#490 ·
Free tv....hardly!

The way I see it is that even with your so-called free tv, your still paying.
I see lots of commercials for Rogers Cable. Thanks to the people paying for cable to support OTA. Also special thanks to the Bell customers, I see lots of those commercials too! :D

Seriously it's a silly argument. I don't buy 99% of the products/services advertised. New Car? Nope my 2000 Suzuki works just great. Expensive name brand groceries? Only if I got a coupon. Am I about to sell my unwanted gold to the Cash Man? Nope. The list goes on.

I did buy Boxer Beer and supported the little guy and gal. :D
 
#491 ·
Free tv....hardly!

The way I see it is that even with your so-called free tv, your still paying. You see everytime you go to the store and buy something, your paying for the commercials that air on free tv, which then goes to the broadcasters. I guess if more and more people start switching to free tv then all those items at the store will be going up to pay for your so-called free tv due to a lack of subscribers paying the bdu's thus costing the broadcasters more and more. So, in the end is it really free...nope! In the end it just ends up costing more money for everyone, free or not.
What sort of justification is this? Wow, a little sore are we...:rolleyes:
 
#492 ·
You could also pay a buck for a newspaper or get a free publication, whereas both are loaded with paid advertising. So what you are saying is that the free publication also comes with a cost? Absolutely,... when you calculate to include the global works of business and taxes, having use of a free public washroom is not free either.

Oprah gives away 200 Buicks [donated by GM]. Who do you think paid for those cars? Were those cars free, but at a shared cost to all Buick owners? YES! The world of 'Advertising' did not begin or end with OTA.
 
#493 ·
Advertising doesn't necessarily increase the cost of goods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale

As goods are advertised and more product is sold because of the awareness of the product created by advertising, economies of scale come into effect. The end result could very well be cheaper goods because of advertising.

Arguing TV is not free because of paid advertising first assumes that the cost of goods increase because of advertising.
 
#494 ·
Free of direct fees to consumers - a recap

Previously in this thread we have clarified that the concept of "free" actually refers to the absence of any direct fee to the consumer for viewing OTA programming. Raising that debate again now, with almost 500 posts in this thread and with the following in the OTA FAQ, is not appreciated:
OTA FAQ Post #1 said:
12. Aren't Satellite and Cable TV better than OTA TV?
For specialty channels and pay-per-view movies and events, Satellite or Cable TV are needed because such channels as TSN and Discovery HD are not broadcast OTA. However, if you want regular, local programming, OTA is free of charge or fee to the consumer. The only cost you will pay is for the gear itself and any taxes on it.
  • With a top quality OTA receiver and antenna gear, the improvement in picture and audio quality over Cable TV or Satellite can be spectacular, especially in HDTV, as many DHCers attest. This is not conjecture; the improvement is readily visible and audible on good systems, especially when seen in split-screen mode.
  • Some consumers will want to have the best of both: keeping their Sattelite or Cable TV subscriptions and watching their favourite programming OTA.
  • Some will find no reason to use OTA because they find the quality of their TV reception by other means is satisfactory to them.
  • Some will find that using OTA is not possible due to certain local situations, and so will rely on either Satellite (if they can aim a dish correctly from their location) or Cable TV if it is available
  • Some will find going 100% OTA to be the most worthwhile solution, while watching DVD or Blu Ray-based first run movies and specials on rental from video stores.
  • If you are planning a move to another city, Cable TV set top boxes from one Cable company almost always do not work with the systems of different Cable companies; Satellite gear can be moved anywhere that the dish can be aimed succesfully, and OTA gear works fine as long as stations are available.
  • Some CATV subscribers have had their FM radio service dropped by their providers. With an OTA VHF/FM antenna there are not only analogue FM radio stations available but also many HD Radio stations in border areas carrying digital audio that rivals CDs for quality.
If you have an ATSC tuner in your TV and live in a suitable area, what's the harm in hooking up an antenna and seeing OTA for yourself? Even so, suit yourself and respect the decisions of others. You can discuss these issues in the Pros & Cons of Going OTA thread.​
And so, with that economics discussion of the past few posts making the "free of direct fees" point even further and clearer, we now return you to the Pros and Cons of Going OTA thread already in progress... :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top