Why Pay For Something You Can Get For Free?

Television service. Adults of a certain age remember when you paid for a television, but the programs were free, beamed to a metal antenna on the roof or atop the TV set. Receiving free broadcasts over the air is relatively rare now, although you can get excellent high-definition signals that way with the same antennas as a generation ago. Use AntennaWeb (antennaweb.org) to help choose an antenna for your address. But instead of receiving free broadcast signals, the average subscription TV bill is $86 per month, according to a recent study by research firm NPD Group. If nothing changes, NPD expects the average pay-TV bill to reach $123 by 2015 and $200 by 2020. Granted, you get many more channels when you pay, and you get no cable stations, such as ESPN, CNN or HBO, when you don't. But the free broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, et al. -- are still among the most watched. Meanwhile, others pay to watch television programs on Netflix or Hulu, which can be less-expensive alternatives but aren't free. Television can be relatively inexpensive entertainment compared with regularly dining out and going to concerts, for example. But the question is whether it's worth paying for compared with a free alternative.

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Yes, why pay for something you can get for free. Most Americans live in areas where free over the air television signals are quite strong, yet they just keep paying for TV. Some actualyl want to watch the extra channels like ESPN, CNN, or Fox News. Others are simply "cutting the ham in half because great grandma never had a roaster big enough." While the extra channels may be worth it to some people, for the other group, you've got a bigger roaster, stop cutting the ham in half.

"cutting the ham in half because great grandma never had a roaster big enough."

Sounds like something Dr. Phil would say.

Wherever you live, there is almost always a way to get free TV. Be it with an antenna, via internet, or with a Free To Air satellite dish, you CAN get TV for free. Even in the remote reaches of Alaska and Canada, past where the pavement ends, beyond the reaches of cable TV and internet and 4G, people use FTA or C-band satellite to get TV for free.

Originally Posted by MrPogi

Originally Posted by dkreichen1968

"cutting the ham in half because great grandma never had a roaster big enough."

Sounds like something Dr. Phil would say.

Wuh, I don't get it. My gramma always had the biggest roaster in the neighborhood.

R.