Are you tired of shelling out thousands of dollars to the cable company each year for hundreds of channels you don’t watch? Why not join the growing trend and ditch cable TV? Ditching cable and living cable-free is commonplace these days—“cord cutters” are those people who rely on other methods besides cable to get their entertainment fix.
I considered cable a necessity until I lived on my own. My parents had always grumbled about the cable bill. This got me thinking, do I really need cable? I decided to go without cable when I moved into my house and see how long I could last. Eight years later I’m still cable-free, with no regrets.
But if you go cable-free, the last thing you want to do is stare at a blank TV screen. I’ve mostly been getting my entertainment fix from YouTube. There are so many great YouTube channels I subscribe to. YouTube is also great at recommending content that I’ll enjoy. When I’m on YouTube I find myself clicking “watch later” a lot of the time when I see something that I like.
YouTube has been great for me over the years, but something that I miss is regular TV channels. Some nights when I’m tired, I don’t feel like searching for content on YouTube. I’d rather just turn on the TV and enjoy local news or live sports, two things I can’t for the most part easily watch on YouTube. When I turn on my TV set, a blank screen greets me. (Note: While I do have a decent TV set, it’s not a Smart TV. I’ll get a Smart TV when this one bites the dust, but until I’m happy with the TV set I have.)
TV antennas have always appealed to me. When you think of TV antennas, you probably picture rabbit ears on your old black-and-white TV set. Fortunately, TV antennas have come a long way since the old days. With a decent HD (high definition) TV antenna, you may be able to get more than 20 channels over the air.
I’ve looked into getting a TV antenna. I figured I’d be crazy not to get one. I live in Toronto with a pretty clear view of the CN Tower. I figured I should have no problem getting at least 20 channels from my place.
I’ve read numerous newspaper articles over the years about TV antennas that really piqued my interest. However, almost all of those articles mentioned that I’d need an outdoor TV antenna to get decent reception. This seems like the perfect DIY project, but since I live alone this wasn’t an option, so I decided to hire a company. (The last thing I want is to fall off my roof and have to visit the emergency room.)
I figured I’d have no problem finding a company that would want to help me install a TV antenna on my roof. I phoned the companies mentioned in the newspaper articles. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out to be so easy.
The companies kept giving me the run around. First the company told me that they didn’t have an installer in my part of the city (just because I’m technically barely over the city borders in Scarborough). Then the company informed me that the installer injured himself and wouldn’t be available to install a TV antenna for me for the foreseeable future. After months of calling around and getting nowhere I pretty much gave up on ever getting a TV antenna at my place.
That was five years ago. Fast forward to today. I was over at my dad’s house over the holidays and he showed me the indoor TV antenna he bought from Best Buy. My dad has cable since he’s retired, although he got a TV antenna because he didn’t feel like being “gouged” (his words, not mine) by the cable company to have to pay for a cable connection in his bedroom.
He showed me all the TV channels he was able to get. I always figured that you’d need an outdoor TV antenna to get a decent number of channels, but his indoor TV antenna proved me wrong. Indoor TV antenna technology has apparently come a long way in the last few years. My dad was able to get nearly 20 TV channels on his indoor TV antenna.
I was impressed, so I decided to borrow his indoor TV antenna and try it at my place. I live in the basement of my house, so I assumed I wouldn’t get any TV channels at all, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I was able to get 20 channels in my basement from my dad’s indoor TV antenna. (In fact, I was able to get even more TV channels than my dad, which doesn’t make a lot of sense since I’m in the basement and his bedroom is on the second floor at his place, but I’m not going to complain.)
I was about to go to Best Buy and buy a TV antenna like my dad when my mom was browsing Amazon.ca and found some indoor TV antennas that had excellent ratings for a lot less money than my dad’s indoor TV antenna. (My dad paid $200 for his TV antenna from Best Buy, while I found the TV antenna I ended up buying for only $26.99 on Amazon. It ended up only costing me $6.99 because it came with $20 Amazon gift card inside the box.)
I was skeptical at first. The TV antennas on Amazon looked pretty low-tech compared to my dad’s TV antenna. I figured there was no way the TV antennas on Amazon would be able to get as many TV channels as my dad’s top of the line TV antenna. I almost went to Best Buy and bought the exact same TV antenna as my dad, but instead decided to roll the dice and buy a TV antenna from Amazon.
When the TV antenna arrived from Amazon I was pretty excited. I had already tried my dad’s TV antenna on my TV set, so I was curious to find out how many TV channels I could get with the Amazon TV antenna. I figured I’d be lucky if I could get CBC, CTV and Global. I’m happy to say I was able to get a lot more channels than that.
Setting up my indoor TV antenna was super easy. (It was a lot easier than risking life and limb by setting up an outdoor TV antenna.) I took the indoor TV antenna out of the box, connected the cable cord to my TV set, plugged in the power cord and voila, it was all set up! And it took me less than five minutes – not bad!
The most exciting part about getting a new TV antenna is scanning for channels on your TV set. For me it’s the same level of excitement as opening presents on Christmas morning. (This is sad, but true.) It’s pretty simple. All you need to do is switch your TV set from cable to antenna in the settings and choose your TV set’s auto program setting to see how many channels you can get.
When I did this with my Amazon indoor TV antenna I ended up getting 24 channels. Wow, that’s even more channels than I got with my dad’s state of the art indoor TV antenna from Best Buy! To say I was happy would be an understatement. (My dad ended up returning his TV antenna to Best Buy and bought the same TV antenna as me and he too got even more channels. It just goes to show that a higher price doesn’t necessarily equal a higher quality when it comes to TV antennas. I.e. Just because you spend more on a TV antenna, it doesn’t mean you’ll get more channels.)
I was happy with the channels I got my TV with the TV antenna, but apparently there are all sorts of videos on YouTube with tips on getting more channels with your indoor antenna. I was able to get the main channels (CBC, CTV, Global, PBS, Fox, plus a handful of others), so I can’t be bothered to move my TV antenna around to try to get an extra channel or two, but if you’re into that you’re more than welcome to. (I recommend putting it near a window for better reception.) It’s actually fun and rewarding to do so. It reminds me of the good old days of rabbit ears on black-and-white TV sets, but I digress.
It takes a little getting used to the TV channels on antenna, but it’s not so bad. It can be a little confusing since the TV channels appear with their antenna channel names. (For example, my TV displays the channel as CIII-DT instead of Global.) However, the logo of the TV channel usually appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, so it’s not usually too hard to figure out.
I have all the channels memorized, but what made it easier was printing out this guide of TV antenna channels. I highlighted my favourite channels to make them easier for me to find.
The guide isn’t just handy for figuring out the antenna TV channel numbers. If you live somewhere else besides Toronto, you can look up the TV channels you’re likely to receive before buying a TV antenna.
Still not convinced to make the switch from cable TV to antenna? Did you know that the picture quality is actually better for most TV channels received by a TV antenna versus cable? It’s true! Because cable companies carry so many channels, they often use more aggressive compression than over the air stations. Cable signals also go through more processing. This results in an inferior picture quality for a TV channel received over cable versus over the air.
That’s right; you’re paying the cable company more money for an inferior picture quality. If there was ever a reason to cut the cord, this is it!
Over the air isn’t perfect (sometimes when the weather is bad, I’m not able to get as many TV stations), but if you’re someone who mainly watches the main channels (channels 2 to 20 on Rogers in Toronto), you won’t miss cable. However, if you’re someone who enjoys the specialty channels like CP24 and HGTV, over the air will take some getting used to.
You won’t get those channels with a TV antenna. You’ll have to ask yourself if paying the cable company $100 or more a month is really worth it for a couple extra channels. For me it wasn’t. I miss CP24, but I can do without it. (I get my CP24 fix when I’m at the gym.) Besides, with all the content available commercial-free on Netflix, I’m willing to wager that most people would be fine without cable as well.
Readers, what do you think of TV antennas? Have you considered investing in one? What do you think about indoor versus outdoor TV antennas? Any tips and tricks you use to get even more TV channels with your TV antenna? I’d like to hear what you have to say. Share your thoughts below in the comments section.
Thanks for the interesting article. I live on the 12th floor in a condo building in downtown Ottawa. When I moved here I tried my rabbit ears which worked well at my house in the country, but got zero reception. A friend of mine let me try his more high tech antenna and still I got nothing. I think either the building itself has something built in to defeat antennas, or the high buildings around me prevent any reception. Now after six years I am on the basic cable package.
Right. Well, it’s simply not that simple. If you’re unable to borrow your dad’s antenna you can use a site like this https://nocable.org/. It will tell you how many channels are available where you live. For me, it’s just nine, so the antenna option isn’t a great one.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t show Canadian channels. A site like http://www.tvfool.com will show you broadcasters from both countries, but it doesn’t show subchannels. So you may want to use both to get a complete picture.
We cut the cable cord about 3 years ago and hired Dr. Antenna to install our outdoor tv antenna – it was money well spent and I couldn’t be happier! No more expensive cable bills!
I’ve been without cable for 10 years. I live on a high floor (31th) in a highrise, facing the lake in downtown Toronto. I get over 30 channels (including 3 PBS stations) using an old style rabbit ears antenna located on the balcony. Yes, it does rust, but at $ 25 every few years, it’s still a lot cheaper than paying for cable. With a smart TV and a VPN service, I’m also able to watch live German and French television on a large 4K television.
I cut Rogers cable years ago- over 20- and have had a small indoor antenna since then. My old TV died and the new smart tv only gives me 2 channels now with the same antenna, so I will have to upgrade to a better antenna. I thank you for the article. I live in Toronto and can see the CN tower from the second floor of my home.
Some modern windows have coatings that interfere with some TV signals. I lost reception when upgrading to low E windows
Still worth it and I put an antenna in the attic instead.
I like to watch the Raptors and the Leafs. Can you get sports channels with an antenna?
Great question! You can’t get TSN or Sportsnet, but can you get CBC and Hockey Night in Canada.
We cut the cable. Living along the north shore of Lake Erie means we not only get the U.S. stations but also their piggy-backed broadcasts. They usually have 3 digital broadcasts per station. For instance PBS has the regular Chanel 17 but also 17-a that carries actual cooking shows and 17-b that carries children’s shoes. Content on many of the piggyback stations tends towards old television series and movies, dating as far back as the late 50s. But if you are desperate to watch something and there’s nothing else available, there is some choice. In addition we had upgraded to a smart TV so YouTube is available on it, and we splurged on a TiVo box that we bought in the US which can take an antenna input to record shows so we can skip the dreaded commercials. I also splurge on Internet carrier such as Crave for HBO or Showtime. All of this cable-free eqset-up cost less than one year subscription to cable television that was coming in at roughly $100 a month, and I can activate subscriptions to Internet providers like Crave according to what my viewing needs are, meeting in the summer I can turn it off completely and have no cost. Lots of choice with affordable costs. We obviously have an internet provider but the costs for greater bandwidths for streaming content are going down, unlike cable companies going up up up. And with smart TVs you can go strictly internet feed with free Canadian stations available online, altho you do have to watch the commercials.
I am without cable for almost 20 years now.
But still could not find the solution for getting the signal.
I am on 12th floor in condo suite facing north.
I even don’t get signal for some of the radio stations.
Even when I wanted to install dish at some point about 12 years ago the dish guys says it is not worth because my suite is facing north.
Two observations — First, when people refer to themselves as “cord cutters” they rarely mean they have switched, and limited themselves, to off-the-air TV programming. They almost always mean that they’ve switched their wires from cable to ethernet/wifi. Most of the folks I’ve talked to about their “cord cutting” are spending almost as much, and sometimes more, money on internet video subscriptions. Even where they are spending less out of pocket they are spending more time finding the things they want to watch because they have now taken on the job of aggregation that the cable companies do as part of your subscription. With cable TV you just hit the “guide” button and choose from one nicely compiled list.
Second, it’s nice for those who live in huge, and hugely served, population centres like Toronto to talk about living with only off-the-air TV. As you’ve described, you and those you’ve talked to have a selection of 20 or more channels even from your basement. Here in Regina I can get the three English networks – CBC, CTV, and Global. (I’m unilingual English so I don’t count the two French channels.) So most of the “cord cutters” around here who have genuinely tried off-the-air TV almost universally end up supplementing it with internet video subscription$.
Please understand that I’ve been trying to cut the cable cord for more than a decade. But I have yet to find an alternative that is compelling enough – sufficient of the content I want to view, as conveniently packaged as my cable company delivers, for enough less money to make it worth the transitional and ongoing headaches of being my own video entertainment programmer/aggregator.
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I wish ythat you gave the exact name of this antenna with Amazon. I will check with yhe price and hope for the best. I have Rabbit ears on two of our TV (20 incnes screen) but the rhird one connecting does not “connect” anymore in the back.
M. in Ottawa
Hi M. Vardy. I included the link in the article. Here it is again for you: https://amzn.to/2UeR4ut