Two years ago my community had a bulk rate contract with Comcast for providing cable TV. It cost us about $200/yr ($18/mo). Our Board decided to let the contract end (a couple of them are pushing to get the place covered by wifi which means repeater towers put on whose property and at what cut to their maintenance fees?) So the rest of us who were happy with cable had to start individual contracts with Comcast (They are a monopoly service provider and there's no option to use a different cable company). My contract for a basic Digital Starter kit (their ad company picked a term that confused folks with the analog to digital conversion of broadcast signals) at a cost of $30/mo. Six months went by and they upped the price to $55/mo for three months and then two months ago jumped it to $80/mo! We cannot complain to the FCC because they only listen to franchise holders (our city) on issues of rates and product.

I had seen a story about a company called Aereo who takes transmitted cable signals and streams them through the internet. I thought they were intercepting the cable company's signal in a type of piracy because in the fall our Supreme Court is going to hear and decide if their rebroadcasting constitutes a re-presentation without permission act, ie, violating copyright laws. The key I've since found in this situation is that issue of Cable companies "broadcasting" signals. Turns out the US Congress enacted a law that in exchange for them (Cable Cos) being a type of monopoly, they have to broadcast for free through the air a certain % of their channels.

The other morning I caught an infomercial about ClearTV. They sell antennas to catch those free digital broadcasts, amplify the signal and deliver it for free to your TV. I decided that spending half of what I'm paying for a month to the cable demons would be a good investment. It'd save me $100/month over the next few years. So I ordered the antenna and amplifier (could have had a second antenna for S&H but I know I can use a 75 ohm splitter and send my signal to as many TVs in my house off the one antenna. Also, I avoid the issue of violating copyright because the broadcast is intended for me to capture and use in the first place (Good luck to Aereo though).

Has anyone had experience with this type of reception? Does weather effect it? I think in lightning heavy Florida, not having that cable come into my house will be a safer condition. I hope I can forget about digital error squares showing up on my screen due to trouble at their end of wobbly connectors in my cables, a plus. I have to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery so I'm anxious to know if I've decided well or have lost a half month worth of cable fee.

I found this article in Wikipedia. It covers I think the kind of system I'm wondering about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-air

The difference I think is that the Clear TV antenna looks like a phased array set up rather than a dish. A phased array has around a 100 tuned electronic elements that collect signal sources from each of 100 (times 2 coming from the backside) different directions. The article only talks about dish type antennas.

Mehaul - have you tried calling them saying you're considering cancelling? They can usually find a promo rate to give you to lower your costs.

In a lot of places now, there are more than one cable provider to choose from. In the Dallas area, most cities have at least two different ones to choose from or more. Certain companies don't broadcast within certain places though...for example, in the city of Carrollton (north side suburb, population 119,097 at the 2010 census (sourced by wikipedia)), parts of the city has AT&T U-Verse and Time Warner both available, and other parts have Time Warner and Verizon FIOS. Verizon and AT&T cannot overlap, but Time Warner overlaps both.

Personally, I would have dumped comcast for TV, kept the internet and went with either DirecTV or all online with a combo of Hulu plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I can't speak to exactly what you are getting, but I have used an OTA antenna to capture digital/HD signals. We live about 30-40 miles outside of the major city and the antenna struggled to pick up a good signal during the day. It got much better at night.

Weather *shouldn't* have an impact...but I can't say for certainty it will or won't. We only used the OTA for a few days until our DirecTV was fixed. Your system isn't accessing a satellite (I don't think?) so I wouldn't see how it would have a major effect. I think you just have to worry about how far away your signal's are going to be.

I didn't see how not purchasing the RF/uwave amplifier as accessory equipment would be a good choice. I am within the ranges of Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale and Miami I hope. And in the North end of that range, Orlando or Tampa/St Pete could be ionosphere bounces in the evening.

Thanks for your feedbacks. I was just emailed that my item has shipped, So I won't have to wait 4-6 weeks but only 2. I hope this exhibits a commitment by a company dedicated to performing beyond expectations.

In DC, each cable company has an area so you only have one choice for cable tv. Of course, many places also have FiOS and satellite choices, so it's not a complete monopoly...

I received the antenna today! One week from ordering until delivery. I haven't hooked it up yet. I have read the paperwork and thought this item would be a nice pass-along. They direct me to
http://www.antennaweb.org/
to find out broadcast locations and channels in my area (to help choose and orient the correct antenna type - mine covers them all by being multidirectional and signal boosted). Going to that site and plugging in my Zip Code revealed that there are 13 broadcasters transmitting 37 channels to my location! This site also contains some technical info to help choose antenna types, sources, links to network deals for the internet, etc. I guess it's the promotional ties that helps pay the site bills but still informative and a possible deal to a needy buyer.
I should add a point I overlooked because I have a relatively new TV. This stuff is about TVs that are digitally built and not the old analog TVs. I suppose if you have one of the A-to-D converter boxes, your all set too. The TV needs to be able to search /tune for viable signals so I don't think older TVs can do that, sorry.

Eddendum: That 37 channels is just for the antenna. The paperwork says the antenna is good for signal towers within about 35 miles (go a bit more because Florida is flat?) I didn't get any distance increase commitment with the amplifier paperwork. I'd hope that will increase the number of broadcasters and channels I'll get, especially at night time with an ionosphere bounce like ham radios. I'll have to remember to do a signal search routine in daylight and at night to see if there's a difference.

No, if the TV does not have a digital ATSC tuner (which you can tell if it has a channel number of 4.1, then it does), then you have to have a converter box. I remember dealing with the transition five years ago. They started putting the digital tuners in TV's starting in 2000, nine years before the mandated switch...higher end TV's had them slightly before that.