I’m an NPR frequent flyer. I listen to their programming a LOT, so this morning they had a story on this new service (only available in New York now) called Aereo. It works pretty simply. You subscribe to their service for something like $8 a month, and they provide TV channels that broadcast over the air on your smart phone or tablet. If you have Apple TV or a Roku box, you can stream the channels on your regular TV. Why is this different from just ditching cable and buying a TV antenna? Well, for a couple of reasons:
- Aereo has the TV antennas in their central location that provides the stream. So you don’t have to put one on your rooftop.
- In addition to streaming to your TV (if you have Apple TV or Roku. No word on the XBoX yet), smart phone and tablet, you can record up to 40 hours of TV programming on a DVR. I’m not clear if they set up DVR storage space using their service, or you have to buy a TiVo-type unit.
- They have tiered plans that start at free (day pass) to $40 a month.
I’ve taken mental stock of how many channels we actually watch on TV and it’s pretty small. It depends on where we are in the TV season, but for the most part, I think we watch less than 10 channels with a cable package that has hundreds of channels. I’m going to guess that this is probably pretty average for most people. Sure, some folks watch a lot of TV shows, and others watch almost none; preferring video games, the Internet, or maybe just reading a book. But if your cable bill is driving you crazy with the amount you pay versus the amount you watch, you’re not alone. And I think that’s why Aereo has popped up. There’s a good amount of “free” TV out there. Not just the Big Three mind you. But you have PBS and local channels that broadcast their signals over the air, too. The only drawback to something like Aereo is that if you watch HBO, Starz, Showtime, or other pay channels, they are not available. Nor is ESPN– for sports nerds.
My guess is that as Aereo establishes a foothold in bigger chunks of the country, and people like that they are going to pay less for TV, it’ll fit better with their real viewing habits. Like radio, TV is at a point where people don’t do “appointment watching” that much anymore. Netflix certainly knows this and have made all of their original content available at once — starting with House of Cards. DVRs, OnDemand, and the Internet have made the programming clock almost obsolete, so as people’s habits change, so will their devotion to cable and satellite change. And as services like Aereo, Netflix, Roku, and Apple TV build on the current viewing trends, a la carte TV may be a reality in the near future.
So with all that said, let me ask you how many TV channels do you watch? I’ve made it easy to answer with this handy-dandy poll:
[polldaddy poll=6912364]
Jeff
February 21, 2013 at 1:05 pmCool idea for those who really can't put up an antenna… or use a set top one… Mostly this is offered in the metro areas where even smallish antennas would do the trick… I love the idea of it and giving the cable and sat folks the shove off.
Ted
February 21, 2013 at 1:12 pmI like the idea of sticking it to the cable and satellite folks, too. My biggest concern (short term) is how would I watch "The Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," and "Mad Men?"
Jules
February 21, 2013 at 3:55 pmWe don't watch many channels, but I know that if we had more, we'd watch more. I would like to watch Rachel Maddow, and the Cooking Channel still shows my favorite Food Network shows, and so on. And of course I wish we had HBO. Watching on the computer just isn't the same for me. It works OK, but not great.
Ted
February 21, 2013 at 4:10 pmBut really you would like a la carte TV, right? ^_^
Jason
March 17, 2013 at 6:11 amCatching up on my Py Korry…!
We finally ditched cable in January and I couldn't be happier. Part of it was the truth reflected above — that we're really not watching a lot of these channels — and part of it was just that I hated giving money to Time Warner. I only watch certain shows, but Jess likes to surf. So here's what we did:
– purchased an OTA antenna that seems to be working fine. It allows us to still use our TiVo for the major network shows if we want (as a backup for my solution below) and Jess can surf the networks;
– bought Hulu+ — this also allows Jess to surf and watch shows away from home;
– we borrow Netflix streaming from a friend when there's something we want to watch on there;
– here's the big one that allowed us to really ditch cable: I use a combination of programs on my Mac that now auto-download a torrent of nearly ever show we watch regularly, shortly after the broadcast, automatically import the metadata and add to iTunes;
– purchased an Apple TV that allows us to easily watch those downloaded shows.
I didn't think the auto-downloading of torrents would ever work out, but now that it has, it's wonderful. I don't have to think about it. The shows just appear on my Apple TV.
Ted
March 17, 2013 at 4:59 pmWow! Sounds kind of complex. How much do you save with this set up?
Jason
March 17, 2013 at 5:08 pmI think it comes out to about $77 saved per month. The cable bill used to be $135, now it's down to $50 with just Internet. Adding in the Hulu+ cost of $8 per month. I didn't include the one-time $90 for Apple TV, the $30 cost for the antenna, and the $25 for the software that imports the metadata.
Definitely a little complex, but I really enjoyed the challenge of figuring it all out. And I can explain it if you want to give it a try (and have a Mac).
Ted
March 17, 2013 at 5:40 pmThat's a pretty good savings. I really want to get rid of cable, but I'm so hooked on "The Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," and "Mad Men" that I'm afraid to do it or else I'll be lost…forever lost. :S
I do have a Mac, but we don't have Apple TV because our XBox fills in that need for streaming Netflix -and we can add Hulu Plus, but haven't. But yeah, I'm intrigued by your MacGyver skills and would love to see how you set that up!