The Cost of Pay TV (revisited)

When I started this blog in 2011, I had just dumped DirecTV and put up an antenna. DirecTV was costing me about $70 a month. In my first post on the subject, I noted that this was pretty much average for Pay TV customers. I also calculated that this $70 a month added up to about $9000 over 10 years, and would only continue to rise over time.

So now just a few short years later in 2014 the average cost of pay TV is up to about $85 a month - over $1000 a year, over $10,000 over ten years. In fact, the average price of cable has been increasing at a rate of 6% annually. What is the cable company going to get from you over your lifetime? Let's assume that you start paying cable at age 20 for $85 a month and continue to pay until you are 70, a period of 50 years. If you were able to work out some magical deal with your provider to have no price increase for 50 years, you would spend $51,000 on TV during that time. Add taxes, Set Top Box rentals, and a 6% annual price increase, and your lifetime total for TV alone will approach $100,000.

Some Myths and Misconceptions About Free OTA TV

There is a lot of bad information out there about free OTA TV and pay TV. Some of it is lack of information, some is misinformation. Some of it comes from a basic misunderstanding of free digital TV, and some of it even originates with pay TV providers themselves.

LET'S LOOK AT THESE MISCONCEPTIONS AND THE FACTS.

KTVX Channel 4 ROCKS Utah! "The Cool TV" is coming to 4.2

You're So Cool, Channel 4!

UPDATE: KTVX 4.2 Became The Cool TV on 4/15/2011

In my last post, I told you that Channel 4, KTVX, had added CW30 as a subchannel at 4.30, allowing all of us in areas that don't have a dedicated translator station to watch the CW. Now, they are poised to become one of the coolest channels in Utah.

My sources at Rabbitears and TVnewscheck have confirmed that Newport Television, the owners of KTVX 4, have agreed to carry TheCoolTV multicast network in 10 of its 22 markets.

The 10 markets: Harrisburg, Pa.; Seattle-Tacoma; Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.; Jackson, Tenn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Ark.; Salt Lake City, UT; Tulsa, Okla.; Wichita-Hutchison, Kan.; and Memphis, Tenn.

Be Prepared: A TV for Use in Power Outages and Emergencies.

Q: Will my old portable DC TV work after the digital transition?

I was recently asked this question, so I set about doing some research about what options are available if you need a TV for use on a power outage.

A: Do you mean, an old analog portable - battery operated - TV? The short answer, in most cases, is NO.

However, do have a number of options that will get you TV in an emergency, even when nobody else has power or TV. You can even get that old analog TV to work if you have time (and money) on your hands. 

Read on...

Save money... get HDTV for free!

Here's a local news story about families that have cut the cable,
News Report that ran on KGW Channel 8 Portland, Oregon:




"Ugly mass of metal"? hmm, to me an antenna is beautiful. It screams "FREEDOM!"

My favorite quote, though, is "I didn't know you could still use them". Yes, you can!

Announcement!

I will be posting television related articles at DTV USA Forum, where I am a contributor. I will post links to relevant articles from this blog, as well as my other blogs. I will continue to work on these pages to help everyone in Logan, Cache County and Northern Utah enjoy...

 Cache Free TV

But, REMEMBER, even if you don't live in these areas, there's still LOTS of good information here about CUTTING THE CABLE or DITCHING THE DISH!

And, if you would like advice on how to live below your means and pocket your savings, please visit

...A Nickel Earned.

Coming soon to DTV USA Forum :

Do-it-yourself TV antennas! 

Build this antenna for free, or with very little out of pocket!

We'll give you instructions to build this compact 12" x 20"' DTV
urban / near suburban attic / rooftop antenna for next to nothing.

And many more, so you can enjoy FREE Digital OTA TV.
Coming soon to DTV USA Forum!

The "secret" for getting FREE HD TV

The "Secret" for Getting FREE HD TV.

 Ready?

Put a TV antenna on your roof, in your attic, or on a wall. Aim it toward your desired stations, and enjoy.

Huh? That’s it? Hey, I know what you're thinking. "My grandfather had an antenna. He got 4 stations and bad reception. That’s why we pay for TV now - more channels and HDTV. Besides, do they even do that anymore?"

This is NOT your grandfather's Antenna TV!

Welcome to Cache Free TV!

Welcome to the CACHE FREE TV blog, where we'll show you everything you need to know about how to get FREE Over-The-Air (OTA) TV using an antenna in Cache County and Northern Utah.

Here's a sample of the channels you can get for FREE
(No money, EVER) in Cache Valley, UT.

 Your results will vary depending on your location and antenna:

Cache Valley Broadcast TV Channels
Virtual Channel	Call Sign	Network	Programming Notes	Resolution	Locations
2.1	KUTV-HD	CBS	SLC CBS affiliate.	1080i	C/Fs/Fn
2.2	KUTV-DT2	MY Network/ This TV	"MyUtahTV" MyNetwork Programming weekdays, REAL Soccer. ThisTV: weekends, Mostly  movies.	480i	C/Fs/Fn
3.1	KIDK-HD	CBS	Idaho Falls / Pocotello CBS Affiliate	1080i	Fn/M
3.2	KXPI	MyNetworkTV	Idaho Falls / Pocotello. Syndicated Programming.	480i	Fn/M
4.1	KTVX-HD	ABC	SLC ABC affiliate	720p	C/Fn/Fs/M
4.2	KTVX-SD	Untamed Sports	'UNTAMED SPORTS' NETWORK Hunting / Fishing / Outdoors	480i	C/Fn/Fs/M
5.1	KSL-HD	NBC	SLC NBC affiliate	1080i	C/Fn/Fs/M
5.2	KSL-US	Universal Sports	“Universal Sports” network	480i	C/Fn/Fs/M
5.3	KSL-Wx	weather	Local weather 24/ 7	480i	C/Fn/Fs/M
6.1	KPVI-HD	NBC	Idaho NBC affiliate	1080i	M
6.2	KPVI-US	Universal Sports	“Universal Sports” network	480i	M
6.3	KPVI-TS	This TV	Mostly older and “B” movies, all the time.	480i	M
7.1	KUED-HD	PBS	SLC PBS affiliate operated by Utah State University	1080i	C/Fs/M
7.2	WORLD	WORLD	Programming and news from around the world	480i	C/Fs/M
7.3	V-me	V-me	Spanish language programming.	480i	C/Fs/M
8.1	KUTA-LP	AmericaOne	Logan Digital low-power TV station. America One network, also broadcasts Telemundo network shows.	480i	L
9.1	KUEN-HD	PBS / UEN	“Utah Educational Network” and PBS Educational TV and distance learning, Public Television	480i	C
9.2	MhzWorld	MhzWorld	Programming and news from around the world	480i	C
9.91	KUER-FM	NPR	Audio from KUER-FM, Utah National Public Radio. Video from 9.1 on some TVs, blank video on others.	480i	C
10.1	IDPTV	PBS	Idaho Public TV, standard definition. Children's educational programs 5 am to 5pm	480i	Fn/M
10.2	IDPTV-HD	PBS	Idaho Public TV, High Definition.	720p	Fn/M
10.3	LEARN	LEARN	PBS LEARN	480i	Fn/M
10.4	WORLD	WORLD	Programming and news from around the world	480i	Fn/M
11.1	KBYU-SD	KBYU / PBS	PBS programming	720p	C*/Fn/Fs/M
11.2	BYU-TV	BYU	BYU network, LDS religious programming	720p	C*/Fn/Fs/M
11.3	Create	PBS Create	HDCreate: How-To, Cooking, Travel, etc.	480i	C*/Fn/Fs/M
11.4			Silent	480i	C*/Fn/Fs/M
13.1	KSTU-SD	FOX	AntennaTV -coming soon	480i	C/Fn/Fs/M
13.2	KSTU-DT	FOX	SLC FOX network in HD	720p	C/Fn/Fs/M
14.1	KJZZ-DT	Ind	Utah independent TV. FORMER home of the Utah Jazz.	720p	C/Fn/Fs/M
26.1	KCVB-LD	Ind	“The Valley Channel” All local advertising, all the time.	480i	L
16.1	KUPX-TV	ION	Syndicated programming.	720p	M
16.2	Qubo	QUBO	Children's Programming / Cartoons all day & night	480i	M
16.3	ION Life	ION Life	Health /  fitness /	480i	M
30.1	KUCW-DT	CW	Not Operational.*	480i?	C*

Transmitter locations:                Fs= Franklin South    Fn= Franklin North      C= Cache County (Mt. Pisgah)    M= Malad         L= Logan

* License for translator has been approved by FCC for Cache County. Waiting on funding from Cache County.

Malad Stations NOTE! - So far, nobody has reported seeing these stations, although theoretically, it is possible in certain limited locations. If you recieve these channels, please leave a comment.

If anyone notices channels missing here, please contact me so that I can update the list!

We'll start out next time with an article I wrote for my other blog, A Nickle Earned , about The True Cost of Pay TV