your favorite tablet or smartphone to watch shows anywhere you want.
In the living room? Of course. In the bedroom or the kitchen? Sure. In the den? Perfect. In the bathroom? Um, your call.
You're in control
So much of the cable TV experience feels like coercion. The basic or standard package has ten stations you watch regularly, and fifty you didn’t even know existed. A specialty package has one or two channels you want, and eight or nine channels that do nothing for you. You need a set-top box, which the cable company is happy to lease to you forever at ten or twenty bucks a month.
When you throw down your scissors after cutting the cord, that lightness you feel is the lifting of these and similar cable company burdens. Now you are in control, deciding which channels or services and equipment you want. Ah, that's better.
Surveying the Cord-Free Landscape
What can you expect to find in a world where the cable company is a distant memory? Answering that question is what the rest of this book is about. To give you a feel for what's in store, take a quick look at the most prominent features of that landscape.
First, you should know that the cord-free world is broadly divided into two main categories:
Over-the-air (OTA) TV: Live television channels broadcast from a station transmitter. This setup usually requires an antenna, but some streaming services offer live TV channels.
Streaming media: Television programs — as well as movies, music, podcasts, and other media — made available over the Internet. You can use device apps to access streaming media, but most people use a device such as a smart TV, a set-top box, or a streaming player.
In these two categories, you can have one (or, heck, all) of the following viewing experiences:
Watching OTA TV with an antenna: You want to watch live local stations for free (minus the cost of the antenna, of course). To find out more about this option, see Chapters 3 and 4.
Watching live TV with a streaming device: You don't want the hassle of setting up a digital antenna. You can find the details in Chapter 5.
Watching live TV with a streaming service: You're mostly interested in live network broadcasts. To learn more, check out Chapter 5.
Streaming media through a device: You want to use a device such as a smart TV or a USB stick (such as Amazon Fire TV) to access streaming media through apps. I talk about all this in Chapter 6.
Watching free streaming services: You're too psychologically scarred from paying scandalously high cable prices and want only free content. I talk about free services in Chapter 8.
Watching paid streaming services: You want a subscription. Most streaming services require a subscription, so this is your most likely experience. For the details, head to Chapter 9.
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