Considering Roku in place of cable

[melody]

I just bought the Roku thing for cheap from a friend. We're still trying to get it working, but we're toying with the idea of ultimately dropping regular cable in favor of using it. It seems like we can access most of what we do watch (which isn't much) through Roku. I realize this is a fairly high-end frugal issue, but $100 a month is $100 a month.

[cbayer]

1. Are you able to access over the air channels in your location?

We have neither cable nor satellite. We get all major networks and tons of PBS over the air and for free. This satisfies most of our tv desires.

We have something similar to the ROKU for Netflix and had Hulu for awhile.

I don't feel like I am missing anything and wouldn't pay for cable even if I could get it.

[melody]

2. Yes, however, there are cable shows my husband would miss

He's retired and likes his reality shows (the DIY house stuff). He doesn't watch a lot, but he doesn't want to miss the ones he likes. It's not a lot to ask and it's a relatively small expense.

[cbayer]

3. Hulu carries a lot of those. Would check them out to see if they will cover it.

[melody]

4. Will do. Thanks so much! n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I don't know about Roku.

Is it a one time charge for the box, or is there a monthly subscription fee as well?

[melody]

6. One time fee for the box itself with a lot of accessible free content and cheap fee premium

I know a couple of people who've abandoned cable for it. If we can keep up with my husband's shows, we may do that, too.

[strikeforce]

7. love my roku and netflix and new antenna on the roof

my dish bill was 55 $ and climbing a month. my roku was 99$, high speed DSL (gotta have it anyway),netflix 8$ per month,dropped hulu(saved 9$). bought and installed a new antenna on the roof (65$). i pick up about 12 channels in digital quality over the airwaves for free. i finally weaned myself off the remote control obsession. think so highly of netflix i would like to buy some of its stock.

every night i watch on netflix sons of anarchy--trailer park boys--house of cards.

in 4 months i broke even on the costs (dish vs. ........). now it's only 8 $ a month for netflix.

[getting old in mke]

8. We have a Roku

And subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus. There are lots of other free source as well. You need a reasonable broadband network connection, though.

Way more than was can watch.

Oh, and I did a one-shot purchase of Roksbox that lets me conveniently hook up to a web server in my house (or DropBox), so I can download things there (I've been doing a lot of coursera courses), and watch on the TV then instead of my computer.