All About TV

Looking for additional ways to save money in 2012?
“Cutting the cord” on your cable or satellite TV service can save you big money. Your Cable bill is the one “utility” that you can live without! Whether you go with an Over-the-air TV Antenna, or the wide variety of services for Streaming TV and Movie content (or both), good alternatives to cable TV are widely available.

Why I like Antenna TV
TV antennas provide the best “bang for your buck”. Once you’ve purchased and installed your antenna, all of the entertainment it provides is completely free! I save $85 per month* since cutting my cable TV! Your monthly savings could be as much as what you’d save on electricity if you spent thousands of dollars to purchase PV Solar Panels on your roof!

*Your savings will vary based on your current Cable TV or Satellite monthly rate.

Many OTA broadcasts during prime-time hours are in uncompressed High Definition (HD). This means it’ll look better than what you are used to seeing from your cable company. It’s all about your proximity to terrestrial broadcast towers. An over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV antenna can connect you to local network affiliates like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and quite a few Spanish-language networks for news and national programming. Other content includes live sports coverage of College Football, NFL Football, Featured MLB games, Golf and more like the Olympic Games.

Streaming TV – Lots of choices
Whether you are watching free TV on the internet through network websites, watching YouTube video or streaming to your TV through an internet connected device you have lots on-demand content options. Subscription based content from Amazon, Netflix and Hulu is becoming more and more compelling as these companies compete to broaden their offerings. Pay-as-you-go streaming and downloads from Amazon and iTunes give you options for TV and Movies with no long-term commitment. All of these require high-speed internet access.

Streaming Devices
Many of the latest TVs and Blu-ray disc players are network enabled and support streaming content out of the box. a growing number of affordable set-top box devices provide access to different streaming content. We like the Roku boxes for their price and access to lots of “Channels” of streaming content. The Apple TV is also affordable with a simple interface to iTunes and Netflix streaming content and more. Do your homework and shop around, this is a competitive new consumer electronics category!

Streaming on the Go
These days we tend to be digesting more entertainment content on our phones, laptops and tablet computers. One of our favorite new devices for enjoying streaming video content is the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet. At $199 is a great value.

Over the past 10 years there has been an increase in reality shows, talent shows and the like. Shows which are bringing in the rating are Big Brother, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Dancing On Ice, Come Dancing, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent to name just a few. There are hundreds of spin off reality shows now with celebrities jumping in on the trend and having a film crew film there every move for a TV series.

So why has reality television become the bread and butter of many TV broadcasting stations? What is the fascination and why do they keep bringing in the ratings? What do we love about them?

I think it’s down to the fact that these shows allow us as viewers to become more a part of the show and shape what we watch. We can all vote from home and choose who stays and who goes. Technology has played a part here as now you can vote via social networking sites as well as by phone or text. Years ago, you had the option to watch and that was it. Now you can interact.

My love for reality shows began when the first Big Bother was aired. The idea of putting 10 or 15 strangers into a house and film them may not sound appealing, but it makes for good viewing as everyone reacts to being locked up and filmed like that differently. I personally like the psychology of it all. I watch it the same way as the psychologist would watch the show even though I am not one. I find it very interesting watching people interacting and watching their behaviour. There is no place to hide and it’s not long before you see people true self. It is easy to see when people are lying or being manipulative, and who is likely to do well. The nice guy always wins which is good. And the bullies or those with not so nice traits are shown for what they are. It makes you realise that there are many people out there far worse off than us.

Celebrity shows such as I’m a Celebrity Get me out of here are pure entertainment. Sadly we like to watch others suffer and this show does just that. Some of the trials the celebrities are put through just for food are most people’s worst nightmares, but they make for brilliant TV.

Shows which are all about a particular celebrity or celebrity family are all the rage and proving popular. Celebrities going about their daily lives might not seem interesting to everyone but if you’re a huge fan of say Katie Price you will want to watch a show with her in. Watching the Osborne’s reality show was a great insight into how the family live and made for great TV.

Another reason why some of these shows are so popular is that are great for the whole family to watch. Talents shows have been around for a long time and growing up I remember my whole family sitting down to watch Opportunity Knocks and New Faces. Today I do the same with my kids and watch The Factor and Britain’s got Talent. Doctor who is a TV show that is popular for all ages and still brings in attractive ratings. If you watched it in the 70’s and 80’s you may still be watching it but this time as a parent.