WAFF and Direct TV

I am assuming that direct tv requires some sort of contract with waff(and all local stations) and that both sides are not in full agreement with the terms just yet.

Again, I'm just guessing. I've been seeing the messages during the news on 48 though.

With all the rate increases and poorer channel selections from Comcast, I’m looking at going with DirectTV. Having WAFF is not an important part of the decision.

think about it this way....

if they don't show local abc, nbc, cbs, or fox, you can't get it!
unless you use "over the air" antenna or digital decoder.

i've been researching this topic for a couple of months. i actually turned my directTV off this week.
i've not missed one show i wanted to see.
it's all free over the internet.

here's what i did...
i bought a new computer, tower only, for about 250 bucks. hooked it to my HD TV with HDMI cables. i can watch through the major network websites for free. then there are places like hulu where you can watch, usually, the most recent 5 episodes of just about any t.v. show.
i'm checking into netflix for about 10 bucks a month. and if some bad weather hits, your local tv websites actually do a live streaming weather broadcast. i stand to save around $900 for the next year and that's counting buying the computer and cables.
just food for thought!
i have a really good internet connection. it's only gone down once in the past three years. that's better than comcast or directTV ever did!!!!

Willie, we do the same thing. My wife and I have never paid for satellite or cable the entire time we've been married, and have never felt like we missed out on anything. We've used our old laptop to watch TV shows on our TV for a while, but got a desktop computer for Christmas with HDMI, which means we can hook it up to the TV and watch hi def video that way using Windows Media Center. I also have a TV tuner card in it, so I hook up our antenna to it to get the local channels, and Windows Media Center can act as a DVR allowing us to pause or record local channels. It's great. We've really enjoyed it. I doubt we'll ever get cable or satellite. We've thought about the netflix thing, to watch streaming video over the internet, but our internet connection isn't the greatest.

Why won't someone bring a decent internet service to the Green Hill area?

i haven't bothered to hook up the "over the air" part yet....
i can tell i'm gonna want my local stuff...
i hope it's not too hard to pick them up.
i don't want some huge antenna.
i'm gonna figure that out really soon!

Living in the Shoals, you probably won't have much luck with rabbit ears, so there's no use wasting your money. I bought an omnidirectional antenna from Radio Shack 4 or 5 years ago, and it has a range of 60 or 70 miles. You can install it inside your attic, but you'll get much better reception installing it outside. For $65, it was a great deal for a good product that has saved me from being at the mercy of crappy programming at really high prices.

I've had Direct TV for many years and have been happy with them (except for the ever rising costs but that happens with all of them). I could live without WAFF 48 as I also get an NBC affiliate out of New York (or maybe LA, I forget). I do enjoy hearing the weather from WAFF.

Triforce & Willie, what about sports programming? Do you get a good deal of it online? I admit this would be a great way to save money.

The one thing that does make me apprehensive is NFL Redzone channel. I love it. Plus I am a big fantasy football player.

Monkey, I don't watch sports, so a lack of sports programming isn't a big deal.

Yeah, I'm one of maybe 3 people in the area that hates watching sports.

I hate sports too! I could care less if any of those channels are offered. Frankly, I think us non-sports fan get the worst deals in these tv packages.

Well whether you like it or not, have you noticed any opportunities to watch it online as you have other programming?

I do know that Windows Media Center has a sports channel on it. Never watched it, so I don't know how good or bad it is.

I am sitting here with comcast and haven't been able to watch tv in almost three hours. I went through the automated phone crap and got a "technician" who promises me she will make a note of it. YEA. Comcast leaves a LOT to be desired.

And, while I'm on a roll, I wish I could purchase just the channels I watch and not have all the sports, news, shopping, and religious channels shoved down my throat. Espn and cnn will do nicely for me thank you.

Did I mention, Comcast sucks?

Knock on wood, I havent had problems with Comcast yet. Except the price.

But I have been looking at others, Uverse, Direct, Dish, they all are about the same price after the three or six month offers. And they have a contract.

Comcast has been good, until recently, about giving me the 'new customer' special price for a year after I pay full price for six months. They are a little tighter now, but in the past I could get the price discounted. Until recently, I didnt have to have boxes for each tv either. Now you do with comcast, although two are free.

They are all a rip off, many many channels I dont watch or want. But I guess its the name of the game....

TV stations all over the country are saying that they may be dropped by Direct TV after the first of the year. Hasn't happened anywhere. Much ado about nothing.

If you DO decide to get an antenna, you will find that there is a lot more available than just 19,48,31,15,36. Each of those has multiple channels ie: 19.1 is what we know and love as channel 19 but it also broadcast 19.2 which carries RTV network , or Retro-TV. It carries a lot of the programs from the 70's , like A-Team, etc. 48 , 54, and 2 or 3 of the educational channels all have multiple channels, educational TV has 3 more, eg 36.1, 36.2,36.3,36.4.
Even tho I have DishNet, I put up an antenna ( 8 bow tie with a booster), that I had had for years, before satellite or cable was even around (yea I'm that old). Works like a champ, so even if you are getting the things you want, you may want to look into getting an antenna as well. The picture is perfect !
Willie, I may look into a setup like yours. If I could just get by with 1 TV.