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This won't get you live coverage, but it will get you legal NBC coverage on your home TV... The broadcast industry does not want American's to know this, but th

This won't get you live coverage, but it will get you legal NBC coverage on your home TV... The broadcast industry does not want American's to know this, but they are legally obligated to provide the free "over the air" stations on cable (coax) even if you do not pay for cable service. In other words, do what I have done: 1. You need a modern cable-ready TV 2. Plug the coax into the wall (assumes your residence had cable installation at one point). 3. Plug other end of coax into your TV. 4. Scan for channels. 5. Voila: CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, and more. Yes, it's that simple. And this is NOT using the coax as an RF antenna. This is the cable company providing me with what I am legally entitled to: over the air stations in a digital age. The cable companies are trying to fight this, but as of now, it exists. It's legal. And it works. My son's watching PBS Kids as I type. And we watched many Olympic events through-out the days today - OK, not live, but still I DO NOT PAY FOR TV.

illumin8 14y ago
NBC is only broadcasting Olympic events on cable channels, not on the basic NBC OTA channels...
- jimhirshfield 14y ago
  I'm watching women's beach volleyball on NBC (Channel 4 in the NYC metro area) as I type this (8:12pm on Sat 28 July)
Steuard 14y ago
Do you have a link where I can read up on this? I'm willing to believe you, but it sounds too good to be true.
- jimhirshfield 14y ago
  See my reply above with link to Fred Wilson's blog post.
ja27 14y ago
Are you sure cable providers are required to provide free over-the-air stations? I haven't heard of that being a requirement and can't find anything online except vague claims without citations. I've heard of low-cost plans that provide all the equivalent over-the-air stations, but no legal requirement to provide those for free. That said, this certainly does work for some people. It worked for us for a while after we dropped the TV part of our plan but then one day we couldn't receive any channels over the coax, so I assume they installed a filter.
- detst 14y ago
  I can't cite a source but I'm quite certain that there is no requirement to provide these channels to non-customers. The requirement is that they broadcast those channels in the clear to customers. That means without a physical filter, non-customers get the channels. Adding/removing filters means a truck roll and $ so often you get lucky.
  - jimhirshfield 14y ago
    I'd agree that if your home never had cable, SOL. And you're right that there's nothing in it for them to drive a truck around...it's just s/w setting to turn off your paid subscription. However, see my comment above re ClearQAM, and link to Fred's post.
    - detst 14y ago
      Where in there does he, or the link he references, substantiate the following claim? The broadcast industry does not want American's to know this, but they are legally obligated to provide the free "over the air" stations on cable (coax) even if you do not pay for cable service. If you follow the link trail, you'll find this quote from the FCC: broadcast signals that are subject to mandatory carriage must be "viewable via cable on all television receivers of a subscriber which are connected to a cable system by a cable operator or for which a cable operator provides a connection." Which is another way of saying what I wrote above. Bottom line is: if you aren't paying for cable video service and receiving these channels, you're benefiting from the cable company not wanting to send out a tech to install a filter, not some legal requirement.
city41 14y ago
I've done this for years. When I lived in Washington (state), the channels would periodically relocate themselves, so I had to rescan about once a month. It was also pretty frustrating for the channels to be things like 38.4. I got the feeling the cable company did that on purpose to try and make the experience as frustrating as they could.

illumin8 14y ago

NBC is only broadcasting Olympic events on cable channels, not on the basic NBC OTA channels...

jimhirshfield 14y ago
I'm watching women's beach volleyball on NBC (Channel 4 in the NYC metro area) as I type this (8:12pm on Sat 28 July)

Steuard 14y ago

Do you have a link where I can read up on this? I'm willing to believe you, but it sounds too good to be true.

jimhirshfield 14y ago
See my reply above with link to Fred Wilson's blog post.

ja27 14y ago

Are you sure cable providers are required to provide free over-the-air stations? I haven't heard of that being a requirement and can't find anything online except vague claims without citations. I've heard of low-cost plans that provide all the equivalent over-the-air stations, but no legal requirement to provide those for free. That said, this certainly does work for some people. It worked for us for a while after we dropped the TV part of our plan but then one day we couldn't receive any channels over the coax, so I assume they installed a filter.

detst 14y ago
I can't cite a source but I'm quite certain that there is no requirement to provide these channels to non-customers. The requirement is that they broadcast those channels in the clear to customers. That means without a physical filter, non-customers get the channels. Adding/removing filters means a truck roll and $ so often you get lucky.
- jimhirshfield 14y ago
  I'd agree that if your home never had cable, SOL. And you're right that there's nothing in it for them to drive a truck around...it's just s/w setting to turn off your paid subscription. However, see my comment above re ClearQAM, and link to Fred's post.
  - detst 14y ago
    Where in there does he, or the link he references, substantiate the following claim? The broadcast industry does not want American's to know this, but they are legally obligated to provide the free "over the air" stations on cable (coax) even if you do not pay for cable service. If you follow the link trail, you'll find this quote from the FCC: broadcast signals that are subject to mandatory carriage must be "viewable via cable on all television receivers of a subscriber which are connected to a cable system by a cable operator or for which a cable operator provides a connection." Which is another way of saying what I wrote above. Bottom line is: if you aren't paying for cable video service and receiving these channels, you're benefiting from the cable company not wanting to send out a tech to install a filter, not some legal requirement.

city41 14y ago

I've done this for years. When I lived in Washington (state), the channels would periodically relocate themselves, so I had to rescan about once a month. It was also pretty frustrating for the channels to be things like 38.4. I got the feeling the cable company did that on purpose to try and make the experience as frustrating as they could.