RSS FeedOTA In PQ — Free TV At Its Peak?
All Hail TV The Great And Powerful!
It has been a few years since we last posted about over-the-air (OTA) TV in PQ, that’s because the channels have mostly stabilized and so we don’t worry much about it any longer. Back in 2007 we complained about our favorite music video station going off the air, and in 2009 when it looked like the Retro-Television station was off the air for good we even considered cable.
Things have changed a lot in the intervening years. The popularity and selection of Netflix streaming, combined Amazon Instant Video, and then services we like but use less often, such as Hulu, Vudu, Crackle, and even RedBox (for discs, not their streaming service which we haven’t tried yet), all mean that we’re watching less broadcast television.
Yet despite all of our on-demand options, we still do flip through the channels and more often then not, we find something we like. And before we get into what that is, a word about our setup. We’re using a extremely affordable indoor/outdoor amplified TV antenna, which is pointed something like west-northwest. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the OTA TV experience is finding, then tweaking, the best direction for your antenna to face.
With that setup we pick up about 50 channels, of which we actually watch about 20 or so. You’ve got your standard stations like NBC (4.1), Fox (5.1), ABC (7.1), CBS (9.1 — this one is the least reliable for reception on our setup), WETA PBS (26.1 through 26.4), and the CW (50.1). We watch these mostly for morning news broadcasts, sports on the weekends, or in the case of WETA, British dramas & mysteries.
The main channels we find ourselves watching are:
- ION Television (66.1) — Great if you are a fan of Monk, Criminal Minds, or Flashpoint, but also good for late night and mid-day movies if you happen to be home sick or unable to sleep
- Movies! (20.2) — A poor-man’s Turner Classic Movies, this station has quickly become our first stop when flipping channels, it’s easy to get lost in All About Eve, Hell is for Heroes, Marathon Man, or any other number of movie classics. They also play shorts between some films (we told you, poor-man’s TCM)
- MeTV (7.2) — This was one of two replacements for our old favorite, Retro-Television Network (RTN), MeTV plays most of the same types of old shows including The Rifleman, Emergency!, and the Rockford Files. MeTV holds a special place in our hearts, however, as the first (and so far only) OTA station to broadcast Columbo, although only once a week (Sunday night at 8 pm, if you are interested)
- Cozi TV(4.2) — Cozi is the second partial replacement of the old RTN, playing some old shows (McCloud, I Spy, Charlie’s Angels) and a mix of movies (Jaws: the Revenge, The Last Picture Show, A Few Good Men)
Although CBS (9.1) and its sub-channels don’t come in very well for us, we should mention that the sub-channels there are also pretty good. Bounce TV (9.2) bills itself as the “first African American broadcast network” and we’ve found some pretty good movies to watch here (D.C. Cab being our favorite) when the station comes in; also 9.3 is an around the clock weather station with constant forecasts, radar, and updates.
We’re not trying to sell anyone on cutting the cord, many of you probably like the ease and convenience of cable, and of course exclusive content like sporting events. OTA requires you to be a bit more hands-on with your tv viewing, and to learn to live with atmospheric disruptions. Still, if you find yourself watching on-demand services for the majority of your viewing, we think you’ll find that OTA TV, at least in DC, has now reached the point where we no longer feel like we’ve given something up by not having cable.
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