I unplugged from satellite television several years ago and now, except for Netflix, pay no monthly fees for television viewing. There are several ways to do this, but I will limit this article to how our family did it.
We bought a Roku streaming player when they first came out several years ago. We now have three Rokus in our home for each television. The Roku works in conjunction with your high-speed Internet connection to make it possible to watch Internet content on your television screen in your living room or bedroom instead of watching it on a smaller computer monitor.
Once you have installed the Roku unit, you'll have access to dozens of channels offered through Roku. As a political news junkie, I can watch C-SPAN and Newsmax TV live. If you haven't checked out Newsmax TV, please give it a try. "America's Forum" with J.D. Hayworth, "MidPoint," and "The Steve Malzberg Show" are outstanding programming and unabashedly conservative. I would also recommend the "America's Survival" channel, which makes a compelling argument that Fox News has moved further to the left during the past few years in what is an apparent case of "O'Sullivan's Law."
In addition to using Roku, I have downloaded software from PlayOn. The software costs $59.99, but that is a one-time fee. We have been using PlayOn for over two years now. PlayOn allows you to view news, sports, and entertainment from around the world. Programming for many cable networks is available either directly through those networks or a third party such as Hulu, although you may have to wait a day or two before you can watch it. For example, I'm a fan of "Longmire," which is aired on A&E. I can't watch it live since I don't have cable or satellite service. However, I can watch it the next day through Hulu.
PlayOn also includes a feature called "PlayMark." Using PlayMark, you can "mark" just about any video from any website for watching later on your TV. I use this to "mark" documentaries and other videos available on YouTube. For political junkies, there's a large number of great videos available on YouTube, but it's a bit of a pain to sit at a computer to watch them. Roku and PlayOn make it possible to watch them on your television.
As I noted above, there are other ways to watch "over-the-top" content. This is how I do it, but a different way may be better for you. For more information about Roku and "over-the-top" content, please view this video (if you watch it on your computer monitor, imagine how nice it would be to watch it on your television instead):
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