I had free cable in my last place and now do not. I never bothered hooking it up. There are only two shoes I watch regularly. One I can get in hi-def with rabbit ears and the other I can stream on-line off one of the network websites. There is another network that has some lifestyle programming I enjoy and they too stream on-line. Plus I get Netflix on the Wii for $7.99 a month and can watch movies and tv shows there. Cable TV is really expensive here but I seem to be managing