When we moved in here, we didn't sign up for cable TV or satellite or anything like that since we don't watch enough TV to make it worthwhile. However, we're going to get cable set up soon, in anticipation of football season, just like last year.

In our last apartment, we were just going to sign up for limited cable, which just had the local stations that we couldn't see because they didn't come through the antenna well. However, they had a great deal going so we only had to pay $5 more for the basic sports channels and whatever else came with them. Our monthly bill was something around $20/month.

I was hoping to find something that inexpensive this time, but it looks like it will cost more. The only channels I want to get are the 4 basic network channels (CBS, FOX, ABC, NBC), ESPN, and Fox Sports, so I do want more than just Limited Basic cable. It would be nice to have ESPN2 and Versus as well.

As far as I can tell, Comcast and Broadstripe are the two cable companies in the area. If I want just Limited Basic cable (local TV), it's around $20/month. I'd really like to have ESPN though, for college football and Monday night football. To get those two channels along with the network channels, I'd have to get basic cable, which costs around $55/month, which is more than we want to pay.

It looks like Broadstripe has an option called Expanded Basic (click for the channel lineup), which has all the cable channels that come with Basic cable and it carries only some of the local channels that come with Limited Basic. It has CBS, NBC, and ABC, just at a different channel number than they are through the antenna. It also comes with local FOX HD. All this is only $35/month. My concern here is based out of ignorance...if I get the FOX HD channel but don't have an HD TV, can I still watch the channel? Getting FOX is pretty important as I want to watch the NFL on it and we get a poor signal through the antenna.

So, I guess I need to figure that out. If I won't be able to watch FOX through Expanded Basic, then I don't know what we'll do...probably only get Limited Basic and watch ESPN elsewhere. I don't mind going somewhere else to watch TV on occasion, I just don't want to get tired of being forced out of the house to watch football...or get tired of paying to watch it inside.