(+) How to Watch TLC and other Live TV on Roku

I “cut the cable” on my television a few weeks ago when my local cable company sent me a notice saying that the company was going to increase my monthly bill significantly. I reacted by calling the cable company and demanding they cancel my subscription to cable television but keep my subscription to the company’s high-speed broadband internet service.

Even before calling the cable company to cancel their service, I purchased an inexpensive indoor television antenna and experimented with it for a bit. I found that I received picture-perfect signals from many television stations, including the local CBS, ABC, and PBS affiliates. I received a marginal signal from the nearest NBC station as that station's transmitter site is further away from my home than the others. In addition, I discovered a lot of local independent stations, some of them broadcasting in foreign languages, some devoted to religious programs, and others that simply broadcast constant reruns of old or even ancient television programs. I must admit I am not too interested in constant reruns of The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason. I have little interest in such programming but occasionally have found a program worth watching on these local independent stations.

I later solved the problem with the NBC affiliate by purchasing a more expensive "amplified antenna" and placing it in a higher location in the house. However, that still left me without all the so-called "cable channels," such as CNN, TLC, HISTORY®, BBC America, Smithsonian, Comedy Central, ESPN and lots of other sports channels, and more.

This is especially irritating to me as a genealogist because the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? is available only on the TLC network, and several of my favorite non-genealogy programs are only available on the HISTORY® channel or on the various sports networks. Luckily, that is easy to solve; however, the solutions do cost money.