Route 1: an antenna plus one streaming service
Who it is for: most people. You watch the local news, the network dramas, one or two streaming shows, and no cable-exclusive sport.
An antenna gets you the local broadcast channels free, permanently, in better quality than any stream of the same channel — broadcast is uncompressed relative to what a streaming bundle does to it, and it does not stutter when the household is busy. The FCC’s own address-level reception tool will tell you what is receivable where you live before you buy anything; put your street address in and it returns the stations, their predicted strength and the bearing of each transmitter.
Then add one streaming service, deliberately, and cancel it when you have finished the thing you joined for. The monthly cost of this route is the cost of that one service, and it goes to zero in the months you do not want anything.
What you give up: the cable networks. No ESPN, no live cable news channels, nothing that is not broadcast over the air or in a streaming app. For a large number of former cable customers this is a short list of things they never watched.
Route 2: one live TV streaming bundle
Who it is for: live cable sport, and households who want one guide.
This is the straight swap: a single app that carries a cable-like channel lineup including the local affiliates and a cloud DVR, for a monthly fee. The honest case for it is specific and strong — if you watch live sport on cable networks, or if several people in the house want to channel-surf a guide rather than pick apps, no other route does that.
The things to compare between them, none of which are prices and all of which are durable:
Do they carry your local affiliates? This varies by market and it is the single most common unpleasant surprise. Every provider has a channel-lookup page that takes a ZIP code. Check it before you sign up, not after.
How many simultaneous streams? The number of televisions that can watch at once is a hard cap, and it is lower than the number of sets in a typical family house. This is where bundles disappoint households that moved from cable, where every box worked at once.
What are the DVR terms? Cloud DVR hours, how long recordings are kept and whether you can skip advertisements differ sharply between providers, and the differences are not advertised prominently.
How small can the package get?Some providers sell a genuinely small base package; others start at a near-cable lineup. If you want the cheapest live TV route, the skinny-bundle providers are where to look, and they are also the ones that most often leave out a local affiliate — which Route 3 then fixes for free.
Is the price promotional? Assume the first-year number is not the number. This is the mechanism that recreated the cable bill for a lot of people who thought they had escaped it.
Route 3: a bundle plus an antenna (the one people overlook)
Who it is for: anyone whose cheap bundle is missing a local channel.
The skinny bundles are the cheapest way to get cable channels, and their weakness is local affiliates. An antenna fixes that for a one-off cost, which means you can buy the small package rather than stepping up a tier for the locals — and the local channels you add this way are free forever, higher quality than the streamed version, and still working during an internet outage.
This route is also where an over-the-air DVR earns its place. A Tablo or HDHomeRunrecords the broadcast channels onto your own network, and in Tablo’s case with no monthly guide fee at all — so the one feature people miss most from cable comes back without reintroducing a subscription. We have the no-subscription options collected on OTA DVRs with no subscription.
Route 4: keep cable, and stop pretending
Who it is for: a small, honest minority.
If you watch a lot of live cable sport, have a bundled internet discount that unbundling would destroy, and value a single bill with one phone number to shout at, cord-cutting may genuinely cost you more once the internet price resets. Price the internet-only tariff from your provider before you cancel anything — that number is the whole argument, and it is the step people skip.
Our how to cut the cord guide has the order of operations, including the equipment-return step that costs people hundreds when they get it wrong.
The hardware behind each route
These are the actual pieces of kit, at live prices, with the date they were pulled. Note which rows carry a monthly fee and which do not — that column is the entire cord-cutting argument in one place.
The hardware behind each route, as published on each listing and read on October 13, 2026. “Not published” means the maker does not state it — we do not fill those in. We do not list streaming-service prices anywhere on this page; see the note below for why.| Hardware | Belongs to | Monthly fee | Connection | Setup |
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| Channel Master FLATenna | Route 1: antenna + free apps | None for the device | Coax to the TV's built-in tuner | Simple |
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| Antennas Direct ClearStream 2MAX | Route 1, weaker signal area | None for the device | Coax to the TV tuner or to a distribution amplifier | Install job |
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| Tablo 4th Gen 2-Tuner OTA DVR | Route 1 or 3, if you want a DVR | None for the device | Coax antenna in, Ethernet and Wi-Fi out to the network | Simple |
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| Roku Streaming Stick 4K | Every route needs one | None for the device | Long-range dual-band Wi-Fi, HDMI output | Plug-in |
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| SiliconDust HDHomeRun Flex Duo | Route 3, locals into your own apps | Not published | Coax antenna in, Ethernet to the network | Simple |
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Two of these are near-universal. A streaming stick or boxis needed on every route, because it is what runs the apps — and it charges nothing monthly. Which one matters more here than it does for on-demand viewing, because a live stream cannot buffer ahead: our picks for a live TV service are ranked on how each device reaches the network rather than on its interface. An antenna is needed on Routes 1 and 3, and worth having on Route 2 as an outage backup.
The verdict: who should buy which
No live cable sport, and you mainly watch the locals? Route 1. Buy the Channel Master FLATenna if your towers are reasonably close, the ClearStream 2MAX if they are not, and a Roku Streaming Stick 4K for the apps. Your monthly bill becomes the one service you choose.
Live cable sport, or several people wanting a channel guide?Route 2. Pick on the four durable criteria above — locals in your ZIP code, simultaneous streams, DVR terms and how small the base package goes — and expect the promotional price to end.
Want cable channels as cheaply as possible? Route 3. The smallest bundle you can live with, plus an antenna for the locals it leaves out, plus a Tablo if you miss recording things.
Heavy live sport plus a bundled internet discount? Route 4. Get the internet-only price in writing first; if the saving is under ten dollars a month, the move is not worth the disruption.
