Guides & tips

Free TV explained

Guides and tips for cutting the cord: TV antennas, over-the-air DVRs, signal boosters, NextGen TV, and getting the most out of free local television.

New Local Sports Channels: Watch NBA, NHL, and MLB Games Free With an AntennaFor twenty years the answer to how you watch your local team was the same everywhere: you needed cable, because most teams' games were on cable sports channels. That model is falling apart, and something unexpected is replacing it. A growing number of NBA, NHL, and MLB teams have moved their games onto local broadcast stations, where you can watch them free over the air...Read more

Tablo Review: Record Free Over-the-Air TV Forever, With No Monthly FeesIf you've cut the cord, you already know the best-kept secret in television: the biggest events of the year are free. The World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, Sunday football, your local news — all of it beams through the air for anyone with an antenna. But live TV has one problem antennas never solved: you can't record it. That's the exact gap the Tablo fills...Read more

Pluto TV: A Free Supplement to Your AntennaIf you've cut the cord, your setup is probably a few pieces stitched together: an antenna for local channels and live sports, maybe a subscription or two for movies and the shows you follow. There's a third piece worth knowing about that costs nothing at all: free, ad-supported streaming. The biggest name in it is Pluto TV...Read more

Why Do Local TV Stations Still Broadcast If They're on Cable, Satellite, and Online?If a station's channel already shows up on cable, satellite, and in an app, why does it still run a transmitter? Especially a small independent or religious station, where plenty of households find it easier to scroll to that channel on a cable lineup than to aim an antenna at it. Why not shut the tower down, save the money, and just be a cable channel? The answer turns out to be one of the more interesting pieces of how American television is put together...Read more

Indoor vs. Outdoor TV Antennas: Making the Right ChoiceTelevision antennas are making a comeback, providing a free option to TV viewers eager to cut back on their monthly bills. When choosing a TV antenna, the decision between indoor and outdoor options is pivotal to unlocking the best, most reliable viewing experience in your home...Read more

Watch Broadcast TV on Your Android Phone with the MyGica TV TunerOur smartphones have replaced many electronic devices. They serve as our computers, our cameras, and our GPS systems. Many even work as an FM radio. But they haven't fully replaced the television. Sure, we can use streaming apps on our phone, but what about picking up free, broadcast TV?...Read more

What Happened to PBS Stations After the Federal Funding Cuts?In July 2025, Congress passed the Rescissions Act, cancelling money it had already approved for public broadcasting: $535 million for each of the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. The predictions at the time were dire and specific: stations would go dark, and rural communities would lose their only local broadcaster. More than a year later, the towers are still up. Almost all of them. But that is not the same thing as public television being fine...Read more

Why Aren't All My Antenna Channels in Full HD?You run a channel scan, pick up forty or fifty free channels, and start flipping through them. Local news and sports look razor sharp. Two channels later, another channel looks noticeably softer, as if someone eased the focus off. Your first thought is that something is wrong...Read more

CW vs. CW Plus: What's the Difference?You scan your channels, look for The CW, and find it listed as something slightly different: CW Plus. The word "plus" suggests an upgrade, a premium tier, or a second channel carrying extra shows. It is none of those...Read more

Does Weather Affect Digital Antenna TV?Anyone who watched television before 2009 remembers what a weak signal looked like. The picture went snowy, or a ghost appeared a few inches to the right, and you watched anyway. Digital broadcasting does not work that way. A weak digital signal doesn't get grainy, it freezes, breaks into blocks, and then vanishes entirely...Read more

Understanding VHF & UHF in the Age of Digital TVThe advent of digital over-the-air television has greatly improved the way we enjoy our local broadcast TV. Before DTV, picking up a distant analog TV signal usually involved turning your rabbit ears to different angles until the crackling faded away. Nowadays, it’s more cut-and-dry – you either...Read more

One Signal, Many Channels: How Digital TV Multiplexing WorksTune your antenna to your local Channel 7 and you may find a lot more than one channel waiting: 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, sometimes further still. So where do all those extra channels come from, and how does a single station broadcast several of them at once? The answer is a piece of digital-TV magic called multiplexing...Read more

Do TV Antenna Boosters Actually Work? How Amplifiers Rescue Weak SignalsYou mounted the antenna, ran the scan — and half the channels are missing or break up every few seconds. Before you climb back on the roof, there's a small, inexpensive box that rescues weak over-the-air signals every day: a TV antenna booster. Here's how they work, when they make a real difference, and how to pick the right one...Read more

Why Some TV Stations Broadcast at Such Low Power and Why It Still WorksYou're scanning the channels in your area and one of them shows a weak signal or a tiny transmitter power. So why would a station broadcast with so little muscle, and how do so many people still watch it? The answer is a mix of physics, cable rules, and clever little relay transmitters...Read more

Why Over-the-Air Picture Quality Often Beats Cable, Satellite, and StreamingHere's a claim that surprises a lot of people the first time they hear it: the free HD picture coming through your antenna can genuinely look better than the exact same channel on a $150-a-month cable or satellite package. Same network, same local anchors, same broadcast — and the free version can be the sharper one...Read more

NextGen TV: Will Your Antenna and TV Still Work with ATSC 3.0?Broadcast television is in the middle of its biggest change since the analog shutoff of 2009. But for most over-the-air viewers, the reality is far less dramatic than the headlines suggest. Here's what's actually happening, and what it means for your antenna...Read more

Calendar

What’s on, and when

Big games, races and live events coming up on free over-the-air TV, and the channel to find each one on. Full-season schedules show which games an antenna gets you for free.

See all upcoming See all schedules

Today

Upcoming broadcasts

Pins are broadcast dates. Bars are full seasons. Orange marks today.

Nov 26 · NBCMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Dec 12 · CBSArmy-Navy Game

Jan 25 · ABCCFP National Championship

Feb 7 · ABCGrammy Awards

Feb 14 · ABCSuper Bowl LXI

Feb 21 · FOXDaytona 500

Mar 14 · ABCAcademy Awards

Apr 8 · CBSThe Masters

May 1 · NBCKentucky Derby

Feb '26MarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan '27FebMarAprMay

Sports TV schedules

NFL SeasonCBS, FOX, NBC

CBS, FOX, NBC

College FootballABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CW

ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CW

NASCAR Cup SeriesFOX, NBC

FOX, NBC

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