TV and internet provider in Venice, Fl

[MattMN]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

I have had an antenna dish installed in my attic for local network tv stations only. The HOA's around here won't allow the old-style tv antenna's to be mounted on your roofs like we did up North pre-cable. Excite Sound downtown Venice installed that..Howard is your guy there. He wired it into a main line above the garage in the attic so all 3 cable receptacles in my walls where I'd normally plug in for cable tv, I get local network antenna tv instead...free over-the-air netork tv. I paid <$200 for the dish & install wiring combined. Howard programmed both our TV's & showed us how to use the remotes to switch back from network tv, to our DVD player if we are watching DVD's we get from the library for free.

Yes, over-the-air networks broadcast for free. They used to be signals that reached far distances, albeit sometimes fuzzy the farther you get. Now they all broadcast in HD (High Definition), so as long as you get a signal, it's crystal-clear. But those HD signals don't go very far.

I borrowed a friend's HD antennae once to try it out in North Venice. It was just an indoor window style, but I could only get one signal - a CW station.

Can you share what stations you are able to pull in?

[MattMN]

Your answer is - Comcast/Xfinity, or Frontier. Both offer cable, both offer internet. Both can be difficult to work with and potentially slow installation service, but both are decent for TV/internet service. In general, I feel Frontier has a little more stable internet service than Comcast in this area.

If you want to stream, but want all the channels, go with YouTube TV or the top Hulu package. Will be just like cable, though I have not used them. The bonus with YouTube TV is you get built-in DVR-like recording.

Aside from that, you have Dish or DirecTV for satellite TV providers. I've had DirecTV for 6 years in FL (need NFL Ticket!), and yes the signal goes out sometimes due to rain/storms. But I'd say it has largely not been a problem.

That said, my top recommendation would be Internet+Streaming. Buy a Roku box and it will be simple. Failing that, just pick Comcast or Frontier; depending on your address, only one of them may be available in your neighborhood.