Isn’t there still radio? Even if you don’t have a radio, you can live stream almost any radio station free and easy. Even NPR, or CBC, if you can’t stand the squawking back-slapping personalitiees on your local all-news stations.
I turn on the TV for my national & local news & weather! The antenna I bought is now going for 29.99 & it works fine. Each broadcast station has several secondary channels, including old movies & old TV shows. PBS has kiddie shows all day 6 days a week–but it’s got an alternative with shows for grownups. Plus a Spanish language channel & a couple of audio only channels–good for “background.” Also available–numerous local channels in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese & Korean!
Tried to edit previous message, was too late. TV Guide has a website for the laptop & an App for Android phones. I’ve got it set on “Broadcast” so I can see what’s on. Have Gun Will Travel in the mornings, Xena at 6 PM.
Also–what’s your hardware? My Vizio makes streaming easy. And the old TV has a Roku. Both devices offer lots of channels worth investigating. Some free, some not. Many of the latter offer free trials.
Do get an antenna. It might be problematic in some areas, but works fine for me.
There are lots of old movie channels available on my Roku. Even if you can’t get TCM, there are many others you could use. I have an antenna, and one of the sub-channels shows lots of old and classic movies. Try an antenna to see what you can get off the air. It’s worth having an antenna just for the times when you need to watch the local weather or something.
CBS has their own streaming service and their shows aren’t readily available through Hulu. To get the current shows, you’d either need to subscribe to CBS or watch them with an antenna.
If you end up watching a lot of antenna shows, consider a DVR like Tivo. They recently released a Roamio OTA version which doesn’t have any monthly fee. I think it’s $400, which is a bit pricy, but it works well and can be a good value if you watch a lot of over the air shows.
Looks like TCM is available in the Hollywood Extra package on Sling TV.
Right now my only TV is through Hulu Plus. $11.99 per month for no commercials is SOOOOOOO worth it. My U-Verse bill dropped by $100 dollars when I got rid of TV. I don’t watch sports, so that’s not a big deal. I get my news on the interwebz.