Can you tell me if my cable company is doing something illegal?

If you were getting the “free” channels through the cable, then they most certainly can take it away. You now have the option of getting a dish or the analog box for airwaves.

You can get an antenna and a digital to analog converter box if you only have an analog TV. My system works great. And it’s free!
The box costs $40 at Radio Shack. If you have a digital TV you don’t need it.

I agree with @Trillian, they don’t have to send you anything through the cable.

Just get an antenna, hopefully reception is good where you live.

@Trillian I have a built in digital tuner as my TV is new. (Proofed for the transition from airwaves to digital….

Wasn’t the point of that to get the basic channels through the cable rather than over the air? Or am I confused here?

You can’t get them through cable if you don’t fork over to the cable company every month. I don’t like it either, so I just don’t watch tv at home. I have my high speed connection with hulu, and netflix gets some money from me every month. I’m good.
You need an antenna to go with that box.

@Trillian OK, so here is where I am stuck . . . The antenna worked before, then you needed a box. So why still need the antenna? It just seems like adding an extra piece to something that worked.

Is it the way the “airwaves” are broadcast or something? I have no problem using an antenna, at this point, I just don’t know the point of the box.

@mrrich724 the box is a digital converter. There is no analog anymore that is why you need a box. Those antenna just picked up analog signals they cannot pick up digital signals, the box converts the signal to digital.

Because the towers transmitting the waves now use a different system. When I worked tech support for Cingular the old phones were like that. They did not have the smart card. Then Cingular changed all the towers and went to a GSM network, so all the phones had to have the smart card to the towers could “talk” to them. I think the same principle applies here. you can have an antenna but the tower still can’t interface with your set until you have the box. If it has the box built in, or if you buy a box, you still need the antenna to actually pick up the waves and get them to the set.
Pant pant pant! Yaaaayyyy me!

I think we are confusing two different boxes, and both are not needed.

1) The cable box
@mrrich724 no longer needs it, not paying the cable company, so they cut you off.

2) Digital converter box for over-the-air/antenna TV
@mrrich724 does not need it – “I have a built in digital tuner as my TV is new”

Soooo…. @mrrich724, just plug an antenna into your TV and see how the reception is. Cheap-ass rabbit ears are probably fine in LA. If you are in sight of Mt. Wilson you will probably get a HUGE number of channels.

@jaytkay The converter box is what I was talking about. Even with it whether it’s built in or not, he still needs an antenna.

@Trillian I know, I was trying to say “forget all this talk of boxes, get thee an antenna!”

Yea, I was talking about the Digital Converter Box. Sorry for the confusion. I just didn’t get it b/c rabbit ears worked and then all the sudden you needed a box, so I was wondering why you still need the antenna if you had to have a newfangled box!

Thanks for the info guys.

In a nutshell, there’s nothing stopping them.

Listen to @jaytkay . Just plug your antenna directly to your TV and you should be good to go. You will probably have to do a new channel search on your TV and select antenna input. Read your manual.

You might have an issue with the landlord if they are breaking part of the lease agreement.

Read your lease. If the lease says that basic cable TV is provided at no charge, then you have a claim. If the lease is mute on the point, you do not.