A trio of technologies can help you enjoy TV over the Internet on your schedule at a fraction of what you’d pay to the satellite and cable companies.
First up, we have Chromecast, which is a Google product. It’s a little device about the size of a car key. You simply plug it into the HDMI port on your flatscreen TV. Then with your smartphone, tablet or laptop, you can bring Internet programming to your TV screen.
Chromecast has a street price of $29. The highest price you can possibly pay for it is $35. And best of all, there are no monthly fees.
My producer Joel uses Chromecast with his smartphone to watch Netflix content. He just has to make sure his phone is connected to his home Wi-Fi network, along with the TV. Then he can easily watch his show of choice in HD on his television. I use Chromecast from my laptop to get content onto the TV.
Christa from my team decided to do without one of her cable boxes to save money when she moved into her new house. Instead she purchased a $19 antenna and a Chromecast. She gets perfect HD reception from 21 local stations and uses Chromecast to watch Netflix, Hulu and other content from her computer.
Meanwhile, there’s a device called Roku that is the best option for watching Internet content on TV with complete ease of use. But Roku realizes it’s losing marketshare to Chromecast. So now you can get its “Streaming Stick” for $49.99.
Finally, Dish has reached a deal with Walt Disney Co. that will let Dish subscribers watch ABC, ESPN, and all other Disney-owned channels in an over-the-top way instead of through traditional satellite-based programming.
We are moving to an era of watching what you want, how you want it.
Consumer expert Clark Howard's column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Find more answers to your consumer questions at Clark's website.
-- Clark Howard -- Save More, Spend Less, Avoid Rip-offs -- for the Atlanta Bargain Hunter blog
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