TV aerial - worth getting or old and pointless?

[CrapBucket]

Due to end of my marriage, I moved house last year - from an old house to a new build with no TV aerial. DC and I have now got used to watching TV via apps, and they mainly watch netflix anyway.

Part of me misses just switching on the TV, seeing the TV guide, and just sort of fitting in with the schedule iykwim. I am not sure if this is just me being nostalgic for happier times or if it is actually worth getting a TV aerial. Which I'm guessing will cost a few hundred pounds. What does everyone else do in 2022?

Get a portable aerial that sits next to your Tv £10 in Argos. Ours is connected to Freeview and we get excellent signal

Another one here that just has plus in ariels for about £15

We’ve got portable arerials and they don’t do much.

Graring up to contact an aerial provider.☹️

You might struggle with reception with a cheap indoor aerial. We have a huge one up on the roof, probably eight feet long, and the reception is still dire. We went to Freesat in the end.

Thanks, with the plug in aerials, does the TV just show channels like a normal non-smart TV? Or do you have to open an app? I don't have Freeview (or I don't have it activated...)

I feel so incompetent.

I've just learned I'm about 9 miles from the nearest transmitter which rules out the cheapest indoor aerials, they are recommended for within 3 mile radius apparently.

We've just replaced our tv aerial as our old one got damaged and it cost £240. We are SW London. No idea if thats reasonable but it was just someone local and he did it the same day i called.

We also have an indoor digital aerial upstairs and get full freeview through it with no bother. Was around £30 from Argos.

So think it very much depends on the area you are in. You could always try an indoor digital one first and see how you get on?

I don’t have a tv aerial and just watch everything via my broadband.

There's apps that let you watch live TV.
Available on firestick and rokus and smart TVs probably. Search it up on whatever platform you use. I think Freeview has one.

Worth noting, if you watch live as broadcast TV or iPlayer, legally you should get a license.
If you just watch Netflix and on demand services, you don't need a license.

I don't have a license, I use the £12 a month it would cost to have prime and then rotate month to month Disney / Netflix
Everything else is catch up on the specific channel apps.

I fit tv aerials for a living prices start at about £140, including aerial and brackets, also depends on the difficulty of the job, indoor set top aerials rarely work, you can get live tv on apps like IPlayer itv player etc

I expect your newbuild already has a TV point and is pre-cabled into the loft so just a loft mounted aerial is required.

Certainly that was the case in our newbuild (and other developers we looked at provided the same).

Thanks for all the replies. Yes I have a TV licence and watch things live via Iplayer etc. I think I just miss watching Have I Got News For You on BBC1 then flicking around and The Last Leg is on Channel 4 or whatever. Or on a Sunday afternoon realising Harry Potter is on itv even though we have the DVDs anyway iyswim. And call the midwife on a Sunday night even though I could watch it on iplayer, none of it feels the same?..

Probably this is more about imposter syndrome than watching TV. Somehow I don't feel like a proper adult providing my teenagers with a proper home, all my friends are in couples with double incomes/rich husbands and have TV aerials and perfect children... and I feel like a crappy single mum making do that everyone pities...

£140 is less than I expected so I should probably get a local quote. It feels like a lot of money but its cheaper than therapy I guess!!

Yes I do have a TV aerial socket in my bedroom and in the lounge already there and cabled. I didn't know there is such thing as a loft aerial... is it literally an aerial that goes in the loft internally instead of on the roof externally?!

Yes, just a normal aerial mounted in the loft.
We have never had an externally mounted aerial (going back as far as my late parents house), they have always been in the loft which is much more convenient (and aesthetically pleasing).

When we moved in the aerial was fitted by BT as part of the BT TV & BB package, cost £30 but they only connect the main or nominated point.
OH was up there recently connecting all the other TV points.

I'm in a new build and have sockets in the wall - cost £60 for loft aerial from a local company. I'm in Staffordshire.

they have always been in the loft which is much more convenient (and aesthetically pleasing).

Our house had four massive TV aerials on top of five metre long poles attached to the chimneys when my husband moved in. He removed all of them because they looked so awful.