The monopoly being Comcast/Xfinity. Seems a bit much to be paying over $150 for a lot of crap television and a non-necessary phone line. Consequently, we are looking at breaking our relationship with Comcast and moving on. Moving where, is where we are at somewhat of an impasse.
What we have: we are paying Comcast for a landline, a cable TV bundle (not even a good bundle), and high-speed Internet.
What we want: high-speed Internet, access to movies, and selected television programs.
Some real problems: due to our geographic location--we live at an altitude of 7200 ft, have a 14,110 ft mountain and her associated foothills to the west, a high-security military installation a few miles north, NORAD a few miles south, and a house nestled at the base of a hog-back to the east that leaves us with severe limitations to wireless communications. The landline sucks! 90% of the calls are junk, and almost all cell phones crash-and-burn in the area except Samsung Galaxies and Apple iPhone's.
After doing a considerable amount of research I have been able to draw a couple of conclusions. First, I will stick with the Comcast Internet since it is by far the best performer around here. Hence, the Internet problem is solved. Second, it seems like I need to invest in a new Apple phone to replace the piece of crap LG that I currently own. No problems here, since an iPhone 6 will be just the ticket to control my Macmini music server and provide numerous services for my just purchased 27" iMac Retina 5K (32 Gb RAM, 1 Tb fusion, 4GHZ Quad-core i7, and AMD Radeon R9 M295X with 4GB graphics. What a beautiful machine.)
So, the only real need right now if to fill the visual entertainment mode. We have Netflix, which I love, but feel that we could expand upon it. The problem is that I am not really sure where to begin. I realize that finding live sports (guess I will have to travel around town trying out the local stouts in search of the big game), and news will be difficult. But...what is out there for free or close to free that offers good visual programming, and quality streaming? My goal is to keep out monthly cost under $50 (may be a lot of viewing.)
Anyway, I would be grateful for any "television/movie viewing" recommendations that any of you may have.