1. When considering alternatives, it's important to first assess what you want to watch: are you a sports fan? Do you watch news programs? Recent television shows? Classic films?
This will help you to decide what alternatives will work for you. For example, sports content is the least likely genre to be available outside of cable due to licensing agreements.
Here’s an online service that will let you calculate what you watch and see what will work for you:
2. Over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts are still available, now in high definition. A one-time purchase of an indoor or outdoor antenna will get you the major local broadcast networks for free. However, you'll still need a way to record the signal to be able to pause, rewind, and “time-shift”. Buying a TiVo is one (expensive) option.
3. Online streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime offer a wide variety of content, but require a broadband (cable or FIOS) internet connection and hardware (streaming media server) to interface with your tv.
Choosing among these services will depend on cost but also on what they offer. Hulu Plus has many current television programs (none from CBS) including news magazine programs, many of which are often available one day after their original air date. Depending on their licensing agreement with the studio, however, they may only be able to keep the most recent five episodes (or the most recent season). Netflix offers several tv shows, but not current seasons, and has a larger movie collection than Hulu Plus. There are also niche services like the Warner Streaming Archive that stream old movies or other specific content.
You can also purchase (and sometimes rent) movies, individual tv episodes, and complete television seasons from Amazon and other services. If there are a few things that you want to watch that are not available anywhere else, buying individual episodes or seasons may be cheaper than cable subscriptions.
In addition to searching each service's website to see what they carry, you can also use websites like http://www.canistream.it to find out where movies and shows are available.
Two more links: