For most of my life, television has been something that comes magically through a wall. But now… For most of my life, television has been something that comes magically through a wall. But now that I’m footing the bill, my television comes through something akin to rabbit ears — antennae.

Those looking to save money find that there’s a realm of TV options beyond cable, though they might mean giving up channel gluttony and sticking to just a few. Currently, 91 percent of Americans subscribe to a television provider — like cable or satellite — but if you’re looking to join the other 8 (1 percent of Americans lacking a television) here are a few steps.

Getting set up

As long as you’re using a high-definition television — one that can process HDTV signals — you might not need anything new at all. Coaxial cable lines that would otherwise be activated for cable TV or Internet often pick up a few basic channels — such as the “big four”: ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — so with a quick connection and a channel search, you’ll be in business.

Sadly, my current residence isn’t equipped to receive many of the available channels through this option, so I looked for a personal antenna to help improve the signal. Although there are a variety of antenna types available — external, internal, powered and unpowered — I favored economical options that would save my security deposit by not leaving holes in the walls.

It ultimately came down to a powered or an unpowered internal antenna. At Best Buy, this meant deciding between a pair of modern RCA rabbit ears for around $15 and an amplified model (that looks like a black plate) for around $40. With value in mind, I went for the rabbit ears.

Though it’s easy to connect the cable to the back and hit the “auto tune” button, there’s an art in the placement of the antenna itself. The Federal Communications Commission’s guide printed for the transition to DTV in 2009 recommended that an antenna ideally sit away from other electronics, be placed high up in the room to avoid interference and be near a window for maximum reception.

Where does TV come from?

Although it’s easy to watch Drew Carey on “The Price is Right” or Diane Sawyer on “World News Tonight,” it’s a little harder to visualize how they get to the television set.

“[The television signal is] broken up into little particles and goes out over the airwaves,” Pitt assistant professor of communication Brent Malin said.

He also said that before the advent of digital signals, television worked a lot like radio.

“Some of the early television systems in the ’20s and ’30s would actually broadcast over the radio signal. You’d hook this thing up to your radio, and it would create an image,” he said.

Today, the radio band space once carrying UHF signals now carries significantly different digital television channels. Television signals were analog, like radio, now it is digital — DTV came out in 2009 — and more like a computer, Malin said. This means that, unlike analog signals, where the picture was sent almost in its original form to the TV, digital signals now send the information as data and allows for a better picture. The U.S. government made the switch to digital in 2009.

Watching the “new” TV

Though having ABC, CBS and NBC is nice, there’s something more to what’s available in the Pittsburgh television market. The FCC says that seven stations have “strong” signals in the 15213 postal code —  adding PBS, ION and MyNetwork TV to the list of available stations.

In addition to sports, drama, comedy and news, there are old Westerns, shopping programs and even a religious broadcast or two. Syndication — purchased rather than specially produced programming — ensures that you can watching everything from “The Simpsons” to “Jerry Springer” to “Law & Order” through the bigger networks.

The multi-band expansion of DTV has dated that model and increased not just the number of channels in total, but also the number broadcast by each network. My Network TV, for example, shares its Pittsburgh channel (22) with a music video station called TheCoolTV (22.2), whereas WQED (13) has supplementary channels focusing on creativity and documentary programs (13.2 and 13.3 respectively).

So there are many more options for your viewing pleasure than it would seem.

To find out where and what the signals are around you, I’d head to the FCC site (http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/).

Though it’s free TV to me, it’s still paid for by the advertisements that run between programs. If that’s the only price — plus a set of rabbit ears — I’m happy to watch.